Risky Business

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Risky Business

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Brickman
Produced by Jon Avnet
Steve Tisch
The Geffen Company
Written by Paul Brickman
Starring Tom Cruise
Rebecca De Mornay
Joe Pantoliano
Music by Tangerine Dream
Cinematography Bruce Surtees
Editing by Richard Chew
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) August 5, 1983
Running time 98 min.
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
German
Budget $6.2 million
Gross revenue $63,541,777
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Risky Business is a 1983 comedy film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It is considered in retrospect to be the film that brought its male lead, Tom Cruise, to prominence.[1]

The film also stars Rebecca De Mornay as Lana and Joe Pantoliano as Guido. It features Curtis Armstrong as Miles, Richard Masur as Rutherford, the Princeton University interviewer and Bronson Pinchot as Barry.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise) is a high school student who lives with his wealthy parents in the North Shore area of Chicago. His father wants him to attend Princeton University, so he participates in Future Enterprisers, an extracurricular activity in which students work in teams to create small businesses.

When his parents go away on a trip, Joel lives it up at home. On the first night, he raids the liquor cabinet, plays the stereo loudly, and dances around the living room in his underwear. Another night, he races his father's Porsche 928, despite his parents' explicit instruction to drive only his mother's car.

The following day, his friend Miles (Curtis Armstrong) suggests that Joel contact a call girl for a "good time". Joel refuses, but Miles calls "Jackie" on his behalf and leaves Joel's address on the answering machine. Jackie (Bruce A. Young) turns out to be a tall, masculine black person (possibly a transvestite). Joel sends Jackie away, but before she leaves, she gives Joel the number for Lana, another prostitute, promising that she's what "every white boy off the lake wants".

That night, Joel is unable to sleep and hesitantly calls Lana (Rebecca De Mornay). She visits him that evening. She is a stunning blonde. They spend a heated night together.

The following morning, Lana asks Joel for $300. She agrees to wait while he goes to the bank to get the money; however, when he returns, Lana is gone, along with his mother's expensive crystal egg.

Joel and Miles go to a restaurant where Jackie says Lana will be. Joel sees Lana, but only waves at her before leaving. As they are leaving, Lana asks Joel for a ride. As they sit in the car, Joel demands the egg back in exchange for the ride. Lana agrees, but as the discussion continues, the car is approached by Lana's pimp, Guido (Joe Pantoliano), who pulls a gun. Joel (in his father's Porsche) is chased in his car by Guido, but eventually escapes.

The next morning, Lana tells Joel that the egg is with the rest of her stuff at Guido's. Joel lets Lana stay while he goes to school. When he returns, his friends are over, and Lana has invited another prostitute, Vicky, to stay. They agree that the stay is only temporary. Later Lana mentions to Joel that "we should get your friends and my friends together. We'd make a lot of money." Joel rejects the idea.

That night, Joel, Lana, Vicky, and Joel's friend Barry (Bronson Pinchot) go out. They get stoned, and while Vicky and Barry wander away, Joel and Lana talk. Joel says something that Lana takes as judgmental, and she leaves. Moments later, the pier on which Joel has parked collapses, and his father's Porsche falls into Lake Michigan.

Joel takes the car to a repair shop. Later he goes to school and argues with the school registrar that if his absence is labeled as unexcused, he will fail two midterms. The confrontation causes him to be punished with two weeks' detention and his expulsion from Future Enterprisers. Exasperated, he goes to visit Lana, and they are reunited.

Joel and Lana arrange a huge party, turning his parents' house into a brothel for a night. Joel describes arranging the event using the same terms as creating the product for his Future Enterprisers business.

The party is a huge success, and the house is packed with young men and prostitutes. However, Joel has forgotten that the interviewer from Princeton (Richard Masur) is still coming by to evaluate Joel. The interview is plagued by interruptions, and the interviewer does not seem impressed by Joel's resume, telling him: "You've done some solid work, but it's just not Ivy League now, is it?" Later, Joel gets a call from his parents, reminding him of their flight home. After the party, Joel and Lana go out and make love on the Chicago 'L'.

The next morning, Joel finds his house has been burglarized. When he tries to call Lana, Guido answers. He tells Joel he that he will let him buy his furniture. Fortunately, Joel and his friends manage to get everything moved back in just as his parents walk in, though his mother notices a crack in her egg. Joel tries to make amends by doing some extra housework. While he is watering the lawn, his father appears and congratulates him: the interviewer was very impressed, and has indicated Joel will be accepted into Princeton.

Later, Joel meets Lana at a restaurant, and they speculate about their future. Joel asks Lana if everything had been a setup; she tells him it was not. As they walk, she tells him that she wants to keep on seeing him; he jokes with her that it will cost her, reenacting the earlier scene where Lana asks Joel for $300.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Risky Business (soundtrack)

The film score was by Tangerine Dream; their songs composed nearly half of the film soundtrack. Also included were songs by Muddy Waters, Prince, Jeff Beck, Journey, Phil Collins, and the song for which the film is best known, "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger.

The soundtrack album was released on Virgin Records, which was also Tangerine Dream's record company at the time the film was released.

The film also included "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen, and "Swamp" by Talking Heads (which includes the words "risky business" in the lyrics). The LP and CD versions of the soundtrack included two different versions of "Love on a Real Train (Risky Business)," neither of which matched the version used in the movie for the final love scene or closing credits.

[edit] Reception

Janet Maslin, in her 1983 review of the film for The New York Times, called it "part satire, part would-be suburban poetry and part shameless showing off" and said the film "shows an abundance of style", though "you would be hard pressed to find a film whose hero's problems are of less concern to the world at large."[2] She called De Mornay "disarming as a call girl who looks more like a college girl" and credits Cruise with making "Joel's transformation from straight arrow to entrepreneur about as credible as it can be made."[2]

Roger Ebert was much more positive, calling it a movie of "new faces and inspired insights and genuine laughs" and "one of the smartest, funniest, most perceptive satires in a long time" that "not only invites comparison with The Graduate, it earns it."[3] He continued:

The very best thing about the movie is its dialogue. Paul Brickman, who wrote and directed, has an ear so good that he knows what to leave out. This is one of those movies where a few words or a single line says everything that needs to be said, implies everything that needs to be implied, and gets a laugh. When the hooker tells the kid, "Oh, Joel, go to school. Learn something," the precise inflection of those words defines their relationship for the next three scenes.[3]

Variety said the film was like a "promising first novel, with all the pros and cons that come with that territory" and complimented Brickman on "the stylishness and talent of his direction."[4]

In 2006, the film was 40th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies; the magazine called the film a "sharp satire of privileged suburban teens" about the "soul-crushing pressure to be perfect."[1][5]

[edit] References and parodies

A scene featuring Cruise's character dancing in his pink dress shirt and briefs to Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger has been referenced or parodied in episodes of a number of television series and movies:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The 50 Best High School Movies from Entertainment Weekly
  2. ^ a b Paul Brickman's Risky Business from an article in The New York Times published August 5, 1983
  3. ^ a b Review of Risky Business by Roger Ebert
  4. ^ Review of Risky Business by Variety
  5. ^ Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best High School Movies from filmsite.org
  6. ^ History of the Risky Business Porsche 928

[edit] External links

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American films of the 1980s
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