1x1; NUMBER THREE: RISKY BUSINESS

The Good, The Pod and The Ugly

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RISKY

Sometimes you gotta say, “What the Fuck” to research, make your move. This week Season 14’s penultimate 1x1 is co-host Ryan’s pick: RISKY BUSINESS (1983). His reason: TGTPTU normally pairs filmographies of a single director or actor, and the writer-director on this film was so triggered by the experience of having his written, shot, and edited original ending replaced in the final cut that he never directed another film again… or at least not until his second film in 1990 (WTF, Ryan?).

This film that would go on to become part of 1980s iconography by first-time director Paul Brickman, who had previously written the Michael Pressman-directed The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) and the Jonathan Demme-directed Handle with Care (1977) and would later be one of three credited writers on Clint Eastwood’s True Crime (alternately known as Speed Zoo) (1999), Risky Business as dark teen comedy and potential Reagon-era satire stars a number of early roles by actors who’d become comedy stars of the 1980s, including as the protagonist Joel’s fellow yuppie North Shore friends and entrepreneuring high school seniors in their first film appearances Curtis Armstrong (also known as Booger in the 1980s) and Bronson Pinchot (aka Balki in the 80s). It costars Rebecca De Mornay (later in the 90s known for her roles as a terrible nanny and as Milady de Winter) as the business-savvy prostitute, and has an early movie appearance by Joey Pants (known in the late-90s for taking the blue pill, Ralphie Cifaretto in the 00s, and a Bad Boy 4 life) as Guido the pimp.

Oh, and it’s also the first time that actor born Thomas Mapother IV, better known later in life by his stage name Tom Cruise, stars in the leading role in a film (but not the first time he danced in his underwear or kissed a female person, if DVD commentary tracks are to be believed).

Behind the camera, you have two cinematographers: Eastwood’s 70s and early-80s collaborator Bruce Surtees as well as regular Hollywood comedy lenser Reynaldo Villalobos. Pod-favorite Tangerine Dream scores. And the film scores big with first watches by host Tom and guest host Jack and with the Gen X’ers Ken and Ryan.

It’s a wild ride, so mind your parking brake. In this episode Ryan explains the economic milieu behind the 80’s yuppie culture to the two young hosts while drawing comparisons to American Psycho (2000); the two Zoomers discover how to shorten future episodes; and Broom Hilda’s creator, whose life strangely overlaps with Ken’s past and present, drops by studio.

Our podcast is The Good, The Pod, and The Ugly. We deal in human fulfillment. We grossed over eight thousand listeners in one night. An hour of your life, huh, kid?

FURTHER NOTES

Thomas requested we share the following Wikipedia links for those who’d like to perform additional research or to simply follow along:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Booker%27s_marathon_speech

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Detroit

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Rock

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Renegades

THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
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