August 5, 1983
RISKY BUSINESS is a teen sex comedy best remembered for the scene where Tom Cruise in tighty-whiteys dorkily dances around his living room to one of the least cool songs of the era. But put that out of your mind because the overall style and feel of this movie is one of severe coolness. It’s the only horny teen movie I’ve seen that feels kinda like a distant relative to AMERICAN GIGOLO and AFTER HOURS.
That may largely come down to the score by Tangerine Dream (whose previous movie scores were SORCERER, THIEF, STRANGE BEHAVIOR, THE SOLDIER, and WAVELENGTH), on top of strong work by cinematographers Bruce Surtrees (DIRTY HARRY, THE OUTFIT, WHITE DOG) and Reynaldo Villalobos (URBAN COWBOY), production designer William J. Cassidy (ROCKY, CARNY, ROCKY III) and editor Richard Chew (THE CONVERSATION, STAR WARS). But it also has a different tone and attitude than similar movies of the era. Although writer/director Paul Brickman’s previous screenwriting credits were THE BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING and HANDLE WITH CARE, this was his first time directing, and he was welcomed as an exciting new voice. Variety’s review compared the movie to “a promising first novel,” and Roger Ebert wrote that it had earned comparisons to THE GRADUATE. (read the rest of this shit…)
“We found him. We can do whatever we want with him.”
He had been in a few movies, including 18 AGAIN! and PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC’S REVENGE, but his big break was in 1989 when he became an MTV VJ, in character. A year later they gave him his own very popular show called Totally Pauly. When ENCINO MAN was in development at Disney, the head of Hollywood Records got Jeffrey Katzenberg to watch Totally Pauly and then put Shore in the movie. He didn’t want to play the caveman, so the filmmakers worked with him to rewrite the protagonist’s best friend character to be a weird guy who says “nugs” and “weez” and stuff in such a way that it’s clear that it must be funny. 
