MovieChat Forums > Rock 'n' Roll High School (1981) Discussion > Piece of *beep*

Piece of beep

posted 21 years ago by dysfunctionjunction
19 replies | jump to latest

Okay, now, don't get me wrong. I love the Ramones. But in all honesty, COME ON! What the hell is this travesty!? I think that they probably never even read the script, and if they did, well, I seriously need to rethink my idols. Also, DARBY CRASH!? What!? What are you doing, Darby!? Why are you in this movie!? Rise from the dead and answer me!!! Actually, I think that Darby just wandered onto the set and they allowed him to be in it because, hey, he's a punk! And what the hell is up with that Riff bitch? She wears red, pink, and purple spandex. This entire movie is one giant steaming pile of crap that should be deleted from the records of all of the Ramones. God what a crappy flick.

[–] foxforce5bass 21 years ago

Yeah the Ramones didn't have much to do with it, besides it focusing on their music. You can read about it in Dee Dee's book, "Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones"

[–] dysfunctionjunction 21 years ago

Yeah I haven't read Lobotamy, but it's on my extensive list of things to read. I kind of guessed that they didn't have too much to do with it.

[–] CaptainSixPack 21 years ago

Then you're obviously neither a true fan nor a true punk.

You CLEARLY didn't get the wonderul punk joke of it all.

Go sit in the corner and listen to your Blink 182 and Eminem records.

[–] victorcharlie 21 years ago

heh heh.. mwahahahaha... your right.. I'm not punk at all (rolls eyes) I never said I was. I just said that this filthy piece of *beep* doesn't pay HOMAGE to punk rock. I'm sure most of my favorite punk bands you've never heard of anyway. Captain Sixpack *snicker*

[–] sabbathandbllod 20 years ago

ya go listen to your yanni cd

[–] mattlove 13 years ago

it would have been a better movie if it featured Yanni instead of the Ramones - "New Age High School" - oh yeah

[–] fab5freddykruger 21 years ago

gonna have to agree with dysfunctionjunction on this one, this IS a totaly fun movie.

[–] 21 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Dergreif 21 years ago

ummmm....Aren't you taking this a bit too seriously? Yeah, the movie is horrible. However, keep in mind that both Roger Corman and Paul Bartel are attached to it. The Ramones are quite possibly the best band to ever walk the earth, but their music sucks too. All of this horribleness really falls into the realm of craptastic. That is to say, so crappy that it's good. Of course the Ramones read the script, they also wrote a song called "The KKK Took My Baby Away."

[–] hellcat666 20 years ago

yanni sucks and so do you

[–] myeyesbleed 20 years ago

I think you have to take into account that it's a Roger Corman flick and it's not in any way intended to be anything but a corny flick to showcase a band/genre of music and get teens into the theatres (at the time). Originally it was going to be "Heavy Metal High" and then "Disco High", I believe. Someone wrote a script fast with some cheap jokes...then they just plugged "Ramones" and "Rock N Roll" into the gaps, got someone to find some "rock n roll" looking clothes and some extras and the director probably added in some cheap semi-relevant Ramones/rock references and gags while they were filming. It's a cookie cutter movie done fast on the cheap. It has appeal for 2 reasons:

1...The Ramones.

2...It's so bad it's hilarious to watch.

and you can probably ammend that with a third, P.J. Soles, but there are better movies to see her in.

[–] Lilguy0710 20 years ago

I liked The Movie, who gives a damn if the Ramones are bad actors, since when was punk about the acting?

[–] greaser_gal 20 years ago

Yes, this movie isn't exactly Oscar-potential...at all...but it's so bad it's good...no, great! What's the whole deal with bitchin' about Riff's clothes? Who the hell cares? They looked fine to me. It's not supposed to matter. If the Stiv Bators wore those exact things, I wouldn't care...'cause it doesn't matter! It's about the music, man, The Ramones! Get over the *beep* film elements or whatever.

"Rock N' Roll don't come from your brain, it comes frome your crothch!"-Freaks and Geeks

[–] bmovies 20 years ago

"And what the hell is up with that Riff bitch? She wears red, pink, and purple spandex."

According to the audio commentary in the DVD, PJ Soles (Riff) asked a too high price to work in the movie. But Roger Corman said no. So PJ offered that if they paid the price she demanded, she would buy all the clothes for her character. Paying for it out of her own pocket. Corman agreed.

What you see on the screen are actual fashions of the year 1979. I know...they're horrid looking. You see the silvery Alfa Romero jacket on Eaglebauer wears in the last half of the movie? I actually owned one of those jackets back then! I wore it to school everyday and my classmates thought it was the coolest jacket they ever saw!

[–] kohntarkosz 20 years ago

Well, first of all, I'm not really a punk fan. I like The Ramones, and a few other bands, but I'm not an aficiando of the genre.

The film was never meant to be a tribute/homage/whatever to punk rock. According to the triva section, they tried to get Cheap Trick, Todd Rungren, and Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers interested in doing the project. I think it's been said that The Ramones were "The best we could get". As someone else said, they just plugged "The Ramones" into the script and dropped in lots of references to the band's music (such as the scene in the car where Riff has to remember what album Questionly is on). Really, when you think about it, it could have been any band.

As for Riff's clothes, yeah they're ugly (and as someone else mentioned, so is Eaglebauer's jacket). But fashion worn by high school kids always dates quickly. If the movie was made today, you'd have your characters wearing pants hanging half way off their rear ends, and 30 years from now, people like us would be making fun of it. And light of the fact that movie was created specificaly as a Ramones vehicle, it makes sense that she's not wearing tattered blue jeans, a beat up leather jacket and a pink and blue spiked mohawk. They probably hired PJ Soles before they realized it was going to be a "Ramones movie".

But it's a fun movie. Lots of great dialog, hilarious scenes (Vincent Van Patten getting smacked by the rubber doll being my favorite), and how can you not love a movie where a high school gets blown up?! I HATED high school!!!!

[–] squashace01 20 years ago

The film wasnt actually written for the ramones (the greatest band of all time), but for cheap trick. Hence the lines were cut and altered in order to fit in.

[–] mattlove 13 years ago

She wasn't a high school student, she was a 29 year old actress dressing in a way that no high school student in 1979 dressed, punk, new wave, metal or anybody dressed. Her outfit might have been left over from when it was supposed to be about Todd Rundgren. Read somewhere Rundgren always regretted passing over this project. What a laugh - I don't believe it for a second. Who would regret not being in this mess?

[–] jefgg 11 years ago

Where was Darby Crash?

[–] marthahunter 10 years ago

Darby Crash was the lead singer of the punk band Germs. He died from a heroine overdose a year after R&RHS was released.