Classic 80s Movie: “Rainman”

Today’s Classic 80s Movie guest post comes from Lois Bernard.

Movie Title: Rainman

Year: 1988

Writers: Ronald Bass, Barry Morrow (story and screenplay credit)

Lead actors: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise

Director: Barry Levinson

Plot Summary: Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), a Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties, is in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis. The deal is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. After some quick subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna (Valeria Golino).

Charlie’s trip is cancelled by news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to his hometown in Cincinnati, Ohio, to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while all he is to receive is a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, which is the home of his autistic older brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), of whose existence Charlie was previously unaware. It is revealed that Charlie grew up as a rebellious child and that following the death of his mother, he ran away from home at age 16 to California where he lived ever since, never speaking to his father ever again. Prior to his flight to California, Charlie had taken the Roadmaster out on his 16th birthday without his father’s permission. His father subsequently called the police, reported the car was stolen and Charlie and his friends were picked up by the police. Charlie’s father allowed the police to hold his son in jail for two days (the friends he was driving with had been bailed out by their own parents within hours). This leads Charlie to ask the question that permeates the movie: “Why didn’t somebody tell me I had a brother?”

Although Raymond has autism, he also has superb memory recall, but little understanding of subject matter thus making him an “overgrown child”. He is frightened by change and adheres to strict routines (for example, his continual repetition of the “Who’s on First?” sketch). Except when he is in distress, he shows little emotional expression and avoids eye contact. 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 car trip (due to Raymond’s fear of flying) back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys. Charlie intends to start a custody battle in order to get Raymond’s doctor, Dr. Gerald R. Bruner (Jerry Molen), to settle out of court for half of Sanford Babbitt’s estate so that the mental institution can maintain custody of Raymond.

During the course of the long journey, Charlie learns about Raymond’s autism, which he initially believes is curable resulting in his frequent frustration with his brother’s antics. He also learns about how his brother came to be separated from his family, as a result of an accident when he was left alone with Raymond when Charlie was a baby, about 20 months old and Raymond was age 10. Raymond also sings “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles like he did when Charlie was three or four years old. Charlie remembers the incident as early as he could remember and always thought that the person singing to him, (whom the young Charlie referred to as the ‘Rain Man’ due to Raymond’s slow-speaking of his own name) was an imaginary character.

Charlie proves to be sometimes shallow and exploitative, as when he uses Raymond’s precision memory and takes him to Las Vegas to win money at blackjack by counting cards. Casino security begins to watch Charlie and Raymond, though they can’t find any proof that either is using a cheater’s system to win against the house. Security sends an attractive woman who finds Raymond alone in the casino’s bar. She is able to get Raymond to allude to his and Charlie’s counting of cards. Later, security asks to speak to Charlie privately and suggests that Charlie take his winnings, about $80,000 and leave. Charlie agrees.

In the end, Charlie finds himself becoming protective of Raymond, and grows to truly love him.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Charlie finally meets with his attorney to try to get his share of his inheritance, but then decides that he no longer cares about the money and really just wants to have custody of his brother. However, at a meeting with a court-appointed psychiatrist and Dr. Bruner, Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants (to live with Charlie in California or stay at the mental hospital in Ohio). Eventually, the psychiatrist presses Raymond to make the decision, upsetting him and leading Charlie to request that the doctor back off. Raymond is allowed to go back home to Cincinnati. Charlie, who has gained a new brother and mellowed considerably, promises Raymond as he boards an Amtrak train that he’ll visit in two weeks.

My Favorite Moment In The Movie: This scene is called the point at which the movie “turns” by screenwriter Barry Morrow (DVD commentary) and also happens to be the one I love the most. Cried when I watched it this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-nkUxQ58ug

Charlie runs the water in the bathtub, Raymond begins screaming.

Raymond: (yelling) Scary man.
Charlie: What scary man?
Raymond: Hot water. Hot water burn baby.
Charlie: What baby? Me?
Raymond: Yeah.
Charlie: Me?
Raymond: Yeah.
Charlie: Easy, easy, Raymond, Raymond.

Raymond: (keeps saying hot water burn baby over and over)

Charlie: I’m not burned. I’m not burned. Look at me please. Please. Please.
Raymond: Hot water.

This scene according to DVD commentary and trivia on IMDB was shot in one take, the first take. Also from IMDB Trivia: During filming, both Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise doubted the movie’s potential and jokingly called it, “Two Schmucks in a Car”. All the trivia is pretty interesting.

Why I Think This Is A Classic 80s Movie: I’m not really sure what a classic 80’s movie is, I just love this movie. Plot simple, characters rich, scenery detail beautiful. Also was interesting reading the trivia about how the script evolved from one being about a man with mental retardation to an autistic savant at the insistence of Dustin Hoffman. Here is a movie even the actors thought was nothing much. Went through several studios before it ended up being made by Paramount and became one of the most successful movies of all time, grossing almost $330,000,000 in U.S. theaters.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie: Every scene even the smallest actions create conflict due to the basic set up of the characters. Also each scene moves forward the character arcs of both. Charlie puts suntan lotion on Raymond because Raymond wants the top down on the convertible. Raymond lets Charlie touch him physically, showing the growing connection between these two equally unconnected individuals. Another favorite scene of mine is the underwear scene. To me its like Mary Poppins Practically Perfect in Every Way.

Raymond: Gotta get my boxer shorts at K-Mart.
Charlie: [Pulls over, gets out of the car and yells] WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHERE YOU BUY UNDERWEAR? WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? UNDERWEAR IS UNDERWEAR! IT IS UNDERWEAR WHEREVER YOU BUY IT! IN CINCINNATI OR WHEREVER!
Raymond: K-Mart!
Charlie: You know what I think, Ray? I think this autism is a bunch of shit! Because you can’t tell me that you’re not in there somewhere!
Raymond: Boxer shorts. K-Mart!

Barry Morrow on Rainman:

Tomorrow: Another Classic 80s Movie!

I’m still looking for people to write guest posts in this series. Please email me with the movie you’d like to cover. Here is a template you should use:

Movie Title

Year

Writers (both screenwriters and any authors whose books were used as the basis for adaptation)

Lead Actors (Just the main ones)

Director

IMDB Plot Summary (You can find that directly under the Your Rating box. If you don’t feel the summary does the story justice, feel free to write up a logline of your own.)

Why I Think This Is A Classic 80s Movies (Feel free to write as much as you’d like up to a half-page or so.)

My Favorite Moment In The Movie

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie (IMDB has a Quotes section for almost every movie, so you can find key dialogue in your movie’s site.)

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie

Please use this exact template to help me in the editing process.

If you can find a YouTube clip from the film or its trailer, include that URL.

When you are done with your guest post, you may simply copy and paste the content into an email to me.

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Thanks, everyone!