ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

My official UK DVD of Rock 'N' Roll High School (© Alan Arkush/Roger Corman/New World Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My DVD movie watch on 30 January 2022 was the full-length, uncut version of a Roger Corman classic – Rock 'N' Roll High School – the cult comedy rock musical starring pioneering US punk rock band The Ramones, alongside whom everything else was totally incidental.

Directed and co-written by Alan Arkush, with the afore-mentioned Corman as executive producer, and released in 1979 by New World Pictures, it is incredible, and also incredibly tragic, to think that Rock 'N' Roll High School was released 42 years ago now, and that of the four Ramones featuring in it – Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Marky – three are now gone (only Marky remains with us). (Incidentally, 'Ramone' was not their real surname, just a stage name that they came up with; they were not actually related to each another.)

The storyline of this manic movie, which is set in and around the fictional Vince Lombardi High School (but filmed in a real-life closed-down Los Angeles school as well as in a school at Manhattan Beach, California), is the usual one of anarchy inside and outside the classroom, with everyone – but most especially rebellious student leader and Ramones über-fan Riff Randell (played by P.J. Soles) – far more interested in attending a local Ramones concert than lessons (understandable!).

In addition, Riff has written a song specifically for them that she is determined to hand directly to Joey Ramone. Its title? 'Rock 'N' Roll High School' of course! (Ironically, in real life P.J. Soles had never even heard of the Ramones before appearing in this movie!) And like all the best films, this one definitely goes off with a bang – albeit quite literally, when in its climactic sequence the entire school is blown up!

 

The Ramones with P.J. Soles (as Riff Randell) in Rock 'N' Roll High School (© Alan Arkush/Roger Corman/New World Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Rock 'N' Roll High School contains several totally surreal characters – Mrs Mouse, a human-sized female white mouse, being one (honestly!). However, I particularly enjoyed the evil (and, imho, spookily Jennifer Saunders-ish) Evelyn Togar – the new school principal and an avowed hater of rock music, who has been brought in to bring to this infamously low-achieving school some much-needed discipline (no hope of that here!). She is played in uproariously unhinged fashion by Mary Woronov, a frequent actress in Roger Corman movies.

Also worthy of mention is the captain of the school's American football team, Tom Roberts (Vince Van Patten), who in spite of his handsome looks and muscular physique is hilariously clueless when it comes to getting a girl. However, his obsession with talking constantly about the weather until his would-be paramour heads for the hills to escape his tedious tirade may have something to do with it!

Nor should we forget Eaglebauer (Clint Howard), a wholly illegal fixer-upper for the students who, inexplicably, is seemingly permitted by the school to operate his dodgy deals on site – indeed, from an office installed inside the students' toilet building!

As for the Ramones, who perform several of their own classic songs in Rock 'N' Roll High School as well as the title number (written by them), there is only one word to describe them – sensational! And in any case, how can you not love and respect a band whose lyrics from their song 'Teenage Lobotomy' include the wondrous rhyming couplet:

"Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em

That I got no cerebellum."

Fantastic!

Johnny Ramone in Rock 'N' Roll High School (© Alan Arkush/Roger Corman/New World Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

And yet, ironically, the Ramones were far from being the first choice of rock performers to star in Rock 'N' Roll High School. Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Devo, Tom Petty, and Van Halen had all been considered before them, but for varying reasons no deal had been struck with any of them.

Then someone (accounts differ) suggested the Ramones, who, to the delight of massive Ramones fan Alan Arkush (this movie's director), agreed to appear – and the rest, as they say, is cinematic, and rock, history.

Also, once the Ramones were on board, the movie's original title, Disco High, was swiftly dropped, with Rock 'N' Roll High School instated in its place – a major mercy indeed!

In addition to the Ramones, this movie musical also features tracks from a number of other major contemporary acts. These include Paul McCartney and Wings, Fleetwood Mac, Brian Eno, the Paley Brothers, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Nick Lowe, Velvet Underground, Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper (singing – what else! – 'School's Out'), and Devo, plus Todd Rundgren (who allegedly has always regretted turning down the chance to star in it).

