Taglines: The music. The legend. The hostage situation.
Airheads movie storyline. Chazz, Rex and Pip are in a Los Angeles metal band called The Lone Rangers who are continuously turned down as they try to get their demo tape heard by producers. After scolding him for being lazy, Chazz’s girlfriend Kayla kicks him out of her apartment. They decide to try to get the local rock station KPPX to play their reel-to-reel tape on the air and attempt to break-in through the back door. After several unsuccessful attempts, a station employee comes out to smoke and they keep the door from shutting behind her.
Once inside, laid back DJ Ian “The Shark” begins talking with them on the air. Station Manager Milo overhears them and intervenes but Ian continues broadcasting. After Milo insults Rex, by calling him “Hollywood Boulevard trash,” he and Chazz pull out realistic looking water pistols and demand airplay. After setting up an old reel-to-reel for the demo, the tape begins to play but is quickly destroyed when the player malfunctions. The guys try to run but Doug Beech, the station’s accountant, had already called the police and they see the building is surrounded.
They negotiate with the police who are now tasked to find Kayla who has a cassette of the demo. Since the station never went off the air, news of the hostage crisis travels quickly and numerous hard rock/metal fans begin showing up outside the radio station interfering with police. A SWAT team has also arrived whose leader prefers using force over negotiation tactics. His team secretly passes a gun through a roof vent to Beech who has been hiding in the air ducts.
During the crisis, it is revealed that Milo had secretly signed a deal to change KPPX’s format to Adult Contemporary, which includes having to fire Ian and most of the other employees. When this comes out, Ian and a few employees side with the band and turn against Milo. The police find Kayla who arrives at the radio station to deliver the tape. She and Chazz get into an argument which escalates quickly resulting in the studio console being destroyed dashing any hopes to play the tape on the air.
As some of the items the band demanded from police are brought into the station, the door shuts on Rex’s plastic gun revealing it to be fake. Seeing this, some of the hostages run out; one telling the SWAT team the band’s guns aren’t real. As the team assembles to storm the station, Beech corners the band from a low hanging air vent. Ian, knowing he no longer will have a job at the station, knocks down Beech’s gun. This causes the weapon to wildly fire several rounds and the police are forced to back off. Ian picks up the gun but gives it to a somewhat confused Chazz in a final act of anti-establishment rebellion.
Airheads is a 1994 American comedy film written by Rich Wilkes and directed by Michael Lehmann. It stars Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler as a band of loser musicians who stage a hijacking of a radio station in order to get airplay for their demo recording. Joe Mantegna, Michael McKean, Ernie Hudson and Michael Richards play supporting roles.
Airheads (1994)
Directed by: Michael Lehmann
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Michael McKean, Judd Nelson, Michael Richards, Amy Locane, Nina Siemaszko, Joe Mantegna
Screenplay by: Rich Wilkes
Production Design by: David Nichols
Cinematography by: John Schwartzman
Film Editing by: Stephen Semel
Costume Design by: Bridget Kelly
Set Decoration by: Jan K. Bergstrom, Jerie Kelter
Art Direction by: Edward T. McAvoy
Music by: Carter Burwell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude dialogue and some sexuality.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: August 5, 1994
Hits: 135
