Rain Man

In acknowledging how Rain Man (1988) became one of the undisputed Hollywood classics of the last generation, winning four Academy Awards and huge box-office profits, the achievements of those involved become that much more remarkable in light of the genuinely dizzying circumstances of the project's development. 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 Bil... more