Factual error: When Christian Slater is talking on the phone in one scene, it is clear it is a cordless phone. When he slams it down, however, it makes that "ding" sound like older phones that really have a bell in them.
Pump up the Volume (1990)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Allan Moyle
Starring: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Annie Ross, Anthony Lucero, Andy Romano, Cheryl Pollak, Keith Stuart Thayer
The FCC comes to town. Hard Harry holds one final broadcast, taking his transmitter mobile so it is harder to trace. The FCC catches Harry at the high school where he tells a group of listening students to start their own stations. He is arrested. As the movie ends we hear others, including teachers, who have started their own pirate radio stations.
More mistakes in Pump up the Volume
Mark Hunter: You see there's nothing to do anymore. Everything decent's been done. All the great themes in life have been used up, turned into theme parks. So I don't really find it exactly cheerful to be living in the middle of a totally exhausted decade where there's nothing to look forward to and no-one to look up to.
Trivia: Every time Harry plays a recording of "Everybody Knows" to start his show, he uses a different format. First it's a reel-to-reel tape, then a vinyl record, then a cassette tape.
Question: How come Mark's parents couldn't hear him while he was broadcasting as Hard Harry in their basement? Wouldn't they hear their son talking?
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Answer: The first time I watched the movie, I kept thinking that Mark's parents were going to hear him and catch "Harry" in the act. When the girl was with Mark, Mark's parents pounded on the outside door; when Mark opened the door, his parents said they thought they heard him talking to someone. So, from outside the garage door, someone might be able to hear muffled voices but not the actual words. Why his parents cannot hear him in the basement when they are indoors lies in the props/scenery plus some inference. The numerous objects in the room (tapes, CDs, albums, guitar, drums, bongo drums, recording instruments, amps, etc.) indicate that Mark is into music - loud music - and electronics. He apparently was given garage/utility storage space to turn into essentially a studio for himself and a place to play his drums and music without disturbing his parents. The space has been sound-proofed - thick concrete walls, insulation, and cloth wall hangings to deaden the sound.
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