Pump Up the Volume (1990)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Allan Moyle

Writer (WGA):

Allan Moyle (written by)

Release Date:

22 August 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Tagline:

The Voice of a Generation.

Plot:

Mark runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar when he speaks his mind and enthralls fellow teens.

Plot Keywords:

Radio | High School | Pirate Radio | Teenager | Teen

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Christian Slater	...	Mark Hunter (Hard Harry)
Annie Ross	...	Loretta Creswood
Andy Romano	...	Murdock
Scott Paulin	...	Brian Hunter
Mimi Kennedy	...	Marla Hunter
Anthony Lucero	...	Malcolm Kaiser
Billy Morrissette	...	Mazz Mazzilli
Robert Schenkkan	...	David Deaver
Cheryl Pollak	...	Paige Woodward
Ellen Greene	...	Jan Emerson
Samantha Mathis	...	Nora Diniro
Keith Stuart Thayer	...	Luis Chavez
Jeff Chamberlain	...	Mr. Woodward
Lala Sloatman	...	Janie
Holly Sampson	...	Cheryl Biggs

Also Known As:

Plein volume (Canada: French title)
Y a-t-il une vie après le lycée? (Canada: French title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:A

Filming Locations:

Saugus High School, Saugus, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Lala Sloatman (Janie) and Ahmet Zappa (Jamie) are real life cousins, but played girlfriend/boyfriend in the movie.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Mark is driving around in the jeep, his lips don't match what he's saying.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mark: Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely fucked up?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Veronica Mars: Ahoy Mateys (#2.8)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Scenario

A great Christian Slater film.

Pump Up the Volume really deals with the issues of being a teenager, I think this movie is as great as The Breakfast Club.

The movie starts out with Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) a.k.a. Hard Harry running a pirate radio show, he is listened to by the students of Hubert Humphery High School and by a teacher, Ms Emerson (Ellen Green of Talk Radio and Glory Glory). The school is being runned by a corrupt principal Loretta Creswood (Annie Ross of Superman III) who weeds out kids who she thinks are losers. Harry becomes a reluctant hero to all the students in the school, he has some raunchy moments on his radio show but he reaches in the humanity of all who listen. A girl in his class,Nora Diniro(Samantha Mathis)learns who Hard Harry is, but won't tell anyone. Mark is so unhappy with moving out to Arizona, His father, Brian Hunter (Scott Paulin)who runs the school district and mother, Marla Hunter (Mimi Kennedy of Dahrma and Greg) try to help him but only push him away, Mark has some inner demons he has a hard time dealing with, one of his callers, Malcolm Kaiser wants to commit suicide and Harry does little to talk him out of it. Harry feels bad that he doesn't do anything to help him, he says somethings about being a teenager and also suicide, he made some real good points their. Harry falls for Nora, he opens up to her. Later on, the FCC are called in to find Hard Harry. Miss Creswood is later exposed and is suspended by Brian Hunter after finding out about her shady ways, thanks to Ms. Emerson. Harry tells his listeners to not to give up and live, he is nabbed and taken away.

I feel that this movie really touched on some issues on being a teen and being to speak your thoughts. The cast really did a wonderful job, the supporting cast, Andy Romano (Admiral Bates of Under Siege 1 and 2) as Mr. Murdock, Cheryl Pollack as Paige Woodward, James Hampton (Teen Wolf 1 and 2 and Sling Blade) as Arthur Watts of the FCC. I give this movie 2 thumbs up and 10/10 stars.