The Ramones never got the recognition they deserved, at least as far as album sales. The band that more or less invented punk was always bitter that the Blink 182s and Green Days that ripped their sound hit the superstar highway while they got stuck on the F train, with no AC. But no one's more respected, and this weird movie is a key piece of the Ramones legend.

The Ramones thought of themselves as a pop band in the early sixties mold, before the hippie excess, so when legendary shlockmeister Roger Corman went looking to update his "youth gone wild" rock-and-roll B movies for the seventies, they were a perfect fit. Call it Punk Rock Around the Clock. (Think about this for a second: the first idea was Disco High.)

The old formula is based on a handful of types: the authority figure, here Miss Togar, the rock-hating principal (Mary Woronov); the rebel, Riff Randall (P.J. Soles), Vince Lombardi High's number one Ramones fan; the nerdy sidekick, Katy Rambeau (Dey Young); and the school fixer, Eaglebauer (Clint Howard -- that'd be Ron's brother), who operates out of an office in a bathroom stall.

Riff's written a song for the Ramones, who're coming to town on tour. Togar confiscates her and Katy's tickets, but they win a radio contest and get to meet the band and pass on the song. Along the way, hilarious scenes parody the old potboilers, like the Ramones' entrance, playing " I Just Wanna Have Something to Do" in the back of a convertible Cadillac with "Gabba Gabba Hey" plates. It's straight out of The Monkees -- no amps, no drums, who cares, even when they're walking past the crowd of fans lined up for tickets, miraculously playing loud and live on the street.

When Togar finds out she's been defied, she calls the school's parents for what she calls "the final solution": burning all their records in a huge bonfire. The kids riot and take over the school, dancing in the halls, riding motorcycles. It's very Grease.

The Ramones show up at Vince Lombardi High (Togar's great line: "Do your parents know that you're Ramones?") and after an impromptu show walking through the halls with their magical instruments, the kids surrender just before the cops storm the place. Then, while the Ramones play Riff's song -- "Rock 'n' Roll High School," of course -- they blow up the school.

The real bonus for Ramones fans is the concert itself, with live versions of five songs, not just the usual lip-synching. They sound great, and the fast and loud set really captures the magic of the Ramones on stage. (Ready to play punk rock Where's Waldo? Look for Germs singer Darby Crash in the front row, white jacket, black armband, blue circle.)

The idea of a classic B rock movie crossed with the godfathers of punk is inspired. It's also kind of subversive, rolling the Ramones into the old cycle of Elvis movies and A Hard Day's Night without ever acknowledging that their songs were about sniffing glue and turning tricks. But it's also silly, goofy fun, with running sight gags (think exploding lab rats) and some of the funniest bad band acting since KISS Meets the Phantom of the Theme Park.

After 22 years and more than two thousand shows, the Ramones finally hung it up in 1996, and were eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. By 2004, three of the band's four founders, Joey, Dee Dee, and Johnny, were dead.

Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever, a terrible, terrible sequel starring Corey Feldman, came out in 1991. (Eric, I think I have a movie for you!) And, as nothing good can ever be left alone, Howard Stern's production company recently hired Alex Winter (Bill of Bill and Ted) to write a remake. Just stop it, people. Seriously.

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