Rain Man (1988)

<v Speaker 1>Hello, and welcome to the All Eighties Movies Podcast, the
<v Speaker 1>podcast where we talk about the blockbusters, love flops, and
<v Speaker 1>everything between from one of the frenchiest decades from movies,
<v Speaker 1>the nineteen eighties. I'm your host, Pill Banton long be
<v Speaker 1>on this journey revisiting eighties movies.
<v Speaker 2>Is my co host Jason Massek. Hello, Jason Bill, I'm
<v Speaker 2>an excellent driver.
<v Speaker 1>That's right, listeners, we're discussing with sports the Plenty. The
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty eight drama rain Man was produced by United
<v Speaker 1>Artists in the Goober Peters Company and distributed by MGMUA Communications.
<v Speaker 1>The movie stars Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, and Valeria Golino.
<v Speaker 1>Directed by Barry Levinson, This movie is rated R with
<v Speaker 1>the time of two hours and thirteen minutes. The movie
<v Speaker 1>was nominated for eight Oscars, winning four nominees were for
<v Speaker 1>Best Cinematography, Best Set Direction, Art Direction, Best Film Editing,
<v Speaker 1>and Best Music Original Score. Wins included Best Writing Screenplay
<v Speaker 1>Written Directly for the screen for Ron Bass and Barry Morrow,
<v Speaker 1>Best Director Barry Levinson, Best Actor in the leading role
<v Speaker 1>Dustin Hoffman, and Best Picture. So what is this movie about?
<v Speaker 1>What's on the box? If you grew up in the
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties and what's to your local video store to
<v Speaker 1>rent this movie? You would find this description on the
<v Speaker 1>back of the VHS box. It is what's on the box,
<v Speaker 1>Take it away.
<v Speaker 2>Jason winner of four Academy Awards Best Picture, Best Director,
<v Speaker 2>Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Barry Levinson's rain Man
<v Speaker 2>is a modern cinematic classic, boasting quote dazzling tour de
<v Speaker 2>force performances by Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Rex read
<v Speaker 2>at the Movies. This heartwarming story of the healing power
<v Speaker 2>of love is quote fascinating, touching, and full of smart surprises.
<v Speaker 2>Newsweek quote my father has stuck it to me all
<v Speaker 2>my life, complains Charlie Babbitt Tom Cruise, a callous, self
<v Speaker 2>centered young hustler who's shocked to discover his lack of
<v Speaker 2>an inheritance. Left only with his late father's prized rose
<v Speaker 2>bushes and a vintage forty nine Buick. Charlie soon uncovers
<v Speaker 2>yet another surprise, an autistic, savant brother Raymond Dustin Hoffmann.
<v Speaker 2>He never knew he had determined to extort his fair
<v Speaker 2>share of the family fortune. Charlie abducts his older sibling
<v Speaker 2>from Walbrook, the institution that has been his home. But
<v Speaker 2>what begins as an act of selfishness soon evolves into
<v Speaker 2>a mystical odyssey of camaraderie and self revelation that expands
<v Speaker 2>the confines of Raymond's narrow world and enables Charlie to
<v Speaker 2>grow beyond the limits of his hardened heart.
<v Speaker 1>Rainman, Rainman, I guess I didn't have to read that
<v Speaker 1>stuff because you were just going to reread it again
<v Speaker 1>from the back of the box. About the usc wins.
<v Speaker 2>Well, we just really really wanted to nail it down
<v Speaker 2>so that the listeners really understand exactly what oscars this
<v Speaker 2>film one, and in my opinion, deservedly so. But we
<v Speaker 2>can talk about that all right. So, Jason, do you
<v Speaker 2>remember the first time you saw Rainman. My memories is
<v Speaker 2>just not as sharp as yours, Bill Bant, but I
<v Speaker 2>believe I saw this in the theater with my family
<v Speaker 2>back in nineteen eighty eight, and ever since that first watch,
<v Speaker 2>I've enjoyed watching it every time after that. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>so many scenes are memorable, and outside of the Dustin
<v Speaker 2>Hoffman performance, I recall what really impacted me as a
<v Speaker 2>kid was Tom Cruise. I still feel to that to
<v Speaker 2>this day. I mean that it's his best acting. I
<v Speaker 2>know I'm giving some stuff away already, but besides that,
<v Speaker 2>you know, I remember when I saw Rainman. I just
<v Speaker 2>saw a journey between two brothers, self discovery coming about
<v Speaker 2>and a great soundtrack that I used to play on
<v Speaker 2>cassette all the time. I definitely owned this film score.
<v Speaker 2>And this was near or around my introduction to composer
<v Speaker 2>Hans zimmer Oh. I am a fan of to this day,
<v Speaker 2>and I do remember Bill Band. After more awareness was
<v Speaker 2>brought to autism over the years, I recalled that this
<v Speaker 2>film caught a little criticism for sensationalizing or over dramatizing it.
<v Speaker 2>But I always really liked this film as a kid
<v Speaker 2>and watched it repeatedly. So I hadn't seen it in
<v Speaker 2>a long time, and I was curious as to how
<v Speaker 2>it would affect me today. So do you remember exactly
<v Speaker 2>when you saw it Bill Band?
<v Speaker 1>I did not see in the theater, but I just remember.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it was all over the place when it
<v Speaker 1>first came out and being a number one movie, and
<v Speaker 1>everyone was talking about it because I think it was
<v Speaker 1>around the holidays, and then I led it right into
<v Speaker 1>the Oscars and then it won the Oscars. I didn't
<v Speaker 1>catch it until it came out on video cassette and
<v Speaker 1>rented it. But I think it took me a while
<v Speaker 1>to watch it because at the time I was not
<v Speaker 1>a fan of Tom Cruise. But because I had so
<v Speaker 1>many awards and so many accolades and had been one
<v Speaker 1>of the biggest movies of the year, I had to.
<v Speaker 2>Check it out. Sure, well, there you have it. I
<v Speaker 2>think that's interesting actually to think about that. You. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if I ever knew that about you. Have we?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, we've discussed mister Cruse in other films on
<v Speaker 2>this podcast. What have we done? Well, we did risky business,
<v Speaker 2>of course, But I don't know if you had revealed like, yeah, okay.
<v Speaker 1>The movie that turned me to Tom Cruise, of all
<v Speaker 1>movies was Days of Thunder. Oh wow, because I always
<v Speaker 1>felt like he played exactly who this character is in
<v Speaker 1>this film. That's no character that drove me up the
<v Speaker 1>wall about him. I always felt like, this is who
<v Speaker 1>he played.
<v Speaker 2>You thought that this character in Rainman was the one
<v Speaker 2>he played the most often. That's who he always just
<v Speaker 2>seemed like to me. Fascinating. Wow, we have a really
<v Speaker 2>different take. Then, well, maybe I can. I can see that.
<v Speaker 2>I can see the cockyness aspect for sure. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>you think about Pete Mitchell, Maverick, Tom Gun cocky, very
<v Speaker 2>sure of himself. Yeah, okay, well let's talk about it.
<v Speaker 2>Let's talk about our impressions. Then, all right, what do
<v Speaker 2>we think of Rainman? Now? Well, why don't we just
<v Speaker 2>if you don't mind, let's start with the cast. To me,
<v Speaker 2>when I think of this movie, I immediately go to
<v Speaker 2>Hoffman and Cruz, of course. And Hoffman wins Best Actor
<v Speaker 2>for his portrayal of Raymond Babbitt autistic savant. You know,
<v Speaker 2>we talked about him and our Family Business episode. This
<v Speaker 2>was the film he did just before that. And I
<v Speaker 2>think he's excellent in this. And I know about the
<v Speaker 2>reaction to his portrayal and his take on this and
<v Speaker 2>how it was written, et cetera. But I feel like
<v Speaker 2>I have a little bit of better hold of exactly
<v Speaker 2>what the spectrum is and what autism is. I think
<v Speaker 2>he's wonderful in this. I don't think he really has
<v Speaker 2>any false moments outside of maybe playing up a couple
<v Speaker 2>of moments for the comedy. He was still Dustin Hoffman, right,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's Marathon Man, all the President's Men, Kramer
<v Speaker 2>versus Kramer TOUTSI up to this point, and I recall
<v Speaker 2>always just revering him as one of the best actors
<v Speaker 2>of our generation, and so this was another example of
<v Speaker 2>that to me. Did you have any particular take on
<v Speaker 2>his performance watching this as an adult now today.
<v Speaker 1>I think he's great in this, And I know there's
<v Speaker 1>been backlash over the years, but watching him in this,
<v Speaker 1>anytime he's on screen, and just that look that he
<v Speaker 1>gives where he just almost looks like he's looking through
<v Speaker 1>the TV, looking through your living room, or looking through
<v Speaker 1>the theater every time, every time, He's so consistent on
<v Speaker 1>everything he does in this movie. I even looked up
<v Speaker 1>to see who he was against in the Oscar Race.
<v Speaker 2>I did the same. I wrote down the list. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>oh did you? Of course I forgot how it was.
<v Speaker 2>But even though a little backlashed about the character and
<v Speaker 2>the Oscar they started calling Oscar bating, he deserved it.
<v Speaker 2>He really did. Yeah, I totally agree, and I think
<v Speaker 2>some of that backlash has died down now that there's
<v Speaker 2>been a lot more research on exactly what And let's
<v Speaker 2>make it clear just right off the bat, here is
<v Speaker 2>an autistic savant, which is a rarity, correct, So that
<v Speaker 2>is a different type of autism and it's a different
<v Speaker 2>It takes it to a different level and has different
<v Speaker 2>aspects attached to it. So you know we're talking about
<v Speaker 2>the oscars. I mean, he was up against some heavy
<v Speaker 2>hitters Hackman for Mississippi Burning, he got Tom Hanks for
<v Speaker 2>Big Max Fonsida or Pel the Conqueror, Edward James almost
<v Speaker 2>for Stand and deliver some really really solid performances in
<v Speaker 2>great films, but I think he kills it in this
<v Speaker 2>no false moments and when you talk about his reactions
<v Speaker 2>like he's seeing he's just staring through television's walls people,
<v Speaker 2>and the head movements, the physicality, the way he walks,
<v Speaker 2>the way he carries himself for slouches, or the moments
<v Speaker 2>when he throws tantrums and things like that. It's scary,
<v Speaker 2>it's unpredictable. Sometimes it's very sad, and sometimes it's very funny,
<v Speaker 2>and he just nails all the levels. So yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>think he deserved the Oscar without question. Every time I
<v Speaker 2>watch this, I do have a new appreciation for him,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm more curious to look at his filmography and
<v Speaker 2>look at the holes and my watching of his films
<v Speaker 2>like going, I need to see that. I really should
<v Speaker 2>watch this just for to remind myself how great he is,
<v Speaker 2>because I just don't see him as much anymore on
<v Speaker 2>the big screen. Yeah. I agree, he's a great actor
<v Speaker 2>and so many great performances. This is certainly right up there.
