Rain Man

Rain Man is an Academy Award-winning 1988 film which tells the story of an abrasive, selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his father has left all of his estate to an autistic savant brother, Raymond, whom Charlie never knew he had. The movie stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, Dustin Hoffman as his brother Raymond, and Valeria Golino as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna.

Plot

The film begins in the 1980s with Charlie Babbitt, who is in the middle of an expensive negotiation involving four luxury sports cars. The deal is being threatened by the EPA: if Charlie is unable to meet their requirements he will lose a huge amount of money.

Upon learning of his father's death, Charlie travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed person (a trustee) is inheriting three million dollars on behalf on an unnamed beneficiary, while he is to receive a Buick and a rose garden. Eventually Charlie learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, and he goes there with his girlfriend, Susanna, to discover why.

In a conversation before the trip, Charlie explains the significance of the car — a yellow 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible. In his teenage years he was forbidden to drive it, but took his friends on a joyride anyway. Instead of telling the police that his son had taken the vehicle, his father reported that it had been stolen. When pulled over by police and arrested, Charlie's friends were quickly collected by their fathers, but Charlie's left him in jail for two days, leading to a lifetime of estrangement between the two. He is also haunted by the memories of the 'Rain Man,' a supposedly imaginary friend who disappeared suddenly in his youth.

While his girlfriend waits in the Buick, Charlie meets with Dr. Bruner, the head of the institution, who refuses to tell him anything. Charlie returns to his car and discovers a strange man sitting behind the wheel, talking to Susanna about how he used to drive the car during his father's visits. Charlie then demands an explanation, and finds out that the man is his brother, Raymond. Upon further questioning Dr. Bruner, Charlie learns that Raymond is autistic. He is also upset that Raymond, who is to receive the three million dollar inheritance, does not understand the concept of money. The fact that Charlie's father kept Raymond's existence a secret infuriates him.

Numbed by learning that he has a brother and determined to get what he believes is his fair share of the Babbitt estate, Charlie takes Raymond on what becomes a cross-country trip to meet with his attorneys and get custody of him. Early on, Raymond's mannerisms frustrate Charlie greatly, even leading him to conclude that his brother's "neurological disorder" is part of a scheme to keep him from getting the money to which he believes he is entitled.

Raymond unwittingly causes the break-up of Charlie and Susanna, after he walks in on them having sex (Raymond had been watching Wheel of Fortune in another room of their hotel suite, and when he "heard noises," became curious at what they were doing and went to investigate). Charlie becomes very angry with his brother, although Susanna was more than willing to explain. She becomes disgusted with Charlie's verbal abuse and leaves.

Later, Charlie decides he and Raymond will fly to California, but Raymond balks. Citing media reports of catastrophic airline crashes, he fears that he, too, will be a passenger on such a flight. An increasingly frustrated Charlie is determined to get Raymond on an airplane and, after considering several airlines, Raymond suggests a "safe" one (Qantas), which he states as having never had a plane crash. However, Qantas flies to California out of Melbourne, which means that Raymond and Charlie cannot take that airline without flying to Australia. Losing his patience, Charlie tries to forcefully bring Raymond to the terminal for another airline. But as they approach it, Raymond begins to panic, creating a scene that is only resolved when Charlie promises they won't fly after all.

Thus begins the long road trip. At first, it progresses smoothly along an Interstate highway, but that changes when they come upon the scene of a fatal crash. Charlie is unable to convince Raymond that not all roads are dangerous, and he is forced to use two-lane highways for the remainder of the trip. The two spend the next day at a roadside motel because Raymond will not go outside when it rains.

During the trip, Raymond's routines bewilder the people he meets and often frustrate Charlie, whose mind is focused on money. Examples include:

At a restaurant, a waitress (played by Bonnie Hunt) is slightly puzzled when Raymond says her name and home phone number. He had read and memorized up to the letter G — halfway through G — in the residential directory of a phone book the previous night. Charlie is able to convince the waitress that Raymond means well, and she seems slightly impressed. Later, the waitress drops a box of toothpicks, spilling its contents, prompting Raymond to instantly calculate the number of toothpicks on the floor (246). Charlie thinks his brother is wrong (since the box is a 250-count size), until the waitress says that four of the toothpicks remained in the box.

Raymond constantly repeats the "Who's on First?" routine when Charlie is upset with him. This annoys Charlie, especially since Raymond does not understand the punchline and his repetition of it strips it of its comic meaning.

Raymond shows echolalic tendencies when he does his impression of a line said by a D.J. all morning, much to Charlie's annoyance.

At a small town (filmed in Guthrie, Oklahoma) intersection controlled by a stoplight, Raymond stops in the middle of a crosswalk after the "Don't Walk" light begins flashing, causing traffic to back up and angering motorists. Charlie guides Raymond across the sidewalk as one of them approaches Raymond in a threatening manner.

As they are traveling down a rural road, Raymond reminds Charlie that The People's Court is about to start. With no towns in sight, Charlie is forced to ask a local resident to allow his brother to watch TV. He poses as a representative from a television ratings survey firm, but the cover is blown as a very anxious Raymond begins peeking in the windows and worrying that he'll miss "Judge Wapner," forcing Charlie to explain. The woman reluctantly relents and allows the brothers inside.

Stopping at a motel for the night, Charlie hears Raymond muttering the phrase "funny rain man." Charlie realizes that, as a toddler, he tried to say 'Raymond' but it came out 'Rain Man,' to which he responds, "You're the Rain Man?" Raymond produces a photo of two-year-old Charlie and thirteen-year-old Raymond, revealing that he was Charlie's supposedly imaginary friend. As Charlie draws water for a bath, Raymond has a panic attack, screaming, "Hot water burn baby," suggesting that Raymond almost burned his infant brother in scalding water, and this is why he was sent to the Walbrook Institution, although it was more likely that the father found himself unable to look after Raymond following the death of the mother (Raymond mentioned that he was sent to Walbrook a few days after his mother's death).

Eventually, Charlie's feelings of irritation for his brother begin to soften considerably. He feels a growing sense of responsibility to protect his brother from the cruel realities of the world. But his greed for money is still strong, and as their travels near Las Vegas, Charlie plans to exploit Raymond's quick memory and recall skills to help him win a fortune by gambling. However, Charlie makes no attempt to involve Raymond when the casino's security department questions him.

After the two buy expensive suits and visit a hair-styling salon, Charlie and Raymond enter the casino to play Blackjack. Raymond, oblivious to what Charlie is having him do, is able to guide his brother by "counting cards" (a strategy some gamblers use as part of their playing and betting strategy). Charlie wins nearly every time, and quickly amasses a fortune. However, Raymond is soon distracted by a spinning roulette wheel (which he likens to Wheel of Fortune). Per state rules, the casino managers require him to take his winnings and leave the state, noting "those be the best odds ^* would see for a while".

Later, Raymond meets a hooker who is sitting alone in a bar. With Charlie's encouragement, Raymond seems to be conversing normally with the hooker, but he unwittingly scares her off when he asks her what prescription medicines she uses (Raymond often used it as a point of conversation to "break the ice").

Susanna and Charlie reunite in Las Vegas. Charlie teaches Raymond to dance and Susanna kisses Raymond in an elevator. When Raymond shares his experience with Charlie, he remarks the kiss was "wet."

In the end, Charlie finally meets with two psychiatrists (minus the solicitors) to get custody of Raymond, although his desire for cash is a decidedly lesser issue at this point. However, Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants; he wants Charlie to live with him at the institution in Cincinnati, which is not possible because of Charlie's job. Eventually, one of the psychiatrists presses Raymond for a decisive answer, upsetting him and leading Charlie to tell them to back off.

Eventually it is decided that Raymond will go back to Cincinnati, but he has noticeably progressed emotionally and while he still seems locked in his own little world, he displays affection towards Charlie by placing his head on Charlie's shoulder.

Charlie, for his part, has gained a brother and mellowed considerably, telling Raymond that he will visit two weeks later.

Production

The movie was written by Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow, and directed by Barry Levinson, and is partly based on the lifestyle and personal characteristics of developmentally disabled Kim Peek, of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Trivia

Nick Mazzola, the blackjack dealer, appears in the movie Casino in a similar role, replacing Madeline Parquette, who plays the female employee insulted by Joe Pesci's character.

"97X Bam the Future of rock and roll" - a real radio station in Cincinnati, but oddly the signal does not come in on Columbia Parkway. The station recently made the switch to an internet only radio station after almost shutting down.

