Revealing mistake: Near the middle of the movie Samantha Mathis is walking across the high school campus. The name of the high school in the movie is "Hubert Humphrey High School, " but behind her, above the library door, a sign says "Saugus High School Library". Shows better in 4.3 aspect. (00:31:45)
Pump up the Volume (1990)
Directed by: Allan Moyle
Starring: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Annie Ross, Anthony Lucero, Andy Romano, Cheryl Pollak, Keith Stuart Thayer
Continuity mistake: When the teachers play the confiscated tapes of Harry, it's Christian Slater's voice, not the disguised voice you hear on the students' radios.
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.
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.
Nora: I say do it. I don't care what, just do it. Jam me, jack me, push me, pull me, talk hard.
Hard Harry: Sometimes being young is less fun than being dead.
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.
Question: I've always wondered if Mark, just before his final broadcast, told his parents the whole truth. It would seem that way because Mark tells his girlfriend his mom let him use the Jeep ("She kinda loaned it to me"). Also, his Dad was at the gathering in the school's athletic field, but there is no shot of him acting surprised or horrified when Mark pulls in to where the crowd is and gets arrested. So the question is: did Mark fess up to his parents? Or is it irrelevant/left for us to wonder?
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?
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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Chosen answer: Well, with no actual scene where he confesses, it's left up to us to wonder. Personally, I find it unlikely that he'd actually admit the whole thing to his parents, but they're not stupid and already had their suspicions, so the lack of any great surprise on his father's part isn't unreasonable. You also have to remember that Mark's voice changer had already broken before they drove down to the crowd - his father would have easily recognised his voice before his actual arrival, giving him a certain amount of time to get through the initial shock.
Tailkinker