<v Speaker 2>And what just makes the character great, It's just so humanized.
<v Speaker 2>You never laugh at the character, You never make fun
<v Speaker 2>of the character. You just along with this character on
<v Speaker 2>this journey with his brother, hoping his brother gets his
<v Speaker 2>act together and understands the significance of all this. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>one thousand percent. The movie is about the brother. That's
<v Speaker 2>why I wanted to start with the actors and just
<v Speaker 2>start with the two brothers here, and let's talk about
<v Speaker 2>the Tom Cruise piece of this. He of course, portrays
<v Speaker 2>Charlie Babbitt this wheeler dealer. It was interesting because I
<v Speaker 2>was trying to recall exactly what his occupation was in
<v Speaker 2>this film, and then I watched it and I'm like, wait,
<v Speaker 2>what is exactly that he does. He's buying imported luxury
<v Speaker 2>sports cars and then he's reselling them, and he gets
<v Speaker 2>into a little financial trouble We don't need to discuss
<v Speaker 2>all the details of it, but I figured it out.
<v Speaker 2>And obviously then finds out that his father's passed away
<v Speaker 2>and he doesn't get the inheritance. So this sends him
<v Speaker 2>on this whole journey to the discovery he has a brother,
<v Speaker 2>and then goes on the further journey with his brother
<v Speaker 2>Raymond Babbitt. And I'm gonna stick to my guns on this.
<v Speaker 2>This is still my favorite performance by Tom Cruise. He's
<v Speaker 2>coming off Cocktail after this right into Born on the
<v Speaker 2>fourth of July. Cruz is a very unlikable character in this.
<v Speaker 2>I was just trying to come up with all the descriptors.
<v Speaker 2>He's rude, dismissive, he's very short with everybody. He's a
<v Speaker 2>narcissistic jerk. He's a shady businessman. He's abusive physically and emotionally.
<v Speaker 2>I do not like him at all in this. Which
<v Speaker 2>makes me feel as a big fan of him is
<v Speaker 2>from the beginning that he's doing a hell of a
<v Speaker 2>job in this role, because this was not how I
<v Speaker 2>perceived him previous to this film at all. I thought
<v Speaker 2>this was against his type and he was the anti hero,
<v Speaker 2>you know, like he's just not likable at all, and
<v Speaker 2>it's how is he going to transform throughout? And I
<v Speaker 2>enjoy watching his journey through this, and I have some
<v Speaker 2>thoughts about that specifically for sure, but I felt like
<v Speaker 2>this was a maturation for him as an actor, like
<v Speaker 2>a real stepping stone. He had some real It seemed
<v Speaker 2>as though he took it very seriously, and he had
<v Speaker 2>some character quirks and ticks, like when he's clapping when
<v Speaker 2>he's frustrated and he's trying to keep things going all
<v Speaker 2>the time, keeping the pace up and trying to keep
<v Speaker 2>be on the move and make deals all the time.
<v Speaker 2>I think he looks fantastic in this, maybe the best
<v Speaker 2>he's ever looked. Still quite young obviously at this time.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, maybe I'm biased because I'm a fan as
<v Speaker 2>a movie star and an actor, But that was my take,
<v Speaker 2>so I think enough. Obviously, what's in interesting about watching
<v Speaker 2>this as an adult because you first think of Hoffman
<v Speaker 2>when you think of Rainman, He's the face of it.
<v Speaker 2>But now watching it, you're going, wait, a minute, whose
<v Speaker 2>movie is it? Is this Hoffman's or is this Cruises?
<v Speaker 2>Because I feel at this point watching it, this is
<v Speaker 2>Tom Cruise's movie, meaning it's really about him. It's about
<v Speaker 2>what he's going. Don't get me wrong, it's about both
<v Speaker 2>of the brothers. But you're watching Tom Cruise go through
<v Speaker 2>the emotional journey, so they didn't know. So I'm very curious. Now,
<v Speaker 2>what's your take on his performance.
<v Speaker 1>I don't have an issue with the performance. I think
<v Speaker 1>it's the way that it was written. I mean, he's
<v Speaker 1>an asshole in this there's no denying it whatsoever, and
<v Speaker 1>drove me up the wall of that he was an
<v Speaker 1>asshole and some of the circumstances. I understood why he
<v Speaker 1>was so upset and why he was so mad, but
<v Speaker 1>I kept saying to myself, you just discovered you had
<v Speaker 1>a brother and you're treating him like shit, and it
<v Speaker 1>was driving me crazy. And then his brother would show
<v Speaker 1>glimmers of something and he'd be intrigued and then treating
<v Speaker 1>like shit again. Yeah, I'm like, come on, man, try
<v Speaker 1>no patience with him whatsoever. So that stuff was driving
<v Speaker 1>me nuts, and all of a sudden everything kind of
<v Speaker 1>dawned on him. So I just think the road was
<v Speaker 1>very rocky for him to get to where he was.
<v Speaker 1>And I think it is his movie in a sense,
<v Speaker 1>because he is the one that goes through a journey
<v Speaker 1>from being a self centered asshole to a loving brother
<v Speaker 1>who really does care for Raymond in the end, but
<v Speaker 1>he in a way puts Raymond through hell in the process,
<v Speaker 1>and I did not like that. And there was a
<v Speaker 1>couple of times I felt like I wanted to kill him. Oh,
<v Speaker 1>without question, couldn't agree more. I wrote this down, Bill
<v Speaker 1>ban so you'll see I'm in total agreement with you.
<v Speaker 1>I wrote this down an hour and nine minutes in.
<v Speaker 1>And we learn so much about Raymond's excentricity and all
<v Speaker 1>of his quirks, dealing with the autism and being a savant.
<v Speaker 1>And then we have Charlie Tom Cruise just his continuous
<v Speaker 1>struggles adapting to all of Ray's needs. But Charlie just
<v Speaker 1>doesn't show much growth in the way of empathy or
<v Speaker 1>connection with Raymond. And for whatever reason, I still find
<v Speaker 1>myself very engaged as to where the story will lead.
<v Speaker 1>But you are absolutely right. You don't really see Cruz
<v Speaker 1>make that turn until the end when he starts to
<v Speaker 1>when he really starts feeling something and becomes an actual
<v Speaker 1>empathetic human being. He's just this narcissistic prick throughout that
<v Speaker 1>is completely self centered and selfish, only worried about his
<v Speaker 1>own needs.
<v Speaker 2>He has a singular goal of making the money in
<v Speaker 2>order to pay back the creditors, the buyers that he
<v Speaker 2>owes money to. So it's fascinating that, Yeah, there's these
<v Speaker 2>little moments of discovery where he's learning things about his brother,
<v Speaker 2>and those are fascinating, but then he goes right back
<v Speaker 2>to being a prick until the end, and that's when
<v Speaker 2>he finally finds love with him himself, that he's actually
<v Speaker 2>capable of love. And I think that's interesting because we
<v Speaker 2>do know specifically what you know. We do know why
<v Speaker 2>he is the way he is because he lost his
<v Speaker 2>mother when he was two years old, and then he
<v Speaker 2>left the family. He left his dad when he was sixteen,
<v Speaker 2>and his dad was a very cold man towards him
<v Speaker 2>and they hadn't spoken to so he had no relationship
<v Speaker 2>to his parents and obviously developed a very cold heart
<v Speaker 2>as a result, and stayed that way for a long time.
<v Speaker 2>And it takes this whole movie for him to have
<v Speaker 2>any warmth at all. So that made sense to me,
<v Speaker 2>But it is true. I mean, he is. He's a
<v Speaker 2>jerk for three quarters of the movie.
<v Speaker 1>When he tells Susannah the story of why he left
<v Speaker 1>and the story about the car.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>I was like with Susannah, Okay, you stole the car.
<v Speaker 1>Why did you think he deserved the car? No, because
<v Speaker 1>you've got decent grades. Yeah, even if you got straight
<v Speaker 1>a's doesn't mean you get to drive the car unless
<v Speaker 1>your dad told you if you guts straight a's, i'll
<v Speaker 1>did you drive the car? If that was part of
<v Speaker 1>the story and he said I got straight a's in
<v Speaker 1>the b plus, my dad wouldn't let me drive the car, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>I mean still what you did was wrong, It's true. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but the whole reason why you separated it from your
<v Speaker 1>dad was over a car that wasn't yours and you
<v Speaker 1>felt entitled to drive it. That's not working for me, right,
<v Speaker 1>that's a great dad stories.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. If there was more evidence to the fact that
<v Speaker 2>his dad was like this cruel man that was intimidating
<v Speaker 2>or overbearing and a perfection demanded perfectionism at all turns,
<v Speaker 2>and was brutal in different ways, but it sounds like
<v Speaker 2>he was just more of a disciplinarian that Bruce says
<v Speaker 2>as much. He says, you know, it was anything I
<v Speaker 2>did was never it was never good enough. For him,
<v Speaker 2>And obviously when he took the car for a joy ride,
<v Speaker 2>his dad reported it stolen and he ended up in jail,
<v Speaker 2>and his dad left him in jail for two days.
<v Speaker 2>So that was supposed to be this whole dramatic thing.
<v Speaker 2>But you're right, it's not quite enough evidence. You would
<v Speaker 2>think for him to either run away or leave permanently
<v Speaker 2>and never talk to his dad ever again. Right, So
<v Speaker 2>I can understand that probably could have used a little
<v Speaker 2>bit more.
<v Speaker 1>I just think I want it more of a like
<v Speaker 1>a gradual understanding of Raymond instead of of this seems interesting, Raymond,
<v Speaker 1>drive me crazy, this seems interesting. He would just get
<v Speaker 1>violent with Raymond or yell at Raymond instead of being
<v Speaker 1>mad at the whole situation. There's a situation I know
<v Speaker 1>you'll talk about later when he gets out of the
<v Speaker 1>car and he's just mad. He's just mad. I get
<v Speaker 1>that you're frustrated. Your business might be going bankrupt and
<v Speaker 1>you're stuck driving across country. The situation is terrible. Be
<v Speaker 1>mad at the situation. Don't be mad at your brother.
<v Speaker 1>Don't take it out of your brother, who you just
<v Speaker 1>met that you didn't just me, but who you've just reconnected.
<v Speaker 1>With after twenty some years, correct, right, that's the stuff
<v Speaker 1>that was driving me nuts.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he's very abusive towards Raymond. Yes, and he's brought
<v Speaker 2>all this up on himself. He doesn't have any patients whatsoever,
<v Speaker 2>and doesn't seem to really develop any patients except for
<v Speaker 2>in some small moments and then when they finally get
<v Speaker 2>to Vegas towards the end, so great points. You're actually
<v Speaker 2>kind of making me see this a little bit more clearly,
<v Speaker 2>because that was in the back of my mind upon
<v Speaker 2>this rewatch, where it was like, hmm, is this a
<v Speaker 2>little bit one note one or two notes but the
<v Speaker 2>same notes for about an hour and a half or
<v Speaker 2>so of a two hour and thirteen minute movie. But
<v Speaker 2>the thing is, I still just going to admit, and
<v Speaker 2>maybe it's my bias or my nostalgic attachment to it
<v Speaker 2>or whatever it might be, that I still find it engaging.
<v Speaker 2>It didn't bother me to the point where I was
<v Speaker 2>frustrated with the movie.
<v Speaker 1>It's really not until Raymond gets him the money that
<v Speaker 1>he's able to relax and see the situation and then realize, oh,
<v Speaker 1>I have a brother, right, And up to that point.
<v Speaker 2>He's just an asshole. It's all I can say. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>he's an ass driving his own problems. Yeah, you know
<v Speaker 2>what I was thinking. I was trying to come up
<v Speaker 2>with a little more insight into this movie before we
<v Speaker 2>got on to record, and I was thinking about and
<v Speaker 2>not just spoiler alert. I'm you know, the Vegas sequence.
<v Speaker 2>I've always loved, and I was thinking even during that part.
<v Speaker 2>I'm always entertained, but I always love watching it. It's
<v Speaker 2>fun to watch, but it really is still so self
<v Speaker 2>serving for Charlie. Yeah, the only reason he's doing it
<v Speaker 2>is to literally manipulating and using his brother to get
<v Speaker 2>the money in order to pay back the people he
<v Speaker 2>needs to pay back. I mean, that's it. He's not
<v Speaker 2>doing these things for Raymond, getting dressed up and teach
<v Speaker 2>you just out of love. I mean, I think we
<v Speaker 2>starts to sense it, but I mean the impetus behind
<v Speaker 2>it is all self serving for Charlie.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he doesn't relax and see Raymond as a person
<v Speaker 1>until he knows his debts are paid off and he's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be okay.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yep, let's if you don't mind, let's move on.
<v Speaker 2>I just we got to talk about Valeria Galino for
<v Speaker 2>a moment. Man I just wanted to bring it up
<v Speaker 2>because I had a huge crush on it. Let's just
<v Speaker 2>say that as the kid, the eyes, the curly hair,
<v Speaker 2>the accent Italian, I mean, my goodness, she is adorable.
<v Speaker 2>She's beautiful. She plays the role of Susannah, Charlie's employee
<v Speaker 2>slash secretary I guess at this sales company enterprise that
<v Speaker 2>he's running. And in eighty eight she was in Big
<v Speaker 2>Top Peewee. Then this then pops up in the Hot
<v Speaker 2>Shots movies and a few other notables like Leaving Las Vegas,
<v Speaker 2>Four Rooms, Escape from La Just recently, she popped up
<v Speaker 2>in the Morning Show for eight episodes in twenty twenty one.
<v Speaker 2>She's done a lot of Italian cinema over the years.
<v Speaker 2>But Bill Bann, should she have been a bigger deal?
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna go with no.
<v Speaker 2>It was just we didn't. Just kind of a small
<v Speaker 2>sample size maybe, and that was fine. I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>I think she had a good run. I did love
<v Speaker 2>listening to her argue with Charlie all the time. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>she just has a great voice for arguing. I did
<v Speaker 2>enjoy her in it, though. All right, simple enough, Well,
<v Speaker 2>I'll just jump to one of my complaints then, But
<v Speaker 2>because this kind of ties in, I think to what
<v Speaker 2>was saying we're going is she's gorgeous. She is communicative
<v Speaker 2>and sensitive and emotionally available and all these she seems
<v Speaker 2>to have all these wonderful qualities. My question is, why
<v Speaker 2>the hell is she with Charlie Babbitt.
<v Speaker 1>That is a good question. She's the one that understands
<v Speaker 1>the whole situation, it seems like, and she just can't
<v Speaker 1>get it through Charlie's thick skull. And I mean that's
<v Speaker 1>why she leaves them for a start of the movie.
<v Speaker 1>Makes sense for sure.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he's singular minded and she has the full perspective
<v Speaker 2>on what's happening.
<v Speaker 1>I felt like she was me in a way, just
<v Speaker 1>constantly yelling and Charlie like, you got a brother, come
<v Speaker 1>on right, Yeah, not being an asshole to him.
<v Speaker 2>Kidnapping him and holding him ransom and hostage is not
<v Speaker 2>the way to go. No, that's a straight up kidnapping. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>for sure, doctor was pretty calm about not sending the
<v Speaker 2>police after ran. Well, that's the thing is, I had
<v Speaker 2>a big question about that. I understand that it is
<v Speaker 2>explained halfway through the movie that Raymond Babbitt is at
<v Speaker 2>Walbrook voluntarily, but still there's formalities like if you're taking
<v Speaker 2>him out of the facility, you'd have to sign you
<v Speaker 2>have signed something, some paperwork. You can't just literally walk
<v Speaker 2>out with him and then not come back. I would
<v Speaker 2>just surprise. There's no law enforcement involved at all. Nobody's
<v Speaker 2>coming calling the cops or anything. It just seems a
<v Speaker 2>little odd to me.
<v Speaker 1>How can he be there voluntarily if he can't make
<v Speaker 1>decisions like who would volunteering question two?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like he couldn't go to the doctor and say
<v Speaker 1>all right, I'm done, I went out. I want my
<v Speaker 1>own place. He can't do that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I was a little confused as to some
<v Speaker 2>of those logistics in the legality of all that. For sure.
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to give a quick shout out to the
<v Speaker 2>DP director of photography, John Seal, shooting this film. I
<v Speaker 2>think this movie looks great. But it's interesting because I
<v Speaker 2>guess I wasn't paying attention before because I gave him
<v Speaker 2>a shout out on our the Hitcher pod what And
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if I mentioned it on that pod,
<v Speaker 2>but you know, he was the cinematographer for Witness the
<v Speaker 2>Hitcher Dead Poet Society the Firm, The English Patient, one
<v Speaker 2>of the Harry Potter movies, Mad Max, Fury Road Only
<v Speaker 2>to name a few. John Seal is a stud I
<v Speaker 2>don't know why I wasn't studying his filmography when we
<v Speaker 2>did The Hitcher, and I was just like, this guy
<v Speaker 2>knows how to shoot a movie. But here we have
<v Speaker 2>another road trip movie that looks gorgeous and just makes
<v Speaker 2>me want to move back to the Midwest immediately because
<v Speaker 2>he makes the countryside look so peaceful and serene and
<v Speaker 2>I just want to go on a road trip. I
<v Speaker 2>love the way he shot this. Definitely knows how to
<v Speaker 2>shoot those country landscapes, so giving him a shout out again.
<v Speaker 1>Definitely knows how to shoot them. Definitely knows how to shit.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And the iconic shots from this movie are so memorable,
<v Speaker 2>with Raymond and Charlie walking down that drive in the
<v Speaker 2>middle of the trees at the Wallbrook facility. It's on
<v Speaker 2>the poster, it's on the VHS bock. It's a wonderful shot.
<v Speaker 2>Any of those shots of the brothers.
<v Speaker 1>In the opening when the Ferraris are coming in and
<v Speaker 1>they reflector oh yeah, and the Ico iico is playing,
<v Speaker 1>It was like, oh, yep, that was a Mendela effect
<v Speaker 1>I thought, for I Go played during the Vegas scene,
<v Speaker 1>not the opening.
<v Speaker 2>Oh there you go. Well that's great because it's a
<v Speaker 2>perfect segue into the next thing I want to talk about,
<v Speaker 2>and that's Hans Zimmer with the soundtrack and the lyrical
<v Speaker 2>music as well, including Icoiico, But let's just talk about that.
<v Speaker 2>Icoico also featured during the opening credit sub mission Impossible
<v Speaker 2>to the John wu film when you have Cruise doing
<v Speaker 2>the rock climbing at the very opening the cold open
<v Speaker 2>another Cruise movie, same song. But yeah, this is when
<v Speaker 2>I start to learn about Hans Zimmer, when I really
<v Speaker 2>get turned on to him. It's a really interesting soundtrack.
<v Speaker 2>I love it. It feels like it little has like
<v Speaker 2>a little bit of an Asian influence, and you can
<v Speaker 2>really hear some commonality with this score in the Black
<v Speaker 2>Rain score that comes shortly after this, which I'm also
<v Speaker 2>a big fan of. But I guess director Barry Levinson
<v Speaker 2>specifically instructed Zimmer to avoid strings in his score, as
<v Speaker 2>he felt it would make the film too sentimental. Stepping
<v Speaker 2>on some trivia already, But dude, I used to listen
<v Speaker 2>this all the time. I cassette Koiico. My one of
<v Speaker 2>my favorite tracks is dry Bones. Man. I love that song.
<v Speaker 2>That's a fun one in all the Bones. So yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I really enjoyed the score and the soundtrack for this. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think I was kind of surprised to see his
<v Speaker 1>name in the credit because I didn't really remember the
<v Speaker 1>music that much. So I'm really sure I paid attention
<v Speaker 1>to it, because yeah, all I remember it was like Oiko,
<v Speaker 1>but not in the right spot of course. And yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I really did enjoy it. I liked it a lot.
<v Speaker 2>Cool cool, Yeah, I was just going to talk about
<v Speaker 2>the I actually thought the writing was outside of these
<v Speaker 2>complaints we may have revealed already, I did like the
<v Speaker 2>fact these characters are so specific. I enjoyed There's so
<v Speaker 2>many great lines, some quotable. I mean, it's a quotable film. Clearly.
