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Summary: One of the great ones
Review: I don't know how accurate the movie is to autism, and whether autists can perform the feats Hoffman does here. But forgetting that - this is one of the finest movies out there about brotherhood and family - and the pressures of modern American Life. One of the "Best Pictures" that actually deserved the Oscar.
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Summary: Touching Drama gives Insights into Autism
Review: Dustin Hoffman gives Oscar winning performance as autistic man who gets surprise visit from long lost younger brother (played by Tom Cruise) when estranged father leaves fortune to Hoffman. When Cruise sees how Hoffman lives (in a group home), he decides to kidnap his older brother for a joy ride, which includes a (rewarding) stay in Las Vegas and other adventures. Eventually Cruise understands that his mentally disabled brother can only function in his structured "home" environment and is disinterested in any material things the "outside world" has to offer.This film is very touching, explaining some facts about autism and inclusion of the handicapped in our mainstream society. Oscar winner for Best Picture!*****
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Summary: I don't know....yeah..yeah..
Review: Rain Man (Raymond) is a movie that is both entertaining and serious at the same time. As many of the other reviews here reveal, the movie is about Charles Babbit, who happens to discover the existence of a brother after his father's death, and Raymond, who is charles's autistic brother inheriting a fortune of $3 Million from his D-A-D. Charles, though initially unsentimental & motivated by money due to his wretched financial condition, makes a connection with his brother as they go along a cross-country drive and finally realizes that the love & care for his brother outweigh his devotion to money.
It is a wonderfully executed movie with star-studded performances by both Hoffman and Cruise, that makes you laugh at times and feel a lump in your throat at other times. This one definitely is a quality movie worth relishing.
Rating: 
Summary: Long Long Brother
Review: 1988's Rain Man is the story of a young, greedily ambitious car dealer, Charlie Babbitt, who travels from Los Angeles to Cincinnati after his father passes away. Expecting to be left his father's millions, he finds he is only left with some rose bushes and a classic Buick convertible. Even more shocking to Charlie is that he finds out the millions have been left to a brother he never knew he had. His brother, Raymond, is much older and confined to an institution because he is afflicted with autism. Charlie takes Raymond out of the institution and wants to take him back to L.A. in order to bilk him out of the money. After Raymond refuses to fly, they set off on a cross-country journey in the Buick. Initially, Charlie is uncaring and unsympathetic to Raymond. Raymond is a creature of routine and any deviation from it causes him to become worried and troubled. Eventually, Charlie softens up and grows to care for his brother and gives in to his routines, but also helps Raymond break some of them. Dustin Hoffman won his second Best Actor Oscar for his role as Raymond and Tom Cruise gave his first serious and critically acclaimed performance as Charlie. The film won three other Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director for Barry Levinson and Best Original Screenplay for writers Ronald Bass & Barry Morrow. The film can get a little tedious and cloying spots and while Mr. Hoffman's performance is clearly genuine and heart felt, but he sometimes falls into an almost cartoon character with his mannerisms. That being said, Rain Man is a highly entertaining film that will make you laugh and cry.
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Summary: Levinson's RAY of Sunshine....
Review: This review refers to the MGM DVD edition of "Rain Man"...... "Rain Man" is one of those rare gems to come out of Hollywood, that leaves you wanting to watch it over and over again. After numerous rewrites, and several directoral changes, "Rain Man" finally fell into the very capable hands of director Barry Levinson(The Natural/Good Morning Viet Nam).Levinson brings us more than just a story of two brothers, it is a journey of love and discovery. The Babbitt brothers Raymond and Charlie have just discovered the other exisits. Raymond(Dustin Hoffman), the older, is an autistic savant who has been living most of his adult life at "Wallbrook". A facility which although has given him great care, is all that Raymond knows of the world.Raymond lives in his own world there, and although he has amazing mathamatical skills,has little capacity for understanding the ways of the world. Charlie(Tom Cruise), on the other hand, is a sharp but intolerant businessman. He also has trouble seeing beyond his world, and uses people to his own advantages.He seems to be without a heart. When their father died, he left almost all of his vast fortune to Raymond, and a mere token to the estranged Charlie. Charlie has always felt cheated by his father and once again he feels the sting.He decides to take matters into his own hands, and kidnaps Raymond from Wallbrook in an attempt to retrieve his share of the inheritance. Charlie takes Raymond on a cross country journey that will tug at your heartstrings and keep you smiling every inch of the way.
