Rain Man

Plot

Charlie Babbitt is an arrogant collectibles dealer in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis to Los Angeles for resale. He needs to deliver the cars to impatient buyers who have already made down payments to repay the loan he took out to buy them, but the EPA is holding the cars at the port because they have failed emission tests. Charlie directs an employee to lie to the buyers while he stalls his creditor.

When Charlie learns that his estranged father Sanford Babbitt has died, he and his girlfriend Susanna travel to Cincinnati to settle the estate. He inherits only a group of rosebushes and a classic 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible over which he and Sanford had clashed, while the remainder of the $3 million estate is going to an unnamed trustee. He learns that the money is being directed to a local mental institution, where he meets his elder brother Raymond, of whom he was unaware.

Raymond is an autistic savant and follows strict routines. He has superb recall, but he shows little emotional expression, except when in distress. Charlie spirits Raymond out of the mental institution and into a hotel for the night. Disheartened with the way Charlie treats Raymond, Susanna leaves him. Charlie asks Raymond's doctor, Dr. Gerald Bruner, for half the estate in exchange for Raymond's return, but Dr. Bruner refuses. Charlie decides to attempt to gain custody of Raymond to get control of the money.

After Raymond refuses to fly to Los Angeles, he and Charlie resort to driving there instead. They make slow progress because Raymond insists on following his routines, which include watching The People's Court on television every day, getting to bed by 11:00 p.m., and refusing to travel when it rains. He also objects to traveling on the Interstate after they encounter a car accident.

During the course of the journey, Charlie learns more about Raymond, including his ability to instantly perform complex calculations and count hundreds of objects at once, far beyond the typical range of human abilities. He also realizes that Raymond had lived with the family as a child and was the "Rain Man" (Charlie's infantile pronunciation of "Raymond"), a comforting figure Charlie had remembered as an imaginary friend. Raymond had saved an infant Charlie from being scalded by hot bathwater one day, but Sanford blamed Raymond for nearly injuring Charlie, and committed him to the institution, as he was unable to speak up for himself and correct the misunderstanding.

Charlie's creditor repossesses the Lamborghinis, forcing him to refund his buyers' down payments and leaving him deeply in debt. Having passed Las Vegas, he and Raymond return to Caesars Palace and devise a plan to win the needed money by playing blackjack and counting cards with Raymond's abilities. Although the casino bosses obtain videotape evidence of the scheme and ask them to leave, Charlie successfully wins $86,000 to cover his debts. He also reconciles with Susanna, who has rejoined the brothers in Las Vegas.

Returning to Los Angeles, Charlie meets with Dr. Bruner, who offers him $250,000 to walk away from Raymond. Charlie refuses, saying he is no longer upset about being cut out of Sanford's will, but he wants to have a relationship with Raymond. At a meeting with a court-appointed psychiatrist, Raymond proves to be unable to decide for himself what he wants. Charlie stops the questioning and tells Raymond he is happy to have him as his brother. As Raymond and Dr. Bruner board a train to return to the institution, Charlie promises to visit in two weeks.

Cast

• Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, an institutionalized man with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Savant Syndrome, living in a facility due to his inability to manage daily life, though he possesses extraordinary mental calculation and memory skills, like instantly counting objects and memorizing phone books, making him a "mental calculator" rather than a traditional worker.
• Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, a selfish, materialistic Los Angeles car dealer and hustler, specializing in importing sports cars, who finds himself in financial trouble and discovers his autistic savant brother, Raymond, changing his life's focus from money to family.
• Valeria Golino as Susanna, a flight attendant (or stewardess) who meets and travels with Charlie Babbitt, becoming romantically involved and eventually caring for Raymond alongside Charlie.
• Jerry Molen as Dr. Gerald Bruner, trustee of Raymond's inheritance from his father. However, he seems generally nice and patient when he's trying to get Charlie to understand Raymond's special challenges.
• Jack Murdock as John Mooney, a family lawyer for the Babbitt family.
• Michael D. Roberts as Vern, an employee at the Wallbrook institution, where Raymond Babbitt resides.
• Ralph Seymour as Lenny, a car mechanic and Charlie's friend.
• Lucinda Jenney as Iris, a woman in the casino whom Raymond first met.
• Bonnie Hunt as Sally Dibbs, a waitress and flight attendant for Sundance Air.
• Kim Robillard as Small Town Doctor
• Beth Grant as Mother at Farm House
• Barry Levinson as Doctor
• Bob Heckel as Sheriff Deputy

Production

Development

In drafting the story for Rain Man, Barry Morrow decided to base Raymond Babbitt on his experiences with both Kim Peek and Bill Sackter, two men who had gained notoriety and fame for their intellectual disabilities and, in Peek's case, for his abilities as a savant that were evident in high speed reading and extremely detailed memory. Prior to the conception of Rain Man, Morrow had formed a friendship with the intellectually disabled Sackter, and, in doing so, ended up taking some situational aspects from his friendship and using them to help craft the relationship between Charlie and Raymond. Following the success of Bill, the made-for-TV movie he had written about Sackter, Morrow met Kim Peek and was wildly intrigued by his savant syndrome. Going into the creation of the film, Morrow was still essentially unaware of the intricacies of the condition, as well as of autism itself; instead deciding that the movie was less about Raymond's intellectual disability, and more about the relationship formed between Raymond and Charlie.

