Rain Man (1988) First Time Watching! Movie Reaction! 

And "Magnolia" a true masterclass in acting.

Raymond is NOT autistic. He actually has FG syndrome.

autism is underappreciated. People believe an autistic is just a freak yet they're probably the smarter and kinder one

Widely understood and appreciated? I must be living on a different planet. It is true that the movie created awareness for the condition but I wouldn't go much further than that.

​@@mobileore Please....how old are you? I was 18 years old when this came out. It was pretty realistic. No one talked about Autism back then in movies and most don't now;)

Yes, Raymond putting his head on Charlie was him basically giving Charlie a hug. I also love after that he starts spelling Charlie's name instead of Vern's, which means that Charlie is his main man now.

I saw the documentary about that guy. He travelled the US with his father visiting colleges and universities showcasing his savant abilities. His father was very elderly and it was sad to know he would be without his father before long. A very touching doc.

Came to the comments to make sure this was mentioned. Thank you. I hope TBR and Sam watch that on their own. Such a powerful doc.

Born on the 4th of July is his masterpiece. Never seen him like that and I still think he deserved an oscar for that.

Vanilla Sky should be top of the Tom Cruise non-action role list.

Born On The 4th is excellent,probably his best

Unfortunately for Cruise some things work against him when his reputation as a serious actor is considered. He doesn't do very many serious dramatic roles anymore, he does action-adventure, scifi, thrillers but he does turn in excellent performances in them and occasionally has the impressive, serious dramatic turn. But overall he doesn't do Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July type, Oscar-worthy films much now. And two, his personal life is just off-the-rails whack and unfortunately many people can't shake that when watching his work. Me personally, I think he's one of the best dramatic actors in the last few decades when he puts his mind to it. The midnight kitchen scene in Born on the Fourth of July when he breaks down with his mother makes me tear up just thinking about it. As much as I love his Mission: Impossible and various scifi movies, including Minority Report, which also has some stellar dramatic acting from Cruise, he's just too much of an adrenaline junkie these days and needs to be the center of a spectacle to be happy.

This was actually a very tough role for Tom Cruise. He never had a condition like autism or paralysis to use as a crutch. His role was mostly reactional and had to turn his character from a greedy, unsympathetic and unlikeable character to a type of character you want to see succeed, which is no easy task. At 26-years-old it was a phenomenal performance, with Cruise often overshadowed by Hoffman. Mind you, it was in a time when caring and dealing with the specifics with people with autism would have taken a monumental amount of research.

I remember this movie being the first time most people heard the word "autistic". Great that it brought some awareness but people then equated it with incredible math skills, as though everyone with autism was just like Raymond.

Our son, also Daniel, was born in 1986 and lived with us until three years ago. He wasn't diagnosed as autistic until he was 18 although we had always maintained that he was autistic. He also has severe learning disabilities and epilepsy. He is now in full time care very close to our home and he loves it. The hardest thing about autism for the family is the lack of emotional connection and this film portrays that brilliantly. As you have said, very few people even knew about autism back in the 80's let alone understood it. Onlookers would assume the behaviour was just bad behaviour and that we were bad parents for not controlling it. Thankfully a lot more is understood these days.

These ideas come to heaps of people at the same time! It's just who gets them out first

@@TheNeonRabbit Very much correct!

@@johnsmith-es7zk Best to you and your challenging journey, God bless!

Very well put - I am grateful that folks like you are around. Seems that people are more accepting these days, we went through hell the first 10 years when people didn't understand why Daniel was acting up in public. Thank you.

I'm sure she was aware of that.

Thank you so much!

@@TBRSchmitt you guys are the best!

@@TBRSchmitt Oh, wow!!!! 100k. Congratulations.🎉🥂Well deserved.

@@TBRSchmitt nah dude, you guys do all the work, thanks for the honest reactions and reviews.

Congrats. You guys are great. I really love the in depth talk after. Too many have a few min recap and that's it.

An actual autistic actor could have.

So deserved!

Because he didn't go full r... nevermind

@@izzonj Exactly! 🤣

Besides all the other great Dustin Hoffman movies named elsewhere in the comments, I also liked him in "Hook". Barely recognizable in his make-up and costuming, he was so over the top with his scenery-chewing performance that it made the movie especially memorable. Normally a bad thing, his hamming it up fit perfectly with the desired texture of the film.

Thank you so much!!

I always wave and reply 'Hello' to Samantha ;)

Barry started out as an actor and writer. He was the put-on bellhop in Mel Brooks' "High Anxiety" and, with his then-wife Valerie Curtin (Jane Curtin's cousin), also an actor, wrote the legal dramedy "And Justice For All", starring Al Pacino. Pacino, Levinson and Curtin all earned Oscar nominations.

This movie is what kicked off the Autism craze. It was a rare handicap previously called Childhood Schizophrenia, but since "Rainman" it has become fashionable for doctors to diagnose nerds as autistic, when they're just nerds causing them to embrace their awkwardness rather than overcoming or working around it. Unfortunately, Autism has become an identity to these nerds for a couple of generations now, so there may be no turning back. Before "Rainman" 99 out of 100 doctors had never even heard of Autism, much less the general public.

I hate the movie but I agree with much of what you say that were all different. Unfortunately because of the movie a lot of people figured all autistic people were just like this, and I had to deal with years of bullying about being autistic and they wanted me to act just like Hoffman's character here just to amuse them...

@@sparky6086 Sadly autism diagnosis has also been used to excuse shitty behavior of kids when reality it's the parents who don't discipline their kids properly. Just because your child acts up in public doesn't mean they have autism. That's where I get pissed off at the whole thing.

This was Hoffman's magnum opus and that's saying a lot with his body of work.

Dustin Hoffman really nailed it. His walk, his stare, his mannerisms, & his speech are just like my 60 year old autistic sister. She has real Autism, not the spectrum BS which is just a euphemism for a nerd.

That’s right and Dr. Bruner was played by Gerald R. Molen who was one of the movie’s producers. He was also one of Tom Cruise’s doctors in Days of Thunder, and the park guide in Jurassic Park in the scene with the sick triceratops and it’s droppings aka “one big pile of sh*t”. He also produced Minority Report and a few other Spielberg films during the 90s.

They are still common.

Truth is Tom Cruise first held and fired a gun in the movie "Taps" (1981). It wasn't an action movie but it was the first time he fired a gun in a movie.

Added to the list! Thanks, Chris!

I'll Second that; "Tootsie" is a great classic and (atm) I can't think of anyone else who has Reacted to it yet.

​@@TBRSchmitt LOVE TOOTSIE!!!

​@@TBRSchmitt Please react to The Graduate! It's a classic and is what made Dustin Hoffman famous;)

@@tomhoffman4330 There’s a Channel called Kat Reacts. She did a good reaction on it, but yeah. That’s the only one I can find. It will get around eventually:)

That's a pretty horrible thing to keep hidden away from the rest of the family. I doubt anyone would blame you for being angry.

Thank you!

I made this very suggestion some time ago. Didn't get any traction though.. not even a single up-thumb, which is a shame.

As an autistic person myself I kinda hate this movie. I thank it for making the general public more aware of neurodiversity but it does so in a very basic and specific way and I've had to put up with bullying because of it. I try give it a pass that it's over 30 years old (unlike Sia's godawful 'Music' that came out a couple years ago that was just so full of crap and she lashed out at the autistic community who tried to explain the issues to her) but yeah. I hate it. Or more specifically what I had to put up with it because of people who thought we all have to be like 'Rain Man' and not understand there's a whole spectrum. And that we spend much of our lives basically acting 'normal' to try hide or cos we don't want to freak people out. But a hollywood actor can get praise and adoration for 'faking' the condition we struggle with every damn day and get harassed and mocked for. :/ I dunno.

Thank you!

As an autistic person myself I kinda hate this movie. I thank it for making the general public more aware of neurodiversity but it does so in a very basic and specific way and I've had to put up with bullying because of it. I try give it a pass that it's over 30 years old (unlike Sia's godawful 'Music' that came out a couple years ago that was just so full of crap and she lashed out at the autistic community who tried to explain the issues to her) but yeah. I hate it.

@@carn9507 rejection helps us become who we are . Thank you for sharing

Yeah I kinda hate this film because bullies used it to harass me for years, but I give it a pass cos it's over 30 years old. Unlike the godawful 'Music' by Sia which came out a couple years ago which is full of crap and she lashed out at the autistic community who tried to explain to her the many issues with it.

Very well said, and completely agreed. I have two children with autism, now 23 (son) and 20 (daughter). When they were young I'd get the question "what are they good at?" They'd often mention this fillm. It was maddening. My son is non verbal and more severely affected. My daughter's diagnostic was Asperger's. As you said, not really recognized outside of autism any longer. I completely understand your mixed feelings on the film. It has it's problems for sure, but i think overall it did some good.

Thanks for being with us along the ride! We always enjoy reading your comments/thoughts

​@@TBRSchmitt I have not commented in a while cuz, I miss the debut time of the reaction and you all are so popular now. If you're not here in the first 1 hour there is no chance of the comment being read. Just know I'm always here watching the reactions. Keep em coming.

Thanks, Corey!

@@TBRSchmitt My Pleasure Schmitt

As an autistic person myself I kinda hate this movie. I thank it for making the general public more aware of neurodiversity but it does so in a very basic and specific way and I've had to put up with bullying for years because of it. With people wanting me to act like Hoffman's character just to amuse them. It was worse when I was younger and people thought I was some kind of freak but even in this age where the subject of autism is more widely known about, I still get a rough time from some folk.

@carn9507 I'm sorry that you had and still are experiencing that. That is so unfair. REMOVE THOSE PEOPLE FROM YOUR Unfortunately, it's not the movies fault. It is the fault of those ignorant people who do that. The movie strived to bring awareness at time where there absolutely was NONE. Most people had never even heard of autism when this came out. Although i am just finding out from you that some autistic people had your experience from this movie, I'm definitely not surprised. I can also assure you that there are autistic people that had a different "better" experiences because of the awareness of the character. As an African American and as a woman, I do know that people will use anything as an excuse to bully and belittled you. But the truth is they would do it anyway. It's not the movie. IT'S THEM! The movie is just the tool and/or excuse they use. If the movie didn't exist, it would be something. During the 80's a lot of movies were made to create awareness of different things, like autism (Rain Man), sexism and rape, (The Accused) AIDS (Philadelphia) and movies/sitcoms about racism and the black experience in America. And though i can't speak personally on Autism from a first-hand experience like you. I can tell you that this movie certainly helped me and my friends understand better and prepared me and them a little better for my/our autistic relatives/children/friends and/or acquaintances. Those movies strive to humanize and put faces to those people who otherwise werent being viewed as human or worthy of respect or love. Its a shame that people need movies to show then human beings as human. Decent people opened their mind and changed their views, and it either had no effect on the others or simply became their tool. Unfortunately, no one movie or class or campaign will change the mind of mean, hateful, small-minded people. It's just no help for some individuals. Some people are just vile! Keep your head up my friend, and please know you are supported from a far. And although i understand how you could feel the way you do, never let those people off the hook for their behavior by putting the responsibility on this movie or anything else. It is them and only them. And if it wasn't Rain Man, they would most definitely use something else to try to hurt you. I'm not the most eloquent of speakers or the best writer, so I hope you read/hear my response as intended; with love and compassion. Lastly if anyone tries to tease, belittle, or mock you, REMOVE THEM FROM YOUR LIFE IMMEDIATELY. They are not worthy of your presence. ❤️

You mean Midnight Cowboy.

That one often gets overlooked. People like to bring up Jerry Maguire or Magnolia, but I agree his greatest performance was as Ron Kovic.

Thank you, James!

Thank you!

The movie was both and good and bad for helping to help people understand autism. On the good side many people learned about and sympathized with autism. But on the bad side people associated all autism with Hoffman's very accurate portrayal of one particular form of it when there is an entire spectrum and not everyone is a savant

@@DaleKingProfile Indeed. But I put the onus on the audience, not the movie. Just like how I put the onus on the audience to realize my condition isn't just a bad attention span and foul language. The foul language was my choice. XD

@Fredrick Frederickson your math is debatable.

And "A few good men".. 👍

Autism wasn't rare. It was just not often diagnosed. It's been around for decades. Grunya Sukhareva published the first paper describing the symptoms in 1925 and the more well known Hans Asperger very likely stole much of her work when publishing his own. It's one reason that "Aspergers Syndrome" has been gradually phased out as a diagnosis terminology. Because of course a Nazi pal wouldn't want to credit the work of a jewish woman.

Don't forget Midnight Cowboy. Great performance.

@@jamesscanlan6240 That, The Graduate, John & Mary, the controversial Straw Dogs, All The President's Men and Wag The Dog.