How accurate is Dustin Hoffman's performance in Rain Man? - Quora Quora How accurate is Dustin Hoffman's performance in Rain Man? Does his character portray symptoms of autism one might see in the real world? Answer Wiki 9 Answers Peter Flom , LD adult. Creator of Author of "Screwed up Somehow but not Stupid: Life with a Learning ... Written Jan 26, 2015 · Upvoted by Quora User, Mother to an autistic child Dustin Hoffman gave a very good performance of one particular autistic person. This was a person who was unusual, even for autistic people (and that's saying something!) When you've seen one autistic person you've seen one autistic person. By the nature of his role, the character he played is one that most people rarely see - he wasn't capable of functioning in the world. In addition, he had savant skills (not all autistic people do). Further, when Rain Man was made (1988) the definition of autism was much more restrictive. I have seen people who act similarly to Rain Man.

But you can't look at that guy and say "that's autism!" any more than you can look at Temple Grandin and say "that's autism!" or any kid or adult with autism and say "that's autism!" The same is true for other groups of people. You wouldn't look at (say) Albert Einstein and say "That's Jewish people!" would you? Written Jan 27, 2015 He was accurate to the autistic savant character that he played. That character however is one person among millions with Autism Spectrum Conditions. As Peter Flom , Chrys Jordan , and Becca Makin note, this is a single type, and a rare and rather extreme type at that, among countless other neurodiversities. Written Jan 27, 2015 · Upvoted by Quora User The problem with performances in famous movies is that they stereotype. Peter Flom , Becca Makin , Chrys Jordan , and Quora User have all discussed the fact that behaviorally speaking, the character is not a universal archetype for autism. I had the chance last week to go to a local meeting for people with autism.

The room had everything from computer or anime geeks, to engineers, to artists in it. We were playing Apples to Apples, and it was almost impossible to figure out before someone played whether or not they would take a literal to wildly personal associative meaning for cards, or make a classic literature reference, or what they might pick as the correct card. I was the person in the corner nervously spouting facts, word definitions, and snark, because when I'm nervous I turn into a font of facts and sarcasm. And unfortunately for me, I am a fact sponge and someone at the table didn't know who Pablo Picasso was and what cubism is. Rain Man was nowhere in that room. I probably got closer to Rain Man than anyone else did out of sheer nervousness.

There are some basic qualities we tend to share, although again this is wildly disparate based on the person: a somewhat idiosyncratic or literal interpretation of incoming communication a focus on some subject, approach, idea, or central interest the need for routines or for some systematic approach to daily activities distress at having our routines or approaches broken trouble gauging behaviors appropriate to circumstances or adapting to complex social situations I'm actually leaving stims off the list because so many people were trained out of them and you might not get to see their stims on casual observance. That's pretty much it. So no, Rain Man is not fully accurate for the daily life of people with autism. 975 Views · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Quora User Becca Makin , diagnosed with Asperger's when 22/23 Written Jan 25, 2015 · Upvoted by Quora User, Mother to an autistic child Gods this is so hard to answer. Mostly because I've never managed to make it all the way through the movie Rain Man.

I watched it a bit on Netflix and I got to the moment or just past the moment when Dustin threw a massive fit outside of someone's home until finally the person out of fear let him in to watch a TV show he really wanted to see as part of his routine and at that point I was feeling so sick, and near violated just watching this and knowing all the pain and suffering that autistic people have been through because of the general success of this film causing so many misconceptions that I felt I genuinely had to make the decision to either stop watching or I was going to need to start cutting myself. It was so painful for me to try and watch this I was genuinely considering the option of self harm if I was going to continue so I didn't. So with that in mind, I only saw some of Dustin's performance. I saw his repetitions, I saw the interaction at the institution, I saw the Doctor's appointment to clarify what he had, I saw the time when he dropped and knew how many toothpicks there were. Never the less, I know the tropes. I know and saw the underwear line, the Judge Wapner line, the speech pattern, the head tilt, the obsession with routine.

I saw his brother played by Tom Cruise get frustrated and angry at him. How accurate is it? I'd view it as a hit and miss. I've never met nor interacted with an autistic person who has acted in all those ways with all those different symptoms ever. Then again, I haven't met nor interacted with every autistic out there - and nothing is universal. That's actually something that's REALLY important and can never be stressed enough when you watch or discuss ANYTHING to do with autism. Outside of the "we're all human" factor - NOTHING is universal. It's said by some that a great deal of inspiration for Dustin Hoffman's character was drawn from a man known as Kim Peek (who died in 2009), who wasn't autistic but a savant, although this is disputed by the man who wrote the movie. Some autistics may speak about the same subject over and over again, this is a thing (although from what I've seen a great deal do a variation on a theme and it's not the exact same words in the exact same order and over - We are not Groot).

Many love routine (I know I do) as it can make people feel safe and if there is some sort of control over one's own environment (this isn't even all THAT unusual among neurotypicals and allistics - it's merely more emphasized with less ease of variation to just "squeeze something in"). But again - nothing in autism is universal. For all the individual symptoms that Dustin may or may not have portrayed accurately for one autistic out there -it'll be wildly different for another. All I can say with a surety is that he did not portray how autism affects me accurately at all. He does not appear to portray how autism affects the people I know with autism with any great deal of accuracy. The symptoms he had were all specifically cherry-picked and portrayed in such a manner that would move the plot along in a manner that the screenwriter and director wished it to move. Dustin's character wasn't real, his performance is not applicable to real people and you can't point at him and say "that's autism" like thousands of horribly misguided and ablest people have been doing since the movie came out. Every symptom was contrived and developed to move forward the story.

Each frustrating interaction was part of the story where he taught his able-bodied brother a valuable life non-lesson, as these "suddenly-disabled-person-and/or-baby-in-life" stories tend to go, was designed. I wouldn't class it as a "good" movie to watch if you want to understand the different ways that autism affects different autistic people (I would also like to point out that it's a horribly ablest, hateful and harmful representation of autistics) - I wouldn't recommend ANY movie as a good one watch if you want to understand the different ways autism affects different autistic people. I'd advise, you know, talking to and interacting with autistic people more to get to know and see first hand how autism affects them. Nothing is universal for all autistics. There might, in fact, be an autistic out there, way out there in the back of beyond, who acts in a very similar manner to Dustin. There probably isn't. The statistics and likelihood are against. But there might be. I wouldn't go looking for them however, and I wouldn't make any assumptions that you're ever going to meet an autistic like the character. Ever.

You'd be a fair better person if you just got to know them individually and understood that the fact they are individuals trumps their neurology any day. Just pause however, and think before you next watch this movie or ask a question like this: Someone with autism had to stop watching this movie because it was making them seriously consider self-harm and it actually felt like self-harm to continue watching. Do you REALLY want to try and draw comparisons between them and something they find so offensive and painful? Because you know... I'm not the only one with autism who find this movie offensive... or even THAT offensive. But I don't know any that would be offended if you treated us all as unique individuals. 330 Views · View Upvotes · Not for Reproduction · Answer requested by Quora User Quora User, Adult autistic Written Jan 26, 2015 · Upvoted by Quora User, Mother to an autistic child Thanks for the A2A. Caveat: I am what they used to call "high-functioning," which puts me at the opposite end of the scale as Hoffman's character in terms of severity.

