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:

Continuity: When a tape of one of Harry's radio shows is played later at school, it sounds different than the original recording.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (#3.20)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Stand

Slaters teen master class . . .

I loved this film

When I was 17 I first saw the second half of this movie on TV, the next day I scoured my local video shops to buy the film so that I could watch the first half.

I know that sounds a little sad but I really felt that at the time this film was spot on. Parents do seem to hate you, it is incredibly hard to talk to a girl that you want to ask out and school is the last place you ever want to be. This film had the emotions just about right.

I now see its faults but I still feel that it is an excellent movie to its targeted age group, everyone who ever wanted to "rise up in the cafeteria and stab them (teachers) with your plastic fork".

I could fill this review with quotes, the speech on why teen suicide is a bad idea is up there with the "Am I funny?" scene in goodfella's.

Christian Slater is excellent, apparently it's his favourite movie and you can see that he enjoyed making it. He does dark-teen like no one else, this is Nicholson at 16! In my humble opinion this film is at the top of the teen-flick chart alongside Heathers.

Samantha Mathis makes an intriguing leading lady, she really gets her character spot on. Miss Mathis also provides one of the best sexual tension scenes ever in this genre. (it's all in the music)

A young Seth Green also makes an appearance that I am sure he would rather forget, his acting is fine it's how he looks thats the problem !!

This film is dark, funny and brutaly honest. If you are under 20 and still hate the world this will kill a couple of those boring 'too old to play to young to drink' hours.

Highly recommended.