'Risky Business'

'Risky Business' (R) (83) ****

Writer and Director: Paul Brickman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca DeMornay, Joe Pantaliano, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot

'Risky Business' is the movie that made Tom Cruise a star and also a movie I think is one of the best coming of age movies. It is also my favorite movie set in high school and one of the ten best filmed in the Chicago land area. This was a very adult film that followed more in the line of 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' than a John Hughes movie. You knew watching Cruise in the movie that he would be a major star and it announced a younger Joe Pantaliano as a future famous character actor. The movie has great location work including filming a car chase on the street I lived a few blocks away from. The cinematography is beautiful and fits perfectly with the dark material. Now it might not be a realistic look at high school sometimes but the characters seem real. There are major laughs but they are character and story based instead of cheap jokes. The cast is strong and another case of many actors that would go on to do much more. That includes Pantaliano, DeMornay, Pinchot and Armstrong. This is a great companion piece to 'The Graduate' and I think a better movie probably because it spoke more to me. This is a great look at kids having adult dreams and striving to become better even if it is running a prostitution ring. It is one of the movies that influenced me to want to become a director with it's message and it's craftsmanship. If you haven't seen it I urge you to because it definitely is a movie of it's time and defines the 80's perfectly. This is also on my list of my favorite 100 movies of all time.