|
Risky Business (1983)
In writer/director Paul Brickman's debut film - an
effective, satirical and well-received teen sex comedy that equated
the rewards of sexuality and a successful capitalistic Horatio Alger-like
enterprise:
- the film's first zooming-out image: the face of
Chicago suburbia-dwelling, college-bound high school Joel Goodson
(Tom Cruise), in the town of Glencoe, speaking directly into the
camera (wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses) for the dreamy, hallucinatory
opening scene
- the opening fantasy-dream
sequence in which Joel saw a strange young "incredible girl" (Francine
Locke credited as "Shower
Girl") soaping up in a steamy shower in a neighbor's house:
"The dream is always the same. Instead of going home, I go to the
neighbors'. I ring, but nobody answers. The door is open, so I go
inside. I'm looking around for the people, but nobody seems to be
there. And then I hear the shower running, so I go upstairs to see
what's what. Then I see her. This girl! This incredible girl! I mean,
what she's doing there, I don't know, because she doesn't live
there. But it's a dream, so I go with it. 'Who's there?' she says.
'Joel,' I say. 'What are you doing here?' 'I don't know what
I'm doing here. What are you doing here?' 'I'm taking a shower,'
she says. Then I give her: 'Do you want me to go?' 'No,' she
says. 'I want you to wash my back.' So now I'm getting enthusiastic
about this dream. So, I go to her, but she's hard to find through
all the steam and stuff. I keep losing her. Finally, I get
to the door and I find myself in a room full of kids taking
their College Boards. I'm over three hours late! I've got two
minutes to take the whole test. I've just made a terrible mistake.
I'll never get to college. My life is ruined"; his fantasy-dream,
capped by her non-chalant request: "I want you to wash
my back" - had made him three hours late for his College Boards' SAT test
- the sequences of the repeated advice of Joel's
friend Miles Dalby (Curtis Armstrong) to live freely: "Sometimes
you gotta say, 'What the f-k.' Make your move....Every now and
then say, 'What the f--k.' What the f--k gives you freedom. Freedom
brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future" - it was especially
good advice to use during Joel's upcoming parents'
vacation ("'What the f--k.' If you can't say it, you can't do it")
- while taking his parents (Nicholas Pryor,
Janet Carroll) to the airport for a one-week trip to Europe, Joel
was reminded of his chores and of his father's prohibition not
to drive his Porsche, and was given some emergency money: (Mother:
"As far as the house is concerned, just use your best judgment.
You know we trust you")
- the sequences of Joel's decision to experience
a good time while his materialistic, strict parents were away; after
setting the table with a still-frozen TV dinner and a drink from
the liquor cabinet (Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey mixed with Coke),
Joel's famed exhibitionist-karaoke scene, including his floor-sliding
entrance into the front hallway while solo dancing; he was
wearing white socks, a long-sleeved button-downed pink-striped
shirt, and tight cotton underwear, as he lip-synched (and
air-guitared) to the tune of Bob Seger's "Old
Time Rock
& Roll" in his family's living room
- the ongoing involvement of Joel's participation in
an extracurricular group at school called Future
Enterprisers, to be part of a competing team to create a small
business company and product (and market it) - so that it would look
good on his record for college (Princeton preferably, according to
his father's and mother's wishes); the group's faculty advisor stressed: "Profit
motive. Competition. Free enterprise"
- the scene of Miles contacting a call-girl service
on Joel's behalf, after he had seen an advertisement: ("A good time,
Joel, in the privacy of your own home"); and later, Joel's utter
embarrassment and uncomfortableness when a taxi pulled up in his
driveway that evening and a prostitute arrived at his door; the black
call-girl was named Jackie (Bruce A. Young) - a tall transvestite;
Joel attempted to disavow who he was: "Nice to meet
you, Jackie. I'm not Joel. Joel stepped out for a moment. Uhm,
I'll go call him"; due to the misunderstanding, Joel was forced
to let Jackie inside to be paid and call a cab: "As long as we
come to an arrangement, I'm in no mood for complaining. I mean, when
you put your good money down, you gotta get what you went after in
the first place. Know what I'm sayin'? When you buy a TV, you don't
buy Sony if you want RCA. I mean, I know we could get along real nice,
but, hey, it's your hard-earned dollar, am I right?"; after Joel paid
'Jackie' $ 75 dollars for her carfare, time, effort and "infinite
patience and understanding," she provided a referral: "Joel, I'm
going to give you a number. You ask for Lana. It's what you want...It's
what every white boy off the lake wants"
|
|
|
"Hello, Joel, I'm Jackie"
|
"I'm not Joel"
|
"You ask for Lana"
|
- Joel experienced
a masturbatory session gone awry in his bed that night; he imagined
himself making love on the kitchen table with Kessler (Anne Lockhart),
the neighborhood babysitter; the house was surrounded by police
and a detective's (Ron Dean) megaphone blared out: ("All right,
Goodson, we know you're in there...Joel, the house is surrounded.