An early Ramones line-up, performing in Toronto, Canada, 1976; from left – Johnny, Tommy (on drums, replaced by Marky in 1978), Joey, and Dee Dee (© Plismo/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 licence)

True, its storyline may be insubstantial, but what gives Rock 'N' Roll High School a lasting, inestimable value is that it constitutes a truly wonderful visual as well as musical record of the Ramones, capturing the band for all time at the very height of their fame and powerhouse performance flair. In short, it confers upon them an absolute immortality, in which they will never grow old, never fade away, but remain forever young, vital, and rocking as only the Ramones can!

In 1991, a Rock 'N' Roll High School sequel movie was released, entitled Rock 'N' Roll High School Forever, but set at a different school, not including the Ramones (except for a single track featuring Dee Dee), and presenting a whole new cast of characters. Notably, however, the Vice Principal is played by none other than Mary Woronov, although her character, Vadar, appears different from Principal Tagar in the original movie.

Moreover, plans to remake Rock 'N' Roll High School have been mooted for more than a decade now, but I personally hope that this never happens. After all, how could anyone possibly take the place of the Ramones in it? Or, to put this another way, how could anyone improve upon perfection?

If you'd like to experience some of the classroom chaos, anthemic anarchy, and Ramones rock'n'roll, be sure to click here  to watch an official Rock 'N' Roll High School trailer on YouTube, and here to watch the Ramones performing 'Do You Wanna Dance?' in it! Gabba Gabba Hey!

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

A fitting tribute: standing 8 ft tall and designed by Wayne Toth, the magnificent bronze Johnny Ramone cenotaph monument at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California – RIP Johnny, Rock In Perpetuity! (© Donmike10/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)

 

THE SINGER NOT THE SONG

 

Publicity picture depicting Dirk Bogarde as Mexican bandit Anacleto in The Singer Not The Song (© Roy Baker/Rank Organisation/Rank Film Distributors/Warner Bros – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

The late British actor Sir Dirk Bogarde (1921-1999) was well known for his sometimes idiosyncratic choices of film roles. However, one of the most iconic of his on-screen appearances must surely be as the complex character that he plays in the British film under review here, which I watched for the very first time only recently – The Singer Not The Song.

For many years, I knew of this Western-genre movie only by virtue of its sumptuous, romantic theme music (click here to listen to it), composed by British film and TV composer Philip Green, which has been recorded by countless orchestras and instrumentalists down through the decades. (Incidentally, this theme should not be confused with an entirely different musical composition with the same title – namely, a song recorded by the Rolling Stones.) Surprisingly, however, bearing in mind how very suited it is to be converted into a passionate love ballad, as far as I am aware no lyrics have ever been written for it (even though this has occurred with memorable themes from many other movies following their respective cinematic releases – everything from Gone With The Wind and Limelight to The Deer Hunter and The Glass Mountain). Anyway, after chancing upon its DVD not so long ago, I purchased it straight away, deciding that it was high time I watched the film itself.

Directed and produced by Roy Baker, with a screenplay by Nigel Balchin, and originally released by Rank in 1961, The Singer Not The Song is based upon Audrey Erskine Lindop's eponymous 1953 novel (I'll explain the intriguing title of the novel and movie later), and is set in a small Mexican backwater village named Quantana (but actually filmed at Alhaurin de la Torre, in Andalusia, Spain).

Quantana has long been ruled with a merciless grip of iron and fear by a ruthless but highly intelligent Mexican bandit named Anacleto Comachi (played by Bogarde) and his gang of equally lawless compatriots. They have ridden rough-shod (metaphorically and literally!) over a succession of Catholic priests sent there by Rome in a futile attempt to bring order and godliness to this anarchic, godforsaken place – until, that is, Father Michael Keogh (John Mills) arrives in Quantana as the Church's latest representative. (Mills took on the role after Richard Burton had turned it down.)

For Father Michael not only elicits Anacleto's enmity (no surprise there) but also (and to everyone's surprise) gains his grudging, reluctant respect. This is due to the priest's friendly, honest charm, as well as to the evident sincerity of his passion in spreading God's word and his personal unswerving, unconditional devotion to God.

