#Allan Arkush

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

[esqueletosgays]

HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD (1976)

Director: Allan Arkush & Joe Dante Cinematography: Jamie Anderson

[brokehorrorfan]

Rock 'n' Roll High School will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on December 10 via Shout Factory. From executive producer Roger Corman, the 1979 musical comedy cult classic is celebrating its 45th anniversary.

Allan Arkush (Caddyshack II) directs from a script by Richard Whitley, Russ Dvonch, and Joseph McBride. P.J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov, and Paul Bartel star with The Ramones.

The film has been newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision. Special features for the three-disc set are listed below.

Disc 1 - 4K UHD:

Audio Commentary with Stephen B. Armstrong, Author of I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (new)

Audio Commentary with Director Allan Arkush, Producer Mike Finnell, and Writer Richard Whitley

Audio Commentary with Director Allan Arkush and Actors P.J. Soles and Clint Howard

Audio Commentary with Writers Richard Whitley and Russ Dvonch

Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Roger Corman and Actress Dey Young

Disc 2 - Blu-ray:

Audio Commentary with Stephen B. Armstrong, Author of I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (new)

Audio Commentary with Director Allan Arkush, Producer Mike Finnell, and Writer Richard Whitley

Audio Commentary with Director Allan Arkush and Actors P.J. Soles and Clint Howard

Audio Commentary with Writers Richard Whitley and Russ Dvonch

Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Roger Corman and Actress Dey Young

Disc 3 - Blu-ray:

Interview with Musician/Actor Marky Ramone (new)

Class of ’79: 40 Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School - Revised

Back to School: A Retrospective

Staying After Class - Interview with Actors P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten, and Dey Young

Allan Arkush's 2019 Sunday Slasher Intro

Interview with Roger Corman Conducted by Leonard Maltin

Interview with Director Allan Arkush

Audio Outtakes from The Roxy

Theatrical Trailer

TV Spot

Radio Spots

Riff Randell (P.J. Soles) is the rockingest rebel at Vince Lombardi High. Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov) is the strict new principal with plans to rule the school like her own personal dictatorship. And the Ramones are the hottest band around. When these forces of nature collide, Lombardi High will never be the same! Striking back against Togar's record burnings and iron-fisted discipline, Riff leads a revolt that rocks the roof right off the school's hallowed halls!

Pre-order Rock 'n' Roll High School.

[spilladabalia]

Ramones - I Just Want To Have Something To Do

[tijuanaus]

Legendary hearts

Tearing us apart

With stories of their love

Their great transcendent loves

While we stand here and fight

And lose another night

Of legendary love

Legendary loves

Haunt me in my sleep

Promises to keep

I never should have made

I can't live up to this

I'm good for just a kiss

Not legendary love

Romeo, oh, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo

He's in a car or at a bar

Or churning his blood with an impure drug

He's in the past and seemingly lost forever

He worked hard at being good

But his basic soul was stained not pure

And when he took his bow

No audience was clapping

Legendary hearts

Tear us all apart

Make our emotions bleed

Crying out in need

No legendary love

Is coming from above

It's in this room right now

And you've got to fight

To make what's right

You've got to fight to keep your legendary love

Legendary Hearts / Lou Reed

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 20, 1979 Rock 'n' Roll High School debuted in Austin, Texas.

[davealmost]

Caddyshack 2

[julio-viernes]

"Get Crazy" de Allan Arkush - el mismo que unos años antes dirigió "Rock and Roll High School"- completa y con buena calidad, por si a alguien le interesa. Es una mezcla de cine musical y de comedia disparatada de universitarios. Como unos Blues Brothers - ésta anterior, de 1980- más locatis y pasados de vueltas. En ella desfilan entre otros, Malcolm McDowell, Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, Dick Miller, John Densmore (The Doors), Howard Kaylan (The Turtles), Lee Ving (Fear) y hasta la warholiana Mary Woronov o el cantante Fabian ("Tiger").

