Rain Man is probably the best road picture of the past half century, not just for the cool vintage car and the scenery it passes through, but for being a true journey of discovery. One more thing: Rain Man might stand as one of the few classic Hollywood films of the 1980s, a decade of dumbing down after the wonder years of the '70s. Winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Best Director (Barry Levinson) and Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Rain Man is out on Blu-ray.
Tom Cruise, the box office bait at the time of the movie's release (1988), stars as Charlie. A failing wheeler-dealer with a shark-wide grin, Charlie discovers (upon the death of his estranged millionaire father) Raymond, the older brother he never knew. Raymond (Hoffman) is an autistic savant, easily upset and with a slantwise way of communicating but also a remarkable memory and an amazing gift for numbers. Charlie may be the protagonist on a journey of self-knowledge (and it's one of Cruise's best roles) but the picture belongs to Raymond, whose askew habits and mumbling introversion steal every scene. Hoffman seemed to live out his part.
Rain Man was the high water mark for Levinson, who deployed the vast resources of Hollywood to tell stories with intelligence and sympathy at a time when most of his colleagues went for the big chase and the big fiery bang. Driven to the fringes of the industry, Levinson is directing for TV, making documentaries and recently filmed a funny but overlooked satire of Hollywood, What Just Happened (2008).
