Risky Business **** (1983, Tom Cruise, Rebecca DeMornay) – Classic Movie Review 1515

Writer-director Paul Brickman’s key 80s Brat Pack teen comedy turned the 21-year-old Tom Cruise into a hot young star in his fifth movie after Endless Love, Taps, The Outsiders and Losin’ It. Costing $6million, Risky Business was a mega smash, earning more than ten times that at the box office.

It is an appealing, often hilarious entertainment, given a huge shot in the arm by Cruise’s fresh and engaging performance as the suburban Chicago yuppie teenager Joel Goodsen who goes wild when his parents go out of town on vacation, leaving him home alone. He takes a disastrous, unauthorised trip in his father’s Porsche that leads to a sudden need for lots of money. But he manages to raise this in a most creative way, putting up savvy call-girl-on-the-run Lana (Rebecca DeMornay) in his parents’ home and turning it into a bordello.

As writer, Paul Brickman gives the familiar kind of teenage boys’ fantasy an intelligent, satirical edge and adds tension to the mix with a nail-biting finish, while, as director, Brickman keeps it fast and funny throughout, and coaxes warm as well as amusing performances from the special cast.

It did great business for Cruise’s career and the sales of classic Ray-Bans and old-style tighty-whitey Y-fronts, which are all the hero’s wearing (apart from his shirt and socks) in the film’s most famous sequence, the completely improvised dance scene where Joel dances to Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll.  Annual sales of the Ray-Ban Wayfarer model were languishing in 1983 but skyrocketed 2000 per cent after the movie’s release.

Will & Grace’s Karen, Megan Mullally, is one of the call girls. Joe Pantoliano, Richard Masur, Bronson Pinchot, Curtis Armstrong, Nicholas Pryor, Raphael Sbarge, Janet Carroll, Kevin Anderson, Shera Danese and Bruce A Young co-star.

Timothy Hutton was the first choice as Joel but he turned it down. He and Cruise were in Taps together. Another Taps star Sean Penn has a cameo sitting in the passenger seat as Joel first takes the Porsche for a spin.

To look like a fresh-faced teenager, Cruise worked out seven days a week and lost 10lb, then ceased working out and ate fatty foods to add a layer of baby fat.

Tangerine Dream based parts of their score on material from their previous albums, particularly Force Majeure. The title track is the basis for Lana’s theme, and the intro to Cloudburst Flight was reused for Guido the Killer Pimp. No Future (Get off the Babysitter) is based on the title track to the album Exit.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1515

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