<v Speaker 2>There's something I caught in the beginning of the film.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if you caught this as well, but
<v Speaker 2>Charlie in the beginning when he was with the lawyer
<v Speaker 2>and they read the will and trust, and he clearly
<v Speaker 2>is not getting the three million dollars or the money
<v Speaker 2>that he feels he deserves and that it's being given
<v Speaker 2>to a beneficiary. Instead, he learns he's just getting the
<v Speaker 2>buick and he's getting the rose bushes, and he's being
<v Speaker 2>very sarcastic and talking to the lawyer and saying, well,
<v Speaker 2>I definitely got the rose bushes. I definitely got the
<v Speaker 2>rose bushes, which is exactly how Raymond speaks later on,
<v Speaker 2>said I'm definitely not wearing any underwear, you know, Like,
<v Speaker 2>so I hadn't caught that before. I thought that was smart.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't catch it on the first viewing. I think
<v Speaker 1>I caught it on the second or third. I literally
<v Speaker 1>replayed this movie almost all day one day, okay, cool,
<v Speaker 1>just trying to catch bits and pieces here and there
<v Speaker 1>throughout the day. I would kind of be doing work
<v Speaker 1>around the house and then I would walk in the
<v Speaker 1>living room and catch a scene and really break it down.
<v Speaker 1>And it was one of those times, Yeah, the lawyer's
<v Speaker 1>reading the letter and I chuckled. I'm like, oh, yeah, definitely, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>definitely definitely doing that. Definitely definitely doing that.
<v Speaker 2>Yep. I thought that was great. So I did have
<v Speaker 2>an appreciation for the writing. Obviously it did win the Oscar.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm just going to say, kind of in wrapping
<v Speaker 2>up my impressions here. As an adult watching this, I
<v Speaker 2>still love going on the journey with the characters. I
<v Speaker 2>did find Cruz's portrayal of Charlie Babbitt to be even
<v Speaker 2>more jarring but more believable. Feels like that he was
<v Speaker 2>living it, and it definitely feels like it's his movie.
<v Speaker 2>His arc hits all the dramatic levels, and I feel
<v Speaker 2>well directed by Levinson. This is our third film by him.
<v Speaker 2>Bill Bant, we did Diner and we did Good Morning Vietnam.
<v Speaker 2>Obviously an important director. He's a little hit or missed
<v Speaker 2>for me once he gets into the two thousands. But
<v Speaker 2>I didn't know if you had any opinion on the direction.
<v Speaker 1>Parry Levin said at one time, if I just saw
<v Speaker 1>his name as a part of the movie, I gotta
<v Speaker 1>see this. Yeah, I just saw it. Everything he touched
<v Speaker 1>was gold. Even though I didn't give Good Morning Vietnam
<v Speaker 1>the greatest reviews when we discussed it, but everything else
<v Speaker 1>from the eighties, I really enjoyed his work. But yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he fell off a cliff. That was tough. He's one
<v Speaker 1>of those directors all of a sudden, just nothing was
<v Speaker 1>working for him. Yeah, and I'm one of those few
<v Speaker 1>and I'd love to bring it up anytime I can. Toys.
<v Speaker 1>I love toys, I really do. Okay, it's not a
<v Speaker 1>good that third act sucks, but it's one of those movies.
<v Speaker 1>The music and the visuals just really work for me,
<v Speaker 1>and I.
<v Speaker 2>Just enjoy it.
<v Speaker 1>And it's just so weird. It's just such a weird movie,
<v Speaker 1>and he took a chance with it and I really
<v Speaker 1>appreciated that, and it's just so something out of his wheelhouse.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I mean, this one, in a sense is
<v Speaker 1>pretty straightforward. You know, it's a road trip. You're getting
<v Speaker 1>from point A to point B. I mean for the characters,
<v Speaker 1>for the journey and everything. But you're engaged, and that's
<v Speaker 1>what you want. You want to be engaged in the audience,
<v Speaker 1>and this is what that movie does. It engages you
<v Speaker 1>and you want to see what happens at the end
<v Speaker 1>because you don't really know where it's going to go, right, Like,
<v Speaker 1>we know they're trying to get the Los Angeles, But
<v Speaker 1>how is Cruz going to solve these problems? Does he
<v Speaker 1>really think he's going to be able to use his
<v Speaker 1>brother there is pawn to get money and what's his
<v Speaker 1>brother going through in this whole trip? Here he is
<v Speaker 1>every day doing something that's different from the last. What
<v Speaker 1>he's saying he was a Wilbruck from fifteen twenty years
<v Speaker 1>Oh right, yeah, yeah, at least yep having to change
<v Speaker 1>his routine and what does that really do to him?
<v Speaker 1>Does he even realize what's going on?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Very interesting there. I mean, Raymond goes through some
<v Speaker 2>very traumatic moments. Yes, extremely brutal for him. So I
<v Speaker 2>don't know what kind of long term effects that would have,
<v Speaker 2>but he gets put through it by Charlie and you
<v Speaker 2>were talking about, you know, this being a straightforward road
<v Speaker 2>trip movie, and Wikipedia calls it a road comedy drama film.
<v Speaker 2>I recall watching this as younger and laughing out loud
<v Speaker 2>at so many moments and thinking it was very lighthearted
<v Speaker 2>in moments and funny, and that the comedy really was substantial,
<v Speaker 2>not so much watching it as an adult. I was
<v Speaker 2>going to ask you that do you feel that this
<v Speaker 2>should be even be called a comedy at all? I
<v Speaker 2>feel like it's road trip drama. I think it has
<v Speaker 2>levity in moments, but it just didn't feel as comical.
<v Speaker 1>I guess because at the time we didn't really know
<v Speaker 1>that much about autism and what right, we thought so.
<v Speaker 1>I think it was more of the situations how he
<v Speaker 1>looked at things, and we just found it funny, like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that's someone looking at something different. But I think now
<v Speaker 1>because we know, well, there's still a long way to
<v Speaker 1>go when it comes to autism and the spectrum.
<v Speaker 2>And all that. But I think it was more just
<v Speaker 2>laughing because you were uncomfortable. Absolutely, and I as a kid,
<v Speaker 2>I was just ignorant, so ignorant, and just everybody was naive.
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, in a way.
<v Speaker 1>This movie helped bring autism to the public. Did I
<v Speaker 1>know anybody with autism before I saw this movie?
<v Speaker 2>No?
<v Speaker 1>Have I met so many people with autism since. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>And I'm sure when that's listened to it too, is
<v Speaker 1>know someone that's autistic. It's something we didn't know. We
<v Speaker 1>didn't know back then in the eighties. I think we
<v Speaker 1>could all be the spectrum to a certain extent. Who knows,
<v Speaker 1>it's possible, still learning, still learning about it. Did you
<v Speaker 1>have anything else regarding impressions today watching rain Man? No,
<v Speaker 1>I think that's it. I think we can move into
<v Speaker 1>favorite scenes or moments, so let's talk about that. What
<v Speaker 1>are some of our favorite scenes of moments from a
<v Speaker 1>rain Man take some what he got.
<v Speaker 2>I think you mentioned Bill Bant. There's a scene in
<v Speaker 2>particular where Tom Cruise just has to pull the buick
<v Speaker 2>over and get out and do some yelling, and that's
<v Speaker 2>one of my first favorite scenes. This is where I
<v Speaker 2>actually found it funny, his yelling, his exasperation, his frustration
<v Speaker 2>with Charlie in the entire situation, because he's just had
<v Speaker 2>it up. I mean, he's gone through ivan, he's trying everything,
<v Speaker 2>and it's nothing's been working. And Charlie clearly has a
<v Speaker 2>lot of needs, and whether it's the fact that he
<v Speaker 2>can't fly, or he can't drive on the freeway because
<v Speaker 2>it's too dangerous and he needs to watch Judge Wepmer
<v Speaker 2>and People's Court at six pm in Night's Out by eleven,
<v Speaker 2>all these things, it's just making travel very difficult for Charlie.
<v Speaker 2>So at this one point we are on the road
<v Speaker 2>in the middle of the country, and yet this is
<v Speaker 2>the classic line where you have Raymond just look down
<v Speaker 2>and say, of course, I'm not wearing any underwear, and
<v Speaker 2>it's really funny. It's just funny because I hope I
<v Speaker 2>said that right. Raymond's the one saying that, and Charlie's like,
<v Speaker 2>what are you talking about? It gave you a fresh
<v Speaker 2>parent of my own underwear to put on today. It's like, no,
<v Speaker 2>I can't can't wear those. I need to wear boxer shorts.
<v Speaker 2>I have my own boxer shorts. They're from Kmart. My
<v Speaker 2>name is on them. Those are the only of course
<v Speaker 2>Charlie has does not understand. But it's another one of
<v Speaker 2>those famous lines from this when Raymond keeps repeating, no,
<v Speaker 2>I'm definitely not wearing any underwear, and finally Charlie pulls
<v Speaker 2>the car over. So I love that moment when he
<v Speaker 2>gets out, because you just have Raymond who wouldn't let
<v Speaker 2>he can't. He just keeps repeating himself, saying, I have
<v Speaker 2>to get go to Kmart. We got a cod to
<v Speaker 2>Kmart's in Cincinnati, and he keeps saying the address over again,
<v Speaker 2>but of course Charlie keeps saying, we're not there. We'll
<v Speaker 2>get boxer shorts. It's our boxer shorts wherever you buy
<v Speaker 2>them in Cincinnati or wherever. And my favorite thing is
<v Speaker 2>you probably know Bill Bant as well. We know this
<v Speaker 2>is one of our friends, Marwana Jersey. One of his
<v Speaker 2>favorite things is when Tom Cruise gets upset, he goes
<v Speaker 2>to a higher register. His voice goes so high. That's
<v Speaker 2>when you know he's really mad. But when he yells that,
<v Speaker 2>and his voice just keeps going higher and higher wherever
<v Speaker 2>you buy them in Cincinnati or wherever, then you just
<v Speaker 2>hear Raymond go Kmart. It's just I laughed out loud
<v Speaker 2>at that. So I always i'd love that scene, and
<v Speaker 2>it made me laugh again watching it today.
<v Speaker 1>So, yeah, Charlie can't win even if they pull it
<v Speaker 1>up to another kmart. Oh yeah, something with oh yeah, right,
<v Speaker 1>that's what he's dealing with. And that scene of frustration
<v Speaker 1>doesn't bother me as much because he does bring into
<v Speaker 1>the hole. We shouldn't even be in this car driving.
<v Speaker 1>You should be on a plane. Yeah, you should be
<v Speaker 1>get there. It's more, it's more of the situation. It's
<v Speaker 1>not so much Raymond. But yes, Raymond is frustrating him
<v Speaker 1>because you can't give him an inch and you can't
<v Speaker 1>figure out how to get that inch out of him.