The symptoms he portrays (obsessional interests about unusual things such as his need to see the People's Court every day and write down the results, black-and-white thinking as evidenced by his reaction to flying any airline but Qantas, his inability to deal with sudden changes, and his insistence on the same food every day, which evidences a need for routine) used to be called "low-functioning" symptoms, combined with the mythical "autistic savant" thing. His reaction to the smoke alarm going off, for me, is accurate for me if I am already under some stress. His portrayal was of a man who was at the far end of the scale in terms of severity. However, he also based his performance on a man who turned out not to be classically autistic but have other brain problems (Kim Peek). So no, he's not particularly accurate for the common or garden autistic unless they are at the far end of the severity scale as an adult. 263 Views · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Quora User Kim Peek, Inspiration for ‘Rain Man,’ Dies at 58 - The New York Times The New York Times U.S.

|Kim Peek, Inspiration for ‘Rain Man,’ Dies at 58 Search Continue reading the main story In 1988, the film “Rain Man,” about an autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman , shed a humane light on the travails of autism while revealing the extraordinary powers of memory that a small number of otherwise mentally disabled people possess, ostensibly as a side effect of their disability. The film won four Oscars, including best picture, best actor and, for Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass, best original screenplay. But it never would have been made if Mr. Morrow had not had a chance meeting with Kim Peek, who inspired him to write the film. Mr. Peek was not autistic — not all savants are autistic and not all autistics are savants — but he was born with severe brain abnormalities that impaired his physical coordination and made ordinary reasoning difficult. He could not dress himself or brush his teeth without help. He found metaphoric language incomprehensible and conceptualization baffling. But with an astonishing skill that allowed him to read facing pages of a book at once — one with each eye — he read as many as 12,000 volumes. Even more remarkable, he could remember what he had read.

Indeed, Mr. Peek, who died Dec. 19 at home in Salt Lake City, had perhaps the world’s most capacious memory for facts. He was 58. The cause was a heart attack, said his father, Fran Peek. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Almost all documented savants — people with an extraordinary depth of knowledge and the ability to recall it — have been restricted in their expertise to specific fields like mathematics, chess, art or music. But Mr. Peek had a wide range of interests and could instantly answer the most arcane questions on subjects as diverse as history, sports, music, geography and movies. “He was the Mount Everest of memory,” Dr. Darold A. Treffert, an expert on savants who knew Mr. Peek for 20 years, said in an interview. Mr. Peek had memorized so many Shakespearean plays and musical compositions and was such a stickler for accuracy, his father said, that they had to stop attending performances because he would stand up and correct the actors or the musicians. Photo Kim Peek gained wide recognition for his extraordinary memory. Credit Barton Glasser/Deseret News, via Associated Press “He’d stand up and say: ‘Wait a minute!

The trombone is two notes off,’ ” Fran Peek said. Mr. Peek had an uncanny facility with the calendar. “When an interviewer offered that he had been born on March 31, 1956, Peek noted, in less than a second, that it was a Saturday on Easter weekend,” Dr. Treffert and Dr. Daniel D. Christensen wrote about Mr. Peek in Scientific American in 2006. They added: “He knows all the area codes and ZIP codes in the U.S., together with the television stations serving those locales. He learns the maps in the front of phone books and can provide MapQuest-like travel directions within any major U.S. city or between any pair of them. He can identify hundreds of classical compositions, tell when and where each was composed and first performed, give the name of the composer and many biographical details, and even discuss the formal and tonal components of the music. Most intriguing of all, he appears to be developing a new skill in middle life. Whereas before he could merely talk about music, for the past two years he has been learning to play it.” Mr.

Peek, who was dismissed as mentally retarded as a child and later misdiagnosed as autistic, led a sheltered life, with few people outside his family aware of his remarkable gifts. Then, in 1984, he met Mr. Morrow at a meeting of the Association of Retarded Citizens in Arlington, Tex. Mr. Peek’s father was chairman of the group’s communications committee, and Mr. Morrow had helped create two television movies about a retarded man named Bill (played by Mickey Rooney). After Mr. Peek displayed his memory skills in a conversation with him, Mr. Morrow set about concocting a story around someone like Kim Peek. “I was absolutely flabbergasted that such a human being existed,” Mr. Morrow said in a 2006 documentary about Mr. Peek . Advertisement Continue reading the main story In “Rain Man,” the autistic character, Raymond Babbitt, has been institutionalized since he was very young but is reunited with a cynical younger brother, Charlie (played by Tom Cruise), who had forgotten about his brother’s existence.

(The title comes from Raymond’s recollection of the infant Charlie’s name for him.) The two men take a cross-country trip, and fraternal reconciliation ensues. The movie, a critical and box office success, was not based on Mr. Peek’s life, but in preparing for the role, Mr. Hoffman visited with Mr. Peek and incorporated many of his characteristics — a shambling gait, peculiar hand movements and occasional blunt utterances — into the character of Raymond. When Mr. Hoffman won an Oscar for best actor for the performance, he thanked Mr. Peek in his acceptance speech. Mr. Morrow went even further: he gave his own Oscar statuette to Mr. Peek, who carried it with him to public appearances for the next 21 years. In the wake of “Rain Man,” Mr. Peek became something of a celebrity, emerging from his shell to travel around the country giving demonstrations of his talent and advocating tolerance for the disabled. Fran Peek estimated that some 400,000 people have hugged Mr. Morrow’s statuette.

Photo Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in “Rain Man.” Credit United Artists “We called it the world’s best-loved Oscar,” he said. Laurence Kim Peek was born on Nov. 11, 1951. (He was named for his mother’s favorite actor, Laurence Olivier, and the title character of Rudyard Kipling’s “Kim”; Kipling was his father’s favorite author.) Kim’s head was enlarged, his cerebellum was malformed and, perhaps most crucial, he was missing the corpus callosum, the sheaf of nerve tissue that connects the brain’s hemispheres. It has been theorized that this disruption of normal communication between the brain’s left and right halves resulted in a kind of jury-rigged rewiring. “Perhaps the resulting structures allow the two hemispheres to function, in certain respects, as one giant hemisphere, putting normally separate functions under the same roof, as it were,” Drs. Treffert and Christensen wrote. “If so, then Peek may owe some of his talents to this particular abnormality.” When Kim was 9 months old, a doctor said that he was so severely retarded that he would never walk or talk and that he should be institutionalized.

When Kim was 6, another doctor recommended a lobotomy. By then, however, Kim had read and memorized the first eight volumes of a set of family encyclopedias, his father said. He received part-time tutoring from the age of 7 and completed a high school curriculum by 14. He spent great swaths of time absorbing volumes in the Salt Lake City Public Library. He never used computers, his father said. “How he learned to read, I just don’t know,” Mr. Peek said. Kim Peek’s parents divorced in 1981, and his father cared for him alone until his son’s death. Besides his father, Mr. Peek is survived by his mother, Jeanne Willey Peek Buchi; a brother, Brian; and a sister, Alison, all of Salt Lake City. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “Rain Man” changed Mr. Peek’s life. In the documentary, he confessed that before the film, he never looked anyone in the face. “Barry influenced me more than any other person,” he said of Mr. Morrow. “He made me ‘Rain Man.’ ” Though his social skills never fully developed, he grew to be outwardly engaging.

