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The Rain Man

 

            In Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise as the ruthless car-salesman, Charlie Babbitt, discovers that his father had a three-million-dollar fortune that was left behind after the man's death. However, to his disbelief and infuriation, all he inherited were the 1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible and his father's prized rose bushes. The remainder of the fortune was to be spent by a trustee to carry out the man's requests. Through his charm and his manipulative talks, he was able to find out that the person in charge of the trust fund, who was a doctor at a mental institute called, "Wallbrook," where he meets his older brother, Raymond Babbitt, for the first time. Raymond, as it turns out, is an autistic-savant; he is able to swiftly count objects, memorize endless amounts of trivia and can add, subtract, divide, multiply, and take the square-root of any numbers almost instantly. Charlie decides to remove Raymond from the institution and head to California as a way to receive some of the money. Taking care of Raymond during their trip together was more than anything Charlie had ever expected; Raymond has many idiosyncrasies that drive his younger brother insane. Being autistic, Raymond has restricted interests and activities, which include watching shows such as Jeopardy and The People's Court at the exact time it came on, no matter what the circumstances. Raymond also exhibited echolalia, in which the person parrots what he has heard. Every time Raymond got nervous or found himself in a strange place, he would recite "Who's on first?" from an Abott and Costillo show. The inability to be flexible with daily schedules is another characteristic of the "Rain Man" (Charlie called Raymond this when they were little because he couldn't pronounce the name Raymond). Raymond will not and cannot tolerate any interruptions or revisions to his schedule. Another sign of autism was Raymond's cognitive deficits; he can do many tough mathematical calculations in a snap, but however, he does not understand the concept of money.


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