Roger Birnbaum was the first studio executive to give the film a green light; he did so immediately after Barry Morrow pitched the story. Birnbaum received "special thanks" in the film's credits.

Real-life brothers Dennis and Randy Quaid were considered for the roles of Raymond Babbitt and Charles Babbitt. Agents at Creative Artists Agency sent the script to Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray, envisioning Murray in the title role, and Hoffman in the role eventually portrayed by Tom Cruise. Martin Brest, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack were directors also involved in the film. Spielberg was attached to the film for five months, until he left to direct Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and he would later regret the decision. Mickey Rourke was also offered a role, but he turned it down. Mel Gibson was also offered the role of Raymond, but he turned it down.

For a year prior to playing Raymond Babbitt, Hoffman prepared to portray Raymond's autism by seeking out and educating himself on other autistic people, particularly those with savant syndrome. Hoffman had some experience with disabled individuals prior to filming, having worked at the New York Psychiatric Institute when he was younger. Inspiration for the portrayal of Raymond Babbitt's mannerisms was drawn from a multitude of sources, but he thanked three men in his Oscar acceptance speech. One was Peter Guthrie, the autistic brother of Kevin Guthrie, a Princeton football player with whom Hoffman was in touch at the time. Another was autistic savant Joseph Sullivan, who was the subject of two documentary films and whose mother, Dr. Ruth Sullivan, was the founding president of the Autism Society of America and served as a consultant on the film. The third was savant Kim Peek, with whom Hoffman met as part of his research of the role, wherein he would observe and mimic Peek's actions, attempting to give an accurate portrayal of what an individual with savant syndrome might act like. His mimicry of Peek's savant syndrome was deemed a poor fit for the character by Hoffman, resulting in Hoffman's decision to make Babbitt not only a man with savant syndrome, but also with autism.

Filming

Principal photography included nine weeks of filming on location in Cincinnati and throughout northern Kentucky. Other portions were shot in the desert near Palm Springs, California. There was originally a different ending to the movie drafted by Morrow that differed from Raymond's going back to the institution. Morrow ultimately decided to drop this ending in favor of Raymond's returning to the institution, as he felt the original ending would not have stuck with the viewers as effectively as the revised ending did. Almost all of the principal photography occurred during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike; one key scene that was affected by the lack of writers was the film's final scene. Bass delivered his last draft of the script only hours before the strike started and spent no time on the set.

Music

Main article: Rain Man (soundtrack)}}The original motion picture soundtrack of Rain Man was composed by [[Hans Zimmer]] for his first music debut since 1982 and was nominated for [Academy Award for Best Original Score, [Best Original Score]] at the [[61st Academy Awards]].{{Cite web

The newly remastered and expanded limited edition soundtrack was released on February 11, 2025 by La La Land Records. The music was originally scored by Hans Zimmer who composed his film version score for the music and its entire sound for the music "Leaving Wallbrook" as it would have seen so many that Barry had hired Zimmer for his work. Within it, Hans performed the music live for Hollywood Rebel since 2022.

Reception

Box office

Rain Man debuted December 16, 1988, and was the second highest-grossing film at the weekend box office (behind Twins), with $7million. It reached the first spot the weekend of December 30 – January 2, finishing 1988 with $42million. The film would become the highest-grossing U.S. film of 1988 by earning more than $172million. Worldwide figures vary, though. Box Office Mojo claims that the film grossed over $354million worldwide, while The Numbers reported that the film grossed $412.8million worldwide.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Rain Man holds an approval rating of 88%, based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's critical consensus states: "This road-trip movie about an autistic savant and his callow brother is far from seamless, but Barry Levinson's direction is impressive, and strong performances from Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman add to its appeal." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A", on a scale of A+ to F.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called Rain Man: Canby considered the "film's true central character" to be "the confused, economically and emotionally desperate Charlie, beautifully played by Mr. Cruise."

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four. He wrote: {{cquote|Hoffman proves again that he almost seems to thrive on impossible acting challenges. ... I felt a certain love for Raymond, the Hoffman character. I don't know quite how Hoffman got me to do it.

Amy Dawes of Variety wrote that "one of the year's most intriguing film premises ... is given uneven, slightly off-target treatment"; she called the road scenes "hastily, loosely written, with much extraneous screen time", but admired the last third of the film, calling it a depiction of "two very isolated beings" who "discover a common history and deep attachment".