He enjoyed being among people in his travels and became comfortable as something of a showman. He began developing mental skills he had never had before, like making puns; his coordination slowly improved, to the extent that he could play the piano. He became more self-aware, even displaying a certain social agility. During a presentation Mr. Peek gave at Oxford University in England, after he fielded students’ questions about the Lusitania and about British monarchs, a young woman stood and asked him, “Kim, are you happy?” “I’m happy just to look at you,” Mr. Peek said. A version of this article appears in print on December 27, 2009, on Page A30 of the New York edition with the headline: Kim Peek, Inspiration for ‘Rain Man,’ Dies at 58.

Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Rain Man Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 184 out of 213 people found the following review useful: Best acting performance I have ever seen from United States 28 December 2001 Dustin Hoffman's performance as Raymond Babbitt is,bar none,the best acting performance I have ever seen.I have never seen an actor get so deeply immersed in a character than Hoffman does in this film.He is excellent here,and he deserved nothing less than the Oscar he won for it.As for Tom Cruise,his performance as Raymond's childish and hotheaded brother is also worthy of note.To watch his character slowly shed his ignorance throughout the course of the film was indeed a delight.If you have not seen it,don't deprive yourself any longer.Buy it.It's a keeper. Was the above review useful to you? 138 out of 162 people found the following review useful: My favorite from Michigan 28 January 1999 I have seen this movie probably 7 or 8 times in the past three years, wrote a paper about it for my college film class last semester, and basically regard it as my favorite movie of all time.

Where to begin with the praise for this movie? Let's start with the acting. Dustin Hoffman is my favorite actor, and has been for a while. I'd watch him in any role. I was amazed at the way he was able to pull off this role. I've never seen a more deserved Oscar win. The vacant stare, the monotone voice, the screaming, it was unbelievable. Each time I watch it I am floored by his talent. Tom Cruise is also good, the villain of the story who undergoes such a subtle change that it's almost not visible until nearly the end. He is, however, perfectly suited for the flashy, egotistical character of Charlie, and I think he did a great job. The directing was unobtrusive and beautiful, for the most part just letting the action unfold, which is exactly the way it should have been done. It's a feel-good movie that does that and more, and I think nothing I've seen in the movies is as touching as the scene in the motel where Charlie discovers who "Rain Man" really is. I give this movie a 9.5 out of 10. Absolutely wonderful. Was the above review useful to you?

107 out of 132 people found the following review useful: Why has it become "cool" to hate this film? 23 November 2005 *** This review may contain spoilers *** Barry Levinson is one of the great screen directors of our time. He's most notable for being able to evoke subtly comedic discussions amongst his leading characters, save the rare occasion when his strained efforts backfire ("Toys" comes to mind). "Rain Man" (1988) is his crowning effort, his best achievement I can think of off-hand. It's considered a drama but it's also a true odd couple comedy, about two opposites who learn they have one common bond: their kinship. The Cruise plays Charlie Babbitt, a wealthy car dealer living the high life in California. He's just gotten in a shipment of Ferraris and he's going to make a killing on an upcoming deal for all of them, when his entire background comes back to haunt him in a single unfortunate moment during his newly acquired and quite happy life. Charlie's father has just died, leaving him an old sports car and rose bushes.

But more painful than the fact that his father has died or that he was left simply with a car and some prize-winning rosebushes is the fact that Charlie had tried to put his ill-fated past behind him, and now it has caught up with him again. He has to face the reality of his father once again. This isn't really evident the first time you watch the movie. Charlie is angered at the fact that he got nothing more than some bushes and a vehicle, sure, but he admits he expected nothing more. What really angers him is that he has to face his father, dead or alive, once more; either through faded memories or by the realization that he is now dead and their friendship was never repaired. When Charlie finds out that his father's entire estate has been left to a single trustee, he schemes around and unmasks who the trustee really is -- his older brother he never knew he had, Raymond Babbitt (Hoffman), who lives in a homey mental institute and quotes the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello "Who's on first?" charade when he gets nervous. Charlie confronts his brother, who seems as though he doesn't recognize him.

And in a moment of weakness, Charlie kidnaps his brother from his home, drives him back to California, and attempts to squeeze the money out of Raymond, who has no holding on the concept of money at all. Despite his lack of understanding regarding monetary value, Raymond is an idiot savant, and Charlie takes advantage of Raymond's mathematical skills by taking him to Las Vegas to count cards. After achieving a fortune they are thrown out of the casinos and left to face charges of kidnapping. The problem is, by the time it's all over, Charlie has formed an odd sort of bond with his brother. Long after the laughs settle the emotional impact of the story sinks in. The ending is the sort of rare conclusion that brings tears to the eyes. Throughout the film, Charlie is an arrogant, ignorant, greedy businessman who cares of no one but himself. By the end, however, he has learned more than he has in his entire lifetime from the brother he never had. And unlike a lot of the buddy films out there, we get to see the bonding between Charlie and his big brother, Raymond, form on a daily basis, until it is brought to a standstill.

Dustin Hoffman gives his best performance in "Rain Man," one of such unmatched strength and brilliance that we often feel that we are really watching an autistic man on screen. Raymond Babbitt is one of the most memorable characters you will ever encounter as a viewer, and though Dustin Hoffman isn't necessarily a favorite actor of mine, I place his performance in "Rain Man" as one of the most convincing and touching performances of all time. Trying to put the reason that "Rain Man" is so great into words is simply impossible. It's got everything. And as humorous as Raymond Babbitt becomes, he never seems unreal or obnoxious. As I watch him every time I watch the movie, I completely forget Dustin Hoffman is playing him until I mentally remark on how well he is doing so. This is movie magic, folks. Hollywood has a fascination with characters like Forrest Gump and Raymond Babbitt, but -- even more so than Gump -- Raymond is never annoying. (That's not saying that Gump is, but...Raymond is even more touching and realistic.) Raymond is a fair bit more impaired than Forrest, and we feel for him even more (though which is the better film I could never say).

By all means, see this movie. Drop whatever you're doing and rent it, buy it, watch it over and over. It's amazing. I don't care if I sound like a mainstream critic trying to get my quotes on the new Special Edition box of the DVD (yes, please!), I love this movie and I can't say enough good things about it. Was the above review useful to you? 90 out of 121 people found the following review useful: A movie that will make even the most macho man cry from Chicago, Illinois 25 July 2004 I have to say that this is Tom and Dustin's best performances by far. They are such a wonderful duo together. I love seeing how Tom reacts to Dustin's character. Two brothers, one being successful and the other mentally challenged, are finally reunited. They both learn how to live with each other and eventually learn to love each other. As for a best picture, I wasn't too sure. But the actors will impress you. I would recommend this movie to anyone. It has wonderful characters and some great laughs. But also some very touching moments. You really have to like this movie. It's too memorable to miss.

8/10 from United Kingdom 4 March 2008 It is something of a great cinematic achievement that Rain Man became the great film it clearly is because the story surrounding it is interestingly Hollywood in itself. Four directors, six screenwriters, two cinematographers, eight producers, writers strikes, crew change, and a studio fighting for its life. All of the above are common knowledge but it doesn't hurt to remember these facts when viewing the award wining triumph of a movie that stands the test of time today. The film is so simple in structure it really needed something special to pull it out of the prospective banality of being "just another road movie about finding oneself", Rain Man achieves something special by tackling its subjects with very sensitive hands and splicing a believable human concept into the story via the incredible shows from its two leading men. Dustin Hoffman gives a magical moving performance as the Autistic Savant Raymond, the ultimate complement I can pay the performance is that it really is believable, both moving and clever rolled into one artistic result.

Tom Cruise is equally as great in a role that called for drastic layer changes, a role that demanded much conviction from the actor taking it on, and Cruise gives the role much depth as he goes from shallow bastard to a very emotive and feeling human being, it's a great show that stands up to reevaluation these days. A performance that seems to have sadly been forgotten in light of Hoffman's film stealing show. With a film such as this you pray that the ending can do it justice, and I'm glad to say that there is no pandering here, it's an ending that says so much because it doesn't cop out, I thank god for those rewrites because the endings to the original scripts would of had me booting the TV set out of the window. Essential cinema. 10/10 from United States 9 March 2006 Rain Man is a moving story about two brothers, one a selfish yuppie named Charlie Babbitt who cares only about the importance of money and the other named Raymond who is a autistic and doesn't know anything about the importance of money. Charlie realizes that his father left three million dollars to Raymond and little to him, as he also realizes Raymomd is his brother!

Charlie kidnaps Raymond from his residential home and begins a long journey and discovery that will forever change both their lives. Rain Man is a completely moving, emotional, funny, and unforgettable movie. Dustin Hoffman is one of my favorite actors and plays his most memorable role as well as Tom Cruise, who gives a great performance that helped a lot in launching most of his career. The direction by Barry Levinson is stunning and of course, his best yet. Overall, the film is a timeless classic that moves me in every way. This is definitely one of the best films of the 80's and one of my all time favorites. Yea, definitely, definitely, recommend it! Hedeen's Outlook: 10/10 **** A+ 2 September 2005 *** This review may contain spoilers *** This is an excellent film. Rain Man incorporates moving drama, timeless scenery and unbelievable performances from Dustin Hoffman and even Tom Cruise who up to this point in film history was known for typical chick flicks or films in which his potential was not shown, even the color of money couldn't make him look like any kind of decent actor.

Yet in Rain Man he isn't bad, but I suppose it is very clear and easy to say that Dustin acts him off the screen. The screen is a simple tale of brotherly love. Dustin plays Raymond "The Rain Man" Babbitt, the long lost, supposedly autistic brother of Charlie Babbitt (Cruise). As Charlie finds out he has a brother never revealed to him by his father he feels let down and betrayed, and even more so that now his father is dead and leaving his estate, to the value of $3.000.000 to his brother, and not to himself. So Charlie in his situation decides to take Raymond away from the medical institution he was left in, and goes on a huge road trip, not willing to give his brother up, unless the institutes settles his share of his father's assets. But as this slow but intriguing film goes on, the bonds get stronger, and you can see the devotion settling in around them as they establish some common ground. And so when the end of the film comes and the brothers are ripped apart, even though really you know they should be allowed to unite it is extremely saddening.

The end scene is particularly good, and very emotional, and the fact Barry Levinson has made characters the audience can genuinely care for, it means that the overall effect on the viewers is elevated to a whole new and amazing degree. It is brilliant. Don't deny this film it's worth because of technicalities and the fact it doesn't relay the correct message, and praise the quality of its creation. Which is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best and most touching film productions to ever grace the screen. Was the above review useful to you? 53 out of 67 people found the following review useful: Shows the way forward for issue driven movies. from Cumbria, England 22 February 2005 Tom Cruise stars as a used car salesman, who is angry when his father's inheritance is left to his older autistic brother (Dustin Hoffman), whose existence had not been revealed to him. The film is built around its two assured central performances. Hoffman gives an excellent portrayal of a man with autism, totally unable to comprehend the real world around him. Cruise is no less impressive.

While he is essentially playing to type, his character's attitude changes so gradually throughout the film that you barely notice, and without Cruise's subtle performance this transformation would be much less credible. This is a highly commendable film, which, despite tackling a tricky subject, refuses to succumb to sentimentality. In giving autism such publicity, the film has hopefully helped to lessen the stigma brought on by ignorance of this condition. Rain Man's great success is that it shows the way forward for issue driven movies in Hollywood. Its success at the box office demonstrates that taking a risk can pay off in spades, provided that the film is good enough. Was the above review useful to you? 58 out of 77 people found the following review useful: brilliant when you think about it from Sweden 6 June 2004 I was thinking of the way different movies seem to be good. Some have lots of action, others a bunch of special-effects. But then it strikes you, that what represents real depth, real quality is when a movie can be good without those features. When it's the dialogue, the story and the acting that strikes you.

This film has really only two characters, all others play only minor roles (Cruise's girlfriend has some importance though). Two characters basically, and one dialogue - that's all you need when you've got a script as good as this, and two such great actors. Only that is brilliant. But this film also has such fine, very true episodes, small stories in the larger film. One example is when Ray watches court TV with the working class woman and her many children out in the countryside...it's such a fine picture, just outstanding. ALL IN ALL A GREAT FILM! Was the above review useful to you? 62 out of 85 people found the following review useful: One of my all-time faves; Levinson's masterpiece; superlative Hoffman & Cruise from fairview, nj 21 April 2003 RAIN MAN (1988) **** Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golina, Bonnie Hunt. My all time favorite contemporary film.

Brilliant Oscar-winning Best Picture film about quick-tempered exotic car salesman Charlie Babbitt (superlatively played by Cruise) who finds himself bilked out of his estranged father's inheritance and discovering an older brother, Raymond, (Hoffman flawlessly brilliant, Best Actor), an institutionalized autistic savant, and 'kidnaps' him in their dad's Buick Roadmaster for a cross-country odyssey of self-reflection and genuine sibling bonding. Poignant, funny, and moving character study with expert direction by Barry Levinson (Best Director and appears as a mental health envoy). Ethereally Oscar nominated haunting score by Hans Zimmer. Best scene: Cruise learning why Hoffman was "sent away." Life-affirming. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 34: 'Rain Man' Cast: Where Are They Now? | Moviefone 'Rain Man' Cast: Where Are They Now? by Sharon Knolle Everett " Rain Man " turns 25: The feel-good film about a selfish yuppie ( Tom Cruise ) who learns to be a better person thanks to his autistic savant brother ( Dustin Hoffman ) opened on December 16, 1988.

It won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hoffman. It was also nominated for cinematography, film editing, and score (Hans Zimmer's first in Hollywood). Although notoriously non-sentimental New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called it "a piece of wet kitsch," audiences ate it up. it was the highest-grossing film that year with $172 million and it's still ranked in IMDB's Top 250 films. The film might have looked very different: Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro both turned down the part and agents at CAA initially pictured Bill Murray as Raymond, with Hoffman as Charlie. Once cast, Hoffman spent time with the real savant who inspired Raymond, Kim Peeks. According to IMDB, Hoffman got to play Charlie anyway, since he and Cruise switched roles during rehearsal. The leads remain two of the busiest actors in Hollywood, but what's the rest of the cast been up to in the last 25 years?

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Rain Man Customer Reviews 4.7 out of 5 stars 658 96 people found this helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars246 toothpicks, "counting cards" and lessons in love. ByThemis-Athenaon March 15, 2004 Have you ever had to communicate with someone on a different wavelength as you; for example because he speaks a foreign language and you don't have an interpreter, or because he is unable to communicate verbally at all, or maybe just because you keep misunderstanding each other? If so, you know what a frustrating experience it is to have virtually no control over the situation and over making sure that you're actually understood. And in precisely this situation finds himself Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), personification of the 1980s' yuppie, a used car dealer with major money problems whose only - tentative - personal attachment is to his current girlfriend Susanna (Valeria Golino).

Because having learned that except for a few rosebushes and a vintage 1949 Buick Roadmaster his recently-deceased father has left virtually all of his considerable fortune to his autistic brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) - a brother he didn't even know he had - Charlie decides to kidnap Raymond from the Cincinnati facility where he lives, take him to California, and demand half the inheritance in exchange for his brother's return. Now, Charlie isn't the greatest communicator himself; at least as far as listening goes; he is used to talking people down, and if that alone doesn't do the trick, he starts to yell. This, however, just doesn't work with Raymond, who lives in a world of his own and, unable to express emotion in any other way, falls into a nervous tic when feeling threatened. So for the first time in his life Charlie has to learn to accept another human being for what he is, and work *with* his bewildering methods of communication rather than against them.

And subtly, very subtly, Charlie begins to change, until at last he no longer wants to relinquish custody of Raymond even after having been offered a substantial amount of money: because now money is no longer an issue at all; now it's all about genuine love for a newly-found brother and very special person. "Rain Man" is ostensibly told from Charlie's perspective; through his, the "normal" guy's eyes we perceive Raymond's habits, tics and strange behavioral code. And even if Charlie is easy enough to snub for his superficiality and materialism, his frustration at his inability to communicate with his brother feels genuine and is something we can empathize with(albeit perhaps inadmittedly). Tom Cruise plays Charlie with a finely-tuned mix of audacity and reluctant emotion; turning a role that seems to start out as just another Cruise cliche into a character who hesitantly comes to realize his own complexities and shortcomings and learns to appreciate sensitivity, compassion and love - yet, without ever taking the role that treacherous step too far into sentimentality.

Still, important as Charlie's character is for this movie's narrative, this is from first to last Raymond's story; and by the same token Dustin Hoffman's, because the two individuals are in fact inseparable: As Hoffman once explained in an interview, he rejects the notion that acting is merely about playing a role, or that the term "my character" could ever appropriately describe his approach to a role; emphasizing that in every part he plays, he truly has to *become* the individual in question to fully be able to understand and portray him. As such, his achievement with Raymond Babbitt is breathtaking indeed; for in a role which not only imposes severe limitations on his ability to communicate traditionally but also gives him virtually no opportunity to express emotion, he conveys Raymond's frailties, unexpected strengths and, significantly, his profound humanity in a manner that lets you forget you're even looking at a piece of acting, thus accomplishing that rare feat only attained by the greatest of actors - and even among Dustin Hoffman's spectacular performances, this one stands out in particular.

(He did, of course, win both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for this movie; but somehow even the industry's highest awards don't begin to express the significance of his achievement.) Raymond Babbitt's character was based on several real-life autistic persons; and at a time when little was known about the condition even in the medical community, contributed substantially to a greater understanding of those afflicted with it. Not all autistic people are so-called "savants" like Raymond, i.e. possess genial mathematic or other abilities within the shell separating them from the outside world (and conversely, not with all of them that shell is as thick as in Raymond's case; although intricate routines do tend to play a rather important role) - so don't go rushing off with them to Vegas for an exercise in "counting cards," at least not before you've verified that they can memorize entire phone books (at least up to the letter "G"), count the toothpicks in a pile on the floor with one glimpse of an eye and determine the square root of a four- or five-digit number within a matter of seconds without so much as looking at an electronic calculator.

Chances are you'd do them tremendous harm, not to mention make a complete fool of yourself. Dustin Hoffman reportedly fought hard for this movie's production even after several directors (including, inter alia, Stephen Spielberg) had bowed out; and in one of those rare un-Hollywood-like moments even managed to maintain the movie's sense of authenticity up to the very end by prevailing on the writers to drop the projected ending, which would have had Raymond staying with Charlie. - In addition to Hoffman's awards, "Rain Man" received the coveted Oscars for Best Movie, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director (Barry Levinson, who also played the psychiatrist called upon to evaluate whether Raymond is fit to stay with Charlie), plus a number of other American and international awards. For once, the industry collectively got it right. But even if this movie hadn't received a single award, it would still remain one of recent film history's greatest and truly unforgettable moments - definitely, it would. Also recommended: 2 people found this helpful 2.0 out of 5 starsFlawed Transfer of a Good Film ByDavid W.

Joneson October 27, 2012 This review is for the blu-ray transfer only and not the film itself. Sadly, this transfer appears to have been done on the cheap. When I first put the disc into my blu-ray player, the quality of the picture was so bad that I thought they had sold me a DVD by mistake. I then put my old DVD in, and the pictures were identical. In fact, the DVD might have been slightly better! I did put the blu-ray back in and watched the movie to the end. Along the way, there were some scenes that showed remarkable detail. Strangely, these were often indoor shots (the outdoor shots were often the grainiest for some reason). The effect of these good scenes was maddening, however, because it made the return to grainy scenes all the more noticeable. It gave you a sense for what this transfer could have been. If you already own the DVD of this film, it is not worth upgrading to blu-ray. Perhaps MGM will come out with a better transfer in the future for this otherwise good movie. It deserves better.

The New York Times: Best Pictures On the Road With Hoffman and Cruise By DONALD CHASE They couldn't seem less alike, the two men sitting side by side at the counter of the trendy retro-1950's Pink Cadillac Cafe in West Hollywood. Charlie, the younger one, wears a modish dark sports jacket, a collar-buttoned but tieless white shirt, and a targeted extrovert gaze as he reads 11 pancake options - from buckwheat to beernut to blueberry - off a wall menu. Raymond, who may be 20 years older, not quite soigne in his gray suit and dark tie, his weary eyes seeming to look inward, says he just wants ''pancakes.'' '' 'Course,'' Charlie says. '' 'Course, the maple syrup is supposed to be on the table before the pancakes,'' Raymond states in his flat voice. ''Ray,'' says Charlie, hefting a pitcher of maple syrup off the counter, ''Ta-da!'' ''Charlie Babbitt made a joke,'' Raymond says, coaxing a heh-heh out of his throat. ''I made a joke,'' Charlie replies, smiling broadly.

And small as the joke is, at that moment the ease and warmth between the two men is almost palpable. But this scene, near the end of ''Rain Man'' - opening in New York on Friday at Loews Paramount and New York Twin - stands in sharp contrast to several earlier ones in the $24 million film in which Dustin Hoffman, 51 years old, plays Raymond, a long-institutionalized autistic savant, and Tom Cruise, 26, is Charlie, his scheming brother. Mr. Hoffman was associated with the project throughout its long gestation, as was Mr. Cruise. And, rather surprisingly, Raymond's unchangeability and his limited emotional palette - characteristic of autism - were not deterrents to Mr. Hoffman, whose full-scale sea-change characters in ''Midnight Cowboy,'' ''Lenny'' and ''Tootsie,'' among other films, have won him countless accolades. In fact, it was Mr. Hoffman who, following early research, suggested that Raymond's disability be changed from what he calls ''some unspecified form of mental retardation in the first draft I read,'' to autism.

''I accepted the fact that in order to be authentic, Raymond couldn't have the dramatic arc that actors always look for in roles,'' he says. ''And that instead of a full-scale painting, I would have to do a pen-and-ink drawing - a poem, a haiku.'' The pancake house exchange between the brothers is, in fact, a tender variation on an acrimonious Cincinnati restaurant scene in which Charlie was apoplectic over Raymond's insistence that the maple syrup arrive before the pancakes. That was at the beginning of the tormented weeklong cross-country automobile journey the two have just concluded. The trip is central to the opportunistic Charlie's plan to fleece Raymond, only vaguely recalled from infancy as ''Rain Man,'' out of the substantial inheritance left him by their recently deceased father. All of Raymond's eating, sleeping, dressing and television-watching rituals that threaten to drive Charlie to distraction are, in fact, part of the older man's autism. So are his alientation and lack of self-awareness.

Raymond's self-mocking reference to maple syrup - it is actually he and not Charlie who made the joke - is a major breakthrough for him, and it is about as big an advance as one can expect in an autistic person, because, as Barry Levinson, the director of ''Rain Man,'' says, ''Raymond is going to be Raymond; Raymond doesn't change. Somebody who's autistic doesn't suddenly become another person. He is who he is.'' The essential immutability of autistic people, plus the remoteness of those with the developmental disability, were apparent stumbling blocks to the directors Martin Brest, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack. (And to their respective screenwriters.) Each of these men was announced - and subsequently disannounced - as director of ''Rain Man'' before Mr. Levinson and Mark Johnson, the producer with whom he worked on ''Diner,'' ''Tin Men'' and ''Good Morning, Vietnam,'' came on board early this year. (The final script credit goes to Barry Morrow, from whom the executive producers, Peter Guber and Jon Peters, commissioned the first draft three years ago, and to Ronald Bass, who worked with Mr. Brest and who was recalled by Mr. Levinson.) Mr.

Hoffman says, ''Barry was the first director who wasn't apprehensive about what I was telling him - what I wanted to do. All the other directors, to different degrees, would say, 'Am I hearing you right: You don't want to make eye contact with anyone in the movie? And another thing: You don't talk voluntarily?' The other directors would say, 'So how can we have scenes?' They didn't know I was getting a lot of stuff off the people I was meeting and was moved - without eye contact. 'There's a key.' I would say. 'We can find a code. We can discover that key and put it on paper� And the Charlie character can be part audience and discover the key.' '' The eventual key, which Mr. Hoffman says came from ''real-life prototypes,'' involved how ''to force the attention and get the attention. You can't for example, be abstract: You can't say, 'What's your favorite color?' but, rather. 'Do you like red?' '' Nor in Raymond's case can you ask life-changing either/or questions. In a custody-hearing scene in ''Rain Man,'' he is asked by an officious psychologist (Mr.

Levinson, the director, in an unbilled turn) if he would prefer to live with Charlie in Los Angeles or go back to the institution in Ohio. He answers yes to both options. As directors came and went and the postponement of shooting on ''Rain Man'' stretched out to 13 months beyond the date originally projected for the start of filming, Dustin Hoffman's research had become massive. Following leads provided by Gail Mutrux, the film's associate producer, he consulted experts on autism at the Institute for Child Behavior Research in San Diego and at the U.C.L.A. Neuropsychiatric Institute as well as on the East Coast. He spent time with autistic people (Tom Cruise and, occasionally, Martin Brest, the first would-be director of ''Rain Man,'' joined him on bowling outings with one man) and with the families of autistic people. He studied the documentary film ''Portrait of an Autistic Young Man.'' He read books and interviewed their authors, among them Dr. Oliver Sacks, who wrote of a set of autistic twins in ''The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.'' The research not only suggested to Mr.

Hoffman that Raymond should have ''no grudges, no guile and that if he tries to be manipulative, as we all do, he does it less well.'' It also suggested which of the savant abilities - those oases of brilliance that sometimes accompany autism - Raymond might have. The Sacks twins' ability to calculate rapidly the number of matchsticks spilled from a box became Raymond's ability to count instantly the number of toothpicks spilled from a box in the Cincinnati restaurant scene. Though Mr. Hoffman still claims he is ''no expert'' on autism, as preproduction rehearsals on ''Rain Man'' approached, he was feeling the duration and the weight of his investigations. ''I was very frightened because it was time to fish or cut bait,'' he says. ''The challenge then became to do what I always try to do, which is to bring it home and not try to do a character that is not myself - to find those autistic parts of myself. Because I'm convinced that we're all a little bit autistic, just like we're all a little bit crazy. ''Think of someone sitting next to you and telling you something and obviously you're not listening. Where were you? You don't know.

Or also those times where you said. 'I heard what you said' and you can even repeat it - but you really weren't listening, you just recorded it.'' Mr. Hoffman says that bringing Raymond home ''took forever,'' but he realized the degree to which he had done so when he, ordinarily ''a very tactile person,'' felt ''little shocks when I was touched'' by co-workers between takes. ''It disturbed where I was. It was like what Temple Grandon, author of 'Autobiography of an Autistic,' told me: contrary to belief, autistics don't want not to be held and touched. But they shrink from physical contact because it's too powerful an experience; they get little jolts.'' His own jolts aside, the actor says he knew he had internalized Raymond when he could improvise as the character. ''That is always the signal to me,'' he says. In rehearsals, Tom Cruise could also improvise as Raymond. And Mr. Hoffman could - and did - improvise as Mr. Cruise's character. And each eventually incorporated the other's ad-libs into his own performance. Though Mr. Cruise says that he improvised ''far more'' with Mr.

Hoffman than he did with his ''other master,'' his ''Color of Money'' co-star, Paul Newman, ''and probably more than I ever have on a movie,'' ad-libbing was not for him the ultimate challenge of ''Rain Man.'' Rather, it was being what Barry Levinson calls ''the motor that is going to drive the movie. Raymond being unchangeable, Charlie had to be the character that went from point A to point B.'' ''He is a spiritual or emotional autistic for most of the story who finally learns to care for someone other than himself,'' Mr. Cruise explains. In the course of this change, there's another change: ''At the beginning, there's this anger that Charlie carries with him against this man [ his father ] who wanted a perfect son and for whom nothing was ever good enough. But [ the film ] ends in his finally taking responsibility for a lot of the anger in that relationship.'' Though Mr. Cruise is less voluble than Mr. Hoffman on his approach to his craft, Valeria Golino, the Italian actress who plays Mr. Cruise's co-worker and lover in ''Rain Man,'' contrasts Mr. Hoffman's reliance on ''pure instinct'' with Mr.

