41 Fun Facts About Rain Man

Who plays Charlie Babbitt?

Tom Cruise plays Charlie Babbitt, the hustling younger brother; he was attached by 1986 and stayed on while three directors came and went before the cameras finally rolled in May 1988.

Who plays Raymond Babbitt?

Dustin Hoffman plays Raymond Babbitt after about a year of research: he met autistic people and their families and consulted specialists in San Diego and Los Angeles before filming.

Who directed Rain Man?

Barry Levinson directed Rain Man after three other directors had left the project, and he put himself on screen, uncredited, as the doctor who questions Raymond at the closing custody meeting.

Whose comedy routine does Raymond recite whenever he gets anxious?

Abbott and Costello's 'Who's on First?' is Raymond's refuge: he recites it flatly, like a puzzle to be solved, until Charlie tells him it is a joke, not a riddle, and that seeing so might help him.

What is Charlie Babbitt's business at the start of Rain Man?

Charlie runs a business importing grey-market Lamborghinis into Los Angeles; the film opens with his cars held by the EPA over emissions while his buyers demand their deposits back.

To which city does Charlie travel to settle his father's estate?

Cincinnati is the hometown Charlie left as a teenager without ever speaking to his father again; back for the funeral, he expects a fortune and instead hears the lawyer read out a bitter letter.

What does Charlie inherit from his father, apart from some rosebushes?

A 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible is all Charlie gets besides the rosebushes. One of the two cars used for filming stayed with one of the film's stars for 34 years, then sold at auction in 2022 for $335,000.

Sanford Babbitt's will leaves his $3 million to whom?

A secret heir: the lawyer will not say who benefits, so Charlie goes to his father's bank, learns where the money is going and drives out to find a brother he never knew he had.

Who plays Charlie's girlfriend Susanna?

Valeria Golino plays Susanna, Charlie's girlfriend and employee, who walks out over his treatment of Raymond and then turns up again in Las Vegas.

What is the name of the doctor in charge of Raymond at Wallbrook?

Dr. Bruner has known the Babbitts since Charlie was two. The film's co-producer Gerald R. Molen stepped in front of the camera to play him, and later won a Best Picture Oscar for Schindler's List.

Why do the brothers cross the country by car instead of by plane?

Raymond refuses to fly: at the airport he recites the dates and death tolls of past airline crashes and screams when Charlie tries to board, so the brothers set off west by car.

Which TV show must Raymond watch every day?

Raymond must watch The People's Court every afternoon, counting down 'ten minutes to Wapner'; on the road Charlie talks a farm family into letting Raymond watch it in their living room.

Where does the name 'Rain Man' come from?

Charlie's childhood way of saying 'Raymond' came out as 'Rain Man'. He had remembered the name only as an imaginary friend who sang to him when he was scared, until Raymond mutters it in a motel.

What got Raymond sent to Wallbrook as a young man?

A bath that nearly scalded Charlie: the family believed Raymond had endangered the baby and sent him away in January 1965. Decades later he still panics, crying 'hot water burn baby', when Charlie runs a bath.

Which Las Vegas casino do the brothers hit for blackjack?

The brothers play blackjack at Caesars Palace, where Raymond counts cards through a six-deck shoe, a feat the casino's own staff say nobody can manage; the scenes were shot inside the real casino.

How does Charlie answer the doctor's $250,000 offer to walk away?

He refuses: Charlie tells the doctor he is no longer angry about the will and only wants a place in his brother's life.

How does Rain Man end?

Raymond boards a train back to the institution after Charlie promises to visit in two weeks; as they part he repeats the brothers' blackjack code, 'One for bad, two for good.'

Which comic actor did talent agents first picture as Raymond Babbitt?

Bill Murray was the early idea for Raymond when Creative Artists Agency first sent the script around; the project then went through four directors in two years before filming began.

Which film did Steven Spielberg leave Rain Man to direct?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was owed to his friend George Lucas, so Spielberg left Rain Man for it. He later called that a mistake and admitted a pang when the film he gave up won Best Picture.

What falls on a diner floor for Raymond to count at a single glance?

Toothpicks: a box spills on the floor and Raymond calls out 246 at a glance. The box held 250, which sounds like a near miss until it turns out four were still inside.

Which store does Raymond insist is the only place to buy his boxer shorts?

Kmart, and one particular branch at that, is the only shop Raymond will accept, which drives Charlie to a roadside meltdown. By the film's end, dressed in a new suit, Raymond's verdict is 'Kmart sucks'.

