Rock 'N' Roll High School

There's one thing we should clear up right now: Joey Ramone was not dreamy. None of the Ramones came even close to being dreamy nor were they particularly attractive. What they were however, were four guys who knew how to churn out fun rock songs fuelled by three chords and minimum talent. Buy enough alcohol, throw on a Ramones record and voila: instant party. It is this type of attitude one should take when viewing the movie they starred in.

Continuing their Marathon of Summer Midnight Movies, The Oaks Theater screened the 1979 cult film Rock 'N' Roll High School last night. The plot, if you can call it that, involves the startlingly clean-cut Riff Randall's (P.J. Soles) obsession with The Ramones and her desire to meet them so that she can get them to play one of her songs (which just so happens to be "Rock 'N' Roll High School" - Riff is apparently a bit of a butch, not only wanting "kicks" but "chicks" as well). Her rebellious ways butt heads with her high school's new principal, the rock-hating Miss Togar (Mary Woronov), who goes so far as to start a bonfire consisting of Ramones records (and I think a couple of albums by The Who were thrown in for good measure). Also thrown in are an awkward romance and a square music teacher becoming hip through the power of rock 'n' roll, but overall, this is a plot that was hastily stitched together and serves as a showcase for the gags and the Ramones music than it does a cohesive story.

Obviously the film is entirely ridiculous. This, however, is it's main redeeming quality. While Footloose wanted to be taken seriously (I can only assume, because it certainly wasn't funny), Rock 'N' Roll High School was made to be bad - hilariously bad. It's original working title of Disco High betrays this. Thankfully, director Allan Arkush convinced the screenwriter that rock was a more film worthy genre of music than disco, if only because he wanted to use The Ramones as his starring band. Even with the genre switch, Riff spends most of the film looking like she's ready for the disco (or a rave), what with her silky day-glo outfits. Would it have been too much for the costume designer to put her in a nice pair of ripped jeans and a leather jacket?

That night the Oaks was filled with a mix of people who had smuggled in beer and didn't mind being perceived as obnoxious. One of the main reasons I love going to midnight movies is to watch the crowd that shows up for each film. The Rock 'N' Roll High School crowd certainly wasn't the same as those who had shown up for The Princess Bride last week or The Rocky Horror Picture Show prior to that. I wonder who will show up next weekend for Meet The Feebles.