Rain Man

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Rain Man
Image:Rain Man poster.jpg Rain Man film poster
Directed by	Barry Levinson
Produced by	Peter Guber Jon Peters David McGiffert Mark Johnson Gerald R. Molen
Written by	Barry Morrow Ronald Bass
Starring	Dustin Hoffman Tom Cruise Valeria Golino Gerald R. Molen
Music by	Hans Zimmer Al Clay James Flamberg Allan Mason Jay Rifkin
Cinematography	John Seale
Editing by	Stu Linder Blair Daily Rhody Davis Tom Moore Dale E. Grahn
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	Template:USA, California, Los Angeles: December 14 1988 Template:Country data USA December 16 1988
Running time	133 minutes
Country	Template:USA
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Gross revenue	$172 million
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Rain Man is an Academy Award winning, 1988 drama film directed by Barry Levinson which tells the story of an abrasive, selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his father has left all of his multi-million dollar estate to his autistic brother Raymond, who he never knew he had.

The movie stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, Dustin Hoffman as Raymond, and Valeria Golino as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna. The character of Raymond was inspired by a real-life savant, Kim Peek.

Plot

This article or section contains a plot summary that is too long compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

Charlie Babbitt's life

Charlie Babbitt, a Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties, is in the middle of expensive negotiations over four luxury sports cars. The deal is being threatened by the EPA: if Charlie cannot meet their requirements he will lose significant money. After a quick bit of subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna.

The trip is spoiled by sudden news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while he is to receive only a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, and he goes there with Susanna to discover why.

Childhood joyride and Rain Man

Arriving at his old home in Cincinnati, Charlie explains to Susanna the significance of the car. In his teenage years, he was forbidden to drive it; Charlie asked his father once for the opportunity to drive it as a reward for high scholastic achievement. Once refused, Charlie went joyriding with friends, and when police stopped them, the teen discovered his father had reported the car stolen and refused to bail him out of jail. Charlie's resentment caused a lifetime of estrangement. He is also haunted by confused memories of the 'Rain Man,' an imaginary friend who used to sing to him when he was scared.

Enter Raymond

While Susanna 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 in his mid-thirties sitting behind the wheel (Dustin Hoffman was actually 50 at the time of the film's production), talking to Susanna about how he used to drive the car during his father's visits. Charlie demands an explanation, and finds out the man is his older brother, Raymond, of whom he has no memory. Dr. Bruner explains that Raymond is autistic and has difficulties communicating and learning. Charlie observes that Raymond, who is to receive the $3 million inheritance, does not understand the concept of money, which strikes Charlie as a "poetic" irony. The fact that Charlie's father kept Raymond's existence a secret infuriates him and he considers it further illustration of his father's coldness.

Initial adjustment

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 back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys, start a custody battle in order to get Dr. Bruner to settle out of court for half of Sandford Babbitt's estate so that they can maintain custody of Raymond. 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. On discovering this motivation, Susanna abandons Charlie and heads home.

Airport fiasco

Charlie's initial strategy involves flying with Raymond to California, but as Raymond becomes aware that they are going to fly on a plane, he resists. Citing an encyclopaedic knowledge of 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 (ironically, it turns out that even this would have been faster than the route they eventually take). Losing his patience, Charlie tries to forcefully bring Raymond to the terminal for another airline. But as they approach it, Raymond panics and begins to scream, creating a scene that is only resolved when Charlie promises they won't fly after all.