St. Anne Convent, located in Melbourne, Kentucky, was used as the setting of the fictitious Wallbrook mental institution.

There is no K-Mart at 400 Oak Street in Cincinnati.

Awards

It won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Dustin Hoffman), Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. It was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography (John Seale), Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Score.

The Film also won the Golden Bear at the 1989 Berlin International Film Festival.

About Raymond

Raymond is a person who has certain abilities — such as computing large, complicated arithmetic problems — but has few social skills and becomes upset when his normal daily routine is disrupted. In the latter case, he often recites the classic Abbott and Costello comedy routine, "Who's on First?" to cope.

Raymond is based on a real person: Kim Peek.

Other facts:

His favorite place to shop is at a Kmart store at Oak and Burnet in Cincinnati.
He eats eight fish sticks on Wednesdays.
He has memorized several plays written by William Shakespeare.
His best friend is Vern, an aide employed at the institution, indicated by how he spells out his name, but he later does this with Charlie.
When someone grabs him (either forcibly or gently), he will document the incident in a spiral notebook, often exaggerating the circumstances (e.g., "He severely injured my shoulder ...").
At night, he places his large collection of pens and pencils in a glass on a nightstand.
His bedtime is 11pm ("Lights out at 11.").

In popular culture

Rain Man has been referenced on several episodes of The Simpsons, including:

"^*]": The Las Vegas Blackjack table scene in the casino is spoofed. Homer gets a job as a Blackjack dealer at Mr. Burns' casino, and is impressed by the abilities of a player who resembles Raymond Babbitt; a Tom Cruise lookalike is seated next to him. "Raymond" tries to leave the table ("Gotta watch Wapner!"), and screams when Homer tries to restrain him. Homer ends up screaming and beating the palm of his hand against his head, just like "Raymond."

"Burns' Heir": Mr. Burns—who, following a near-fatal accident, is trying to adopt Bart as his heir — hires actors to portray Bart's family purporting to no longer love him. After the actor who plays Homer flubs a line, he complains to Burns that he cannot play the role credibly, and suggests Homer may suffer from at least a mild form of autism or other neurological disorder (such as the main characters in Rain Man or Awakenings).

Rain Man was also referenced on an episode of Family Guy. When Peter learns that he is mentally retarded, an African-American man named Vern is assigned as his aide. Another episode has Tom Tucker purportedly interviewing Dustin Hoffman, however the footage shown is badly spliced clips of Dustin Hoffman taken from various movies. One clip shows a part of Rain Man.

On "The Tick," Sewer Urchin talks exactly like Raymond Babbitt.

In "Wakko's Wish," the dog talks like Raymond.

In the Drawn Together episode "Ghostesses in the Slot Machine", Clara's mentally retarded cousin, Bleh, is shown to have the ability to count cards in a parody of Rain Man's casino scene.

In "I Can't Watch This," a spoof of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" by Weird Al Yankovic, Yankovic claims that only "Rain Man ^* like this guy" in reference to Judge Wapner of The People's Court.

In Eminem's Encore album, there is a song called 'Rain Man', and in it, Eminem has forgotten his name and his new name is, "Raymond"- it is said as Raymond says it in the film.

Slang uses

Although it has not entered the mainstream full-fledged, several slang uses of "Rain Man" have emerged since the release of the film:

In one use, the term is applied to demean someone, usually after a faux pas. The person is not necessarily autistic but may be socially awkward, is "slow" (but not always mentally handicapped), lack accepted social graces... or they may be perfectly able.
This term can also be used to accuse a person who does not suffer from a neurological disorder of being a social engineer (one who uses social skills to get his/her way or obtain information — often, computer security or credit card information — to which he/she is not entitled) and then getting his/her way. This refers to Raymond's behavior after something doesn't happen to his liking (e.g., crying when he almost doesn't get to see The People's Court), and Charlie and/or others resisting and then giving in.
It can also be used as a term of endearment to describe someone who is extremely gifted in a certain specialized area, like Raymond was at complex math.

Many experts on the subject of autism have questioned the realism of "Rain Man". The main point raised is that nobody with an autistic spectrum disorder would display all the traits of the condition, as was the case with Raymond Babbitt.

External links

Rain Man at Tom Cruise Online.com

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Rain Man