Charlie must care for Ray and deal with all of his symptoms and eccentricites, as Ray is thrown into a world unknown to him.The moments of change are defining and a joy to watch as Charlie develops a heart. Hoffman's portrayal of the autistic Raymond is moving and is done with a wonderful humor, that brings a great depth of understanding to the character.He not only won the Best Actor award from Oscar, but also recieved a Golden Globe as well. Cruise, although a big box office draw at the time, really shows that he is more than a pretty face with his superb performance as Charlie. Levinson, who brought us a ray of sunshine with this film, recieved Best director from Oscar as well as the Director's Guild.The score by Hans Zimmer as always is delicious. The film itself was also honored by Oscar as Best Picture(1988). The DVD qualities are very good. It may be viewed in either The Theatrical widescreen version or a standard version(the choice option comes up at the start of the film). The picture is excellent, with nice colors and sharp images. The sound is in Dolby Dig 5.1 surround, which is especially nice with the terrific score and songs playing in the background. It may also be viewed in French(stereo) or Spanish(Mono). Don't look for too much in the way of extras on the DVD itself, there's just a theatrical trailer, but it does come with a very informative booklet, that talks about everything from the film to some info on exactly what "Autistic Savant Syndrome" is. For me, this film is the "special" feature by itself! This is "definately, yeah definately"(Hoffman) a great addition to any DVD library.......Laurie
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Summary: If only Hollywood would get these values right more often!
Review: An outstanding movie from the eighties that took four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Actor), "Rainman" is about the arrogant, selfish and materialistic hotshot car-dealer Charles Babbit (Tom Cruise) and his autistic brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). Charlie is a struggling businessman on the verge of bankruptcy who doesn't even know he has a brother until his dad dies. When he only inherits the rose bushes and a used car, he discovers that the rest of his father's wealth ($3 million) is put in a trust fund for his institutionalized brother. Charlie takes up contact with Raymond, and because his real motive is to obtain his dad's millions, he kidnaps Ray and holds him for ransom. The lack of sympathy we feel for Charlie's greed is matched by the sympathy we feel for his misunderstood brother Ray. Charlie doesn't care about Ray: "It's none of your business, stop acting like an idiot and reading that stupid phone book." Charlie's Italian girlfriend Susanna is the conscience that says otherwise: "It's not right what you're doing to Raymond." The turning point comes when Charlie's exasperated girlfriend walks out on him after living with him for a year, and only then does he finally begin to show sympathy for his brother. Charlie comes to realize that Ray's brilliant memory and extraordinary ability with numbers has great potential in a casino. But more importantly, he comes to realize that Ray is a brother whom he loves. Their journey on the run is as much a journey of discovery for Charlie as it is for Ray. Charlie undergoes a dramatic transformation in character: "I felt like giving you a hug." And: "It's not about the money anymore. Why didn't anyone ever tell me I had a brother?" It is this heart-warming theme that becomes the movie's focal point. Remarkably, Hollywood has produced a movie that shows the emptiness of materialism, and that emphasizes the wealth that lies in the fellowship of family relationships. But "Rainman" is also a sensitive look at people with mental disabilities, showing their strengths and weaknesses, and showing how they are as loveable as the rest of us. This is heightened by some brilliant acting from Dustin Hoffman in particular, who produced an outstanding and convincing performance as autistic Raymond. Hoffman's Academy Award winning performance is enhanced by a brilliant soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, and stellar directing which makes you see life from Raymond's autistic point of view (for instance his bewilderment as they drive across a bridge). There are also several delightful moments of warm humor - who can forget the memorable lines: "I'm an excellent driver"; "K-Mart sux"; "Qantas never crashed"; and the classic "I'm definitely not wearing underwear". There is a sex scene, but it is presented from Raymond's point of view and involves more suggestion than sight. Even so, the frequent use of profanities as well as the strongly implied sexual content was enough to give this movie the R rating it deserves. But if you can overlook the excessive amount of offensive content, this is a memorable movie that has the potential to change you as it changed Charlie - for the better. The members of our family (even those with handicaps) are truly of more value than the money in our bank. Now if only Hollywood as a whole would make the same change in thinking as Charlie...