<v Speaker 1>I think he does the right thing by just pulling
<v Speaker 1>over and just venting. Just vent right, get back in
<v Speaker 1>the car and move on. Nothing you can do for
<v Speaker 1>a certain place.
<v Speaker 2>With that great shot of them the car driving off,
<v Speaker 2>and from behind you see Charlie just throw his underwear
<v Speaker 2>up in the air out of the car. Because the
<v Speaker 2>great thing is Raymond never put on the pair of
<v Speaker 2>Vender where he had it in his jacket pocket the
<v Speaker 2>whole time. It's great, I think for us, we say
<v Speaker 2>the same.
<v Speaker 1>Next favorite scene and that's when we find out why
<v Speaker 1>the name of the movie is titled rain Man. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's probably one of the first times that Charlie has
<v Speaker 1>the time to actually pay attention to Raymond and try
<v Speaker 1>to have some kind of bond with him. They're talking,
<v Speaker 1>I think they're talking. Then it was that Charlie goes
<v Speaker 1>to put on the tub and Raymond has the freak out.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, it scares the crap out of Charlie and
<v Speaker 1>turns the water off. And that's when ray Band says
<v Speaker 1>rain Man. And that's when Charlie's like, oh, that's what
<v Speaker 1>I used to say because I couldn't say Raymond. And
<v Speaker 1>then he asked about the song that I used to
<v Speaker 1>sing to him, and then that's when Charlie realizes it
<v Speaker 1>is like, oh, wow, I did not necessarily know my brother,
<v Speaker 1>but my brother was around at one point and I
<v Speaker 1>was the reason why he was sent away for the
<v Speaker 1>wrong reason, because the father thought he was trying to
<v Speaker 1>burn Charlie as a baby in the hot water, when actually,
<v Speaker 1>in actuality, he was trying to get Charlie out of
<v Speaker 1>the tub from getting burned.
<v Speaker 2>This scene is loaded. It's a great call. This has
<v Speaker 2>to be, especially after what we were just talking about
<v Speaker 2>where this movie surprisingly had me feeling a lot more
<v Speaker 2>tension in me, Like as I was watching it, I
<v Speaker 2>was getting tense and I found it anxiety inducing because
<v Speaker 2>Charlie is just so full of frustration, rage, just always
<v Speaker 2>trying to like he's an angry person. He's an angry,
<v Speaker 2>angry young man, and Charlie's not going to change and
<v Speaker 2>they're just going to be button heads the entire time.
<v Speaker 2>So when this happens in the movie, it's a nice break.
<v Speaker 2>It's like a breath of fresher because it gets very quiet,
<v Speaker 2>and I noted in the scene it's very silent. There's
<v Speaker 2>no score in the background, and they're in the bathroom.
<v Speaker 2>And I love all the moments you named, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>just going to reiterate them. When you have Raymond with
<v Speaker 2>his wallet, I believe Charlie finds the photo he sees
<v Speaker 2>a photo of Raymond with him. I thought the photoshop
<v Speaker 2>actually looked pretty good in that too, because Raymond is
<v Speaker 2>significantly older. Then Charlie puts two and two together. He's like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>you're the rain Man, was it? Because I was misspoke
<v Speaker 2>and said you're name wrong? And Raymond keeps saying yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and he sings the Lullaby, which is actually the song
<v Speaker 2>I Saw You Standing There, which is a great song.
<v Speaker 2>And it's just such a bittersweet moment and it's finally
<v Speaker 2>this connection. But this look of calm and realization that
<v Speaker 2>comes over Cruz's face in that moment, I absolutely love.
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, when it turns on that hot water, Wow,
<v Speaker 2>I'll never forget it. That scene still bothers me today.
<v Speaker 2>It still jolts me, even though I know it's coming.
<v Speaker 2>When Hoffman starts screaming hot water, burn baby, hot water
<v Speaker 2>burn baby, another quote heard from the film. Then when
<v Speaker 2>he calms down and figures out, oh, that's why you
<v Speaker 2>were sent away because they thought you were going to
<v Speaker 2>hurt me. It's very tender. It's a very tender scene.
<v Speaker 2>And this is where the love story really kind of begins,
<v Speaker 2>I think for me. And there's a really quiet kind
<v Speaker 2>of period on the scene where you hear Raymond saying, Hey,
<v Speaker 2>it won't hurt Charlie. I wouldn't hurt Charlie. Wouldn't hurt Charlie,
<v Speaker 2>or something to that effect. I would never hurt Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>Charlie Babbitt, Charliebbitt, I wouldn't hurt Charlie Bbbitt. And Charlie
<v Speaker 2>is like, what are you saying? And he hears him
<v Speaker 2>say that, and it's almost it's almost heartbreaking in the
<v Speaker 2>moment because it's all coming together here. It's an important scene.
<v Speaker 2>It's necessary at that point in the movie to kind
<v Speaker 2>of relieve all that tension and stress your feeling going
<v Speaker 2>on this trip with these two trying to get through
<v Speaker 2>it all. So it's a wonderful scene. Yeah, well acted
<v Speaker 2>by both of them. They have a great chemistry. I
<v Speaker 2>think they work well off of one another. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>agree with that for sure. And lastly, favorite scenes Vegas.
<v Speaker 2>There's so many things point out with your highlights from
<v Speaker 2>Vegas that you'd like from Yeah, well, let's just start
<v Speaker 2>with the montage. Let's get all dressed up and go gambling,
<v Speaker 2>and when they're getting fitted for the suits and you know,
<v Speaker 2>the iconic shot is coming, and it's the shot of
<v Speaker 2>the Babbitt brothers coming down the escalator in their silver suits,
<v Speaker 2>dressed to the nines, looking sharp as hell. And they
<v Speaker 2>clean up good and they hit the tables and I
<v Speaker 2>you know when they start playing blackjack, and what is it?
<v Speaker 2>One is for good, two is for bad? Is it?
<v Speaker 2>Do I have it backwards? They have their communication as
<v Speaker 2>far as counting cards, and they're going to make a
<v Speaker 2>lot of money doing so. But there's one little moment
<v Speaker 2>here where they start playing cards and you see obviously
<v Speaker 2>they're winning and winning and winning, and then the crowd
<v Speaker 2>gathers around the table and everybody's cheering for them, and
<v Speaker 2>it's awesome. We always love this, right Bill bandon any
<v Speaker 2>gambling movie, when they're on a hot streak and they're winning,
<v Speaker 2>that people gather on the table. It's like if it's
<v Speaker 2>a craps table, blackchipe, dat doesn't matter. But they wracking
<v Speaker 2>it up and the dealer at one point says, you're
<v Speaker 2>doing well, I'm happy for you. And it's such a
<v Speaker 2>dry delivery. I laugh out loud every time he says that,
<v Speaker 2>because everybody's so heightened and excited. And then you're doing well.
<v Speaker 2>I'm happy for you. It's just so quiet. I'm going
<v Speaker 2>to get fired. Tip me well before you leave, right
<v Speaker 2>the house is losing its ass right now. Yeah, so
<v Speaker 2>that's the first first part is of course, including that
<v Speaker 2>shot of them ConA on the escalator. I love, I
<v Speaker 2>love that excitement. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think my two highlights are when Raymond gets up
<v Speaker 1>from the table for the wheel, and of course Charlie's
<v Speaker 1>upset because they're in a hot streak. But then when
<v Speaker 1>Raymond starts saying, yeah, twenty, definitely bet on twenty, and
<v Speaker 1>Charlie thinks, oh, he can somehow read the wheel too,
<v Speaker 1>and puts down three thousand dollars and you even think
<v Speaker 1>as an audience matter of the first time, it's like,
<v Speaker 1>oh my god, he's gonna hit on the wheel, and
<v Speaker 1>right the twenty passes and it hits I think one
<v Speaker 1>or whatever, and he's like, oh, oh, I find that funny.
<v Speaker 1>But I think at that point you just believe almost
<v Speaker 1>Raymond has magic powers that he can just beat Vegas.
<v Speaker 1>And then my second favorite moment from that is Raymond
<v Speaker 1>having the dance with Susanna and the elevator. I love
<v Speaker 1>that scene, very tender moment because Susan always just kneels
<v Speaker 1>for him, and the fact that she gives him that
<v Speaker 1>dance that he really thought he was going to get
<v Speaker 1>with the call girl Iris.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Iris, you have to meet Iris ten o'clock. Ten o'clock. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>couldn't agree more, my friend. I'm going to take it
<v Speaker 2>a step back and go to the dancing sequence between
<v Speaker 2>ray and Charlie. It's a beautiful thing. Ray gets the
<v Speaker 2>big fancy Sweet. Well, Charlie treats him to the big
<v Speaker 2>fancy sweet, puts the bed by the way, and Raymond
<v Speaker 2>wants to learn how to dance because he's going to
<v Speaker 2>have this hot date with the prostitute Iris at ten
<v Speaker 2>and they put on the classic song at Last Atta James,
<v Speaker 2>and Charlie teaches Raymond how to dance. It's very simple.
<v Speaker 2>It's a beautiful love scene between brothers which ends in
<v Speaker 2>a very jarring moment because Charlie just wants to give
<v Speaker 2>him a hug and Raymond is just not used to that.
<v Speaker 2>It's interesting when you brought up. When they're down at
<v Speaker 2>the tables and such, and they gambling and they go
<v Speaker 2>over to the wheel. It starts with, of course Raymond
<v Speaker 2>being distracted. He sees the wheel. But we as an
<v Speaker 2>audience know this. We're learning along the way. We know
<v Speaker 2>he's autistic, and we know he's a savant, and we
<v Speaker 2>know that there are certain things that are going to
<v Speaker 2>catch his eye most likely. The frustrating thing is it
<v Speaker 2>seems like Charlie's not learning at all. So then they
<v Speaker 2>go over to the wheel and they lose three thousand
<v Speaker 2>dollars And I hate Charlie so much in this moment
<v Speaker 2>because he gets really pissed at Raymond for, you know,
<v Speaker 2>dropping three grand on that wheel, and I'm like, dude,
<v Speaker 2>he just won you like eighty six thousand dollars. He's
<v Speaker 2>being really selfish, but it seems as though he just
<v Speaker 2>hasn't learned anything as to why he even went to
<v Speaker 2>the wheel in the first place. He should be understanding
<v Speaker 2>of that anyway. The dance sequence in the elevator between
<v Speaker 2>Susanne and Raymond is beautiful, and then it ends with
<v Speaker 2>them allowing Raymond to drive the buick around the fountain
<v Speaker 2>and circles and run drive it up on the curb.
<v Speaker 2>That was fun. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I have the note though with the hug scene, Charlie
<v Speaker 1>came in too fast. That was the problems. Yeah, he
<v Speaker 1>was giving him that bro hug, that tough like he
<v Speaker 1>just goes in hard. Yeah, I agree, He's just slowed
<v Speaker 1>down a little bit on that one. It's like, no,
<v Speaker 1>wonder why I freaked out. I think I would have
<v Speaker 1>freaked out someone trying to hug me that fast. And
<v Speaker 1>that's what I'm saying. He doesn't seem to learn, Like
<v Speaker 1>I was thinking to myself, Oh, well, okay, you went
<v Speaker 1>in too hard.
<v Speaker 2>You made a mistake. Raymond freaked out then slowed down,
<v Speaker 2>be like, hey man, can I give you a hug.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just going to bring you in softly and give
<v Speaker 2>you a hug and be tender, and that would have
<v Speaker 2>been nice. But he just kind of walks away going
<v Speaker 2>feeling dejected, right of all, like Charlie's feeling dejected, I know.
<v Speaker 1>Treating like dirt for five days straight.
<v Speaker 2>No. That entire Vegas portion of the film, though, is great. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>all right. Trying to move on to Swiss Cheese and
<v Speaker 2>complaint department, and why do we call it Swiss cheese?
<v Speaker 2>Because although this movie is delicious, it does have toothpick.
<v Speaker 1>Holes, yes, and it doesn't have those toothpick holes. We
<v Speaker 1>just file complaint with the complaint department. So, Jason, what
<v Speaker 1>do you have for Swiss cheese or complaints?
<v Speaker 2>I think we've covered most of mine. We talked about
<v Speaker 2>the kidnapping. That's pretty tough. You're taking a patient out
<v Speaker 2>of a mental facility, voluntary or not, there would be
<v Speaker 2>somebody would be called in. You have to believe Tom
<v Speaker 2>Cruise smoking in this movie or not smoking. I think
<v Speaker 2>we see him take one puff, maybe two puffs off
<v Speaker 2>a cigarette throughout this. I'm not sure why they even
<v Speaker 2>had him smoking. It's just kind of weird seeing him
<v Speaker 2>smoke or not smoke. The first scene you see him
<v Speaker 2>with a lit cigarette hanging in an ashtray. He never
<v Speaker 2>takes a pop off it. It's literally just smoking in
<v Speaker 2>his face and Raymond's. So those are just a couple
<v Speaker 2>of things. What do you have for Swiss cheese and
<v Speaker 2>or complaints?
<v Speaker 1>I have two things. The first thing is okay, So
<v Speaker 1>we find out that Charlie inherits the car and the
<v Speaker 1>rose bushes and he needs money correct sell the car.
<v Speaker 1>There's some money for you, obviously. Obviously day I didn't
<v Speaker 1>even think of it.
<v Speaker 2>Originally wasn't taking it to Las Vegas because he was
<v Speaker 2>gonna fly. So what was he gonna do with the
<v Speaker 2>car anyway.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think you get anything for the roses, but
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure you can get something for the car to
<v Speaker 1>kind of get you over for a little bit.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how much that's great, but I never
<v Speaker 2>even never even crossed my mind. It's a great call.
<v Speaker 1>The second thing this really weird at me out.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know why.
<v Speaker 1>So the scene when they're on the highway and Raymond
<v Speaker 1>freaks out, so they decide, Okay, you're going to walk
<v Speaker 1>in front of the car and we're gonna get off
<v Speaker 1>the ramp and then we'll take.
<v Speaker 2>The side roads.
<v Speaker 1>So there's an overhead shot of them coming off the
<v Speaker 1>off ramp with Raymond in the front, and I swear,
<v Speaker 1>the way the lines are drawn that car should drive
<v Speaker 1>head on into oncoming traffic.
<v Speaker 2>Gets me every time. Okay, you saw it too, hilarious.
<v Speaker 2>It's hilarious that you point that up. It's one of
<v Speaker 2>those weird nitpicky things that bothers me every time I
<v Speaker 2>see the movie. The way those street lines are painted
<v Speaker 2>on there, it's as if it's a merging lane not
<v Speaker 2>going into its own lane. Did they shoot reverse because
<v Speaker 2>they're really supposed to be going onto the ramp, and
<v Speaker 2>just for the film, they just shot it backwards, so
<v Speaker 2>they're coming off the ramp because the way the line's drawn,
<v Speaker 2>it's drawn to go into that car that's coming the
<v Speaker 2>other way. Right. Yeah, it's making me edgy. Okay, I'm
<v Speaker 2>glad we saw it too. That's amazing. I'm glad we
<v Speaker 2>both picked up on that. That's funny. Yeah. I get
<v Speaker 2>anxious every time I see that. I'm like, are they
<v Speaker 2>going into oncoming traffic? What's happening? I was sick in
<v Speaker 2>the same thing. I was wondering.
<v Speaker 1>I was like, did he do that just to get
<v Speaker 1>off the road?
<v Speaker 2>Such a weird little thing. Okay, I'm glad we bossed
<v Speaker 2>all that time. Move on to Hey, it's that actor?
<v Speaker 2>All right?
<v Speaker 1>So in this segment we spotlight a character actor you
<v Speaker 1>have seen in many other films, an actor in making
<v Speaker 1>their big screen debut, or an actor that makes an
<v Speaker 1>uncredited cameo. It's Hey, it's that actor. Who do we
<v Speaker 1>choose this week?
<v Speaker 2>This week we chose for our Hey, it's that actor
<v Speaker 2>Beth Grant, who plays mother at Farmhouse. Beth is an
<v Speaker 2>American character actress from Alabama. Her trademarks are her southern accent.
<v Speaker 2>She almost always plays someone who is arrogant, conservative, a
<v Speaker 2>stickler to rules, or even downright evil. Her eighties is
<v Speaker 2>very brief. She didn't really start working regularly until the
<v Speaker 2>mid to late eighties. She did some single episodes of TV,
<v Speaker 2>then rain Man here in eighty eight, and that's all
<v Speaker 2>she wrote until she starts working more prolifically in the nineties.
<v Speaker 2>She does flat Liners in nineteen ninety, Child's Play two,
<v Speaker 2>also in ninety the Dark Half in ninety three, seventeen
<v Speaker 2>episodes of the show Delta with Delta, Birk City Slickers too,
<v Speaker 2>the Legend of Curly's Gold in ninety four. Then the
<v Speaker 2>movie that I recognize her from immediately would be Speed
<v Speaker 2>in nineteen ninety four. She portrays Helen. She's the woman
<v Speaker 2>that jumps the gun, tries to get off the bus
<v Speaker 2>too soon, steps down and it explodes and she's dragged
<v Speaker 2>underneath the bus. And that's brutal. That's an awful scene.
<v Speaker 2>But every time that comes up in that movie, I'm like, lady, stop, dude,
<v Speaker 2>what are you doing. Don't get off? Then we know
<v Speaker 2>what happens. Into the two thousands. Other notables she has
<v Speaker 2>our Donnie Darko, Pearl Harbor, Rockstar, The Rookie, ten episodes
<v Speaker 2>of the show Jericho. She's the voice of Bonnie and Rango.
<v Speaker 2>She does seventy nine episodes of The Mini Project as Beverly.
<v Speaker 2>She was in Goliath with a Billy Bob, eighteen episodes
<v Speaker 2>of Dollface A Little Trivia. She's appeared in four films
<v Speaker 2>that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, We
<v Speaker 2>Know This rain Man obviously, Little Miss Sunshine in two
<v Speaker 2>thousand and six, No Country for Old Men in two
<v Speaker 2>thousand and seven, and The Artist in twenty eleven. With
<v Speaker 2>the exception of Little Miss Sunshine, all of those films
<v Speaker 2>in that category. This is kind of fun because she
<v Speaker 2>can portray her looks a little bit older. She's only
<v Speaker 2>four and a half years older than Dennis Quaid, who
<v Speaker 2>plays her son in The Rookie, and then later on
<v Speaker 2>she's only nine years older than Kevin Bacon playing his
<v Speaker 2>mother in the twenty twenty five show The Bondsman. Wow. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>Beth Grant, she was definitely one of those I know,
<v Speaker 2>I've seen her in something else and I couldn't think
<v Speaker 2>of it, and I'm like, all right, Jason Raddley's off
<v Speaker 2>let's see what it is, and yeah, it was speed
<v Speaker 2>and let him miss Sunshine. I do remember in that
<v Speaker 2>one too. There you go.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, time to move on to facts and trivia. What
<v Speaker 1>are some facts and trivia we have about Rainman.
<v Speaker 2>For in flight viewing? Several airlines deleted the sequence in
<v Speaker 2>which Raymond Babbitts reels off statistics on airline accidents, except Quantis.
<v Speaker 2>They even promoted one of the movie's writers to first
<v Speaker 2>class once he traveled on their airline. What Raymond babbitt
<v Speaker 2>says about Quantus was and still is true from nineteen
<v Speaker 2>twenty one to twenty twenty five. Quantis has never lost
<v Speaker 2>any jet airliners, and there is a distinction there by
<v Speaker 2>the way. The distinction is jet airliners. Quantus did lose
<v Speaker 2>some propeller planes earlier in their histories, but specifically jet airliners,
<v Speaker 2>they have never lost any.
<v Speaker 1>All right, only because you mentioned this character earlier that
<v Speaker 1>I have this fun fact about him. So the blackjack
<v Speaker 1>dealer at Caesar's Palace is named Nick Mizzola, and he
<v Speaker 1>was also the war dealer in the movie Vegas Vacation,
<v Speaker 1>as well as a dealer in the movie Casino. In
<v Speaker 1>real life, Nick was a blackjack dealer at Caesar's Palace
<v Speaker 1>in the seventies and eighties.
<v Speaker 2>I'm happy for you. Dustin Hoffman spent a lot of
<v Speaker 2>time with savant Kim Peak, the inspiration for the character
<v Speaker 2>of Raymond Rainman. Writer Barry Morrow first met Peak in
<v Speaker 2>nineteen eighty six, and, on winning an Oscar for the
<v Speaker 2>screenplay for this movie in nineteen eighty nine, gave his
<v Speaker 2>Oscar trophy to Kim Peak. Hoffman made Kim's father the
<v Speaker 2>main caregiver, a promise that he would share Kim with
<v Speaker 2>the world. For nearly twenty years until his death, Kim
<v Speaker 2>Peek went all over the world, impressing people with his
<v Speaker 2>incredible memory and ability to recall minute details from centuries
<v Speaker 2>of history.
