Risky Business - 1983

Director: Paul Brickman

Writer: Paul Brickman

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca de Mornay, Joe Pantoliano

"I don't believe this! I've got a trig midterm tomorrow, and I'm being chased by Guido the killer pimp." For the five people in North America who don't know, Risky Business is about 18-year-old Joel Goodson (played by a then-unknown Tom Cruise) whose parents leave town for a week, leaving him home alone, and he proceeds to do what every straight red-blooded American male would dream of doing in the same situation.

Knowing a movie this good can exist from a first-time filmmaker amazes me, yet at the same time reduces my hope about the quality of the masses of Hollywood lately. Brickman's writing is fresh and vibrant, so visceral that it's not too hard to think of Cruise's character as that guy from your economics class. The cinematography, especially in the first half of the film (notably that one famous scene), is truly inspired. Not only is the film technically brilliant, but it did well at the box office upon its release (made 10 times its budget) and launched the careers of virtually all the major actors. Who could ask for anything more?