Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard and Dey Young.

[5] Vince Lombardi High School keeps losing principals to nervous breakdowns because of the students' love of rock 'n' roll and their disregard for education.

The leader of the students, Riff Randell, is the biggest Ramones fan at the school and also the worst behavioral problem, in that her disciplinary record fills an entire filing cabinet.

When the tyrannical Principal Togar takes her ticket away, Riff and her best friend Kate Rambeau have to find another way to meet their heroes: winning a radio contest.

Riff succeeds in delivering her song to Joey Ramone, but the next day Principal Togar and a group of parents attempt to burn a pile of rock records.

[7] Corman originally wanted Cheap Trick or Todd Rundgren to play the band, but due to schedule conflicts, he was forced to find an alternative.

The genesis for the plot was a favorite story told to the film's original writer by his father, Raymond E. McBride of the Milwaukee Journal, who staged a walkout from his Superior (Wis.) Central High school in the 1920s.

[9] The film was shot on the campus of the defunct Mount Carmel High School in South Central Los Angeles, which had been closed in 1976.

[21] The Globe and Mail wrote that "the plot owes something to Animal House (but Rock 'n' Roll High School is funnier) and something to Beach Blanket Bingo and something to many other movies too numerous to mention; it is not, how you say, original.

Mary Woronov, who played Miss Togar in the original film, appeared in the sequel as Vice Principal Doctor Vadar.