<v Speaker 1>The Amarillo, Texas motel scene was actually filmed at the
<v Speaker 1>Big Eight Motel in al Reno, Oklahoma. The motel maintained
<v Speaker 1>the sign used in the film that read Amarillo's Finest
<v Speaker 1>before the motel closed down. Guests sometimes requested to stay
<v Speaker 1>in the same room where Raymond and Charlie stayed, Room
<v Speaker 1>one point seventeen. The motel has since been demolished.
<v Speaker 2>Hmmm, this is a fun one. I'll bring up last,
<v Speaker 2>but not least just for the listeners that are familiar
<v Speaker 2>to this film. When I think they're I don't know
<v Speaker 2>what town they're in, but when they're driving cross country,
<v Speaker 2>Charlie brings Raymond to a doctor really trying to figure
<v Speaker 2>out what's going on with his autism. And there's an
<v Speaker 2>old man that just keeps talking in the waiting room,
<v Speaker 2>and I have this too. It's so great. The elderly
<v Speaker 2>man in the waiting room who talks on and on
<v Speaker 2>about the Pony Express is Byron P. Kavnar, an eighty
<v Speaker 2>nine year old local who was in the waiting room
<v Speaker 2>when the crew arrived to film there. He got to
<v Speaker 2>talking on his favorite subject, the Pony Express, and director
<v Speaker 2>Barry Levinson got such a kick out of it that
<v Speaker 2>he let Kavnar keep on talking as the cameras rolled.
<v Speaker 2>All his dialogue was spontaneous and not scripted. I love that. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>It was like I said, I was watching this all
<v Speaker 2>day long, and I walked in on this and I
<v Speaker 2>just sat down and just listened to him. I didn't
<v Speaker 2>pay attention to anything. I'm like, what is this guy
<v Speaker 2>talking about? Why is he here? What the hell is
<v Speaker 2>going on? It was cracking me up.
<v Speaker 1>So I was so happy to find that information because like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>I feel so much better.
<v Speaker 2>It's fantastic. If you know it, you know it. He
<v Speaker 2>doesn't stop talking. He talks over Dustin Hoffman. He just
<v Speaker 2>keeps telling the story, and I'm engrossed by it. Like
<v Speaker 2>if I were there, I'd probably just be let him talk.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm just like he seemed to be in the
<v Speaker 2>know about the Pony Express. Let's put it that way.
<v Speaker 1>Last thing, this could have been a handsoen actor, but
<v Speaker 1>so Bonnie Hunt plays a waitress who dropped the toothpicks
<v Speaker 1>in two forty six. But I found this nugget funny.
<v Speaker 1>So she ends up co starring with Tom Cruise a
<v Speaker 1>decade later, and Jerry maguire and Cruise forgot that they
<v Speaker 1>had worked on Rainman together.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, he had to have been a little embarrassed by that.
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure this being her, it's her debut. If I'm
<v Speaker 2>not masedy, Yeah, I believe. So I do like Bonnie Hunt,
<v Speaker 2>I do too.
<v Speaker 1>It was funny because she's so recognizable, but I blanked.
<v Speaker 1>I can't think of anything else that she was in,
<v Speaker 1>and then I was like, holy crap. Jerry McGuire Jesus.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe maybe that makes sense why Tom Cruise couldn't remember either.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I want to say she had a sitcom or
<v Speaker 2>a show. I don't know. Yeah, I thought she had
<v Speaker 2>a last TV show so long, but she got a
<v Speaker 2>show at some point. That's what I thought, all right.
<v Speaker 1>Moving on to box office, Rainman hit theaters on December sixteenth,
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty eight, opening wide in twelve hundred and forty
<v Speaker 1>eight locations with a budget of twenty five million. The
<v Speaker 1>movie was a box office success, pulling in one hundred
<v Speaker 1>and seventy two point eight million across North America and
<v Speaker 1>another two hundred and thirty nine point nine million internationally.
<v Speaker 1>It opened at number two at the box office, but
<v Speaker 1>climbed to number one in its third week, earning even
<v Speaker 1>more than it did on its debut. It held the
<v Speaker 1>top spot for four additional weeks and remained in the
<v Speaker 1>top ten for another eight weeks. In its sixteenth week
<v Speaker 1>of release, Rainman returned to the number one spot and
<v Speaker 1>stayed in the top ten for eight more weeks after that.
<v Speaker 1>By the end of its run, it became the highest
<v Speaker 1>grossing movie of nineteen eighty eight. Wow, that movie was huge.
<v Speaker 1>So moving on to reviews. When growing up in the eighties,
<v Speaker 1>we would watch at the Movies with Gene Siskel and
<v Speaker 1>Roger Ebert to hear their reviews and watch clips of
<v Speaker 1>upcoming movies. Their review of Rainman was unanimous two big
<v Speaker 1>thumbs up. They were especially impressed by Hoffman's betrayal of
<v Speaker 1>Raymond and autistic savant. Ebert called it deeply convincing without
<v Speaker 1>feeling artificial or showy. They also noted that Cruz delivered
<v Speaker 1>one of his more mature performances, showing real character development.
<v Speaker 1>Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Tomatometer score of eighty eight percent,
<v Speaker 1>with a popcorn Meter score of ninety percent. It also
<v Speaker 1>has an IMDb rating of.
<v Speaker 2>Eight just eight solid.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, not very few IMDb movies have a solid number,
<v Speaker 1>so say a point something.
<v Speaker 2>I was just surprised to see eight. Yeah, that's great,
<v Speaker 2>all right.
<v Speaker 1>So this takes us to additional thoughts and questions. What
<v Speaker 1>are some additional thoughts and questions you have about rain Man?
<v Speaker 2>Well, I covered some of my questions already earlier, so
<v Speaker 2>I'm just going to go into some thoughts. I wanted
<v Speaker 2>to look up autism and just get the textbook definition
<v Speaker 2>and just share a little bit with our listeners if
<v Speaker 2>you don't already know autism or autism spectrum of disorder
<v Speaker 2>ASD is a neuro developmental condition affecting how people perceive
<v Speaker 2>the world and interact with others. It involves different and
<v Speaker 2>social communication, behavior, and sensory processing, with a wide range
<v Speaker 2>of strengths and support needs. Is not a disease, but
<v Speaker 2>rather a lifelong form of neuro divergence. Autism is a spectrum,
<v Speaker 2>meaning it looks different for everyone, from social communication to
<v Speaker 2>behavioral pattern, sensory processing, and developmental differences. I look this
<v Speaker 2>up to educate myself. Mainly, I know a little bit
<v Speaker 2>about it. I just wanted to shine a little more
<v Speaker 2>light on it for myself and maybe others that don't
<v Speaker 2>understand what it is specifically, so I wanted to just
<v Speaker 2>lay that out there. Also in regards to the film itself,
<v Speaker 2>this kind of ties in Rainman is known in particular
<v Speaker 2>for its portrayal of a man with both autism and
<v Speaker 2>savant skills, leading much of its viewing audience to incorrectly
<v Speaker 2>assume the intellectual capabilities of autistic people at large. Characters
<v Speaker 2>like Raymond, whose characterization has been criticized for adhering to
<v Speaker 2>stereotypes are portrayed as having other worldly and intellectual abilities
<v Speaker 2>that rather than or having that intellectual ability that, rather
<v Speaker 2>than disable them from a living a normal life, instead
<v Speaker 2>assists them in a nearly magical way. So there's that
<v Speaker 2>take on that. And then conversely, rain Man has also
<v Speaker 2>been seen as dispelling a number of other misconceptions about
<v Speaker 2>autism and improving public awareness of the failure of many
<v Speaker 2>agencies to accommodate autistic people and make use of the
<v Speaker 2>abilities they do have, regardless of whether they have savant
<v Speaker 2>skills or not. So you can look at this a
<v Speaker 2>couple different ways. I found that interesting, so thanks for listening.
<v Speaker 2>I think of it as a positive.
<v Speaker 1>It brought to light what autism was, and yes it
<v Speaker 1>was as the rare case of being the savant, but
<v Speaker 1>nobody knew what this was or plenty of people suffering
<v Speaker 1>it and not knowing what they had. So I appreciate
<v Speaker 1>that what it brought to light.
<v Speaker 2>And it's interesting because you can look at it that
<v Speaker 2>there are people suffering from it. But I've been enlightened
<v Speaker 2>a little bit by listening to and I am going
<v Speaker 2>to give this a very strong shout out. The Telepathy
<v Speaker 2>Tapes podcast, which was created and hosted by Kai Dickens,
<v Speaker 2>which deals with a mainly nonverbal, non speaking autistic children
<v Speaker 2>that have telepathy. So when you talk about other worldly
<v Speaker 2>and magical capabilities, this is my opinion, and my opinion
<v Speaker 2>only right now that I am expressing, But I've listened
<v Speaker 2>to these tapes and i am a believer. I'm a
<v Speaker 2>big fan of this podcast, and if you would like
<v Speaker 2>to know more, you can listen on your own. There's
<v Speaker 2>also a show called Love on the Spectrum. I believe
<v Speaker 2>that's on Netflix and now you can have and you
<v Speaker 2>probably would have very specific opinions on this as to
<v Speaker 2>whether or not the podcast and or show are exploitative
<v Speaker 2>or are we, especially with the show, are we laughing
<v Speaker 2>at are we making fun of? Are we laughing with them?
<v Speaker 2>Are we learning more? You'll have your opinions, but it
<v Speaker 2>brings awareness regardless. So I just wanted to give both
<v Speaker 2>of those pieces of media some attention.
<v Speaker 1>Jason questions. So I'm totally totally shifting gears here.
<v Speaker 2>No, yeah, sorry, I totally boguarded the pod there. Sorry.
<v Speaker 1>Man.
<v Speaker 2>Were you a fan of the People's Court? Absolutely? Man,
<v Speaker 2>I watched it when I was a kid. Are you kidding? Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>That that theme is great? Yeah? Did you watch it
<v Speaker 2>a lot?
<v Speaker 1>I think I caught it. It seemed like every time I
<v Speaker 1>was around my grandparents that seemed to be on. There
<v Speaker 1>might have been a summer where I would watch it
<v Speaker 1>and then go out back out to play.
