When The Criterion Collection announced they were adding Tom Cruise’s 1983 breakout movie “Risky Business” to their lineup, I was slightly surprised by it. All I knew of the movie was the famous sequence in which Cruise dances around to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll.” Going off that scene I had assumed the film was an affable, crowd-favorite comedy movie from the 1980s. Which it is, but it’s also so much more.
Written and directed by Paul Brickman, “Risky Business” at first sits squarely in the same field as many 1980s comedies that were directed at teenagers, with a focus on sex. But what makes this film stand out from the other teen comedies of the era is the film’s satirical bent commenting on Regan-era society and capitalism, a lot of which still holds up as relevant today.
Cruise plays Joel Goodson, a preppy kid growing up in affluent Chicago suburbia looking towards his future and attending college. Joel’s parents leave him alone for a week as they go on vacation together. Joel is left with a series of rules to follow, the biggest one being not to drive his father’s Porsche, which is exactly what Joel does as soon as he gets a chance (something a small parallel with other Chicago teen classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”).
But Joel’s friends encourage him to get more out of life by asking, essentially, “Why not?” Joel soon finds himself being friendly with call girl Lana, played by Rebecca De Mornay. After inadvertently wrecking the Porsche, Joel soon finds a need for money, and Lana offers him a suggestion that would also appeal to the young man who is in a “future enterprisers” program. “Risky Business” is a very good film and an impressive make for a first-time director, the way it balances satire and humor with darker themes is not easy to do.
Criterion brings “Risky Business” to 4K UHD blu-ray for the first time, along with a standard blu-ray release. The 4K, like all Criterion 4K releases, contains both a 4K disc with the movie, and their regular blu-ray where most of the bonus features are held. This restoration was sourced from the 35mm original camera negative and the 35mm interpositive. The work was supervised and approved by director Brickman and the film’s producer Jon Avnet.
The film is presented in Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range and It looks amazing. The strong, bold colors of the film’s opening titles grabbed me. The film in 4K HDR has a great layer of gran and a rich depth. It looks like a pristine 35mm projection, which is what I always hope for out of my 4K discs. The film’s audio is presented in a 5.1 DTS-HD track from original sources. It sounds good, and seeing the film was originally released in Dolby Stereo I suspect this is simply taking that mix and transferring it to the 5.1 domain. Dolby Stereo was a surround sound process after all.
Bonus features are nice, a mix of new features and one from previous releases. First off we have from 2008 an audio commentary with Brickman, Cruise, and Avnet. Then, a documentary looking at the making of the film, all appears to be from the first blu-ray release of the film by Warner Brothers. New features include interviews with producer Avenet, casting director Nancy Lopper, and a conversation between the film’s editor, Richard Chew, and historian Bobbie O’Steen. Screen tests and the trailer round out the bonus features.
“Risky Business” was a surprise to me, and a film I enjoyed very much. Its new 4K UHD edition from The Criterion Collection is hands down, I’d bet, the best the film has ever looked on home video. With a nice array of bonus features and great cover art taken from the film’s iconic scene, this is one worth picking up for your collection. See you next week.
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