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

Won 4 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 22 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 1949 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:

road movie | savant | convertible | last will and testament | travel | 

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Taglines:

A journey through understanding and fellowship.

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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:

Rain Man

Filming Locations:

The Dixie Terminal, Fourth and Walnut Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,005,719, 16 December 1988, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$172,825,435

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$182,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Blackjack dealer at Caesars Palace is named Nick Mazzola. He was also the War dealer in the movie Vegas Vacation (1997), as well as a dealer in the movie Casino (1995). In real-life, Nick was a Blackjack dealer at Caesar's Palace in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Goofs

From the time they left the farmhouse in western Oklahoma, they supposedly passed some country with mountains in the background (west) between there and Amarillo, Texas. There are no mountains in that part of western Oklahoma (though some small ones exist farther south near Lawton and Altus) - and the nearest "mountain" on that route would be Tucumcari Mountain.

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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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Alternate Versions

Most airline versions of the film completely cut out the discussion of crash statistics. The reference to Qantas being the only international airline to have a perfect service record was deleted from the in-flight version of the movie by all international airlines except for Qantas.

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Connections

Referenced in Tinseltown (1997)

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Soundtracks

Dry Bones
(1927)
Music by James Weldon Johnson
Lyrics Traditional, based on Ezekiel 37:1-14 of the Bible
Performed by Delta Rhythm Boys (as The Delta Rhythm Boys)
Courtesy of RCA Records

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.