Do exactly as we say, and no one gets hurt. Get off the babysitter.
Put on your pants. Come out with your hands up"); his parents
also scolded him: ("Please
Joel, do as they say, just get off the babysitter. Don't throw
your life away like this"); the babysitter's father (Jerome
Landfield) added: ("Listen, you goddamn punk. You'll never
have a future. Not if I can help it. You got that? No future")
- the nightmarish scenario was evidence of Joel's extreme worry about
his manhood and his future
Joel's Disastrous Masturbatory Fantasy
|
|
|
|
- to
ultimately prove his manhood after unable to fall asleep, Joel phoned
prostitute Lana (Rebecca DeMornay), and gave her a fake name (Ralph)
and his address for contact; his first hot encounter with the seductive
call-girl came later that evening; he had fallen asleep on the couch
in the living room awaiting her arrival; after she rang his doorbell,
she let herself in; she entered the living room, and enticingly asked: "Are
you ready for me, Ralph?"; he slowly approached and helped to
remove her purple dress from the bottom up; it was revealed that
she was naked underneath; as he stroked her bare torso and breasts
from behind, she was swept naked into his arms as the wind
blew the living room's patio doors open; she turned to kiss him -
and they made love on the stairs and on a rocking chair late into
the night, all to the tune of electronic music provided by Tangerine
Dream
"Are You Ready For Me, Ralph?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- the next morning, she wished
to collect her $300 services fee from him, but he only had
$50 dollars; he suggested: "Can
I send it to you?" and she responded with incredulity:
"Can you send it to me, Joel?...I'm not real good at
waiting for people...Give it a try"; after he left for the
bank and returned, Lana had already left - with his mother's valuable
Steuben glass egg as collateral
- the car chase after Joel, leaving the Drake Hotel
in downtown Chicago, who was driving his father's prized silver Porsche
928 with Lana and his friend Miles; they were pursued by her crazed
and angy, gun-wielding "manager" (or pimp) Guido (Joe Pantoliano)
[Note: Although Lana had broken off from Guido, as she explained
later - "Nobody owns me" - she owed debts to him for clothes and
hospital bills, and he continually pursued her.] Miles was worried:
"I've got a trig mid-term tomorrow and I'm being chased by Guido,
the Killer Pimp"; eventually, Joel maneuvered the car out of sight
from Guido and escaped, and proudly stated: "PORSCHE, there is no
substitute!"
- the next day, Guido located Lana and her hooker friend
Vicki (Shera Danese) at Joel's house and was incensed when Lana and
Vicki refused to go with him: "Maybe we don't work for you anymore...Maybe
we work for Joel now"; Guido threatened Joel: "Now, you're havin'
fun now, right? Right, Joel? The time of your life. In a sluggish
economy, never, ever f--k with another man's livelihood. Now, if
you're smart, like I hope you are, you're not gonna make me come
back here"
- that night after Joel, his friend Barry (Bronson
Pinchot), Lana and her hooker friend Vicki (Shera Danese) smoked
dope and bought ice cream, Lana proposed an idea to Joel - he could
raise a lot of money in just a few days - by matching up his friends
with her friends: ("You people have a lot of bonds. So I was thinking,
if we ever got our friends together, we'd make a fortune, you know that?");
she even suggested she'd be his girlfriend for free: ("What if I said
I'd be your girlfriend the next couple of days? No charge?")
- soon after, the scene
of the destruction of his father's $40,000 Porsche, when Lana accidentally
released the car's parking brake when she pulled her handbag out of
the car; the Porsche slowly rolled downhill and onto a Lake Michigan
wooden pier that collapsed; the next day at a car dealership repair
shop, Miles made a weak attempt to comfort Joel: "You
OK? Do you want an aspirin? Your dad own a gun?"; the car dealer
asked: "Who's the U-boat commander?"
- at school, Joel presented a false doctor's note to
sour-faced Nurse Bolik, the school's nurse, to try to acquire an
'excused' absence for missing classes (to prevent his grade point
average from dropping); his further explanation was also met with
extreme skepticism: "The truth of the matter is, my parents are away
and I met this girl. A call girl, actually, and she came to my house....It
just wasn't the girl, it was my father's car. I put my father's car
into Lake Michigan. I had to get it fixed. Just, just give me a break.
