Pump Up the Volume (1990) on Netflix
Mark Hunter, a shy newcomer in a Phoenix suburb, spends his nights as Hard Harry, a pirate DJ broadcasting from his parents' basement. Principal Loretta Creswood wants him off the air.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.2/1033,865 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Mark Hunter is a shy, intelligent teenager who has just moved from the East Coast to a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. By day he has trouble socializing. At night, from his parents' basement, he runs a pirate radio station, the only place he can let out his teenage angst. As Hard Harry he says what he thinks about American society and about the underhanded dealings of his school's faculty. A handful of loyal listeners becomes most of the student body, and Principal Loretta Creswood is angry about the broadcasts. Then a depressed student named Malcolm Kaiser writes to Harry about ending his life, and Harry treats the letter as a joke. The next day it is discovered that the student has killed himself, and the faculty and the parents hold the pirate deejay responsible.
Cast
- Keith Stuart Thayeras Luis Chavez
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Moyle initially wanted to cast John Cusack, but Cusack turned the role down because he did not want to play another high school student after Say Anything...; Christian Slater then met Moyle and producer Sandy Stern and displayed the qualities they wanted.
- The film won the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, beating the festival favorite, Denys Arcand's Academy Award-nominated Jesus of Montreal, and some audience members booed when it was named the winner.
- Slater disagreed with Moyle, who wanted to bring in a tap dance instructor to orchestrate the scene in which "Hard Harry" fakes masturbation on air and then breaks into a manic dance; Slater wanted something more spontaneous, based on his instincts.
