Customer Reviews

Pump up the Volume : Widescreen Edition

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Well what can I say? I love this movie. If I ever feel down or just feel normal, this movie manages to get a smile on my face. It is so full of life and almost makes you wish that the secret DJ Harry would broadcast his show to you. Christian Slater plays the part with skill and keeps you intrigued right to the end. What a groovy movie!

You've seen, I'm sure, numerous movies about teen angst. Every other movie from Hollywood seems to be about it. But they are full of cliches, bagging chicks, and bad humor. They have about as much intelligence as a fart joke.

Pump Up the Volume is different, practically transcendent for the genre. Christian Slater gives his best performance as a teenage shock-jock on a pirate radio station who exposes the seedy, corrupt underbelly of life in banal, hypocritical middle America.

Slater's character, "Hard Harry," mixes juvenile jokes with political and social satire, proving mesmerizing to suburban kids in cardboard cutout communities. Of course, the injection of truth into a land ruled by lies leads to a massive reaction from parents, the school principal and even the feds.

The movie also touches on the issues of teen suicide, school testing and the freedoms that our society is supposed to represent but rarely does. What is the ideal of free speech if the minute you exercise it, the government comes down on you like a giant hammer?....

This rocks!!! Well acted, Good Sound Track and the one thing I also love is it has that 80's feel even though it came out in the early 90's. My favorite thing is at the time there was nothing like it!!!

Released between Heathers and True Romance, this movie is an often forgotten Christian Slater classic. Full of teen angst BS, it's also a heart-felt story with believable characters on all sides. If you didn't see it before the age of 20, you probably will think it's juvinile in it's outlook, but if you did, it's a nice reminder of how it felt to grow up post Reagan and pre internet.

This movie came out when I was twelve and I have been in love with it ever since. It brought me, a rural farm kid, the magic of Leonard Cohen, Concrete Blond, Was (Not Was),The Beastie Boys, and all of the other wonderful musicians who grace this film. It also brought me Christian Slater in a role that I would later relate to in a big way as a teen. In short, for reasons all sentimental, I love this film. It may not have cohesiveness in the same way "Heathers" does but it has heart and that is something that teen movies seem to lack these days. So watch this flick and be grateful that you are no longer in high school. I know I do.

Pump Up The Volume is probably one of the first of the "Gen X" movies to appear in the wake of the John Hughes classics of the early and mid-80s. This film, released in 1990, touches on a myriad of issues that effect teens today as then. They don't seem to make movies like this anymore, movies that touch on serious issues as isolation, alienation, sexuality, education reform, freedom of speech, censorship, suicide, the failure of mandatory standardized scholastic testing, etc etc. This movie has got it all. The story revolves around a quiet student at Hubert Humphrey High, a large suburban school in Arizona. His parents are sell-out former hippies who have produced in him a resentment of the failed idealistic values of the 60s generation which have created a fallout whose repercussions are still felt today. Mark is a loner who cannot communuicate with his teachers or his peers. He is an intelligent and creative recluse who eats his lunch alone, reading a book, while the problems of high school life swirl around him. It is only as his secret pirate radio alter-ego Hard Harry that he finds his voice and is able to speak to those diseffected peers who share his fate at a school that reflects the flawed and conformist society at large that has not only overlooked the problems of his generation, but continues to add to them by treating the kids as second-class citizens. The school princial, who is obsessed with standardized test scores and the prestige of her school, flags "problem" students who threaten to tarnish school image and pull down test scores and has them expelled rather than try to help these kids who truly need help, while the school councelor rats out these same students to the corrupt administration when he should be the one providing them with the guidance they need. And to make matters worse, the one concerned teacher who dares to stand up for her students is fired for insubordination. As Hard Harry begins to make an impact, other afflicted students begin to open up with their problems to an outlet thatn is genuine and not some contrived school-sponsered joke. Harry confronts a isolated over-achiever who takes his own life rather than face another day at his "award-winning" school. Another caller describes an incident of homophobic violence commited by the school jocks. In the end, Harry finds he must face his problems without his mask of anonyimity and face up to being the icon of hope that he has become. Pump Up the Volume is a fine movie with a great soundtrack and speaks to alot of the issues that plauge us in this post-Columbine age. It is defiantely one to watch.

ok, I will admit it. This is one of my favorite movies ever. We can all concur for the most part that Christian Slater just stinks in almost every film, but in this role, it was as if the script God's were looking down upon him and well they gave him his crown jewel. Arguably the best film Slater has been in, perhaps saving 'Interview With a Vampire', however I think even Billy Boyd would have been good in that role, so enough said. Anytime I need some uplifting strides, or I hear the call for inspiration in one form or another, I will throw Pump Up The Volume in, and even though it can be a bit over the top in some areas, there are moments of exceptional purity and realism in Slater's character, nevermind countless memorable quotes, to pronounce one of my favorites that opens the film if you will so let me: "You ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely ***** up. You know that feeling that the whole country is like one inch away from saying 'That's it, forget it.' I mean think about it. Everything is polluted. The environment, the government, the schools you name it. Speaking of schools, I was walking the hound halls the other day and I asked myself, "Is there life after high school?" Because I can't face tomorrow, let alone a whole year of this sh**. Yeah, you got it folks. It's me again with a little attitude for all you out here in Whitebread Land. All you nice people living in the middle of America the beautiful. Lets see, we're on er 92 FM tonight and it feels like a nice clean little band so far. No one else is using it. The price is right. Heh, heh. And yes folks you guessed it. Tonight I am as horny as a ten peckered owl, so stay tuned because this is Happy Harry Hardon reminding you to eat your cereal with a fork and do your homework in the dark." Crisp voice, surreal opening, haunting even. Slater is surely endearing in this role. I really can't see anyone doing this except him. There are so many younger folks I give this to and they simply consider it one of the best movies ever, and why not? It's fun, it's energetic, it's chuck full of inspiration to give every kid out there an idea to do whatever is in their heart, no matter what the odds are or the consequences if you believe in the idea enough. Not to mention a soundtrack that was one of the first tapes I played in my first car, over and over and over again. Leonard Cohen I mean honestly, just simply stunning. And the cameos, a plethora. Talk Hard.