Pre-Podcasted Pump

thesar-2

Some "kids" my age were defined by certain movies, namely John Hughes classics, though you probably can't get a lot of guys to admit that. The sadly underperforming Pump Up the Volume was mine.

It was back in 1989 when I started taking movies more seriously, seeing them more and noticing that they'll eventually consume me. A year later, I saw my first Christian Slater movie (though, almost immediately following, I watched – and not for him – Young Guns II) as well as a "star" I would fall in love with for thereafter: Samantha Mathis, coincidentally, her first movie.

I remember loving the movie, the idea, the setting – finally a teen movie that was set in my current location, Arizona, the mood, the dialogue, the music and definitely the message. What also impressed me was the nonchalant take they had on homosexuality and how the main hero, Hard Harry (Slater) was so accepting of it. (Side Note: I hadn't come out yet by this point, but this certainly helped verses all the negativity surrounding the "gay lifestyle" I heard around me.)

And as independent as this was, it was certainly far before it's time. Christian Slater really plays Mark, but, in what also appealed to me, by night his "Clark Kent" image of Mark was transformed into the "Superman" Hard Harry on a radio program on an unused frequency. What he was doing would be considered a podcast nowadays, only he went the long, and probably only, way around it.

Literally, he didn't think anyone was listening. So this lonely kid, Mark, who was moved by his parents to a small Arizona town, babbles on the air about how bad the high school he was attending as well as the small town. Although, it sounds like he's complaining, he's actually hitting on some direct topics the parents and school board are either ignoring or were ignorant of.

Well, the kids are listening, one by one, growing by the night. Namely, Nora (Mathis), the obvious "Lois Lane" of the trio of characters (if you count Clark and Supe as two), who's trying to find the identity of the voice she hears and absolutely agrees with. Oh, and is it obvious she's also in love with Hard Harry?

A tragedy, one you might not expect with the direction the movie was headed, occurs and now Hard Harry's a target for parents, police, the FCC and of course the school board for what he's saying might actually be true.

They all want him shut down. Naturally, all the kids want him to continue – he's their voice, each and every one of them. Only, Clark, er, Mark's conflicted and the much more shy version of Hard Harry. Leave it to Lois, er, Nora, to save the day once again by giving the real hero a backbone.

I rated this with the highest rating I give: 10/10 stars. I do this for nostalgia purposes, obviously, but re-watching this movie now, after not seeing it for probably 15  years, it really holds up today. Sure, the one message (revealed in the end) of why the school board is wronging the students is somewhat weak, the dozens of others thoroughly outweigh that revolution. Also, as mentioned, I did love (literally, I fell hard for) Mathis; she did a fantastic first job and bold – see: well, her. Further, Slater equally did a excellent job. And the soundtrack remains as one of my all time favorites. I have probably listened to Everybody Knows by Concrete Blonde 660 times since this came out.

This was the un-Hollywood independent film I will cherish for all time. It wasn't splashy, it was intentionally small, it was tight and it was right. All that I wrote above about my first impressions back in 1990 hold up and I stand by them. Watch this movie and know what it was TRULY like being a teen in the early nineties.

score 10/10

thesar-2 11 February 2011

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2383755/