Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent but underrated film

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

In a suffocating upper middle class suburb, an angry teen's pirate radio station offers a clarion call to his peers: Everything is terrible, and we should do ... something!The movie doesn't really explain too clearly what's terrible, beyond parents and a bit of corruption introduced late in the movie just to prove the DJ is right, but that doesn't matter, because angsty teens don't need proof that parents suck and the school is a mind-killing fascist state.You could dismiss this as a movie about privileged white teens throwing a tantrum, but the movie is so compelling that you probably won't. With Christian Slater perfect as an angry DJ by night and a shy kid by day, the movie runs on passion and a great soundtrack (with songs ranging from Everybody Knows to Dad I'm in Jail), and you totally believe every unlikely second, as kids consistently outwit remarkably stupid and cartoonish adults and start a movement to ...It's unclear what the agenda is, beyond free speech and being true to yourself, but it doesn't really matter. Even if it's unclear what the revolution is, this movie makes you want to sign up.

Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is a loner and a quiet nobody during the day in an Arizona high school. During the night, he's the popular anonymous pirate radio DJ Hard Harry. His father moved the family from New York to become the youngest school commissioner. Jan Emerson (Ellen Greene) is Mark's beloved English teacher. Nora Diniro (Samantha Mathis) works to uncover Hard Harry's true identity. Hard Harry fails to talk down suicidal student Malcolm Kaiser who ends up killing himself. Soon principal Creswood, the police, the media and even the FCC are after the mystery DJ.This is a great title to a terrific teen rebel movie. Slater has the power and the pure energy. This and "Heathers" are two of the best high school movies with a darker edge. It is in line with a long tradition of movies similar to "Rebel Without a Cause". Samantha Mathis has enough dark edge to match him. This hits the teenage angst right on target. It also has an eclectic mix of music.

Great movie, seen it in the theater when it first came out and loved it, still do. I loved the chemistry between all the character's and how the plot went. I felt similar to him during those years, so I connected really well with the the way the movie went.I advise any and everyone to at least see it once. I bought it as soon as it was released and have had it since, still watch it every now and then. There is a piece of music at the beginning during the bus scene that I can not find any information about. I have wanted that song since I heard it then, but can't find out what it is. If anybody know's (parden the pun)could you please post it for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank You.

In a career dotted with offbeat and quirky roles Christian Slater was at his most offbeat and quirky in Pump Up The Volume. Slater plays a young transfer student from an eastern high school to a new school in Arizona. His Clark Kent persona is a mild mannered wallflower type. But his father made the mistake of giving him a short wave radio set to keep in touch with friends back east who are presumably ham radio operators. What Slater does is create his own pirate radio station and starts with another whole personality of disc jockey Harry Hardon. Slater's other self isn't Superman, he's more like a teenage version of Howard Beale from Network.He's amusing at first until one of the students commits suicide after calling in and Slater does little to discourage his intentions. That's a hard call to make, even professionals miss telltale signs of that kind of serious depression.But when Slater starts disrupting the power structure in the person of principal Annie Ross, the hunt is on with even the Federal Communications Commission brought in to track down this broadcasting felon. Imagine Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest as a school principal and you've got Ross. The main weakness of Pump Up The Volume is that Slater and Ross create the only two memorable characters. All the rest are strictly in support, we get no insights into any of the rest of the cast. But these two are memorable characters. A teenage mad prophet of the air and a school principal from hell.Pump Up The Volume is a staple for Christian Slater fans.