Thursday, September 5 2019 | 8PM Rock ‘n’ Roll High School USA 1979 d. Allan Arkush with P. J. Soles, Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, Marky Ramone, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, Don Steele, Lynn Farrell and Grady Sutton. Colour. 93 m
“…the ultimate adolescent power trip, logic and good sense be damned. Soles is a bouncy, charismatic leading lady, and the whole cast (including the always wonderful Paul Bartel and the traditional Dick Miller cameo) is game. But the stars here are Arkush’s ramshackle approach to comedy and the Ramones, whose music serves as the closest thing in the narrative to a driving force. Underneath its chipper, anything-for-laugh grin, Rock ‘N’ Roll High School is as subversive as teen movies get, with an ending that, for all its absurdity, is still surprisingly shocking. It’s hard to imagine a similar conclusion being shot today.” Zack Handlen
See Also: All That Jazz (Fosse, 1979), Get Crazy (Arkush, 1983)