And so, like a pair of chess Grandmasters, Anacleto and Father Michael each plan with great care, thought, and strategy their successive moves toward, and against, one another as the days, weeks, and months pass by, accompanied by the villagers' ever-increasing love for Quantana's very likeable, humble man of the cloth, so dissimilar from those who had previously been sent here, and who had always failed to gain popularity or respect.

Ultimately, however, Anacleto pushes Father Michael too far, cleverly backing the priest into a seemingly inescapable moral corner so that he with his gang would once more reign supreme in Quantana. However, Anacleto never foresees that in blind rage and desperation Father Michael will betray both his religious belief and his word in order to defeat his arch enemy once and for all, and in the presence of the entire village as witnesses in the church congregation. As a result of Anacleto's fatal miscalculation, the villagers rise up as one against their erstwhile oppressor and his brutal sidekicks, with Quantana's hitherto-ineffectual police captain and subordinates sufficiently emboldened to drive them out of town for good. But they don't go quietly...

Movie characters like Anacleto were never given a happy ending back in the days when The Singer Not The Song was made. So it should come neither as a surprise nor as a spoiler to learn that almost at the very end of the film he is fatally shot. However, immediately afterwards an action happens that did surprise me, very much, because I never saw it coming at all, and which I'll therefore leave you to discover for yourself if you watch this movie. All that I will say is that when Father Michael rushes over to him, Anacleto's final words are none other than "The singer, not the song".

Time now, therefore, for the explanation that I promised earlier concerning the meaning of these enigmatic but key words.

Throughout the movie, the atheistic Anacleto has variously mocked and been mystified by Father Michael's unwavering religious faith, refusing to accept the validity of religion but respecting the sincerity and passion with which the priest practices it – and it is via this memorable five-word phrase that Anacleto very succinctly yet eloquently expresses his dichotomous viewpoint to Father Michael. Namely, what he respects is the singer (Father Michael), not the song (religion). So now you know.

The Singer Not The Song is a fascinating movie that makes absolutely compelling viewing, pitting the wits of two formidable, diametric adversaries in a thoroughly engrossing, captivating manner that never dulls or becomes stale. And Bogarde in particular is sensational – succeeding supremely in conveying both the intelligence in Anacleto's mind and the darkness in his soul, transforming instantaneously from Jekyll into Hyde with nothing more than the slightest curling of his upper lip, a deferential, serene smile becoming a diabolical, sardonic sneer in so effortless but effective a manner that even the awesome Billy Idol himself, one of my all-time rock heroes and long renowned for his own lip-curling prowess in whiplash smiles, would have difficulty in matching it!

Consequently, it is nothing if not tragic that despite deserving to have gained lasting acclaim and cinematic fame, The Singer Not The Song is chiefly remembered today only for its beautiful theme music (albeit deservedly so), and – bizarrely – for a somewhat curious, albeit incidental, aspect but which, ironically, attracted far more attention and fueled far more conjecture from film critics at the time of the movie's release than the movie itself did. Namely, why Bogarde had famously insisted upon wearing in character as Anacleto such an unreasonably tight, unrealistically shiny pair of leather trousers!

If you'd like to pay a brief visit to Quantana, be sure to click here to view a short Talking Pictures trailer for The Singer Not The Song on YouTube; and click here to listen to a lush rendition of this movie's rich, evocative theme music as performed by Manuel and the Music of the Mountains (the best version of it that I have ever heard).

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

THE CHAMPIONS

 

French publicity poster for The Champions (© Dennis Spooner/Monty Berman/ITC Entertainment/ITV Studios Global Entertainment/Granada International Media Ltd – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Today's blog offering, crossing the border from MovieLand to TVLand for a brief visit to the world of the small screen, is not a review per se, more a nostalgic remembrance.