Road trip

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 highway driving is dangerous, and he is forced to use two-lane highways for the remainder of the trip, eventually joining Route 66. 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, the luxury sports car deal he left behind (which is revealed by various phone conversations to be rapidly falling apart), and the uncertainty of his relationship with his girlfriend. 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.
• At this same restaurant, Raymond wants pancakes and maple syrup. He discovers he doesn't have his toothpicks, nor has the syrup been brought to the table. Charlie informs him that at a restaurant, people use forks to eat and assures him that the syrup will be placed at the table when the meal comes; Raymond replies that at the institution, the syrup is always placed on the table before the meal and it would be too late if it is brought afterward. He persists with his argument, prompting Charlie to grab him by the neck and tell him to "stop acting like a retard." Charlie is further annoyed when Raymond writes about the incident — "Squeezed and pulled and hurt my neck in 1988" — in a red spiral notebook (Raymond had used the notebook to "document" such incidents, often exaggerating what happened).
• Raymond compulsively repeats the "Who's on First?" routine when he is presented with the unfamiliar surroundings of each new motel room and also when Charlie is upset with him. This annoys Charlie, especially since Raymond is reciting it in monotone, obviously without any understanding of the humor.
• Raymond shows echolalic tendencies when he does his impression of a line ("97X. BAM! The future of Rock 'n' Roll!"), said by a D.J., all morning, much to Charlie's annoyance.
• Raymond talks about how he is an "excellent" driver and attempts to steer the car as Charlie is driving at highway speed. Charlie is quickly able to regain control of the car, as he violently confronts him never to mess around with the steering wheel while Charlie was driving. The conversation then switches to how Raymond is not wearing his underwear, prompting Charlie to remind him that he was given a pair that morning. However, Raymond has taken it off and tries to give to Charlie stating that he only wears boxer shorts. Charlie says they'll buy some shorts during their next stop, but Raymond insists that he does all of his shopping at a Kmart in Cincinnati. Charlie then tells Raymond not to start with that ritual, but continues to do this at Charlie's annoyance. Raymond continues with his request to the point where Charlie loses is temper. He stops the car, throwing a temper tantrum and saying that "this autism is a bunch of shit!" Charlie finally goes to a physician in the next town in a futile attempt to see if Raymond can be made more normal.
• 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 frantically guides Raymond across the sidewalk as one of them approaches Raymond in a threatening manner. This refers to a rather literal approach to rule implementation that some people on the autistic spectrum have.
• One day it rains. Raymond insists they stay at the hotel and watch TV. They end up watching several game shows, including The $25,000 Pyramid.
• 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 first poses as a representative from a television ratings firm to conduct a survey, but the cover is quickly blown as a very anxious Raymond begins peeking in the windows and worrying that he'll miss "Judge Wapner", forcing an embarrassed Charlie to explain the situation. After revealing "that man is my brother, and if he doesn't get to watch Wapner in thirty seconds, he's gonna throw a fit on your porch", 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. Raymond sings "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles, just as he did when Charlie was a toddler. 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.

Las Vegas

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 loans are now in default, the cars repossessed, and he owes the investors $80,000, which he does not have. As they travel near Las Vegas, Charlie plans to exploit Raymond's quick memory and recall skills to help him win enough money to pay off his debts by gambling. However, Charlie makes no attempt to involve Raymond when the casino's security department questions him later. 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. The casino becomes convinced that Charlie is cheating but can find no evidence of collusion and are convinced that, "There's no one in the world who can count cards in a six deck shoe."

Later, Raymond meets a prostitute who is sitting alone in a bar. With Charlie's encouragement, Raymond seems to be conversing normally with the prostitute, 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"), before he asked her about the time of the date he was supposed to meet Iris. Susanna and Charlie reunite in Las Vegas. Charlie teaches Raymond to dance and Susanna kisses Raymond in an elevator. When Raymond later shares his experience with Charlie, he remarks the kiss was "wet".

Raymond returned

In the end, Charlie and Raymond finally meet with Dr. Bruner and a court appointed psychiatrist (without any attorneys) to get custody of Raymond. Prior to the meeting, Dr. Bruner offers Charlie $250,000 to walk away, but he does not care about the money, as he wants to take care of his brother. When queried by the psychiatrist (played by director Barry Levinson), Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants; he wants to stay with Charlie in Los Angeles and at the same time go back to Wallbrook in Cincinnati. The psychiatrist presses Raymond to make a choice between the two, upsetting him and leading Charlie into telling him to stop humiliating Raymond for his inability to make a distinction between the two choices. Humiliation does not seem to be a concept for psychiatrists although Charlie to his gathering credit is beginning to understand. But it is still impossible for Charlie to protect Raymond anymore. The psychiatrists are able to "pull rank" and Raymond will go back to Cincinnati, but he has noticeably progressed emotionally and while he still seems locked in his own world, he displays affection towards Charlie by placing his head on Charlie's and spelling out Charlie's name, something he only does with a person very close to him. Charlie, for his part, has gained a brother and mellowed considerably, telling Raymond that is glad to have him as his brother and that he will visit regularly, beginning two weeks later.

