Pump Up the Volume, written and directed by Allan Moyle. Starring Christian Slater. Originally released August 1990, Rated R. 102 minutes.
"Talk Hard. Steal the Air."
This review is a departure from the usual for this blog. I normally only review or write annotations for books. Movies have always been a big part of my life and after re-watching Pump Up the Volume recently (after at least 5 years and 20 years after the first time I saw it), I felt a brief review here was necessary.
Mark is a shy new kid in a small town Arizona high school. At night he becomes Hard Harry, an uncensored DJ on a pirate radio station. He starts to gain loyal listeners amongst the teens in the town who have been waiting for someone to jolt them out of their stupor. When Hard Harry begins to expose the hypocrisy and corruption of the school principal, the FCC is called in to end the show.
This movie was in theatres in 1990. Here was the teen experience of suburbia--the boredom, the pressures, the loneliness. Slater's portrayal of Mark/Hard Harry was so meaningful and honest to me then and when I watched it again, all of the same emotions came back to me. There are some moments when it feels a little dated and almost corny, but this cannot really be avoided with a film 20 years old.
What struck me the most watching it now (as basically an adult) was really a question. Could this movie speak to teenagers today like it did to me when I was young? Teenagers who seem to enjoy being conformists and are so connected to one another almost all of the time? Could they even relate to a pirate radio DJ in these days of Facebook, cell phones, etc.?
