This week, we’re taking a swing at Oscar credibility with Barry Levinson’s 1988 movie Rain Man. Does the film treat its subject matter well? How badly has it aged? Can Cruise hold his own opposite a heavy-hitter like Hoffman?

Content warning: insensitive language related to Autism Spectrum Disorder, brief mentions of sex work

Unanswered Questions:

• How has the depiction of ASD changed in the thirty-five years since Rain Man? To what degree can we credit Rain Man with that change?
  
  
• How effective is Hoffman’s method approach to playing Raymond?
  
  
• Does the somewhat unfocused, shaggy-dog middle of the film improve the overall effect, or detract from its emotional impact?
  

Further reading:

• Hollywood Autism: the good, the bad, and the downright insulting (Outtake)
  
  
• Rain Man made autistic people visible. But it also entrenched a myth (Guardian)
  
  
• Remembering ‘Rain Man’: The $350 Million Movie That Hollywood Wouldn’t Touch Today (Grantland)
  
  
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
  
  
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule
  

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next time as we close out the ’80s and discuss Oliver Stone’s 1989 anti-war biopic Born on the Fourth of July.

The Last Star In Hollywood is an independent podcast produced by Elizabeth Rae and Alastair Stephens.

Copyright © 2023 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.