With due respect to the John Hughes'
classic The Breakfast Club, the most important teen movie of
the 1980's may very well be Risky Business. Released 40 years
ago, Paul Brickman's Risky Business legitimized
teen comedy like no film before it and set the stage for the “High
Renaissance” of that subgenre that took place in the middle of the
decade.
The early 1980's was an era filled with
“high school boys looking to get laid” comedies (e.g., Porky's,
Losin' it, My Tutor) that were thin on story and heavy on goofy,
sometimes inane, humor. But then Risky Business comes along,
featuring that same teenage boy out for sex... except now we get to
see WHY he's experiencing that sexual frustration (as well as a ton of other anxiety.) We witness the pressure he feels (some applied by his
parents, some self-imposed) to raise his SAT score, join school clubs
he has little interest in, and get accepted into the college not he,
but his parents want. Tom
Cruise's Joel Goodson was the first Gen X hero – bored,
disillusioned, forced down paths he's not sure he wants to tread and
enduring a suburban hell complete with a pristine home/prison,
successful parents he can never please or measure up to, and a voice
in his head warning he'll “never have a future.” As Joel courageously tries to live up to his surname, his
attempts to relieve his growing angst by defiantly maxing the volume
on the family stereo and joyriding in his dad's Porsche prove insufficient. Though the apprehension he feels about where he's headed
in life is apparent, relief seems unattainable. That is until he's pointed to call girl named Lana with
the promise, “It's what you want... it's what every white boy off
the lake wants.” It's this exploration of the unknown – the dark,
not so pristine world of sex, prostitutes, and life or death run-ins
with “killer pimps” – that drives the story of this restless,
uneasy Gen-X teenager.
It wouldn't be until the middle of the
decade – with Hughes' Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind
of Wonderful trilogy – that teen comedies would so earnestly
acknowledge and portray the contemporary fears and anxieties of those of us
who came of age in the 80's. Joel's experience in Risky Business
underscored a generation's gnawing need to subvert societal
conventions and oblivious parents who failed to recognize how much
emotional turmoil we were in as we struggled to figure out who we
were and what should come next. In the process, we also had to
navigate our way through expectations of continuing the American familial tradition that existed since the Great Depression, whereby
each succeeding generation acquired more wealth and success than
their parents. In these ways, Risky Business actually defined
Gen X, crystallized its world view and authored its motto with the
ironic and oft quoted line, “Sometimes
you gotta say, 'what the fuck.'”
Risky Business would proceed to
enter the zeitgeist in several ways. The scene where Joel slides
across the hardwood floor in his socks became instantly iconic and
has been parodied in everything from The Simpsons to video
game commercials. Cruise's wardrobe in the film -- Docksiders,
button down dress shirts, Izod polos – became the standard for
preppies everywhere and after he sported 60's style Ray Bans in
multiple scenes, the brand saw a resurgence that continues to this
day. Risky Business proved particularly popular among college
students, so much so that within six months, it was screening on
university campuses and the film's one-sheet was pretty much the
coolest thing you could have hanging in your dorm room. By the
following fall, the film was a mainstay on HBO and its many memorable
lines -- including “Get off the babysitter!”, “Porsche, there
is no substitute.” and “Looks like University of Illinois!” --
were being quoted ad nauseum.
Risky Business further
set itself apart with its artful
cinematography (Lana’s first appearance; the train sequence) and an ethereal original score by Tangerine Dream
that proved a huge departure from the typical teen movie soundtrack
full of contemporary pop and new wave hits.
The end result saw audiences
immediately embracing the film and its stars. Risky Business
grossed $63 million on a $6 million budget and, boosted by positive word of mouth and a
strong second run, would finish as the eighth highest grossing film of the year and the #2 comedy behind only Trading Places. An unknown Rebecca De Mornay (who won the role of Lana after Michelle Pfeiffer passed) was catapulted to
Hollywood's A-list and, though she worked sparingly, graduated to
starring roles in The Trip to Bountiful, The Slugger's Wife,
and the And God Created Woman remake. Over her career, she's delivered a string of stellar but overlooked performances in films
like Runaway Train, The Three Musketeers and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Oh, and that Cruise guy did okay too
– starring in films that grossed a combined $10 billion at the
box office, earning multiple Oscar nominations and becoming what many
consider to be “the last Hollywood movie star.”
Now, forty years later we can look back
at Risky Business and it's cleverly written script as the teen
comedy that broke the mold and forged an alternative paradigm for the
sub-genre. With its more serious take on the teen experience – in
this case, through its The Graduate-like themes of eschewing
the supposed American dream of an Ivy League education, landing a
high paying job, and moving to the suburbs – Risky Business
paved the way for John Hughes' films, Say Anything,
Adventureland, and virtually every other smart, thoughtful
teen comedy that followed.
Related Posts:
The Evolution of the 80s Teen Movie - How Bob Clark, Gen X, and Home Video Changed the Landscape of American Cinema
The Evolution of the 80s Teen Movie - How Bob Clark, Gen X, and Home Video Changed the Landscape of American Cinema - Part II
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