Cruise's more ''methodical'' attack. However, Mr. Hoffman found the younger actor remarkably similar to himself. ''We're both very compulsive and monklike,'' he notes. ''When we're shooting, we both like to work out, keep to a strict diet, not go out at night. And he writes his dialogue over and over in his own handwriting - as if they're your own words, until you feel you are the writer - which is how I memorized 'Death of a Salesman.' ''Also,'' Mr. Hoffman adds, ''for the first time I was working with someone who was going through what I did 20 years ago - that first flush of stardom following 'The Graduate.' So we were linked into each other - which allowed us to be rough with each other. There's an emotionality between us that's very difficult to act - that permitted moments to happen between us.'' Many of those moments unexpectedly involve humor - which comes from the conflict between Raymond's obstinate dedication to ritual and Charlie's intolerance of them. Are the film makers worried about violating good taste by inviting audiences to laugh at the peculiarities of a disabled person? While Mr.

Hoffman snaps, ''I hate good taste - it's the most inhibiting thing in the world,'' he is also quick to point out that ''the thing was to remember the dignity of the character. You don't cheapen the character if you don't violate him.'' For Barry Levinson, who last year found unexpected humor in war-torn Saigon in ''Good Morning, Vietnam,'' not violating the character consists mainly of letting each scene with Raymond find its natural balance between humor and seriousness. ''There are times in the movie where you laugh - and then you realize how sad it is,'' he says. ''And sometimes you see something and you say, Oh how sad that is - and all of a sudden you start to laugh. The movie is constantly shifting, [ but ] we're not intentionally shifting it. . . You can't push - let's put a couple of laughs in here. You can't just suddenly go digging to get it; it just is.'' Mr. Levinson feels that it was probably the attempts of the directors previously associated with ''Rain Man'' to push and dig for action-adventure effects essentially foreign to the film's story that defeated them. Reading the various drafts of the script indicated to Mr.

Levinson that ''they kept. . . trying to bring something else into it, something that these characters worked against. That's the way they function - and that's valid. Most movies are that way, I say, look, if we can create the characters strong enough, they're going to clash with one another - and that is the movie. ''I'm saying, the hell with the trains, the helicopters, the Mafia, the F.B.I., the car crashes, the pursuits, the stakeouts, the barricades.'' (Interestingly, ''Midnight Run,'' the movie Martin Brest made instead of ''Rain Man,'' was about an odd couple played by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, who ''worked against'' most of these elements as they traveled cross-country.) ''The hell,'' Mr. Levinson reiterates, ''with all of those things that we pump into movies because we're afraid to make movies about people.'' Dustin Hoffman with Tom Cruise in a scene from "Rain Man." (United Artists) � Did Dustin Hoffman exploit the rainman?

After his death this week, his father makes a startling accusation | Daily Mail Online comments During a career spanning half-acentury and more than 60 films, Dustin Hoffman has forged a reputation for portraying unusual characters with extraordinary empathy and idiosyncratic brilliance. According to many critics, however, his defining role was that of Raymond Babbitt, the autistic genius who could instantly solve the most complicated maths calculations and memorise entire phone directories, in the 1988 movie Rain Main. The script was famously inspired by the true story of Kim Peek, who was classified as ' mentally retarded' as a child, but was later discovered to possess such amazing brainpower that medical experts later called him The Living Google. Kim Peek (left) with his father Fran and Dustin Hoffman (right) who portrayed him in Rain Man And Peek's father, Fran Peek, claims Hoffman honed his Oscar-winning performance by studying his son's peculiar mannerisms, movements and diction during an intense six-hour encounter at a Hollywood studio.

When the two men parted, Mr Peek senior claims, the star was so profoundly moved that he rubbed noses with the real-life Rain Man (Kim's habitual way of showing affection) and told him, Peek says: 'I may be the star - but you are the heavens.' This week, therefore, when it was announced that Kim Peek had died suddenly of a heart attack, aged only 58, his father says he expected Hoffman to send his condolences, at least. Though he has received hundreds of sympathy messages, however, he has heard nothing from the star. Instead, an unedifying war of words has broken out between the grieving Mr Peek, 83, who accuses Hoffman of shunning his treasured son, and the actor's camp who say Kim's influence on the film project has been grossly overplayed. Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman starring in the 1988 film 'Rain Man' How has this sad situation come about? The origins of the dispute date back a quarter of a century to 1984, when Hollywood scriptwriter Barry Morrow met Kim Peek at a meeting of the Association of Retarded Citizens in Texas, and was astonished by his great brainpower.

After discovering that Kim, then 33, was able to reel off every address in the 50 states of America, complete with zip codes, he decided to write a movie based around his phenomenal gifts. Until then, Kim had lived reclusively with his family in Salt Lake City, but Morrow urged his father to show his son's talents to the world. Nearly five years passed before Rain Man was released to huge acclaim, in December, 1988. Kim was duly thanked, both in the film's credits and by Hoffman himself during his acceptance speech after winning an Oscar for Best Actor. Soon afterwards, remem-bering Morrow's entreaty, his father began touring the country with his son on public speaking engagements. Drawing on the film's huge popularity, they aimed to break down the stigma surrounding mental impediment by demonstrating Kim's exceptional abilities before an audience, and - though he could not understand the concept of fame - 'the real Rain Man', as he was announced, became a celebrity.

A few years later, Fran Peek also wrote a book, titled The Real Rain Man, about his son's moving struggle with Savant syndrome, the rare condition which gave him extraordinary powers of recall even though he was so disabled he could not wash or dress unaided. His talents were so amazing that studio bosses thought they beggared belief, however, and Morrow's original film script was extensively rewritten to make it more believable, and bears little relation to Kim's life. Hoffman also later stated that his characterisation was largely based on another man, Peter Guthrie, whose behaviour he studied. He was not a savant, like Kim, but instead suffered from autism. For a quarter of a century, however, Kim Peek has been regarded as the film's inspiration - and speaking at length for the first time since his son died in his arms last Saturday, Fran Peek maintained it would never have been made were it not for his son. But he claimed Hoffman - or his aides - had effectively 'cut off' Kim after the film came out, refusing to accept phone calls or answer messages. This, he says, was 'one of the sad things about Rain Man'.

'I tried to call him several times, but I could never get through,' says Mr Peek. 'After we met him at the studios in Hollywood, when he studied Kim's behaviour, we heard from him only once more, four or five years ago, when Kim won an award from the Christopher Reeve Foundation for helping other people with disabilities, and he sent a video lasting 30 seconds, congratulating Kim. 'It would have been nice to receive some sort of message this week, and I would be very, very pleased and honoured if Mr Hoffman comes to his funeral next Tuesday. He might surprise me by showing up, but I doubt it.' To be fair, scriptwriter Barry Morrow was one of the first to offer condolences. Hoffman was paid $5.8 million for the film, plus a percentage of its gross earnings, which topped $172 million at the box office and have multiplied many times with video sales and TV repeats. Kim could have worked out Hoffman's earnings to the last decimal point - but it would not take a mathematical genius to work out what he received himself. The answer is zero. 'We weren't business people, and anyway we weren't trying to sell him for anything,' explained Mr Peek. 'I never asked for royalties.

