Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Directed by Allan Moyle
Mark Hunter, a lonely high school student, uses his shortwave radio to moonlight as the popular pirate DJ "Hard Harry." When his show gets blamed for a teen committing suicide, the students clash with high school faculty and the authorities.
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During the 1980s, teen movies predominantly splintered into two categories: John Hughes "dramadies" and the raunch of Porky's.
By day, Mark is a conscientious student whose writing teacher, Jan Emerson (Ellen Greene, Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors), praises his work, and who attracts the attention of goth girl Nora Diniro (Samantha Mathis).
But he does show off writing talent in an English class (taught by Ellen Greene, of "Little Shop of Horrors").
"Pump Up the Volume" is a teenage version of "Talk Radio" that has aspirations of being this generation's "Rebel Without a Cause."
Original and intelligent, “Pump Up the Volume,” a feature about teen angst, was written and directed by Allan Moyle, who previously dealt with disaffected, music-obsessed teens in “Times Square.”
Cowriter (with Jacob Brackman)/director Allan Moyle ("Pump Up the Volume," TV's 'The Man in the Mirror') had something a little grittier in mind when he made this early film, which ending up playing a bit like "The Warriors" crossed with "Hardcore" in a toothless kind of way.