![]() ![]() This is how Charlie discovers he has an older brother named Raymond-a brother he never knew existed. He then hears him mutter that his father Sanford Babbitt allowed him to drive it in their driveway. Charlie kicks the man out of his car but overhears him rattling off statistics about it that are all accurate. Upset by this and ready to contest it, Charlie heads outside to his Roadmaster, only to find a mental patient sitting behind the wheel, and Susanna waiting calmly in the passenger’s seat next to him for Charlie to show up. Bruner (Jerry Molen) at the institution, he learns nothing about why they have the money, only that they knew it was coming. Through a bit of clever sleuthing, Charlie learns this money will be funneled to a mental institution called Wallbrook. The bulk of the estate, roughly $3 million, has been bequeathed to an unnamed trustee. Tom Cruise as Charlie and Valeria Golino as Susanna.Ĭharlie heads to Cincinnati with Susanna, where he is told by an executor of the will that his wealthy but estranged dad left him the rose bushes out in front of the house, along with his prized 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible parked in the garage, which was the cause of much friction between them. Then he receives an unexpected call that his father has died. Charlie already took out a loan against $70,000 of the buyers’ down-payments to purchase them, and he even instructs his employee Lenny (Ralph Seymour) to lie over the phone about the failed inspections. The problem is these pricey vehicles haven’t passed their emissions inspections, and the EPA is holding them at the port until they do. The movie opens with Charlie receiving four Lamborghinis dockside, which he plans to resell to impatient buyers. Basically, he’s the ultimate poster-boy for the ’80s. A narcissist with a mean streak who treats his girlfriend Susanna (Valeria Golino) like crap and cares only about personal gain. At the beginning and through much of the film, Charlie is a first-class jerk. I can only guess that Cruise’s snubbing has a lot to do with the character he plays. We see Raymond through his brother’s eyes, so without Cruise’s outstanding performance, Hoffman’s wouldn’t work at all. Hoffman has the showier part, the character with the affliction, but our window into his mind is Charlie Babbitt. For my money, Cruise has the more challenging role, even though it was Hoffman who took home his second Oscar for Best Actor. The film stars Dustin Hoffman (Raymond) and Tom Cruise (Charlie), both giving powerhouse performances. Rain Man is essentially a “buddy picture,” not an “issue picture.” It’s also not Raymond’s journey at the front and center, it’s his brother Charlie’s. ![]() These must be the same people who see “issues” in movies first, more than stories. He is one person, one instance, one example, nothing more. I don’t give much credence to those who claim Raymond Babbitt doesn’t represent their personal experience. More about Savant Syndrome later on, but my point is that Rain Man will never be all things to all people. This is about a film, a man, a character in a story who is an autistic savant. ![]() ![]() I don’t claim to be an expert on any of this, nor is this a medical journal. It’s a psychiatric condition characterized by difficulties with social interaction and communication, however it can manifest itself in a wide range of mental disorders known as the autism spectrum. This developmental disorder has come into the public eye in recent years but wasn’t discussed much in homes back in 1988. It isn’t easily represented, for one thing, because it varies from person to person. For many reasons, autism is difficult to capture on film or in a story. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |