Gabba Gabba Hey!: Allan Arkush’s "Rock ‘n’ Roll High School" and the Ethos of Punk Cinema

I do recall a time when teen films saw beyond today’s banal trend of exploring the deepest, darkest trenches of adolescent angst-ridden moodiness and instead celebrated unfettered rowdiness of teenage rebellion.

I was certainly young, but I also remember the new wave/punk crescendo within the global music landscape reigning supreme during the late 1970s at a time when disco was on its way out and punk was desecrating the very rules of music it cared very little about. Out were Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, ABBA and Chic. In were Talking Heads, Blondie, Sex Pistols, Bad Brains and The Ramones. The music was crude, it was raw, at times political. And it opened the eyes of music fans around the world.

One such fan was filmmaker Allan Arkush.

Eager to instill his passion for rock music into a high school film, Arkush, along with fellow Roger Corman protégé Joe Dante (“Gremlins,” “The Howling”) and screenwriter Joseph McBride, endured several misfires, including their first two in-development projects, “Rock City” and “Girls Gym” — neither ever reaching production. It wouldn’t be until the trio took a more serious approach to their adolescent endeavor with 1979s “Rock ’N’ Roll High School,” that, despite its absurdities, truly had something to say.

And 45 years later, it remains one of the most beloved rock ’n' roll films of all time.

A punkish parable of virtually every teenage film ever made, “Rock ’N’ Roll High School” tells the story of subversive riot girl/songwriter Riff Randell (P.J. Soles), number one fan of The Ramones and her quest to give them a song she wrote while they’re in town for a concert. At the same time, her beloved Vince Lombardi High School is placed under the rule of a new despotic principal, Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov), who runs the school with an iron fist and authoritarian (i.e. anti-rock ’n’ roll) rules enforced by her two hired thugs “Hansel and Gretel.” It’s all-out war — a battle for control of the school between Riff and Togar. Fortunately for Riff, she has Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone on her side.

For the next 94-minutes, chaos ensues in the form of exploding mice, shattering record albums and Lombardi High being blown to smithereens. As all hell breaks loose, both Riff and The Ramones are front and center officiating the pandemonium together as queen and house band.

“Rock ’N’ Roll High School” is hardly original or brilliant — some would blatantly call it a teenage lobotomy (see what I did there?). But its semi-charming cast, gleeful silliness, Arkush's quirky direction, and stellar live performances by The Ramones (excluding the band members’ abysmal attempts at acting) make it near-impossible to resist. It’s just a fun, goofy anti-establishment B-movie centered in a bizarre world that resembles anything but reality — especially one where Ramones lanky frontman Joey Ramone is a heartthrob. 

For all of its transgressions, “Rock ’N’ Roll High School” remains a favorite of mine. I have yet to understand much of the hate from fellow cinephiles. Really, aren’t rebellion and The Ramones for everyone? 

Stop taking it so seriously — after all, it’s only rock ’n’ roll.