1988 Rain Man

1988 Rain Man

Charlie and Raymond Babbitt.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I lied to you.  I'm very sorry about that.  That man right there is my brother and if he doesn't get to watch 'People's Court' in about 30 seconds, he's gonna throw a fit right here on your porch.  Now you can help me or you can stand there and watch it happen."

Tom Cruise plays Charlie Babbitt, a young man with a surly attitude, daddy issues, and a BIG chip on his shoulder.  When he hears that his estranged father has died. his main concern is collecting his inheritance.  His father raised him alone, and the two didn't get along.  At 17, Charlie left home, and refused contact with his father from them on:

Charlie: I'll tell you a story about my father, that car in the garage, was off limits to me.  He said it was a classic, it demands respect.  One day, I'm a sophomore in high school, I bring home a report card, it's almost all A's so I go to the old man, ask him if I can take the car out as sort of a victory drive.  He says no.  So I stole the keys and snuck it out.
Susanna: You took the car with no permission?  Why?

Charlie: Because I deserved it! Nothing I did was ever good enough for this guy. Don't you understand, We're on Columbia Parkway, four kids, and we get pulled over...Okay so we're taken to jail.  The other kids' fathers bail them out, mine left me there for two days.
Susanna: He left you in prison for two days?  Were you scared?
Charlie: Yeah.  Left home.  Never saw him again.

At the reading of the will, Charlie gets a big surprise.  He gets the car they fought over, and his father's prized rose bushes, but the rest of his father's three million dollar legacy has been left to a brother Charlie didn't know existed:

Lawyer: Are you disappointed?
Charlie: Disappointed?  Why should I be disappointed?  I got rose bushes didn't I?  I got a used car, didn't I?  This other guy, what'd you call him?
Lawyer: The beneficiary.
Charlie: Yeah him, he got $3,000,000 but he didn't get the rose bushes.  I got the rose bushes.  I definitely got the rose bushes.  Those are rose bushes!
Lawyer: Mr. Babbitt, there's no reason to...
Charlie: To what?  To get upset?  If there is a hell, sir, my father is in it and he is looking up right now and he is laughing his ass off.  Sanford Babbitt, you wanna be that guy's son for five minutes?

Raymond and Charlie in the Buick.

Charlie's mysterious brother is Raymond (Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for the role), a high functioning autistic savant with a photographic memory, but social and mental disabilities.  Raymond is institutionalized in a very nice hospital where he is cared for, and he has lived there since Charlie was three years old, with periodic visits from his father.  Charlie is surprised to learn that their father used to let Raymond drive his precious car -the same car he refused to let Charlie drive, and that led to their falling out.

Raymond refuses to board a plane.

Angry with his father, Charlie basically kidnaps Raymond, driving with him on a car trip back to his home in Los Angeles (because Raymond becomes hysterical when Charlie tries to get him on a plane).  I am not a fan of traveling movie in general.  Planes, Trains and Automobiles, no thanks.  It is interesting to watch the relationship between the two brothers develop, however.

Charlie is initially a pretty big jerk to his brother.  He doesn't understand autism, becomes easily frustrated when Raymond rambles and insists on a very regimented routine, and tends to lose his temper, swearing and yelling at Raymond:

Raymond: Maple syrup is supposed to be on the table before the pancakes.
Charlie: We haven't ordered yet, Ray.
Raymond: Of course when they bring the maple syrup after the pancakes, it'll definitely be too late.
Charlie: How is that gonna be too late?  We haven't ordered the pancakes yet.

Charlie loses his temper with Raymond.

Raymond: We're gonna be here the entire morning with no maple syrup and no -no toothpicks, I'm definitely, definitely not gonna have my pancakes w-with...OW!

Charlie: Don't make a scene!
Raymond: OW!
Charlie: Stop acting like a fucking retard.
Raymond: UH-OH!
Charlie: What are you writing?  What the fuck is this?  "Serious Injury List"?  Serious injury list?  Are you fucking kidding me?
Raymond: Number eighteen in 1988, Charlie Babbitt squeezed and pulled and hurt my neck in 1988.
Charlie: Squeezed and pulled and hurt your neck in 1988?

As he gets to know his brother's schedule and mannerisms, he becomes better at caring for him.  He starts to care for Raymond, teaching him to dance and even getting him to laugh at a joke.

He has a revelation when he realizes that the imaginary friend he called "Rain Man" as a child, who used to sing to him when he was afraid, is actually Raymond, and that Raymond was sent away because his parents feared that he would harm Charlie.

Teaching Raymond to dance.

Charlie: Was I trying to say 'Raymond' and it came out 'rain man'?
Raymond: Yeah.  Funny Rain Man.
Charlie: You?  You're the rain man?  Who took this picture?
Raymond: D-A-D.
Charlie: And you lived with us?
Raymond: Yeah, 10962 Beachcrest Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Charlie: When did you leave?
Raymond: January 12, 1965.  Very snowy that day.  7.2 inches of snow that day.
Charlie: Just after Mom died.
Raymond: Yeah Mom died January 5, 1965.
Charlie: You remember that day.  Was I there?  Where was I?
Raymond: You were in the window.  You waved to me, "Bye bye Rain Man", "Bye bye."
Charlie: So, you -you were the one that sang to me?
Raymond: Yeah.

"Charlie Babbitt made a joke." -Raymond

By the end of their journey, the money has become less important to Charlie than Raymond's place in his life as his big brother: "I just realized I'm not pissed off anymore.  My father cut me out of his will.  You probably knew he tried to contact me over the years.  I never called him back.  I was a prick.  If he was my son and didn't return my calls, I'd have written him out.  But it's not about the money anymore.  You know, I just don't understand.  Why didn't he tell me I had a brother?  Why didn't anyone ever tell me that I had a brother?  Because it'd have been nice to know him for more than just the past six days."  Charlie decides to do what's best for Raymond, and lets him return to the institution, with a promise to visit soon.

"I had a father I hardly knew,
a mother I didn't know at all.
I find out now that I have a brother,
and I'm supposed to give him up?"

It's sad, because Raymond cannot connect with Charlie the way a regular person would, but also joyous, because Charlie has found family at last:

Charlie: What I said about being on the road with you I meant.  Connecting.  I like having you for my brother.
Raymond: I'm an excellent driver.
Charlie: Yes, you are.  I like having you for my big brother.
Raymond: C-H-A-R-L-I-E.  C-H-A-R-L-I-E.  Main man.

Charlie also improves his relationship with his fiance, Susanna, who is very likable and kind to Raymond.

Not a movie I would want to watch repeatedly, but excellent acting and a good story.