'''Rain Man''' is an
Academy Award-winning
1988 drama film 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 a brother who Charlie never knew he had, Raymond, who has
autism. Charlie himself received some supposedly perfect, but actually dying, rosebushes and a 1949
Buick Roadmaster.
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
Charlie Babbitt's life
The film begins in 1988 with Charlie Babbitt, a
Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties 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. The success of the deal seems sure due to a quick bit of deception perpetrated by Charlie and one of his employees. Charlie then leaves for a weekend trip to
Palm Springs with his girlfriend Susanna.
Charlie's trip is spoiled by the sudden news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. 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 $3 million on behalf on an unnamed
beneficiary, while he is to receive only a classic
Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes that were close to dead by the time Charlie and Susanna arrived in Cincinnati. Eventually Charlie learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, and he goes there with his girlfriend, Susanna, to discover why.
Childhood joyride and Rain Man
In a conversation with Susanna upon arriving at his old home in Cincinnati, Charlie explains the significance of the car — a yellow 1949
Buick Roadmaster convertible. In his teenage years, he was forbidden to drive it; at one point, Charlie brings home a report card "and for once, it's almost all A's", and asks his father if he can take the car for a spin with his buddies. Sanford Babbitt refuses, but Charlie takes his friends on a joyride anyway. Instead of telling the police that his son had taken the vehicle, his father had reported that it had been stolen. When they were pulled over by police and taken to the police station, Charlie's friends were quickly collected by their fathers, but Sanford 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.
Enter Raymond
While his girlfriend waits in the Buick, Charlie meets with Dr. Bruner, the kindly head of the institution who has a genuine interest in Raymond's well-being, and sensing Charlie's animosity, 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 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. Dr. Bruner explains to Charlie at the last minute Raymond has difficulties communicating and learning, especially when he doesn't know how to think of himself, among other things. He is also upset that Raymond, who is to receive the $3 million inheritance, does not understand the concept of money. The fact that Charlie's father kept Raymond's existence a secret infuriates him.
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. Raymond unwittingly causes the break-up of Charlie and Susanna, when he walks in on them having sex. He was in another room of their hotel suite, memorising the telephone directory- he always reads in bed, and since the directory is the only book in the room, he decides to memorise it, and we learn later that he got as far as "G", before his brother forced him to go to bed and turn the light out. Raymond "heard noises", became curious and went to investigate. Raymond walks into the room, sits on the bed, watches the T.V., which has been left on, and imitates Susanna's moans of pleasure (this is an example of
echolalia). When Charlie realises his brother is there, he is furious, and yells at Raymond. Susanna is much more sympathetic, and tells Charlie to apologise. Instead, he yells at Raymond some more, and a disgusted Susanna walks out on him after Charlie reveals that he is keeping Raymond to use as leverage for the $1,500,000 he believes he is entitled to.
Airport fiasco
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 (surprisingly for such an erudite man, unaware that air travel statistically has the lowest fatality rate). 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.
Picaresque
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 (it is surprising that someone with such a highly-developed knowledge of road fatality statistics as Raymond Babbitt didn't know that road accidents are statistically least likely on highways). 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.
★ 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" his neck in 1988 — in a red spiral notebook (Raymond had used the notebook to "document" such incidents, often exaggerating what happened).
★ 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 (''"
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. 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. Probably in Oklahoma by this point, 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: - unlikely, since no cure is known to exist and many autistics and non-autistics question the desirability of finding one.
★ 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 People's Court 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, 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), especially as Charlie was supposed to have been three years old at the time Raymond left and the scalding incident was suppost to have happened when he was a baby.
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, and as their travels 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. 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"). 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 the 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, 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.
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. Charlie, for his part, has gained a brother and mellowed considerably, telling Raymond that he will visit two weeks later.
Cast
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.
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
In ''
The Simpsons'' episode "
$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. In the episode
Stark Raving Dad, "Michael Jackson" introduces Homer to a fellow patient in a mental hospital who is an
idiot savant. Michael describes this man as a
human calculator and he manages to impress Homer by rapidly multiplying nine and five.
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 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 Rainman.".
"
Rainman" is the name of a song by
Eminem. It is notable for Eminem's shots at
Christopher Reeve and
Jessica Simpson.
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 film ''
Miss Congeniality'' the character Cheryl Frasier, realizing she had given a dumb answer to the question "What would be your perfect date?", says, "I was like a female Rain Man."
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.
The film is mentioned in ''
Politics'', a
2005 stand-up tour and
DVD by the British comedian
Ricky Gervais, in which he quotes the lyrics of the
1989 song "
We Didn't Start the Fire" by
Billy Joel, and quips it resembles a conversation with Raymond.
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."
Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey parodied Rainman on ''
Saturday Night Live''. In the skit, Rainman messes up his card counting and loses all the money, exasperating Hartman. In another Rainman skit, in this one 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, on 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.
In '' 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.
In the TV show ''
Heroes'' there is a visual homage to the scene in ''Rain Man'' where Charlie and Raymond ride down the escalator in matching suits, in the episode "Collision".
In the anime
Bleach (manga), Kon worriedly asks if the downpour Ichigo and his friends are experiencing is the work of "The Rain Man". Renji then chimes in and states that he is not the Rain Man.
References
External links
★
★
''Rain Man'' at TomCruiseOnline.com
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