Charlie Babbitt

Charlie Babbitt is the main protagonist in the 1988 drama Rain Man. Charlie is a quick-witted but self-centered yuppie with a bad temper and rude talk.

He has grieved his father's death, and found out about the inheritances of a fortune, only to meet his brother Raymond and take him to New Jersey, while struggling to act stoical around his brother's autism.

Charlie Babbitt is portrayed by Tom Cruise.

History

Charlie Babbitt, a 26-year-old, Los Angeles car dealer, is in the middle of importing four gray market Lamborghinis. The deal is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. After some quick subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his lover, Susanna.

Charlie's trip is cancelled by news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to his hometown in Cincinnati, Ohio, to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while all he is to receive is a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, which is the home of his autistic older brother, Raymond, of whose existence Charlie was previously unaware. It's revealed that Charlie grew up as a rebellious child and that following the death of his mother, he ran away from home when he was 16-years-old to California where he lived ever since, never speaking to his father ever again. Prior to his flight to California, Charlie had taken the Roadmaster out on his 16th birthday without his father's permission. His father subsequently called the police, reported the car stolen, and Charlie and his friends were picked up by the police. Charlie's father allowed the police to hold his son in jail for two days (the friends he was driving with had been bailed out by their own parents within hours). This leads Charlie to ask the question that permeates the movie: "Why didn't somebody tell me I had a brother?"

Although Raymond has autism, he also has superb memory recall, but little understanding of subject matter thus making him an "overgrown child". He's frightened by change and adheres to structured routines (for example, his continual repetition of the "Who's on First?" sketch). Except when he's in distress, he shows little emotional expression and avoids eye contact. Numbed by learning that he has a brother and determined to get what he believes is his fair share of the Babbitt estate, Charlie takes Raymond on what becomes a cross-country car trip (due to Ray's fear of flying) back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys. Charlie intends to start a custody battle in order to get Raymond's doctor, Dr. Bruner, to settle out of court for half of Sanford Babbitt's estate so that the mental institution can maintain custody of Raymond.

During the course of the long journey, Charlie learns about Raymond's autism, which he initially believes is curable resulting in his frequent frustration with his brother's antics. He also learns about how his brother came to be separated from his family, as a result of an accident when he was left alone with Raymond when Charlie was a baby, about 20 months old and Raymond was 10-years-old. Raymond also sings "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles like he did when Charlie was three or four years old. Charlie remembers the incident as early as he could remember and always thought that the person singing to him, (whom the young Charlie referred to as the 'Rain Man' due to Raymond's slow-speaking of his own name) was an imaginary friend.

Charlie proves to be sometimes shallow and exploitative, as when he uses Raymond's precision memory and takes him to Las Vegas to win money at blackjack by counting cards. Casino security begins to watch Charlie and Raymond, though they can't find any proof that either is using a cheater's system to win against the house. Security sends an attractive woman who finds Raymond alone in the casino's bar. She is able to get Raymond to allude to his and Charlie's counting of cards. Later, security asks to speak to Charlie privately and suggests that Charlie take his winnings, about $80,000 and leave. Charlie agrees.

In the end, Charlie finds himself becoming protective of Raymond, and grows to have a healthy brotherly bond with him.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Charlie finally meets with his attorney Boros to try to get his half of his inheritance, but then decides that he no longer cares about the money and really just wants to have custody of his brother. However, at a meeting with a court-appointed psychiatrist and Dr. Bruner, Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants (to live with Charlie in California or stay at the mental hospital in Ohio). Eventually, the psychiatrist presses Raymond to make the decision, upsetting him and leading Charlie to request that the doctor back off. Raymond is allowed to go back home to Cincinnati. Charlie, who has gained a new brother and mellowed considerably, promises Raymond as he boards an Amtrak train that he'll visit in two weeks.

Production

• The script was originally written with real-life brothers Randy and Dennis Quaid in mind for the roles of Charlie and Raymond Babbitt.

• Dustin Hoffman was originally hired to play the part of Charlie Babbitt whom the character was originally 56-years-old in the script, but after being moved to tears seeing a savant named Leslie Lemke (who is blind, mentally handicapped, and has cerebral palsy) play full concertos on the piano by ear, he decided to play the part of Raymond Babbitt instead.

• After Dustin Hoffman decided to play the part of Raymond Babbitt instead, he wanted Bill Murray for the role of Charlie.

• Tom Hanks and Robin Williams were also considered for the role of Charlie.

• In the scene when Charlie and Raymond were in the phone booth and Charlie was making the call parts were improvised. While filming Dustin Hoffman did actually pass gas. Tom Cruise just went with it and also improvised his reaction to it.

• Paula Wagner, an agent at CAA where Tom Cruise was represented, suggested that the Charlie role should be the brother who is 30 years younger instead of being depicted as the older brother and it should be Cruise for the role. Years later, they would be producing partners at Cruise/Wagner Productions.

Trivia

• Charlie Babbitt's frequent use of the word "f**k" is said 22 times throughout the film and is the reason what gave its rating an R.

• Charlie Babbitt's car was a 1983 Ferrari 400 i, a front-engined V12 2+2 grand tourer.

• The number 3762 seen on the windscreen of a car is Tom Cruise's birthday - 3 July '62.

• Charlie and Ray's road trip from Cincinnati to Las Vegas is 1,938.6 miles with an additional 270.2 miles to Los Angeles.

• In the restaurant scene Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) holds a lit cigarette over an ashtray but never smokes it.

• Raymond tells Iris that Charlie's birthday is August 12, 1962. This is actually only forty days off from Tom Cruise's actual birthday of July 3, 1962.

• The movie playing on the hotel television, when Charlie and Susanna are making love, is Sweet Smell of Success (1957), which was also referenced in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982) (by a character who recited dialogue from the movie).

• Early in the film, Charlie tells Susanna that his falling out with his father happened when he was arrested for supposedly stealing his father's car, when he was caught driving the Buick Roadmaster on Columbia Parkway. Later in the film, after Charlie and Raymond stop for pancakes, Charlie is driving the now inherited Buick on Columbia Parkway.

• In the movie, when Charlie removes Raymond from Walbrook, we see them walking down a long oak tree lined driveway. In 2007, many of these oak trees had become diseased, forcing their removal (replacements were to be planted). Before the trees were cut down, several people came to the grounds of the convent and re-created the scene where Raymond and Charlie walk down the drive.