Directed by Barry Levinson
Released December 16, 1988
Written by Barry Morrow
Screenplay by Ronald Bass & Barry Morrow
Movie Synopsis Courtesy by IMDB
"Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country."
It is no secret that Tom Cruise is one of the staples of the 80's, so it was only a matter of time before I got to one of his movies. With that said, though, I don't think this is a Tom Cruise movie. I think this movie is all about Dustin Hoffman.
Making a movie like this can be very challenging. When playing a character who has a disability/impairment/mental problem/etc. you never want to offend anyone or get information wrong. It is important that you try to act and stay true to a character without making them into a joke. There is a very fine line when making a movie like this and I think that Dustin Hoffman executed his role professionally and as accurately as he could. Something interesting, though, is that at one point he wanted to give up because he felt he was not acting to the best of his ability. I am guessing that once he received that Best Actor Academy Award he felt a bit differently.
I think part of the reason his character was so successful was because Raymond's character was modeled after a real person: Kim Peek. Dustin actually spent a lot of time with Kim in order to better understand his character. He also made a promise, to Kim's father, that he would show Kim to the world with his amazing memory and ability to recall details from history.
One interesting fact that I learn about this movie is that the director wanted to shoot most of the interactions between Charlie and Raymond in a profile view. He did this to mimic the idea of how Raymond never looked anyone in the eyes when he was talking. This is one of those small details that you don't really pick up on in the movie because it effortlessly mimics Raymond's personality that you are invested in the character and don't think about the technical aspects.
Now enough about Raymond, let's talk about Charlie for a second. I feel like Tom Cruise is really good at playing a jerk. His performance and actions always infuriate me at the beginning of this movie because he is so self-centered and one sided that he cares about no one else. It is even evident in how he treats his girlfriend; he only cares about himself. While that's terrible in terms of his character, it is great on Tom's part because he has made this character believable. Especially, since many people who don't interact with people like Raymond probably don't know how to act around them. Now, many other people would probably be more compassionate from the start, but Charlie's lack of compassion makes it even greater when he finally starts to care for his brother. I think it also further helps to demonstrate the difficulty in communication with someone like Raymond.
These two scenes are the ones I like the best because it shows the boys really making a connection. They are sweet but also sad because at the end of both, Charlie has to realize that even though he now has a brother, he can't do certain things with his brother that other people would be able to do. Such as being able to hug your brother.
Raymond is an autistic savant. Which means he is autistic, but has special abilities beyond the average, mainly pertaining to memory. Which is explained by his ability to remember phone numbers in the phone book, know how many toothpicks fell on the floor, and be able to "count cards." His special abilities are what makes him unique. While this scene makes me mad, because Charlie is taking advantage of his brother's special ability, it is interesting to see Raymond excel at what he is good at with his memory.
The interesting part about this scene is that while shooting it, Dustin Hoffman would often run off to go and play blackjack. It got so bad that they actually had to assign someone to watch him during takes because other wise they would have to delay production while going to look for him.
Another fun fact, when Raymond and Charlie are in the airport, Raymond gets concerned about the statistics of all the different airlines. Well all, except for one: Qantas. In fact, even until 2018 Qantas has never lost a jet airliner. So I guess even 30 some years later, Raymond knew what he was talking about.
*Susanna Kisses Raymond
Susanna: "How was that?"
Raymond: "Wet."
Rain Man is such an emotional rollercoaster of a film. I think I first watched this film when I was in high school and instantly fell in love with it. I have to agree that the dynamic between Charlie and Raymond really make this film special. I particularly like the growth of Charlie in the film. As you said he is an asshole throughout most of the film, but when he truly starts caring for Raymond he changes into a decent human being. That final scene where Charlie tells Raymond goodbye and watches him leave on the train I think is the most powerful scene in the film.
ReplyDeleteI love that last scene. I think what really gets it for me is when Raymond makes the joke that K-Mart sucks. It is something small, but for Raymond it is a big deal because he made a joke and learned something from Charlie.
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