Risky Business Criterion Collection Review: Introducing Tom Cruise and Guido the Killer Pimp

Written and directed by Paul Brickman, 1983’s Risky Business turned Tom Cruise into a superstar. And it isn’t just dancing across the floor in tidy whities: Cruise’s personality and charm are ridiculously magnetic in every scene. 

Cruise plays Joel Goodsen, a high school senior obsessed with acing his college entrance exams and his search for sexual encounters. Joel’s parents (Janet Carroll and Nicholas Pryor) leave on a trip and Joel is left alone at home for a week. His buddies are keen to get laid and his friend Miles (Curtis Armstrong) calls for a prostitute to come to Joel’s house the first night. There is a bit of a mix-up when a cross-dresser named Jackie (Bruce A. Young) comes to the door, but Jackie is sympathetic and gives Joel the number of a woman she describes as every Chicago rich boy’s dream.

That night, though obviously nervous, Joel calls on Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) to fulfill his fantasies. By morning, the dream is in the past, but the $300 bill is real and due. When Joel returns from the bank, he finds that Lana is gone as well as his mother’s prized glass egg that usually sits above the fireplace. Joel finds Lana and asks for the egg back, but Lana’s pimp, Guido, intervenes with a gun, and Joel, Lana, and Miles are chased through the streets of Chicago by “Guido the killer pimp.”

Joel borrows his dad’s Porsche (it is a coming-of-age tale after all) and, when Lana accidentally releases the parking brake, it goes into the drink. The price to fix the car is exorbitant, and Joel is convinced by Lana to use his own house as a brothel while his parents are away. With all of his student friends ready for a break before college, it is likely to be a big payday.

There is a cynical way to look at all these hijinks: as the machinations of one femme fatale named Lana. Lana steals the egg. Lana “accidentally” bumps the parking brake. Lana tells her pimp about Joel’s house. Whether or not it is all a set-up is an important question to Joel. The short change to the ending in the included director’s cut doesn’t do much to help clarify.

According to the Criterion liner notes, the specs are as follows: “Risky Business is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Supervised and approved by director Paul Brickman and producer Jon Avnet, the new 4K restorations of the director’s cut and the original theatrical release were created from the 35 mm original camera negative and a 35 mm interpositive. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original magnetic tracks. The feature is presented in Dolby Vision HDR (high dynamic range) on the 4K Ultra HD disc and high-definition SDR (standard dynamic range) on the Blu-ray.”

Bonus Features:

• Commentary with producer Jon Avnet (2008), director Paul Brickman, and actor Tom Cruise
• The Dream Is Always the Same: The Story of Risky Business – In this documentary (2008), director Paul Brickman, actors Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay, and other key collaborators share anecdotes about the making of Risky Business.
• Producer Jon Avnet talks (2024) about his collaboration with director Paul Brickman.
• Editor Richard Chew and film historian Bobbie O’Steen discuss (2024) the decisions behind specific sequences in Risky Business.
• Casting director Nancy Klopper talks (2024) about the search for the cast of Risky Business.
• Movie poster with “Coming of Age in Reagan’s America,” an essay by film curator and critic Dave Kehr on the back.
• Director’s Cut
• Screen Tests
• Trailer

Risky Business is a nice bit of nostalgia from the early ’80s, and it is fun to see Cruise’s shining star. It is still reasonably funny, and Rebecca De Mornay absolutely sizzles as the enigmatic Lana. Recommended.