Cult 101: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Director: Allan Arkush Run Time: 93 min. Rating: PG Release Year: 1979
Starring: Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov, P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten
Country: United States
Language: English
Presented as part of the 2023 edition of Cult 101.
About the film:
Vince Lombardi High School has quite a reputation: it’s the wildest, most rockin’ high school around! That is, until a thug of a principal, Miss Togar, comes along and tries to make the school a totalitarian state. With the help of the Ramones, the students of Vince Lombardi battle Miss Togar’s iron-fisted rule and take their battle to a truly explosive conclusion!
“A true cult classic… it’s near-impossible to resist this film’s goofy charms”
About the filmmaker:
Allan Arkush is an American film and television director, producer, and critic. He co-directed the feature film Hollywood Boulevard (1976) with Joe Dante. In 1979, he made The Ramones’ cult favorite Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979), which Rolling Stone magazine named as one of the top 10 rock ‘n’ roll DVDs of all time. He was the executive producer of the series Crossing Jordan (2001-2007) and Heroes (2006-2010). His direction of Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital (2018) episodes earned him a DGA Nomination for Best Directing of a Children’s Show.
Arkush graduated from NYU Film School. He is a member of the DGA Mentor Program, and teaches the Narrative Workshop at the American Film Institute. He also taught Producing & Directing For TV at UCLA Graduate School. His other projects include the mockumentary Elvis Meets Nixon (1997), episodes of FAME (1984-1986), St. Elsewhere (1986-1987), Moonlighting (1986-1989), Parenthood (1990-1991), C.P.W. (1995-1996), Defiance (2014-2015), Nashville (2017-2018), and music videos for the Ramones, Dokken, Elvis Costello, and Bette Midler.
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