Search - Rain Man on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1988 DVD Release: 02/06/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 13 mins Studio: MGM Total Copies: 1 Genres: Drama, Road Movie, Melodrama, Family Drama See Also: Rain Man [Special Edition]

Self-centered, avaricious Californian Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is informed that his long-estranged father has died. Expecting at least a portion of the elder Babbitt's $3 million estate, Charlie learns that all he's inherited is his dad's prize roses and a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Discovering that the $3 million is being held in trust for an unidentified party, Charlie heads to his home town of Cincinnati to ascertain who that party is. It turns out that the beneficiary is Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), the autistic-savant older brother that Charlie never knew he had. Able to memorize reams of trivia and add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a second's hesitation, Raymond is otherwise incapable of functioning as a normal human being. Aghast that Raymond is to receive his father's entire legacy, Charlie tries to cut a deal with Raymond's guardian. When this fails, Charlie "borrows" Raymond from the institution where he lives, hoping to use his brother as leverage to claim half the fortune. During their subsequent cross-country odyssey, Charlie is forced to accommodate Raymond's various autistic idiosyncracies, not the least of which is his insistence on adhering to a rigid daily schedule: he must, for example, watch People's Court and Jeopardy every day at the same time, no matter what. On hitting Las Vegas, Charlie hopes to harness Raymond's finely-honed mathematical skills to win big at the gaming tables; but this exploitation of his brother's affliction compels Charlie to reassess his own values, or lack thereof. A longtime pet project of star Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man was turned down by several high-profile directors before Barry Levinson took on the challenge of bringing Ronald Bass' screenplay to fruition (Levinson also appears in the film as a psychiatrist). All three men won Oscars, and the movie won Best Picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dustin Hoffman - Raymond Babbitt
Tom Cruise - Charlie Babbitt
Valeria Golino - Susannah
Jerry Molen - Dr. Bruner
Jack Murdock - John Mooney

Barry Levinson's multiple award-winning drama Rain Man finally comes to DVD with a choice of images. The widescreen transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is preferable to the standard full-frame transfer. A closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1, a French soundtrack has been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround, and a Spanish soundtrack is available in Dolby Digital Mono. Subtitles are available in all three of those languages as well. Supplemental materials are limited to a theatrical trailer. This disc is all right, but it feels like the kind of pedestrian disc that will be followed up by a deluxe special edition, especially since this is one of the most revered movies of the '80s. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide