RAIN MAN 1988 (Included–with subscription--for streaming on Prime Video )  Rain Man was made on a 25 million dollar budget and grossed 354 million dollars, the highest-grossing film of 1988. It won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (for Dustin Hoffman), Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Rain Man is a movie about two conditions—Autism and Savant Syndrome. Not all autistic persons are savants, in fact only one in 10 autistic persons have any savant abilities, let alone the prodigious skills seen in this film. While the movie was inspired by the real-life story of Kim Peek, a man with exceptional memory and savant abilities, the film is not a documentary and takes creative liberties with the narrative. Rain Man is a heartwarming 1988 American road comedy-drama directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish fast-talking automobile salesman in Los Angeles, Charlie Babbitt, played by Tom Cruise. Charlie discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). Raymond was an autistic savant whose existence Charlie was unaware of. He had superb recall, but he showed little emotional expression, except when in distress. Charlie decides to attempt to gain custody of his brother Raymond to get control of the money left by his father. He takes Raymond out of the psychiatric hospital where he has been living with the intention of flying back to his home in California. Raymond is afraid of flying. After reciting the dates and fatalities of every airline’s most recent crash, he absolutely refused to get on a plane. So Charlie puts Raymond in the front seat of his 1949 Buick and they head out on a cross-country odyssey of discovery that will lead them to a better understanding of each other. The changes in the two men almost all belong to Charlie, who begins the film as a “me-first” materialist. He gets in touch with things that are more important than selling cars. He learns how to listen and how to be at least a little patient some of the time. Eventually, toward the end of the journey, he finds that he loves his brother, and that love involves accepting him exactly as he is. Many, if not most, critics credit Dustin Hoffnan’s performance as the best of his career. You may have noticed that all the films Barbara and I reviewed last month received grades of A. This was because we only reviewed older films that received rave reviews from most critics. GRADE A