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 elderly man in the waiting room who talks on and on about the Pony Express is Byron P. Cavnar, an eighty-nine-year-old local who was in the waiting room when the crew arrived to film there. He got to talking on his favorite subject, the Pony Express, and Director Barry Levinson got such a kick out of it, that he let Cavnar keep on talking as the cameras rolled. All his dialogue was spontaneous and not scripted.

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Goofs

When Susanna gets mad at Charlie and storms out of the tub, Charlie's sweats have a different pattern of water splashes than when she goes out the door.

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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 Everything Wrong with...: Everything Wrong with Hereditary in 13 Minutes or Less (2019)

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Soundtracks

Wishful Thinking
Written by Jocko Marcellino and Randy Handley
Performed by Jocko Marcellino

User Reviews

brilliant when you think about it

I was thinking of the way different movies seem to be good. Some have lots of action, others a bunch of special-effects. But then it strikes you, that what represents real depth, real quality is when a movie can be good without those features. When it's the dialogue, the story and the acting that strikes you. This film has really only two characters, all others play only minor roles (Cruise's girlfriend has some importance though). Two characters basically, and one dialogue - that's all you need when you've got a script as good as this, and two such great actors. Only that is brilliant. But this film also has such fine, very true episodes, small stories in the larger film. One example is when Ray watches court TV with the working class woman and her many children out in the countryside...it's such a fine picture, just outstanding. ALL IN ALL A GREAT FILM!