Pump Up the Volume [Blu-ray]

Director: Allan Moyle Allan Moyle

Overview

Teenage angst finds a new voice in this drama. By day, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is a quiet, studious student at an ordinary suburban high school in Arizona. But at night, Mark creeps down into his basement, fires up his pirate radio transmitter, and broadcasts to the community as Hard Harry, a sexually obsessed social commentator who passes along angry philosophy about the state of teenage life when not blasting punk rock or gangsta rap cuts. Hard Harry's sworn nemesis is high school principal Mrs. Cresswood (Annie Ross), who keeps SAT scores up at the expense of her students' dignity and individuality by eliminating "troublemakers" from the student body. Hard Harry's broadcasts, however, have become a rallying point for the school's misfit underclass, and Mrs. Cresswood is determined to track down the mystery student and bring him to justice (broadcasting without a license, he's not merely an annoyance, but a criminal). The war against Hard Harry intensifies when he broadcasts data from confidential school board reports; Mark's father is a school commissioner, but he has no idea what his son is doing in the basement. Meanwhile, Mark gains the attentions of Nora (Samantha Mathis), who has figured out who he becomes at night. More serious and intelligent than the average teen film, Pump Up the Volume was written and directed by Allan Moyle, who previously dealt with disaffected, music-obsessed teens in Times Square and would return to them with Empire Records.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2021
UPC:	0883929737116
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	13,646

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Christian Slater	Mark Hunter/Hard Harry
Samantha Mathis	Nora
Ellen Greene	Jan
Scott Paulin	Brian
Cheryl Pollak	Paige
Andy Romano	Murdock
Mimi Kennedy	Martha
Annie Ross	Mrs. Creswood
Mark Ballou	Eric
Jill Jaress	Mrs. Kaiser
Lala Sloatman	Janie
Ahmet Zappa	Jamie
Dan Eisenstein	Donald
Nigel Gibbs	Marshall
Seth Green	Joey
James Hampton	Arthur Watts
Clayton Landey	Shep Sheppard
Jill Jarres	Actor
Lala	Actor
Judith Holstra	Actor
Billy Morrissette	Mazz Mazzilli
Jonathan Mazer	Jonathan
Robert Schenkkan	David Deaver
Allan Kolman	Postal Clerk
David McKnight	Detective #1
Tony Auer	Police Officer
Robert Harvey	Detective Denny
Matt McGrath	Chris
Steve Archer	Harry Video
Lin Shaye	PTA Parent #3
Roger Scott	TV Announcer #1 / Crispin
Gary Dubin	TV Announcer #2
David Glasser	Jack
Juliet Landau	Teri
Marc Siegler	Teacher Stern
Cliff Martinez	Composer

Technical Credits

Allan Moyle

Allan Moyle	Director,Screenwriter
Syd Cappe	Executive Producer
Sara Risher	Executive Producer
Nicolas Stiliadis	Executive Producer
Rupert Harvey	Producer
Sandy Stern	Producer
Judith Holstra	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Writer/director Allan Moyle updates the ideals of the 1960s and 1970s in this story of a would-be revolutionary (Christian Slater) who incites teen revolt with his basement pirate radio station. Slater's "Hard Harry" on-air persona is equal parts Lenny Bruce and Jack Kerouac, and the film's first half cruises by on his bawdy, inflammatory dispatches. Harry's song choices as a DJ are stellar as well: underground angst anthems from Sonic Youth, Peter Murphy, and The Pixies mingle with a few classic picks from the Leonard Cohen songbook. Though Moyle resorts to typical, anti-authoritarian plot contrivances in the latter half, Slater and romantic interest Samantha Mathis coax convincing emotion out of the script's more leaden moments. The film's righteous, us-versus-them feel has more in common with 1950s high school pictures like Rebel Without a Cause than with Slater's previous teen effort, the ironic Heathers.