Rain Man (1988)

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writers:

Barry Morrow (story), Ronald Bass (screenplay),

Stars:

Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino

Top 250 #232 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 21 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dustin Hoffman	...	Raymond Babbitt
Tom Cruise	...	Charlie Babbitt
Valeria Golino	...	Susanna
Gerald R. Molen	...	Dr. Bruner (as Jerry Molen)
Jack Murdock	...	John Mooney
Michael D. Roberts	...	Vern
Ralph Seymour	...	Lenny
Lucinda Jenney	...	Iris
Bonnie Hunt	...	Sally Dibbs
Kim Robillard	...	Small Town Doctor
Beth Grant	...	Mother at Farm House
Dolan Dougherty	...	Farm House Kid
Marshall Dougherty	...	Farm House Kid
Patrick Dougherty	...	Farm House Kid
John-Michael Dougherty	...	Farm House Kid

Storyline

Charles Sanford "Charlie" Babbit is a self-centered Los Angeles-based automobile dealer/hustler/bookie who is at war with his own life. Charlie, as a young teenager, used his father's 1948 Buick convertible without permission and as a result, he went to jail for two days on account that his father reported it stolen. It is then that Charlie learns that his estranged father died and left him from his last will and testament a huge bed of roses and the car while the remainder will of $3 Million goes into a trust fund to be distributed to someone. Charlie seemed pretty angry by this and decides to look into this matter. It seems as if that "someone" is Raymond, Charlie's unknown brother, an autistic savant who lives in a world of his own, resides at the Walbrook Institute. Charlie then kidnaps Raymond and decides to take him on a lust for life trip to the west coast as a threat to get the $3 Million inheritance. Raymond's acts and nagging, including repeated talks of "Abbott & Costello",...

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Plot Keywords:

Savant | Convertible | Autistic Savant | Inheritance | Autism | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

16 December 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cuando dos hermanos se encuentran

Filming Locations:

Caesars Palace - 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$172,825,435 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists, Guber-Peters Company, The, Star Partners II Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dustin Hoffman spent a lot of time with savant Kim Peek, the inspiration for Raymond's character. Rain Man writer Barry Morrow first met Peek in 1986, and on winning an Oscar for the screenplay of "Rain Man" in 1989, gave his Oscar trophy to Kim Peek. Hoffman he made Kim's father (the main caregiver) promise that he would "share [Kim] with the world." For nearly 20 years until his death, Kim Peek went all over the world impressing people with his incredible memory and ability to recall minute details from centuries of history.

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Goofs

When Charlie and Raymond are leaving Cincinnati the sun is still up. Later, when Raymond gets out of the car on the side of the highway, it appears that the sun has been down for a few hours. At this point, a sign for Interstate 275 is visible on the side of the road. I275 makes a large loop around Cincinnati area, which would suggest that they had been driving in a circle for a few hours.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Charlie: [on telephone] Now it's five and a half weeks and I'm still sitting on four Lamborghinis that can't meet spot emissions standards. Now, how many times you wash out with EPA?
Lenny: [on a separate line] Uh, yes sir, they're finally, uh, clearing EPA; uh, just one or two more days.
Charlie: Three times? You're really on a roll here, my friend; four cars, three times each - that's zip for twelve. What are you, a... mechanic, or a NASA engineer? Now listen, now, I told you I've never dealt with these ...

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Crazy Credits

Throughout the movie, Raymond is taking pictures. The pictures that he takes are shown as the background for the credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Dawson's Creek: Road Trip (1998)
Nina: Dawson, are we doing something you don't want to do? Because you're giving a pretty convincing Rain Man.

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Soundtracks

"They Can't Take That Away from Me"
(1937) (uncredited)
Music by George Gershwin
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Sung by Fred Astaire
From the film The Barkleys of Broadway

User Reviews

Shows the way forward for issue driven movies.

Tom Cruise stars as a used car salesman, who is angry when his father's inheritance is left to his older autistic brother (Dustin Hoffman), whose existence had not been revealed to him.

The film is built around its two assured central performances. Hoffman gives an excellent portrayal of a man with autism, totally unable to comprehend the real world around him. Cruise is no less impressive. While he is essentially playing to type, his character's attitude changes so gradually throughout the film that you barely notice, and without Cruise's subtle performance this transformation would be much less credible.

This is a highly commendable film, which, despite tackling a tricky subject, refuses to succumb to sentimentality. In giving autism such publicity, the film has hopefully helped to lessen the stigma brought on by ignorance of this condition.

Rain Man's great success is that it shows the way forward for issue driven movies in Hollywood. Its success at the box office demonstrates that taking a risk can pay off in spades, provided that the film is good enough.