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Risky Business



A sly piece of pop subversion, this irresistible satire of Reagan-era materialism features Tom Cruise in his star-is-born breakthrough as a Chicago suburban prepster whose college-bound life spirals out of control when his parents go out of town for the week and an enterprising call girl (Rebecca De Mornay) invites him to walk on the wild side. While Cruise boogying in his briefs yielded one of the most iconic pop-cultural moments of the 1980s, it is the film's unexpected mix of tender romance (enhanced by a moody synth score by Tangerine Dream) and sharp-witted capitalist critique that remains fresh and daring.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restorations of the director's cut and the original theatrical release, supervised and approved by director Paul Brickman and producer Jon Avnet, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary for the original theatrical release featuring Brickman, Avnet, and actor Tom Cruise
• New interviews with Avnet and casting director Nancy Klopper
• New conversation between editor Richard Chew and film historian Bobbie O’Steen
• The Dream Is Always the Same: The Story of "Risky Business," a program featuring interviews with Brickman, Avnet, cast members, and others
• Screen tests with Cruise and actor Rebecca De Mornay
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film curator and critic Dave Kehr

If my memory of surreal early 2010s Internet humor serves me well, this is the movie where Tom Cruise dances with Shaggy in a loop and is then blown up by Scientology.

An incredibly atmospheric, surreal, and beautiful film. Cruise has had flashier performances, but never been able to deliver another as nuanced and perfect as this. Thank goodness Timothy Hutton passed and Cruise didn’t take Rumble Fish (and did poorly in his audition for Dune)

“I want to make love on a real train.”

I’m hoping Paul Brickman’s sole other feature as a director, Men Don’t Leave, is on the docket, too.

Wait, where the fuck is the original ending that is a supplement on WB’s disc?

beamish14 wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:42 pm Wait, where the fuck is the original ending that is a supplement on WB’s disc?

Criterion lists this as a director’s cut, so maybe it’s integrated back into the film.

I'm not sure about "tender romance," since Cruise and DeMornay's relationship, while convincingly carnal, is also pretty obviously transactional. (This is perhaps more obvious in the original ending, though I really like the released ending too and may even prefer it. The original is more caustic, but the release ending is pretty unsettling in its own way.)

Great movie. Has Brickman ever talked at length about why he made this one, the poorly-received Men Don't Leave, and then called it quits?

pistolwink wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 5:43 pm I'm not sure about "tender romance," since Cruise and DeMornay's relationship, while convincingly carnal, is also pretty obviously transactional. (This is perhaps more obvious in the original ending, though I really like the released ending too and may even prefer it. The original is more caustic, but the release ending is pretty unsettling in its own way.)

Great movie. Has Brickman ever talked at length about why he made this one, the poorly-received Men Don't Leave, and then called it quits?

From what I remember reading about him, he was very, very selective about what he would commit to directing, and he focused most of his energy on writing scripts for others. I think he teaches at the AFI now alongside John Badham

I see he wrote Citizens Band!

But also Bad News Bears Breaking Training

swo17 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 7:13 pm I see he wrote Citizens Band!

But also Bad News Bears Breaking Training

I’d love to read his original draft of Deal of the Century and see if William Friedkin mangled something that could’ve been brilliant. Guy got films made by Demme, Friedkin, and Clint Eastwood

beamish14 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 6:50 pm From what I remember reading about him, he was very, very selective about what he would commit to directing, and he focused most of his energy on writing scripts for others. I think he teaches at the AFI now alongside John Badham

Sure, but he barely had any scripts produced after Men Don't Leave (although it's possible that was just bad luck). Was True Crime actually a "new" script by Brickman or an old one that got dusted off and re-written by the other credited writers?

Men Don't Leave is interesting in that it applies very much the same stylistic approach as Risky Business to a very different sort of movie.

CSM126 wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:45 pm

beamish14 wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:42 pm Wait, where the fuck is the original ending that is a supplement on WB’s disc?

Criterion lists this as a director’s cut, so maybe it’s integrated back into the film.

Both the theatrical cut and director’s cut are on the disc in 4k.

Screenshots of the 4K were just posted: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=188

This looks like one of Criterion’s best restorations and encodes.