<v Speaker 2>So it goes on at like seven o'clock. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>mean this is the predecessor to Judge Judy, which, of
<v Speaker 2>course you know yours truly was on. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I'd looked online to see if I could find an
<v Speaker 1>old episode and they had recent episodes, So it's still on.
<v Speaker 2>The People's Court is still going.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's a female judge, and I think it has
<v Speaker 1>some ties to the GMZ host. I can't think of
<v Speaker 1>his name, Harry Levin. Yes, yeah, he's part of it too.
<v Speaker 2>There you go. Here's a question.
<v Speaker 1>So Spielberg was at one point point attached to this movie.
<v Speaker 1>How much DIVI different do you think the movie would
<v Speaker 1>have been if he had directed it? Wow, it's hard
<v Speaker 1>to answer, but that intrigues me.
<v Speaker 2>At this time in nineteen eighty eight, it would have
<v Speaker 2>been a lot more bittersweet. I think the journey would
<v Speaker 2>have had different level. I think just like we were
<v Speaker 2>talking about. I believe Charlie babbittom Cruz's character would have
<v Speaker 2>softened earlier and or had probably a couple more levels
<v Speaker 2>in adjusting and learning and adapting and being more open
<v Speaker 2>to maybe adapting or I'm not sure, but it would
<v Speaker 2>have had that kind of saccherin bittersweetness, probably not tenfold,
<v Speaker 2>but at least maybe fivefold than it is in its
<v Speaker 2>current form, because that's Spielberg, and that's what I love
<v Speaker 2>about Spielberg films. So it would have been I'll know,
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to admit this to the audience right now.
<v Speaker 2>I cry at the end of this movie. I do
<v Speaker 2>every time, and if Spielberg had directed it, I'd be
<v Speaker 2>taken a bath in my tears most likely.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's so I would say Spielberg had directed this,
<v Speaker 1>I'd been crying at the end.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Yeah, now here's I'm going to throw it right
<v Speaker 2>back at you. Martin Brest also was signed on if
<v Speaker 2>I'm not mistaken to direct this, he but then I
<v Speaker 2>forget why he got pulled off or he decided to
<v Speaker 2>going to a different direction, But obviously a different would
<v Speaker 2>be a different take too. Yeah. Wow, because if you
<v Speaker 2>think another midnight classic road trip duo movie. Right, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I wonder if that's why he turned it down. It's like,
<v Speaker 2>I've already kind of done this the road trip thing.
<v Speaker 2>I don't need to do another one. It would be interesting,
<v Speaker 2>it is kind of yeah, in a way, it would
<v Speaker 2>be in his wheels a big what if. Yep.
<v Speaker 1>Right, here's a confession. This is probably one of my
<v Speaker 1>favorite scenes of this movie, just because I'm like, oh
<v Speaker 1>my god, this is so me. When Cruise finds out
<v Speaker 1>he's basically bankrupt and he goes to the mill of
<v Speaker 1>the field and just screams, son of my badge. I
<v Speaker 1>swear that is me every time I come home at
<v Speaker 1>night and try to find parking in my neighborhood. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know how many times I'm in my car and
<v Speaker 1>I just do exactly what Tom Cruise did. When I
<v Speaker 1>saw that, I just started laughing. I'm like, holy shit,
<v Speaker 1>that's me. It's because a long day, all I want
<v Speaker 1>is a parking spot, and I'm just like, son of
<v Speaker 1>a bitch.
<v Speaker 2>We've all been there. It's so great. Hashtag La living Man. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I've been much much more vulgar than that, But I
<v Speaker 2>feel the frustration that's that screaming at the because I'm
<v Speaker 2>sure I go to that high register too every once.
<v Speaker 1>First it's does anybody in my neighborhood fucking work?
<v Speaker 2>And then it's son of a bitch? That's the Isnt
<v Speaker 2>that Fascinating's like, what's going on? There can't be that
<v Speaker 2>many cars? Why are Or you go to any massive
<v Speaker 2>parking lot and it's like seven in the morning and
<v Speaker 2>it's full. This can't It's not even possible. How could
<v Speaker 2>there be so many people here?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that made me feel good to hear him just
<v Speaker 1>scream out in the middle of nowhere. I'm like, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that'd me. I wish I'd get on my car sometimes.
<v Speaker 2>And just be like, you should do that because I
<v Speaker 2>think it. The acoustics are perfect in the parking garage
<v Speaker 2>for that. Yes, just to hear the echo, that would
<v Speaker 2>be great. Man. I have one personal attachment to this
<v Speaker 2>film being that in this fiction we have Raymond Babbitt.
<v Speaker 2>When he gets nervous, he keeps reciting the classic comedic
<v Speaker 2>sketch who's on first? Yes, And he talks about how
<v Speaker 2>they talk about how he was shown that by their father,
<v Speaker 2>by his dad showed it to him when he was young. Well,
<v Speaker 2>same here. My dad showed it to me when I
<v Speaker 2>was young, and it's always been one of my favorites. And
<v Speaker 2>I just wanted to give a shout out and say,
<v Speaker 2>if you have not, for any reason in your lifetime
<v Speaker 2>watched the Abbott and Costello classic routine. Who's on first?
<v Speaker 2>Go look it up on YouTube. Many different versions of it.
<v Speaker 2>I think there's something like it feels like there's an
<v Speaker 2>abridged version and unabridged version, but they're doing it in
<v Speaker 2>different locations or stages and costumes and such. But it's fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>It's one of the all time greats. So look it
<v Speaker 2>up on YouTube as soon as you can watch it again.
<v Speaker 1>I've seen someone do first time watch and then analyze.
<v Speaker 1>It was kind of funny, Oh yeah, yeah, because usually
<v Speaker 1>it's always people doing songs or comedians and I was like, Oh,
<v Speaker 1>someone's actually doing the Abbott Castello sketch.
<v Speaker 2>It's hilarious.
<v Speaker 1>So how to watch it just to see what their
<v Speaker 1>reaction was?
<v Speaker 2>It was positive?
<v Speaker 1>Good should be I guess it's time for a rating.
<v Speaker 2>Huh.
<v Speaker 1>Let's do it all right on a scale of one
<v Speaker 1>to five toothpicks.
<v Speaker 2>What do you give rain Man? I'm giving it four
<v Speaker 2>strong toothpicks that don't splinter. I'll admit I do have
<v Speaker 2>a nostalgic attachment to it. There's just for me, there's
<v Speaker 2>some overwhelming positives personally. You have the Oscar winning performance
<v Speaker 2>by Hoffman. I think this is Tom Cruise's best acting performance.
<v Speaker 2>I think he was snubbed for a Best Supporting Actor
<v Speaker 2>nod at least a nomination. I was looking back at
<v Speaker 2>the competition which was stiff here, but he was up
<v Speaker 2>against Kevin klein Is the winner. Talked about a fish
<v Speaker 2>called Wanda and that was a strange one. Yeah, Alec
<v Speaker 2>Guinness was nominated. You have Martin Landau River Phoenix for
<v Speaker 2>Running on Empty and Dean Stockwell, so, I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>maybe instead of I don't know, I think we could
<v Speaker 2>have slid Tom in there somewhere to vote for him. Well.
<v Speaker 2>I still really appreciated him in this film, and I
<v Speaker 2>love the score by Hans so classic road trip film,
<v Speaker 2>really well shot. It's a beautiful film and a tear
<v Speaker 2>jerker in the end. For me, I connect to it.
<v Speaker 2>I love when finally we have the softer moments in
<v Speaker 2>that middle scene at the Big Eights Motel, when we
<v Speaker 2>have the reveal of Raymond versus rain Man and some
<v Speaker 2>information that I just love seeing Cruise's reaction in those moments,
<v Speaker 2>and then the entire Vegas sequence. These are just really
<v Speaker 2>really memorable, iconic scenes for me. So I think it's
<v Speaker 2>worthy of all the oscars I give it for toothpicks.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, maeah, I'm kind of stuck right now. I have
<v Speaker 1>three and a half toothpicks. Sure, but man Hoffman's performance alone, I.
<v Speaker 2>Know now that you say that, I feel like maybe
<v Speaker 2>we haven't talked about Hoffman enough and just how good
<v Speaker 2>he is, right, you know, we could break down each
<v Speaker 2>scene and just all the little details like the ticks
<v Speaker 2>and the mannerisms and the physicality as I mentioned earlier. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean it's you can't keep your eyes off of him. No,
<v Speaker 2>not at all, And just my over all complaint, it's
<v Speaker 2>really just Tom Cruise, but not it's not his acting.
<v Speaker 2>It wasn't him.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I was a little biased going in in
<v Speaker 1>the first time, so I don't think I've watched it
<v Speaker 1>anywhere near as many times as you have, But watching
<v Speaker 1>it this time, it was more of a writing issue
<v Speaker 1>with how they progressed the character along. I don't feel
<v Speaker 1>like you should dig into a toothpick and a half
<v Speaker 1>for that, because everything.
<v Speaker 2>I think you swayed me on that point, though, I
<v Speaker 2>think I have to agree with you. From a writing standpoint.
<v Speaker 2>For his character, there weren't a lot of levels until
<v Speaker 2>it gets late into the film. Yeah. Uh yeah, you
<v Speaker 2>know what, I don't have to go four two.
<v Speaker 1>I think I have to go four tooth picks.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna have to change. Look at that. You swayed
<v Speaker 2>me for once. Oh hey, first time for everything. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>there we go, So both both fours. So, yes, we
<v Speaker 2>had four four tooth picks left in the box. That's
<v Speaker 2>what we That's what we did. That's very good. All right.
<v Speaker 1>That wraps up this week's episode. Thank you so much
<v Speaker 1>for hanging out with us. We really appreciate it. If
<v Speaker 1>you enjoy the show, be sure to follow us on
<v Speaker 1>your favorite streaming platform, leave a rating, and drop a review.
<v Speaker 1>The nicer the better. Curious for more we knew you
<v Speaker 1>would be, check out All eightiesmoviespodcast dot com for everything
<v Speaker 1>you need to know about the show.
<v Speaker 2>We'll catch you next time.
<v Speaker 1>As we jump into another unforgettable gem from the greatest
<v Speaker 1>movie decade of all time, the nineteen eighties. Until then,
<v Speaker 1>stay awesome and have an excellent day.
<v Speaker 2>What you have to understand is four days ago he
<v Speaker 2>was only my brother in the name, and this morning
<v Speaker 2>we had pancakes. Thanks for staying up with us. Good
<v Speaker 2>Night world,