One of the film's harshest reviews came from The New Yorker magazine critic Pauline Kael, who said, "Everything in this movie is fudged ever so humanistically, in a perfunctory, low-pressure way. And the picture has its effectiveness: people are crying at it. Of course they're crying at it—it's a piece of wet kitsch."

Rain Man was placed on 39 critics' "ten best" lists in 1988, based on a poll of the nation's top 100 critics.

Accolades

Legacy

The release of Rain Man in 1988 coincided with a tenfold increase in funding for medical research and diagnoses of individuals for autism. The latter is primarily due to autism's being more broadly defined in newer editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, particularly versions III-R and IV. The movie is credited, however, with significantly increasing awareness of autism among the general public.

Rain Man is known, in particular, for its portrayal of a man with both autism and savant skills, leading much of its viewing audience to incorrectly assume the intellectual capabilities of autistic people at large. Characters like Raymond Babbitt, whose characterization has been criticized for adhering to stereotypes, are portrayed as having an otherworldly intellectual ability that, rather than disable them from living a "normal" life, instead assists them in a nearly magical way. Although having savant abilities is certainly a possibility for autistic individuals, the combination is incredibly rare. Conversely, Rain Man has also been seen as dispelling a number of other misconceptions about autism, and improving public awareness of the failure of many agencies to accommodate autistic people and make use of the abilities they do have, regardless of whether they have savant skills or not.

Since Dustin Hoffman's 1989 Academy Award win for his performance in Rain Man, about half of all Best Actor trophies have been awarded for portrayals of characters who are disabled in some way; none of these recipients share their characters' disabilities in real life. Just one year after Hoffman's win, Daniel Day-Lewis (thus far the only actor to have won three awards in the category) garnered his first Best Actor win for his portrayal of cerebral palsy patient Christy Brown in My Left Foot. The Academy's incentivizing of such casting practices has drawn criticism from disabled actors and self-advocates, who argue that these decisions sideline more authentic stories about disabled characters, in favor of leveraging already-established actors' prestige. This pattern has even been satirized by the 2008 film Tropic Thunder (in which Tom Cruise also appears), wherein Robert Downey Jr.'s character, Kirk Lazarus, chastises a fellow actor for portraying a character whose developmental disability is deemed too alienating for a mainstream audience.

Rain Man is also known for popularizing the misconception that card counting is illegal in the United States.

In 2006, the film was recognized by the American Film Institute in their list of 100 Years...100 Cheers at #63.

Stage play

In 2008, a stage adaptation of the film by Dan Gordon premiered at the West End's Apollo Theatre in a production starring Josh Hartnett and Adam Godley.

In popular culture ==

The cold open sketch in the April 1, 1989, installment of Saturday Night Live spoofed both the film and the Pete Rose gambling scandal at the time. Charlie and Raymond Babbitt were played by Ben Stiller and Dana Carvey, respectively, with Phil Hartman as Rose.

References to Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman's performance in particular, have become a popular shorthand for autism and savantism. In the final episode of the first season of Community, Pierce calls Abed "Rain Man" when listing members of the study group; Abed had been described previously as having Asperger's Syndrome, which is now diagnosed as autism spectrum disorder.

Qantas and airline controversy

In June 1989, at least fifteen major airlines showed edited versions of Rain Man that omitted the scene involving Raymond's refusal to fly, mentioning the crashes of American Airlines Flight 625, Delta Air Lines Flight 191, and Continental Airlines Flight 1713, except on Australia-based Qantas. Those criticizing this decision included film director Barry Levinson, co-screenwriter Ronald Bass, and George Kirgo (at the time, the President of the Writers Guild of America, West). "I think it's a key scene to the entire movie", Levinson said in a telephone interview. "That's why it's in there. It launches their entire odyssey across country – because they couldn't fly." Although some of those airlines cited as justification avoiding having airplane passengers feel uncomfortable in sympathy with Raymond during the in-flight entertainment, the scene was shown intact on flights of Qantas, and commentators noted that Raymond mentions it as the only airline whose planes have "never crashed".

The film is credited with introducing Qantas's safety record to U.S. consumers. However, contrary to the claims made in the film, Qantas aircraft have been involved in a number of fatal accidents since the airline's founding in 1920 (although none involving jet aircraft, with the last incident taking place in December 1951).

The Buick convertible

Two 1949 Roadmaster convertibles were used in the filming, one of which had its rear suspension stiffened to bear the additional load of camera equipment and a cameraman. After filming completed, the unmodified car was acquired by Hoffman, who had it restored and added it to his collection. He kept it for 34 years. Hemmings Motor News reported that the car was auctioned in January 2022 by Bonhams in Scottsdale, Arizona, and sold for $335,000. The camera-carrying car was similarly acquired by Barry Levinson, who had it restored by Wayne Carini of the Chasing Classic Cars television series a few years later.

Notes

References

References

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