Risky Business (1983, Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay)

Tom Cruise, in his breakthrough role, plays Joel Goodson, a straight-As student who lives in Chicago’s affluent North Shore. When his parents go on holiday, leaving him in charge, he does what any level-headed teenager would do – takes the Porsche and heads downtown, where he picks up classy hooker Lana (Rebecca De Mornay). She’s on the run from her pimp and is quite happy to go back to his place, but when she sees the opulence, the dollar signs flash.

Seducing Joel, she then persuades him that if he turns the house into a brothel for the night, she can provide the girls to relieve his friends. And not just of their cash. Joel goes for the idea, particularly since he could use the exercise for the Future Enterpriser programme at college. The night goes swimmingly – until her pimp Guido (Joel Pantoliano) turns up and proceeds to strip the house of its furniture for payments due. And how will Joel explain why the Porsche is now in a lake, and will Lana become a girlfriend rather than a business partner?

The film is lifted above the teen sex comedies of the time by the playing of the two leads, with Cruise showing a character torn between being a dutiful son and cutting loose as a wild teenager, while De Mornay is the classic hooker-with-the-heart-of-stone that may turn gold. Brinkman, who was to go on and direct just one more film, gives the film a dark edge, mixing comedy with some tension-filled moments of danger from Pantoliano, emphasised by effective fantasy sequences that underline Cruise’s uncertainties in a film that has been favourably compared to The Graduate .

production details
USA| 98 minutes | 1983

Director: Paul Brickman
Script: Paul Brickman,

cast
Tom Cruise as Joel Goodsen
Rebecca De Mornay as Lana
Curtis Armstrong as Miles
Bronson Pinchot as Barry
Joe Pantoliano as Guido
Richard Masur as Rutherford
Shera Danese as Vicki
Raphael Sbarge as Glenn
Janet Carroll as Joel’s Mother
Nicholas Pryor as Joel’s Father
Kevin Anderson as Chuck
Sarah Partridge as Kessler
Scott Harlan as Stan Licata
Brent Bauer as Howie Rifkin
Bruce A. Young as Jackie
Francine Locke as Shower Girl