That just wouldn't have seemed right. The film people did send $10,000 to be put in trust for Kim. But then the state took away his Medicaid (the modest monthly disability payment on which he lived) because he wasn't supposed to have assets of more than $2,400.' By his account, it all sounds rather unfair - yet, according to a source close to Hoffman, it is the actor who is being unjustly maligned. While Hoffman did, indeed, meet Kim Peek, says the source, he barely recalls their encounter, which was one of several character studies he arranged before filming. He denies he would ever have said the quotable: 'I may be the star - but <cite>you </cite>are the heavens.' Moreover, Fran Peek's insistence that his son provided the model for Raymond Babbitt's character was spurious. 'All these years he's been claiming his son to be the real Rain Man, but nobody ever wanted to call the man a liar by refuting it.' Hoffman's character was based on the young autistic man, Peter Guthrie, the source added, while his co-star Tom Cruise drew traits from Peter's brother Kevin, a handsome young football player.

'Dustin stays in touch with Peter and Kevin, and they were credited and paid. It's obviously sad that Mr Peek's son has died, but how can he be accused of shunning Kim when he never knew him?' Whatever the truth, however, Mr Peek says he has no wish to dwell on it. For whether or not it inspired Dustin Hoffman, the 'true Rain Man' story is remarkable and uplifting. It began in Salt Lake City, where the man who became known as the Living Google, was born on November 11, 1951. From his first moments, it was clear something was very wrong. His head was abnormally large, with a baseball-sized blister at the back where his brain protruded through his skull, and his eyes moved independently of one another. When he was nine months old, a psychologist pronounced him 'mentally retarded' and urged his parents to put him in an institution - the young Raymond Babbitt's fate in the film. To their eternal credit, however, the Peeks ignored this advice and took Kim home, even though Mr Peek was then a busy advertising executive and his wife worked as an estate agent.

Kim couldn't walk until he was four and was a teenager before he was able to climb stairs. His parents gave him love and stimulation, however, and by the time he was 18 months old he had developed the first of many intriguing peculiarities. Whenever a book had been read to him, he would place it back on the shelf upside down. As his parents came to realise, this signified that he had memorised it word for word, and by the end of his life he could recall the smallest detail from some 12,000 books, including the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible. Mr and Mrs Peek began to suspect their son possessed unusual gifts when he was three. 'He asked us what "confidential" meant, and before we could answer he'd looked the word up in a dictionary,' his father recalls, laughing. The medical establishment and educational authorities treated him disgracefully, however. At six, it was suggested that he have a lobotomy to 'cure' his incessant chattering, fidgeting and pacing up and down; and when he attended school, aged seven, he was expelled for being 'uncontrollable' after just seven minutes in class.

Thereafter, tutors were sent to his home for just 45 minutes, twice a week. They were astonished at the speed with which he devoured books, never realising that he possessed the uncanny ability to read one page with his left eye while at the same time reading the opposite page with his right. By 14, he had completed the high school curriculum four years ahead of schedule, but it was not until he was 18 that he got a job, managing the payroll for 160 people, a task he performed in a few hours a week without even a calculator. When he was in his early 30s, he was fired because the authorities computerised the pay-roll. But it took two full-time accountants, plus the computer, to replace him. As Kim seldom ventured outside the house except to go to work, his talents still remained a secret known only to his parents, his younger siblings, Brian and Alison, and a few other relatives. Even they had no idea just how startlingly exceptional he was until 1988, when Fran Peek had him re-evaluated by a psychiatrist.

Ironically, his aim was to prove that his son's IQ was sufficiently <cite>low </cite>for him to qualify for state welfare benefits. Yet University of Utah psychiatry professor Daniel Christensen was flabbergasted by what he discovered. An MRI scan revealed that his brain was missing a vital component: the corpus callosum, a stalk of fibres which joins the brain's two walnut-like halves and enables information to pass between them. There was damage to the left hemisphere of his brain. This controls abstract and conceptual thoughts while the right hemisphere stores facts and derives meaning from concrete objects and events. These defects may have accounted for his savantism, a condition first identified by the 19th century British physician John Langdon Down (the physician who first described Down's syndrome), and derived from the French word <cite>savant, </cite>meaning someone of great learning or knowledge. Down called his patients 'idiot savants' because - as with Kim Peek - they were physically unco-ordinated and their skills were severely limited, for all their extraordinary gifts. By the Eighties, such patients were classified as 'talented' or 'prodigious' savants, depending on their powers.

Ordinarily, their ability to retain enormous amounts of information covers just one or two subjects - maths and literature, for example. But Kim Peek's knowledge extended to 15 areas, including geography, world history, the space programme, religion and music, so he was described as a 'mega-savant'. His knowledge quotient was set at 188, making him a genius to rank with Einstein. When it came to his ability to relate to people, socialise, and express his feelings, however, it was a very different matter. Surprisingly, his father told me Kim once had a girlfriend, whom he met through a group for disabled people. She suffered from multiple sclerosis, so was largely confined to her home, 35 miles north of Salt Lake City. But every month Mr Peek senior would take his son to meet her, and they would go to a restaurant and then the cinema. The relationship wasn't physical. 'I think he was interested in females and respected them, but he never showed any sexual feelings about them,' says his father.

'He wanted her to get out and have some fun.' His son had a strong sense of duty, and his own moral code, he adds, recalling what happened when he was entered in the 50-yard dash in the Utah Special Olympics, aged 19. 'He was racing against two guys in wheelchairs and as he approached the finishing line he looked back and saw their chairs had got tangled together. So he went back and pushed first one, then the other opponent, through the ribbon before crossing in third place.' He may have received only a bronze medal, but he won the most important prize for this act: the special sportsmanship award. At times his curious world view gave rise to poignant humour. As he was unable to understand metaphors, he took everything that was said to him literally. 'If I told him to lower his voice, he would slide down in his chair,' his father remembered fondly. 'And when I said, "Get a grip of yourself", he would grab hold of his own arm.' Mr Peek says it was partly because he devoted so much time to Kim that his marriage failed in 1981. Then, after Rain Man was released, he and his son began touring the U.S.

and overseas. His ex-wife had reservations about the idea, fearing Kim would be ridiculed if he were paraded on stage. On his first public appearance, at a local high school, she was proved right. One loutish pupil shouted: 'I have a question - what's it like to be a spastic?' A stunned silence descended on the hall, and his father held his breath, fearing how his son might react. He needn't have worried. 'Fine - what are <cite>you </cite>proud of?' Kim fired back. Then he invited the heckler on to the platform, hugged him and pronounced: 'Now you are educated we can be friends!' Thus began a 20-year speaking career during which he travelled almost three million miles, raised $7 million for charity, and for ever changed millions of people's perceptions toward the disabled. Kim's premature death was probably not linked to his condition, Dr Christensen says, and his family are heartbroken - no one more so than his father who, for the past two decades, had not left his side for more than a few minutes. However, his father gives thanks for a life that had so much purpose, and was so remarkable that two U.S.

research institutions have requested permission to preserve his brain for medical science (Mr Peek has refused because he wishes Kim to be buried intact). His tombstone will bear the self-written homily with which he always ended his appearances: 'Learn to recognise differences in others and treat them like you would want them to treat you. 'It will make this a better world to live in. Care and share and do your best. You don't have to be handicapped to be different - everybody is.' For a man who was so much more remarkable than his film persona, it is a fitting epitaph and makes the row over the Rain Man's true identity seem rather trifling.

Question: Dustin Hoffman played the role of an autistic savant in the film 'Rain Man'. Who played the part of his younger brother Charlie?
Answer: TOM CRUISE