Let me put it this way: I have spent the last four years of my life
busting my butt in this s--t hole. I'm - I'm sorry. I just don't
think I can leave until I get just a little compassion from you"
- Joel received a 5-day suspension and was kicked out of Future Enterprisers
- distraught, Joel took a taxi Lana's
hotel-apartment, and buried his head in Lana's shoulder - the camera
spun 360 degrees around them - she realized that she now had Joel
right where she wanted him; Joel
was forced to accept Lana's suggested services of her friends, to
pay for repairs for his parents' damaged Porsche; he marveled at
her ability to organize and profitably transform
his house into a make-shift brothel (with her many call-girl co-workers),
to make him a successful entrepreneur sharing in the profits
- at a furniture rental store, they rented a number
of beds, as Joel marveled at her skill in a voice-over: ("It
was great the way her mind worked. No guilt, no doubts, no fear....None
of my specialties. Just this shameless pursuit of immediate material
gratification. What a capitalist. She told me I could make more money
in one night than I'd make all year. Enough to pay for my father's
car. She told me she'd be my girlfriend. She told me a lot of things.
I believed them all. So she introduced me to her friends....I introduced
her to my friends") - there was a long
procession of dolled-up hookers entering Joel's house that evening,
with Barry greeting them at the door, to the tune of Muddy Waters'
"Mannish Boy"; Barry was made Treasurer, Lana was in charge of Production,
and Joel did Sales with pitches to sexually-inexperienced high-schoolers
to receive sexual "knowledge" ("College girls can smell ignorance like
dog s--t")
- in the midst of the party held on Friday night,
the sequence of Joel's inopportune interruption - a pre-arranged
appointment-interview for admission by Princeton University
recruiter Bill Rutherford (Richard Masur); early on, Rutherford wasn't
very impressed: "Well, Joel, your stats are very respectable.
You've done some solid work here, but it's not quite Ivy League,
now is it?"; Joel asked: "You know, Bill, there's one thing
I've learned in all my years. Sometimes
you gotta say, 'What the f--k?' Make your move"; Joel rose and
smiled: "Looks like University of Illinois"
- the daring and risky late-night scene after the party
between high-class hooker Lana and Joel as they became exhibitionists
during a deserted, elevated CTA subway ride; Joel explained in voice-over: "She
wanted to make love on a real train. Who was I to say no?";
they began kissing - to the tune of Phil Collins' "In
the Air Tonight"; after all the other passengers vacated,
they found themselves in an empty car where they could be more
intimate and passionate; as the pounding electronic rhythms of Tangerine
Dream took over, he touched her thighs through her dress and slipped
off her panties, while she unbuckled his pants; they made love
while seated, as the train slipped quietly through the night
Late Night Subway Ride with Lana
|
|
|
|
|
- in the conclusion, Lana's menacing pimp Guido (with
Vicki) stole all the furniture in Joel's house as pay-back (during
the possible 'set-up' by Lana to take him away on the train during
the night), forcing Joel to buy it back and move it all back into
the home with the help of his friends just before his parents arrived
later that Saturday from the airport in a taxi; his mother noticed
a slight crack inside her egg - Joel apologized and agreed to pay
for it; shortly later, surprising news came from the Princeton interviewer: "Princeton
can use a guy like Joel"
- in the final scene between Joel and Lana, he suspected
she had set him up, and he asked: "Was our night together just
a setup for Vicki and Guido?" - Lana denied it, but he was skeptical;
that evening, as they walked through a park and thought to each other:
(Lana: "Guess we won't be seeing each other for a while"),
she asked to spend the evening with him - and he jokingly replayed
their first night together after she claimed she had only $20 dollars:
("What
are we gonna do about this?"); she said that she had a bond
in the bank
- the ending quote proved Joel's business
prowess by successfully dealing in "human fulfillment" -
his acceptance of Lana's idea to raise money (for her services, and
to pay for repairs for his parents' damaged Porsche) had resulted in
the transformation of his house into a profitable brothel
- making him a successful entrepreneur; he had succeeded by both coming-of-age
and by winning the school club's competition and admission to Princeton
- the film's last line (voice-over): "My name is Joel Goodson.
I deal in human fulfillment. I grossed over eight thousand dollars
in one night. The time of your life, huh, kid?"
|
First Image: Joel's cool Ray-Ban sunglasses
"I want you to wash my back"
"My Life is Ruined"
Miles' Advice:
"What the f--k!"
The Goodsons' Steuben Crystal Glass Egg on the Mantle
Joel's Parents: Leaving for One Week in Europe
Joel's Participation in Extra-Curricular HS Group: Future Enterprisers
Lana's Request for $300 Fee The Next Morning
Miles: "I'm being
chased by Guido, the Killer Pimp"
Joel: "Porsche, there is no substitute"
Guido (Joe Pantoliano) Threatening Joel
Lana's Proposal to Joel: To Be His Girlfriend For Free, and to Make
a Lot of Money
Collapse of the Pier From Weight of Porsche
Joe's Weak Excuse to the School Nurse For His Unexcused Absence from
School
360 Degree Camera Rotation Around Joel and Lana
Lana: Brothel Entrepreneur with Joel
Call-Girls Entering Joel's House - Greeted by Barry at the Door
Princeton Interviewer Bill Rutherford (Richard Masur)
Joel: "Looks like University of Illinois"
In the Park: Joel's Last Contact with Lana
|