PJ Soles is so happy the Ramones have come to rescue her high school.
Sadly, Variety reports that Howard Stern is producing a remake of the classic Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. Alex Winter, who is best known still for his co-starring role in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but recently has been doing some writing and directing, will write the script.
Stern is supposedly a big fan of the movie and that’s why he jumped into the project. He also is producing a remake of the raunchy 1982 comedy Porky’s.
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is about a high school full of rock loving teens who rebel against a harsh, repressive new principal with the help of the Ramones. It starred Vince Van Patten, and the immortal PJ Soles, who graced many a classic ’70s-early ’80s teen movie. Think you don’t know who she is? Look at some of the movies she made: Carrie, Halloween, Breaking Away, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Stripes. Pretty cool, huh (btw, while scanning the credits of this movie, two names popped up on the oh so lowly production assistant list: Gale Ann Hurd, now a powerful producer, and James Cameron, now, well, James Cameron).
You know I’m going to give you the usual “why are we remaking this” moaning and groaning. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School was just a little, cheerful, low-budget (it was produced by Roger Corman, so you know it was made for about $10–and that’s 1979 $10), not a heavy thought in its head, type of movie. The kids in it are good looking, but they’re not sleek and polished like the teen performers you find in many movies today. This isn’t the cast of High School Musical. There isn’t even a choreographer listed. When the kids start dancing, they just bounce around like they would at the high school dance. A lot of the acting is Z-grade, which is fine, because this isn’t Shakespeare, or even The Breakfast Club. It’s just teens who love rock. I worry all that simplicity and fun amateurism will get lost in a high-gloss, high budget remake. Hopefully Stern gets that.
Most of all, what band do you get to replace the Ramones? You know, often when movies say they’re about rock, they have a pop band or a pseudo rock band. But the Ramones were of course cutting edge punk and they aren’t prettied up in any way for this movie. What’s so great is that they’re one of the last bands you would expect to even find in a movie. It’s as if you booked Miley Cyrus for your high school prom and say, Ween, showed up. I can’t imagine who they could get to be the band in this movie, as there aren’t a lot of bands that authentically rock out there right now. And I’m not sure I would want to be the band that’s going to be compared to the Ramones.
Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, here are a few clips from the gloriously silly, rockin’, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School:
Trailer:
The opening credits:
