Fascist principal Miss Togar(Mary Woronov, who is lensed by expert photographer Dean Cundy as if she were ten feet tall)has a plan to turn her high completely square. Complications ensue which challenge that goal in delightful rock'n'roller Riff Randell(PJ Soles who lights up the screen--she's got a hot bod, too)who is an obsessive fan of the punk band THE RAMONES. Pal Kate Rambeau(Dey Young, whose big rimmed glasses and nerdy role can not hide her stunning beauty)joins forces with Riff to put an end to the supposed crisis of killing rock'n'roll for good which is Togar's desired mission.

Vincent Van Patten has a hilarious role as Tom Roberts, a success at everything, but getting laid. Kate is crazy about Tom..if only he could pull his head out of the sand and see it. Clint Howard steals the film almost(honestly, who can steal this film away from Soles?)as Eaglebauer, "the supplier" who can get everyone almost anything. His office is located in the boy's restroom! Paul Bartel is also hilarious as a music teacher who becomes an ally of Riff's when he enjoys a concert of THE RAMONES.

A raucous high school romp that defies all rules of normalcy..and I loved it. It's like someone just says, "Let's make life fun for 1½ hours." The film really is anarchy..a plot-less chaos lovingly adoring THE RAMONES with all it's heart(even if they are horrible actors, they have an opportunity to gain new audiences with this film).

The ending pretty much sums up the film as a whole..Riff and her classmates take over the high school and one massive party begins. To be honest, I didn't want the party to end! Not conventional in any way whatsoever, this film just let's loose a frenzy. Accompanied by a great rock soundtrack featuring some of THE RAMONES best songs, this film allows a viewer to accept a time in life when war didn't dominate headlines and people just had a good time. Those, I guess were the days.

If you're not a fan of the post disco music scene that The Ramones represented you're probably not going to like Rock "N" Roll High School. And if you do nothing that I or any other reviewer says will influence you in the slightest degree.

There's no plot in this anarchistic film by Roger Corman, but that's part of the fun. It involves new school principal Miss Togar from the Ilsa Koch's Buchenwald school of education trying to restore some discipline to Vince Lombardi High School.

Her main opponent is P.J. Soles who has dedicated her life to spreading the gospel of The Ramones to her peers. But in Mary Woronov as principal Togar, she's got a ruthless adversary.

There's a subplot going involving young Vincent Van Patten looking for some sex from somewhere. Here it gets a bit ridiculous because I can't believe Vincent Van Patten couldn't get any female or gay male if that was what he might want. He plays the same kind of goofy teenager that David Cassidy did on The Partridge Family.

Of course all this is an excuse to play a whole lot of Ramone songs including the title song of this film. Stylistically Rock 'N' Roll High School borrows from A Hard Day's Night and from Grease and the mix is good.

It ain't exactly my kind of music and it's not O'Neill or Shakespeare, but the film is amusing and harmless.

And the ending is the dream of a lot of teenagers.

ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL is a Roger Corman-produced mix of musical and high school comedy, mainly working as a showpiece for The Ramones, a popular punk band of the 1970s. After some mild plotting and various random comedic set-pieces throughout, the film basically descends into one big, chaotic concert set-piece at the climax. How much you enjoy it really depends on how much you like The Ramones; it felt very much like an ANIMAL HOUSE knock-off to me. Still, this being a Corman movie, there's plenty of entertainment value waiting to be discovered, not least various supporting roles filled by familiar faces: Clint Howard, Paul Bartel and Dick Miller show up alongside lead P.J. Soles, while Mary Woronov has the best role as the film's strict antagonist.