Paul Brickman

Risky Business

Risky Business (1983), written and directed by Paul Brickman, follows Chicago high school senior Joel Goodson during a week alone in his affluent Glencoe home. What begins as hedonistic freedom spirals into a series of escalating transactions—sexual, financial, logistical—culminating in a brothel-party business venture. Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay anchor a tightly constructed satire about class, performance, and deferred consequence, shot by Bruce Surtees and Reynaldo Villalobos, scored by Tangerine Dream. Though some supporting elements feel dated or underdeveloped, its structural rigour and thematic clarity sustain its reputation as a defining American comedy-drama of the 1980s.