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Summary: Rainman purchase from Bellygirl
Review: Tape was received UPS in 7 days from order date. Tape was new and unopened as promised.
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Summary: An Audacious Foray into Autism
Review: 'Rain Man' is a wonderful story of acceptance, loss, brotherhood, and love. It's a touching drama without that sappy, tear-jerker quaility that many such dramas tend to have. The story follows a money-hungry, arrogant, young businessman (Tom Cruise), who discovers after his father's death that millions of dollars in the father's will have been put aside for a brother that the man never knew he had. Dustin Hoffman stars as Raymond, the autistic savant brother who teaches the businessman important lessons about life, love, and understanding. A classic, not to be missed!
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Summary: Barry Levinson's Rain Man
Review: In the last few years, this was one of the few Oscar winners for best picture that was not a ponderous three hour history lesson. Charlie Babbit, a struggling and cocky luxury car dealer finds out his father dies, and goes to Ohio from L.A. to collect his expected inheritance. He finds out he has an older autistic brother named Raymond who has all the money put in trust for his care. Charlie takes Raymond on a drive back to L.A. to await a hearing on custody of Raymond, and the film is, in effect, their cross country journey. I have seen this film many times before, as have others, and I would suggest a new way to view this: just watch Tom Cruise's underappreciated performance. He is very confident and sure of himself, and holds his own against Hoffman. His character does change slightly throughout the film, but Cruise never allows Charlie to do a 180 into sainthood. Even at the climactic hearing, he speaks shortly to Raymond, and their final scene after the hearing, where Raymond leans his head on Charlie's, is wonderful. Hoffman deserved the Oscar for best actor. Sure, everyone did their own Raymond impressions (until Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump came along; why do some people think mental retardation is funny?), but Hoffman has not been this good very often since ("Hero", anyone?). The screenplay is wonderful, despite a troubled history and multiple endings. The one scene I had a problem with is when Charlie figures out who Raymond was to him as a child, and Levinson basically has Cruise talk to himself as a way to let those in the audience know. I cannot stand that. We can figure it out without Cruise mumbling "they sent you away because they thought you hurt me." This is just quibbling, however, considering other positives here. Levinson uses overlapping dialogue to a wonderful extent, with Cruise always talking and trying to find a way out of a jam. His scene where he keeps repeating his inheritance, the rose bushes, to his father's lawyer, while the lawyer tries to talk, is funny and a foreshadowing to Hoffman's Raymond. Maybe Raymond does not say some of the things he says because he is autistic, but because he is a Babbit. When Robert Altman uses overlapping dialogue, it seems forced, boring, and something you must endure until Sally Kellerman or some other leading lady agrees to take her clothes off. Here, it is very natural. Valeria Golina is also good as Charlie's exasperated Italian girlfriend. Hans Zimmer provides an incredible score that is not used often enough. The pick of songs, from Bananarama's remake of "Nathan Jones," to "At Last" seemed to be collected to make the movie work, not because someone wanted a hit soundtrack a la "Footloose" or "Beverly Hills Cop." "Rain Man" is a great film, and one that deserves a fresh look today. This is rated (R) for some physical violence, strong profanity, brief female nudity, some sexual content, and some sexual references. This could almost get a (PG13) nowadays, I have seen worse on network TV.
Rating:
Summary: Rain Man
Review: A Must see! Impecable performance by Dusitn Hoffman. Tom Cruise shows his greatness again.
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