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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Entertaining, Yet Serious, Look at Censorship in the U.S., October 4, 2001
Long before "The people vs. Larry Flint" or Howard Stern's "Private Parts" addressed the problem of censorship imposed by the U.S. government on media personalities and products, there was "Pump Up The Volume." "Pump Up The Volume" varies from the Flint and Stern movies in that it is not glorifying a specific person (i.e. Flint and Stern, who just coincidently happen to gain publicity and movie proceeds). The star of this fictional movie is Christian Slater, who plays the role of Mark, a painfully shy teenager. To release his anxieties, Mark goes on-air on a short-wave radio as Hard Harry, a perverted, obnoxious, but surprisingly philosophical radio personality. Mark's way to unwind ends up turning the town upside down, effecting both his peers and the administration at his high school. This movie does not stop at the issue of censorship; it tackles three social issues in all, including the struggle of being a teenager submerged in American culture and how power can corrupt adults whose very job is to protect the young. Although this movie is fictional, the superb acting of its young thespians make it seem more realistic than either Flint's or Stern's accounts. Indeed, Pump Up The Volume will not only entertain the viewer, but also leave the viewer thinking.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Smarter Than The Average Teen Film, November 7, 2004
What happens when a city kid gets dumped into suburbia, with no friends, and only a ham radio to keep him company? He finds a band to broadcast on, rents a post box for listeners to send him letters, creates an air name, and rags on everyone in his high school.
With a soundtrack that prominently features artists like Leonard Cohen, The Beastie Boys, Was (Not Was) and Ice T among others, the music certainly is eclectic.
The story is held together with a tour-de-force performance from Christian Slater as the jaded jock, turned reform crusader, exposing the shortcomings of his school behind his anonymous veneer of Hard Harry.
It's a bit talky and a bit too clever at times, but it's earnest in its feelings about free speech and concerns about corruption in leadership, a message that seems even more timely today than it did when the film first appeared in theaters.
If you like this movie, you should also check out an earlier film by Director/Writer Allan Moyle: "Times Square."
They're both worth a look.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wave of Mutilation ..., January 30, 2008
Having watched this again for the second time in my life I have to say that I'm surprised at how well this film holds up. Notice - I called it a film and not a movie. The last time I saw this was in a dark theatre the weekend it was released in 1990. Christian Slater probably delivers his most memorable performance yet in this film despite the popularity of Heathers which is actually dominated by Winona Ryder.
"Pump up the Volume" was an underground hit and must-see VHS rental for about 10 years for anyone who was listening to grunge, a teenager, trapped inside a suburban nightmare or just feeling isolated. The idea of the system being inaccessible, out-of-touch and overt and too much in-your-business still resonates just as strong today as it did then.
Strangely, "Pump up the Volume" is one of the best and seminal `John Hughes' style Teen Eighties movies from that era and being released in 1990, might just make it the last. The previous year produced the much darker book-end to that style with Dream a Little Dream, but "Pump up the Volume" trumps it well and seemingly closes the door on High School forever, or at least until the release of Brick in 2005 or Accepted in 2006.
Overall, a good movie, worth seeing again even though some of the soundtrack is severely dated. The Pixies "Wave of Mutilation" holds strong though and delivers a nice montage sequence mid-way through the film, making a nice comment of suburban blight.
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