Comments on: Risky Business (1983)

By: Fran James

Fran James — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:21:55 +0000

A superb film, watched as a teen and it gave me a thing about Rebecca DeMornay!!! have watched it many times since, the sound track by Tangerine Dream makes the film, gives it an atnosphere that shapes the whole film, makes me feel 18 again every time i watch it, thank god for Rebecca DeMornay lol

By: cjKennedy

cjKennedy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:47:43 +0000

I’m sure I just forgot to click submit, or there was a glitch when I did. It was a spectacularly un-insightful comment.

By: Joe Valdez

Joe Valdez — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:04:44 +0000

Pat: I think people who haven’t really seen Risky Business think it’s Tom Cruise in his underwear and dismiss the movie on that basis. But you’re right, the script does have something to say, and the terrific style alone would make this a great double feature with Michael Mann’s Thief. I believe Tangerine Dream scored that film and it took place in nocturnal Chicago as well. Thanks as always for commenting! R.C.: Jeffrey Wells made the same comment you did on his Hollywood Confidential blog about the film’s ending, praising David Geffen for forcing the director to reshoot it. I find the conclusion more ironic than I do “happy” and agree it’s an improvement over what Brickman had in mind. By the way, I’ve been reading Strange Culture for some time and am glad you decided to drop by and comment. Thanks! Chuck: Terrific observation. I think Brickman remains empathetic towards people and only satirizes the system, which gives the film the depth you’re talking about. I think you can interpret the ending in several ways. I actually feel that Joel’s business venture was a failure, yet he discovers that unlike what he’s been preached in high school, failure in the real world isn’t the end, but just the start of something new. At any rate, The Graduate was more about apathy, whereas this film was all about enterprise, making it much more of our generation. Craig: I'd never delete one of your comments deliberately, so either it was accidental, or it didn't get saved. If you can recall what you wrote, please feel free to share it with my 11 other readers.

By: cjKennedy

cjKennedy — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:58:25 +0000

hmmm…I left a comment on Risky Business the other day, but now it’s gone. Am I dreaming?

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:03:52 +0000

I love Risky Business, its remarkably empathetic and satiric at the same time, which is hard to do without having the elements cancel one another out. The film gets the frustrating, blue ball, will I ever get a break horniness of being a teen without pandering, and the women get some wonderful zingers, I love the one where one of Lana’s friends praises Joel’s friends for being polite, and then adding “quick.”

I agree with you on the ending Joe, it may techinically be happy, but there is an ambivalence to it, having the business succeed and Joel move on is a more potent spoof of the sort of capitalist shenangans that Brickman was examining. And Pataliano is hilarious, and DeMournay is funny, and sexy.

Personally, I think it holds together bettter than The Graduate, which does pander, and which does fall apart toward the end.

By: RC of strangeculture

RC of strangeculture — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:06:06 +0000

That’s intersting on the comparison to the graduate by S & E.

I gotta say, i’m glad the film had the happy ending that probably best matches the tone and genre of the time.

By: Piper

Piper — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:14:30 +0000

I keep on wanting to dismiss Risky Business as just another teen sex romp, but it’s so much more than that. The Michael Mann connection is a good one. Between the Tangerine Dream Soundtrack and the stylish direction, this movie aspires to be more and damn if I don’t appreciate it for that.