Cast

Actor	Role
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
Marshall Dougherty	Farm House Kid #1
Dolan Dougherty	Farm House Kid #2
Patrick Dougherty	Farm House Kid #3
John-Michael Dougherty	Farm House Kid #4

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 Kim Peek, a man with developmental disabilities, though, unlike the Raymond Babbit character, Peek does not have autism. The scenes with the famous backdrop of the path lined with trees were filmed at St. Anne Convent in Melbourne, Ky

Awards

Rain Man 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. To date Rain Man is the only film to have won both the Golden Bear and the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Popular culture references

The Simpsons

Several references to Rain Man have been made in the television series The Simpsons through the years, including:

• "Stark Raving Dad" — "Michael Jackson" introduces Homer to a fellow patient in a mental hospital who is an autistic savant. Michael describes this man as a human calculator and he manages to impress Homer by rapidly multiplying nine and five.

• "$pringfield" — 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. Homer pleads with him to do "that card-counting thing", but "Raymond" tries to leave the table ("Gotta watch Wapner!"), and screams when Homer tries to restrain him. Homer imitates "Raymond", screaming and beating the palm of his hand against his head.

• "Burns' Heir" — In the scene where Burns is taping a message from Bart's "family" (actors hired to trick Bart into believing he is unloved and unwanted), the actor playing Homer(Micheal Caine) is uncomfortable with the script and questions whether the man he is to portray is like a character from Rain Man (presumably Raymond Babbitt); the actor also mentions Awakenings.

Other references

In an episode of the short-lived TV series The Critic, one of the films reviewed on Jay's show was Rain Man and Batman. The clip had Raymond and Batman tied to a chair with a bomb set to explode. Raymond's nonstop talking annoys Batman, who says, "Get me away from this guy."

In the episode Petarded of Family Guy, Peter receives a state-appointed wellness professional named "Vern", Raymond's helper was also named Vern. Also in Family Guy, when Peter is talking to Luke Perry in the cab he says, "Oh you were great in Rainman. That airport scene with that dumb guy screaming was halarious!" He was refering to Raymond as a "dumb guy".

In the first episode of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Gaz accidentally pictures his mother naked, making his friend Johnny picture the same. They start groaning and screaming whilst holding their hands up on their head. Johnny then comments "We look like we're auditioning for Rain Man.".

In the film Swingers, when the two main characters are dreaming of winning it big in Las Vegas, Trent (Vince Vaughn) yells out "They're gonna give Daddy the 'Rain Man' suite...", a reference to the impressive suite at Caesar's Palace featured in the movie.

In the Everybody Hates Chris episode "Everybody Hates Greg", the narrator talks about his father being "like Rain Man" when it came to guessing how much something cost as Chris' parents watch The Price is Right.

Sewer Urchin from The Tick uses many of Rain Man's catchphrases and mannerisms.

According to Christopher Guest during an interview with fellow comedian Ricky Gervais, after the film first came out and Barry Levinson was receiving feedback from the viewing public, one review — presumably from somebody who didn't understand that Raymond was autistic — told Levinson that "I was really hoping the little guy would snap out of it at the end."^{[citation needed]}

Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey parodied Rain Man on Saturday Night Live. In the skit, Rainman messes up his card counting and loses all the money, exasperating Hartman. In another Rainman skit, Hartman plays Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose who had taken advantage of Raymond's impressive ability to memorize baseball statistics for gambling purposes. Rose is humiliated when Raymond reveals that he spoke to Sports Illustrated and informed them of the precise MLB rule which Rose violated. Furthermore, Rose was not the only person taking advantage of Raymond, one of his doctors apparently used him to speculate on gold futures

The line "You've gotta be rain man to like this guy" refers to The People's Court (which is one of Raymond's favorite shows) in Weird Al Yankovic's song "I Can't Watch This," a parody of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This."

The character of Runt from Animaniacs is largely based on Raymond.^{[citation needed]}

In Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie Crow comments on a car in This Island Earth similar to the one in Rain Man, and does a short impression of Raymond.

In the 40th episode of the anime Yakitate! Japan, Pierrot Bolneze jokingly asks Azuma Kazuma if he's the "Rain Man" after Azuma is able to complete a difficult equation that took Pierrot two hours to complete.

Heroes (TV Series) characters Hiro and Ando who descend the escalator in new suits- reminiscent of when Raymond and Charlie go to Las Vegas and also buy new suits.

External links

• Rain Man at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by The Last Emperor	Academy Award for Best Picture 1988	Succeeded by Driving Miss Daisy
Preceded by Red Sorghum	Golden Bear winner 1989	Succeeded by Music Box tied with Larks on a String
Preceded by The Last Emperor	Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama 1989	Succeeded by Born on the Fourth of July

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Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content

Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .