115: Risky Business (with James Majure) (Patreon)

Public health worker and trivia host James Majure returns to the pod from Athens, GA for a show about one of the most significant American films of the eighties: Paul Brickman’s Risky Business, the movie that instantly turned Tom Cruise into a star and still stands as one of his best films nearly 40 years on.

Seen today Risky Business feels like "Michael Mann for Teens"; a sex comedy shot and paced like an urban thriller (set in Chicago at night with a Tangerine Dream soundtrack). We talk about the film’s remarkably progressive critique of Reagan-era capitalism and class structure in America, how this film sent many Gen Xers to Horny Jail in the eighties, and the ways it set the template for the rest of Cruise’s career. We also discuss Brickman’s preferred ending to the movie (a rare example of studio interference benefiting the overall work).

James Majure runs a mobile public health vaccination team operating in and around Northeast Georgia. He also hosts a weekly trivia game in Athens!

Trailer for Risky Business (Paul Brickman, 1983)