Rain Man 1988

Charles Sanford Charlie Babbit is a selfcentered Los Angelesbased automobile dealerhustlerbookie who is at war with his own life. Charlie as a young teenager used his fathers 1948 Buick convertible without permission and as a result he went to jail for two days on account that his father reported it stolen. It is then that Charlie learns that his estranged father died and left him from his last will and testament a huge bed of roses and the car while the remainder will of $3 Million goes into a trust fund to be distributed to someone. Charlie seemed pretty angry by this and decides to look into this matter. It seems as if that someone is Raymond Charlies unknown brother an autistic savant who lives in a world of his own resides at the Walbrook Institute. Charlie then kidnaps Raymond and decides to take him on a lust for life trip to the west coast as a threat to get the $3 Million inheritance. Raymonds acts and nagging including repeated talks of Abbott & Costello...

Review

Tom Cruise stars as a used car salesman who is angry when his fathers inheritance is left to his older autistic brother (Dustin Hoffman) whose existence had not been revealed to him.

The film is built around its two assured central performances. Hoffman gives an excellent portrayal of a man with autism totally unable to comprehend the real world around him. Cruise is no less impressive. While he is essentially playing to type his characters attitude changes so gradually throughout the film that you barely notice and without Cruises subtle performance this transformation would be much less credible.

This is a highly commendable film which despite tackling a tricky subject refuses to succumb to sentimentality. In giving autism such publicity the film has hopefully helped to lessen the stigma brought on by ignorance of this condition.

Rain Mans great success is that it shows the way forward for issue driven movies in Hollywood. Its success at the box office demonstrates that taking a risk can pay off in spades provided that the film is good enough.