Warning: Parental Advisory (2002) (TV)

Director:

Mark Waters

Writer (WGA):

Jay Martel (written by)

Release Date:

21 April 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Music

Tagline:

Censorship is a dirty word.

Plot:

The story of the 1985 Senatorial hearings to place "Warning: Parental Advisory" labels on music albums with "obscene" lyrics and themes - and the rockers who tried to fight it. |

Plot Keywords:

Music Industry | Censorship | 1980s | Free Speech | Senate Hearing

Cast

Jason Priestley	...	Charlie Burner
Mariel Hemingway	...	Tipper Gore
Dee Snider	...	Himself
Deborah Yates	...	Pamela Stone
Lois Chiles	...	Susan Baker
Tim Guinee	...	John Denver
Deborah Jolly	...	Shirley
Lee Burns	...	Andrew Norris
John S. Davies
Griffin Dunne	...	Frank Zappa
Jim Beatty	...	Al Gore
Richard Dillard	...	Senator Sam
Gail Cronauer	...	Sen. Paula Hawkins
Joe Berryman	...	Donald Bean
David Born	...	James Baker

Also Known As:

PMRC (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Houston, Texas, USA

Company:

Charter Films Inc.

Trivia:

The Senate hearing room is actually the Houston City Council chambers, located on the second floor at the Houston City Hall building, 901 Bagby, in Houston, Texas. The council members names were digitally erased during filming at City Hall. A brief scene takes place in front of the Sam Houston statue at Hermann Park, which resembles part of Washington, D.C.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The end credits state none of Frank Zappa's albums received a Parental Advisory sticker, when in fact "Jazz From Hell" (ironically a purely instrumental album) was tagged with a Parental Advisory warning by the distributor.

Better than I expected (more than the usual VH1 movie dramatization)

While Warning: Parental Advisory lags when it focuses on the worries and quandaries of the character played by Jason Priestly (he seems like the only character not based on fact in this movie), it gives more than you'd think. Griffin Dunne transforms amazingly into Frank Zappa and plays it with a great deal of realism, along with some lone clichés, and humor. Dee Snider plays himself, and I wasn't covering my eyes, and whoever played John Denver didn't do that bad of a job either. Even Mariel Hemmingway gets props for playing the strident and uptight Tipper Gore who headed the PMRC. These characters come together, more or less, to enact the events that came about in the mid-80's due to rock content. When it makes its points, they are made with a degree of corniness, and also poignancy. Possibly the only good VH1 movie to date. B+