[randomrichards]

HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD:

Struggling actress

Works for sleazy studio

Films endangers lives

[movie-titlecards]

Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

My rating: 4/10

It's a 70s teen comedy, so of course it's rapey as fuck in parts, and if the script crawled any further up the Ramones' collective asses they'd be unable to perform due to all the paper stuck in their teeth, but I guess the soundtrack's pretty good.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

TGIF

[kiurit]

get crazy (1983) dir. allan arkush

[omercifulheaves]

An episode of Joe Dante's and Josh Olson's The Movies That Made Me podcast where Dante and his buddy Alan Arkush (Rock 'n' Roll High School) tell stories about editing trailers and movies for Roger Corman.

[brokehorrorfan]

Scream Factory has revealed the specs for its Private Parts Blu-ray, which releases on June 6 via Scream Factory. The 1972 horror-comedy marks the feature directorial debut of Paul Bartel (Death Race 2000, Eating Raoul).

Ayn Ruymen, Lucille Benson, John Ventantonio, and Laurie Main star. Philip Kearney and Les Rendelstein wrote the script. Gene Corman, brother of Roger Corman, produces.

Private Parts has been newly scanned in 2K from the interpositive with DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by film historians David Del Valle and David DeCoteau (new)

Interview with actress Ayn Ruymen (new)

Frivolous Gravitas - Filmmaker Allan Arkush on the movies of Paul Bartel (new)

Still gallery

Theatrical trailer

In the sleaziest corner of Los Angeles, the King Edward Hotel has a new arrival in the form of Cheryl, a runaway teen. She’s hoping to put her life back together – but somewhere in the musty halls of the King Edward lurks another guest who just loves to chop people apart.

Pre-order Private Parts.

[disappointingyet]

Rock ’n’ Roll High School

Director Allan Arkush (plus an uncredited Joe Dante) Stars PJ Soles, Dey Young, Vincent Van Patten, Clint Howard, Ramones USA 1979 Language English 1hr 33mins Colour

‘Oooh baby, fun fun, rock rock rock rock rock ’n’ high school’

This is a cheerfully daft exploitation comedy made under the wing of B-movie king Roger Corman. It’s fun, campy and quick – I don’t think the filmmakers expect you to care about the characters, but do want you to laugh and presumably bop your head along to some songs. It doesn’t have the forensic approach to parody that Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker brought to Airplane!, but more of the gags worked than I expected.

The plot (for what it’s worth) is this: Riff Rendell (PJ Soles) is obsessed with the Ramones, and has written a song she wants to them to play. Her best friend, science nerd Kate Rambeau (Dey Young), has a huge crush on the captain of the football team Tom Roberts (Vincent Van Patten). Tom, despite his notional position at the top of the school social hierarchy, has no luck with girls because of his terrible small talk. Both he and Kate seek the help of Eagleberger (Clint Howard), the school’s entrepreneurial solver of all problems, very much in the lineage of Catch-22’s Milo Minderbinder. And attempting to spoil all the fun is disciplinarian new principal Miss Togar (Mary Woronov). 

I’d always thought of this as ‘the Ramones movie’. You get their songs early on, but they themselves first appear about halfway through to play a gig. By the end (at the gig and elsewhere) they have played at least nine songs by my count, which is a lot (although of course, being the Ramones, the songs are short). They aren’t required to do much acting – I think only Joey has any dialogue. 

Apparently, the producers spent a while trying to get a band to agree to be in the movie, and the Ramones were a far way down the list. That tracks – there’s nothing about Riff’s fandom that feels specific to da brudders and the idea that they would be an easy consensus favourite in any high school seems fairly movie-like. But I’m a fan, so their presence definitely worked for me. 

As does the film as a whole – it was a lot better than I was expecting. Maybe the involvement of Joe Dante, the future director of Gremlins and Small Soldiers, helped. (Character actor Dick Miller, who was in everything Dante directed, pops up here.) For those who like a knowing meta-chuckle, you’ve got Mary Woronov as the anti-rock’n’roll authority figure – back in the 1960s she and Gerard Malanga were the (sometimes whip-wielding) dancers in Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable accompanying the Velvet Underground. 

Surprisingly enjoyable…

(So yes, a 1979 release, but nevertheless part of my Every girl should be given an electric guitar on her 16th birthday series of reviews)

[schlock-luster-video]

On May 23, 1986, Rock 'n' Roll High School debuted in Mexico.

Here's some new Dey Young art!