There were two things that led me to tonight’s movie, and the first of them was P.J. Soles. For those just tuning in, I recently attended a Stripes screening with supporting actress Soles in attendance as the guest of honor. She had also co-starred in Carrie and the original Halloween, yet it was Rock ‘n’ Roll High School that kept getting brought up. Apparently, that film marked her first lead role in a movie and Soles herself said that if she had to pick a favorite film out of any she’s ever done, this would be it. This, plus a screening of the film’s trailer, was enough to peak my interest. But the trailer wasn’t the second thing. No, that would be the involvement of one Roger Corman.

I’ve only seen one other Corman film to date (Death Race 2000), yet I can say without hesitation that if you don’t know Roger Corman, you don’t know cinema. The man made his business crafting C-grade movies with practically no budget, yet he’s a legend among filmmakers and film fanatics alike. Hell, he was just given an Honorary Oscar last year. For one thing, the sheer volume of his work is staggering: Corman’s IMDB page counts 34 acting credits, 56 directing credits and a whopping 396 producing credits, with a career that’s still continuing well into his eighties! Far more importantly, Corman had an extraordinary gift for hiring talent. He didn’t just know which filmmakers had skill, he knew which ones had potential and how to bring that potential out. Graduates of “the Roger Corman Film School” include such cinematic titans as James Cameron, Joe Dante, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Timur Bekmambetov, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Robert De Niro, David Carradine and countless others.

Yet it must be repeated that Corman made his name on schlock. Which brings us back to one of the many films he exec-produced, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.

The film is about a rock-loving teenager leading a student rebellion against a tyrannical principal. The premise itself was tired and cliched even back in 1979, so the film wisely compensates by presenting it in a way that’s absurdly, comically and impossibly heightened. There’s a running gag about some poor dorky freshman being found crammed into increasingly tight spaces. There’s an illicit activity racket being run from an office — complete with secretary! — in the boys’ room. The principal is made to look like Dr. Frank-N-Furter with half the makeup and her oafish hall monitor lackeys are named “Fritz Hansel” and “Fritz Gretel.” Last but not least, the “students vs. teachers” conflict is taken to its furthest possible extreme, up to and including the school’s destruction in a giant explosion.

This isn’t just a teen comedy, this is a parody of a teen comedy. In fact, IMDB lists two uncredited directors for this film: Joe Dante, director of Gremlins, and Jerry Zucker, of the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker trio responsible for Airplane! Those familiar with the brand of comedy in those two features will find it all over this one. Really, the film’s technique of playing off-the-wall sight gags totally straight is quite visibly an early prototype for the perfected approach that made Airplane! famous.

There’s also the matter of the soundtrack, which serves as further proof that these filmmakers ran with their premise as far as they possibly could. The movie features songs from such rock superstars as Devo, Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, The Velvet Underground and of course, The Ramones.

I’m not sure why The Ramones play such a pivotal role in the story, though I imagine it had something to do with the fact that they agreed to be in the picture. That’s right: The Ramones made their motion picture debut in this movie and they get a sizable amount of screen time to sing and to act. As a result, a local Ramones concert is made the centerpiece of the film’s plot and the band is present at the film’s climactic school invasion. Oh, and our main character is of course totally obsessed with them. That’s where P.J. Soles comes in.

Soles plays Riff Randall, an impossibly energetic girl who constantly plays rock music as loud and often as possible, rules be damned. Her sole obsession is to be a songwriter for the Ramones and to be with the band’s frontman, Joey Ramone. There’s a concert playing in her town, and thus we have our plot.

(Side note: The way Soles told it in the Stripes Q&A, The Ramones were actually quite shy and withdrawn until the cameras came on.)

Based on Stripes and this movie, I’m starting to see a pattern with Soles’ performances. In both films, she’s given roles that don’t really demand anything aside from beauty, charm and an endless sugar high. Soles brings all of those in spades, which is enough to make for a passable performance, yet what I’ve seen of her emotional range leaves quite a bit to be desired. Then again, we’re not exactly talking Hitchcock with either film, are we?

In the supporting cast, Dey Young plays Kate Rambeau, the brainy best friend who yearns for the local hunk. Said hunk is the football captain, who — in a rather genius contradiction — has absolutely no talent with women. He’s played by Vincent Van Patten. Clint Howard makes an appearance as the high school black market ringleader who’s hired by Kate and her crush to play matchmaker. Paul Bartel plays a music teacher who goes from Beethoven to the Ramones in a big way. Last but not least, the aforementioned psychotic principal is played by Mary Woronov.

None of these characters are developed in any novel ways beyond the traits I just mentioned and their character arcs are totally predictable. To compensate for this lack of development, the characters and their dialogue are instead devoted entirely toward the purpose of comedy. Given that the film is only 90 minutes long, this use of time was probably the right way to go. And to be fair, there are times — such as the “practice session” between Howard, Young and Van Patten — when the characters’ arcs are moved along in humorous ways. Additionally, I give the movie credit for not wasting time with too many superfluous side characters.

Aside from all of that, there really isn’t much to talk about. The editing is unremarkable and the camera work can get downright lazy, particularly during all those annoying close-ups of Joey Ramone. There’s also a point when the film sees fit to provide subtitles for a few of The Ramones’ lyrics during a concert. Hell if I know why.

Bottom line: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is schlock. Cheesy, campy, humorous and self-aware schlock. There are enough genuinely funny moments in here that I can easily recommend it to anyone looking for some no-budget late-70s goodness, but not enough that I’d urge people to go out of their way to find it.