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'Rock 'n' Roll High School' 40th anniversary Blu-ray special features announced

By Fred Topel
"Rock 'n' Roll High School," featuring The Ramones, is on Blu-ray November 19, 2019. Here, The Ramones thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee for their induction into the Hall of Fame. File Photo by rw/ep/Ezio Petersen/UPI
"Rock 'n' Roll High School," featuring The Ramones, is on Blu-ray November 19, 2019. Here, The Ramones thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee for their induction into the Hall of Fame. File Photo by rw/ep/Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The Ramones' movie vehicle Rock 'n' Roll High School turns 40 this year. To commemorate the film's anniversary, Shout Factory announced a 40th anniversary Blu-ray release with all new bonus features. The Blu-ray is available for pre-order on Amazon and Shoutfactory.com and will be in stores November 19.

The Rock 'n' Roll High School Blu-ray will feature a new 4K scan of the film using the original camera negative. "Class of '79: 40 Years of Rock 'N' Roll High School" is a new documentary with interviews including writer/director Allan Arkush, co-writer/director Joe Dante, star P.J. Soles, writers Richard Whitley and Russ Dvonch, cinematographer Dena Cundy, editor Larry Block and more.

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The Blu-ray will also include previously released bonus features including four previously recorded audio commentaries, "Back to School: A Retrospective" which included an interview with producer Roger Corman, "Staying After Class" which included Soles and co-stars Vincent Van Patten and Dey Young, an interview Leonard Maltin did with Corman, an interview with Arkush featuring behind-the-scenes stills, audio outtakes from The Roxy performance, original radio and TV ads and the theatrical trailer.

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Soles stars as Riff Randell, a high school student who gets the Ramones to help her battle stuffy principal Miss Togar (Mary Woronov). The Ramones perform "Do You Wanna Dance," "Teenage Lobotomy" and more hits. Of course, they also perform the song based on the film's title.

"With explosive musical performances from the Ramones, the outrageous candor of teenage angst and nostalgic reverie of a counterculture rock movement, Rock 'N' Roll High School has captured the hearts of many generations," Shout Factory's press release read. "Based on Arkush's own high school fantasy, the 1979 cult film takes place at Vince Lombardi High School - 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 rockin' conclusion!"

Johnny Ramone was also represented in the press release.

"Johnny Ramone said in an interview at the time, 'When we found out Roger Corman was behind the picture, we said, sure, we'll do it because we knew he had a reputation and we knew he made good movies,'" the release read.

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