[ Brickman found Cruise at an ideal crossroads moment, when he still possessed

“Risky Business” turned Tom Cruise into an overnight star, and the reductive version of that story is that the underwear dance is what did it. Of course there’s some truth to that, but that scene doesn’t matter if the movie isn’t a ubiquitous hit, and the movie isn’t a hit if Cruise isn’t perfect for every other aspect of playing Joel Goodson, too.

Brickman found Cruise at an ideal crossroads moment, when he still possessed the vulnerability and hesitancy of a normal human, but was learning how to tap into a particular swinging-dick energy that he made his own. Cruise quickly carried that persona to megastardom, while Brickman and De Mornay never really enjoyed the careers they should have—an outcome that feels almost too on the nose.