Which Hollywood strike ran through almost all of Rain Man's filming?

The 1988 Writers Guild strike was already under way when filming began that May, so the film was shot with no writer on hand and the director reworked scenes himself as the shoot went along.

Who composed Rain Man's score?

Hans Zimmer was scoring British films and television when the director's wife heard his music for the drama A World Apart and bought the CD; the offer to score Rain Man followed.

Which 1960s hit plays in Rain Man's opening scene, in a cover by the Belle Stars?

Iko Iko, in a 1982 cover that had stalled at number 35 in Britain, opens the film; seven years after it was recorded, the soundtrack carried it to number 14 on the American chart.

Which European film festival gave Rain Man its top prize weeks before the 1989 Oscars?

Berlin's jury gave Rain Man its Golden Bear in February 1989, choosing it over a rival it would beat again for Best Picture five weeks later.

Which film lost Best Picture to Rain Man?

Mississippi Burning arrived with seven nominations to Rain Man's eight and lost Best Picture to it, but took Best Cinematography, one of the four categories in which Rain Man went home empty-handed.

In which Oscar category did Rain Man lose to The Milagro Beanfield War?

Best Original Score went to Dave Grusin for The Milagro Beanfield War, a Robert Redford comedy that took under $14 million in American cinemas, about a twelfth of what Rain Man made.

Which film finished second to Rain Man at the 1988 US box office?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ended 1988 on top with $156 million. Rain Man, which had only opened in mid-December, passed it the following spring on its way to $172 million.

Which film beat Rain Man to number one on its opening weekend?

Twins, the Schwarzenegger and DeVito comedy, was in its second weekend and took $7.8 million to Rain Man's $7.0 million. By the end of their runs Rain Man had out-grossed it by about $60 million in America.

Which critic dismissed Rain Man as 'a piece of wet kitsch'?

Pauline Kael, in The New Yorker, called Rain Man 'a piece of wet kitsch' and mocked its star for 'humping one note on a piano for two hours and eleven minutes'.

Which airline showed Rain Man in flight in 1989 without cutting its airport scene?

Qantas kept the scene, in which it is named as the one airline that has never crashed. At least 15 other carriers showed a version without it, over the director's objection.

What does Nevada law say about counting cards in your head, like Raymond?

Legal, but casinos may bar you: no Nevada law forbids counting in your head, though using a device is another matter. Charlie is simply told the casino has tapes and advised to take the winnings and go.

Why did Charlie's father once leave him in jail for two days?

He took the family car without asking, as a reward to himself for a good report card. His father reported it stolen, the other boys' fathers bailed them out within the hour, and Charlie left home for good.

What does Raymond memorise overnight, startling a diner waitress the next morning?

The telephone book: handed it for want of his own books, Raymond reads through the night and greets waitress Sally Dibbs with her home number. Asked how far he got, he says halfway through G.

What unusual reading technique did Kim Peek, the savant who inspired Rain Man, use?

Two pages at once, one with each eye: his left eye took the left page and his right eye the right. He got through some 12,000 books that way and could recall what was in them.

Which word does Raymond always use to describe his own driving?

Excellent: 'I'm an excellent driver' is Raymond's refrain, though he has only ever steered slowly along a driveway. Charlie finally lets him take the wheel outside their Las Vegas hotel.

Which baseball team does Charlie promise to take Raymond to see?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the bait Charlie uses to coax Raymond off Wallbrook's grounds, with a promise of seeing Fernando Valenzuela pitch. Raymond's first objection is that Monday is an off day.

Who co-wrote the Rain Man screenplay with Barry Morrow?

Ronald Bass was brought in to rewrite Morrow's original script. The two men shared the screenplay credit and the Oscar, while the story credit stayed Morrow's alone.

Which household sound sends Raymond into a panic at Charlie's home?

A smoke alarm: Raymond leaves a toaster on until it smokes, and the alarm sets off a panic attack. At the custody meeting later that day, Charlie has to admit the outburst happened that very morning.

What does Susanna give Raymond in a Las Vegas hotel elevator?

A kiss: when Raymond's date fails to turn up, Susanna dances with him in the elevator and shows him how it is done. Asked how it was, he answers in one word: 'Wet.'

What does Charlie buy on the road so Raymond need never miss his favourite show?

A portable television goes everywhere with Raymond from then on, even to his Las Vegas date. Charlie's earlier fix was to talk his way into a stranger's farmhouse minutes before airtime.