One of my all-time favourite TV shows is The Champions, a British 30-episode, single-series sci fi/fantasy show first screened here in the UK during the late 1960s, by the TV channel ITV. Created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman (Berman also serving as its producer), with its very memorable theme music written by Tony Hatch, and distributed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment and Granada International Media Ltd, it centred upon three special agents (played by William Gaunt as Richard Barrett, Stuart Damon as Craig Stirling, and Alexandra Bastedo as Sharron Macready), working for an international intelligence agency called Nemesis, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

During the opening episode, while on one of their covert missions, their aeroplane crashes in the Himalayas. However, although badly injured, their lives are saved by a mysterious sect of mountain-dwelling holy men, who not only restore their health but also confer upon them super-human abilities, including telepathy, telekinesis, immense strength, incredible memory, and much more. The trio – now constituting the titular Champions – decide to keep their powers secret, even from their boss, Commander Tremayne (played by Anthony Nicholls after original choice Douglas Fairbanks Jr dropped out), the only other regular character in the show), but use them skillfully and successfully in each of the following 29 episodes when pitted against some villainous genius or corrupt organisation.

Many notable TV (and movie) actors of the day guest-starred in The Champions. These include the likes of Burt Kwouk, Peter Wyngarde, David Prowse, Anton Rodgers, Patrick Wymark, Kate O'Mara, Patrick Magee, Julian Glover, Gerald Harper, Mike Pratt, Zia Mohyeddin, Donald Sutherland, Colin Blakely, Bernard Lee, Terence Alexander, Philip Madoc, Talfryn Thomas, David Lodge, Frank Thornton, Rupert Davies, Nicholas Smith, Jeremy Brett, Roger Delgado, Peter Madden, Patrick Allen, Gabrielle Drake, Hannah Gordon, William Franklyn, Paul Eddington, and Eric Pohlmann – to mention but a few! Moreover, Ian McShane had tested (unsuccessfully) for the role of Richard Barrett.

The Champions was repeated many times down through the years and I always watched it avidly, not just because I loved the whole supernatural/fantasy premise (and was smitten with Alexandra Bastedo!) but also because somehow I'd missed seeing that key opening episode when it had originally been screened. Yet bizarrely, although the subsequent 29 episodes were rescreened many times, never once was the opening episode rescreened.

Then, during the late 1980s, not long after I'd rented my first videcassette recorder (everyone rented VCRs back then, as they were still horrendously expensive to buy), I saw in the TV listings for ITV that Episode 1 of The Champions was scheduled to be rescreened! At last!

As it happened, I would be out with my parents at the time of its rescreening, so I set the VCR to record it, and greatly looked forward to watching it when back home that evening – until, while out, a horrible thought hit me. My parents had a habit of always turning off the electricity at the mains when we went out somewhere for the day! And so, totally dreading what I was about to hear, I nervously asked them if they'd turned the electricity off, to which my father cheerfully confirmed that he had indeed done so!

No electricity meant no recording by the VCR, which meant no Episode 1 to watch! Curses, foiled again!

Eventually, however, sometime during the 1990s, an official videocassette of the first 3 episodes of The Champions was released, which I lost no time in buying, and I can still recall finally – finally! – sitting down and watching that crucial series-setting Episode 1, which had eluded me for over 20 years.

I now own the entire 30-episode box set on DVD, but nothing will ever beat the blissful joy that I had experienced when watching that magical first episode after waiting so long to do so. Moreover, if you'd like to see it, all that you have to do in this online day and age is click here, to watch it straight away and for free on YouTube! (Other full episodes are also currently available to watch free of charge there.)

And finally: just in case you're wondering, as I did many times as a youngster, whether the huge, spectacular vertical fountain shown in the opening titles to every episode of The Champions was real, or whether it was simply a TV-created special effect, I am happy to confirm now that it was indeed real, and still exists today – it is the famous 460-ft-tall Jet d'Eau, at Lac Leman, in Geneva, and is one of that city's most celebrated, iconic sights. Conversely, the building standing in for the Geneva-based headquarters of Nemesis was situated far from Geneva – in the London borough of Barnet!

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film/TV reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

The spectacular Jet d'Eau fountain in Geneva, Switzerland (© Gionorossi/Wikipedia - CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)