Rock'n'Roll High School (Rock On Edition)
April 2006 Reviewed by: Josh Barber Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

In the history of the modern American movie industry, one man stands above the rest. Roger Corman is a legendary producer with nearly 400 movies to his name. He kick-started the careers of many of today's most prominent stars and directors and influenced countless others. Roger Corman movies have a certain predictable sensibility to them: you would see them in drive-ins through the '70s and on late-night basic cable in the '80s. Corman hasn't overseen many great movies, but there aren't many flops in his catalog, either. One of his biggest hits was 1979's Rock'n'Roll High School, still a cult favorite today.

Vince Lombardi High School has a new, hard-nosed principal (Mary Woronov), and that's bad news for rock'n'rolling Riff Randell (P.J. Soles), who wants nothing more than to go see the Ramones perform when they come to town. Unfortunately, that means cutting class to camp out in front of the club where they will be playing. Meanwhile, the school quarterback, Tom Roberts (Vincent Van Patten), wants to hook up with Riff, but it's her best friend Kate Rambeau (Dey Young) who's actually interested in him.

Fans of The Family Guy style of unpredictable humor should find a lot to like in Rock'n'Roll High School, which blends subtle puns with broad slapstick, improbable occurrences, and exploding mice. Though hardly realistic, Rock’n’Roll High School avoids most of the usual high school movie clichés. The popular girl and the nerdy girl are friends at the beginning, not as the result of a ham-handed character arc, and the popular quarterback is a bit of a dork. In that regard, this goofy little film is probably more realistic than most teen movies.

The packaging says this disc is "enhanced for 16:9 televisions," which would seem to imply that it's anamorphic widescreen, but it is not. There is a bit of edge enhancement in some scenes, but overall this is a good transfer. All the colors in those garish '80s fashions look good, and the bit of grain evident at times is not distracting.

Rock'n'Roll High School introduced the Ramones to the world, so you want the sound to be top-notch. Well, the movie was made on a shoestring nearly 30 years ago, so what we settle for is that we can hear it at all. We don't even get a stereo track, but the dialogue is all clear and free from hiss, and the songs still sound good.

There are some nice extras, including two commentaries: a lively track with the producer, director and screenwriter, and a more subdued offering from Roger Corman and Dey Young. "Back To School: A Retrospective" is a wonderfully insightful 20 minutes, and we get the theatrical trailer and original radio spots. The highlight, though, is the original concert audio from the Ramones' performance at the Roxy -- 15 minutes of raw sound. Gabba gabba hey.

Disney is releasing a ton of Roger Corman's films in related collections: Early Films, Sci-Fi, Comedy, etc. Whatever your fancy, there's a Roger Corman film for you. If nothing else, it's a chance to see the work of your favorite stars, writers and directors when nobody knew or cared who they were -- nobody but Roger Corman.

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