As reflected in the final cut, Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), an arrogant young hustler striving to keep his gray-market auto import concern afloat, learns of his estranged father's death and flies from L.A. to his native Cincinnati for the reading of the will. To his shock, he discovers he's been left little more than a '48 Buick Roadmaster, with the bulk of the $3 million estate placed into trust. Charlie's investigations lead him to a local institution for the mentally disabled, and circumstances reveal that he has a heretofore unknown older brother residing there.
Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) is severely autistic, unable to make eye contact or deal with any deviation from his strict routine, yet amazingly able to perform feats of memorization and to process complex calculations. Charlie spirits Raymond off the institution's grounds, intending to go home and hold him in return for half of the inheritance. Raymond's needs necessitate that the trip back west be made by car, and the odyssey provides Charlie with several surprising revelations about his brother and himself.
As initially conceived in 1984 by Barry Morrow, who authored the heralded telefilm Bill (1981), Rain Man concerned a middle-aged boiler-room huckster who's just found out that the family fortune has gone to an engagingly affectionate savant brother. Their misadventures on a cross-country drive were filled with overdone buddy-flick hi-jinks such as being pursued by loan sharks and white supremacists and escaping from a burning barn, and the proceedings were capped by a happy decision to spend the rest of their lives together.
Envisioning a successful Christmas-season comedy, MGM/UA optioned the script in 1986, and quickly attached as director Martin Brest, coming off of his success with Beverly Hills Cop (1984). The script was shopped to Hoffman to gauge his interest in playing the conniving Charlie, but it was the role of the savant Raymond that got his attention. After Hoffman committed, Cruise expressed his interest in working opposite his longtime idol. But Morrow, who objected to the casting of the too-youthful Cruise, was dismissed by Brest.
After that, three writers were hired in quick succession to tackle the script, and three weeks before production was to start, Brest abruptly left the production. While Steven Spielberg was being wooed as a replacement, Hoffman sought changes in the script. In the course of his research, the actor learned of the inability of autistics to connect with others, and sought to have Raymond's character redrawn. "Instead of a character who craved affection and was inherently sympathetic," scenarist Ronald Bass stated in Newsweek, "here was a character who wouldn't be touched, who wasn't lovable."
Spielberg eventually passed to work on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Hoffman attempted to recruit Sydney Pollack, a move that raised many an eyebrow in light of the legendary blow-ups the two had during the making of Tootsie (1982). Pollack signed on, brought in his own writers, hired a crew, and then withdrew.
Standing on the sidelines, ready to step in, was Barry Levinson, who was faced with a studio who now wanted a Christmas movie (for 1988) and an imminent industry writer's strike. Nevertheless, under Levinson's aegis, the script was purged of the feel-good conclusion and the last vestiges of broad farce, with the focus being placed on character interplay and how Cruise's self-absorbed, type A glad-hander finally learns how to connect with another human being. Of Levinson, Hoffman told Newsweek that "He's like a guy out there in a battlefield, sitting in a chair with his hands folded, and the bullets are all over the place. But somehow he knows he's out of range. He's in control but doesn't appear to show it."
While Hoffman clearly deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his unique and original characterization, Cruise's contributions can't be overlooked. While Hoffman's character by necessity cannot grow in the course of the narrative, Cruise had the onus of demonstrating Charlie's development in a compelling manner, and did so admirably. Rain Man went on to accrue a handsome $172 million in domestic box-office receipts, and capture the Best Picture Oscar as well as statues for Levinson, Bass and Morrow.
Producer: Mark Johnson
Director: Barry Levinson
Screenplay: Barry Levinson, David Rayfiel, Ronald Bass, Barry Morrow
Art Direction: William Elliott
Cinematography: John Seale
Editing: Stu Linder
Music: Hans Zimmer
Principal Cast: Dustin Hoffman (Raymond Babbitt), Tom Cruise (Charlie Babbitt), Valeria Golino (Susannah), Gerald R. Molen (Dr. Bruner), Jack Murdock (John Mooney), Bonnie Hunt (Sally Dibbs), Michael D. Roberts (Vern).
C-134m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.
by Jay Steinberg
