road
A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved.
Th ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
-
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...
and written by
Barry Morrow
Barry Morrow is an American screenwriter and producer. He wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay for ''Rain Man''. He is the father of Emmy Award-winning animator, writer, and storyboard artist, Clayton Morrow, and father-in-law of animator ...
and
Ronald Bass
Ronald Jay Bass (born March 26, 1942), sometimes credited as Ron Bass, is an American screenwriter and film producer. He won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay for Barry Levinson's film ''Rain Man'', and films that Bass is associate ...
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In North ...
Pete Rose
Peter Edward Rose Sr. (April 14, 1941 – September 30, 2024), nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a member of ...
gambling scandal at the time. Charlie and Raymond Babbitt were played by
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known for his blend of slapstick humor and sharp wit, Stiller rose to fame through comedies such as ''There's Something About Mary'' (1998), ' ...
and
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, screenwriter and producer.
Carvey is best known for his seven seasons on ''Saturday Night Live'', from 1986 to 1993, which earned him five consecutive Pri ...
, respectively, with
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, and his family moved to the United States when he w ...
as Rose.
References to ''Rain Man'', Dustin Hoffman's performance in particular, have become a popular shorthand for autism and savantism. In the final episode of the first season of ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
'', Pierce calls Abed "Rain Man" when listing members of the study group; Abed had been described previously as having Asperger's Syndrome, which is now diagnosed as autism spectrum disorder.
Qantas
Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...
. Those criticizing this decision included film director Barry Levinson, co-screenwriter Ronald Bass, and
George Kirgo
George Kirgo (born George Blumenthal; March 26, 1926 – August 22, 2004) was an American screenwriter, author and humorist.
Early life
Kirgo was born George Blumenthal in Hartford, Connecticut, the middle child of three born to Russian immigra ...
(at the time, the President of the
Writers Guild of America, West
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 m ...
). "I think it's a key scene to the entire movie", Levinson said in a telephone interview. "That's why it's in there. It launches their entire odyssey across country – because they couldn't fly." Although some of those airlines cited as justification avoiding having airplane passengers feel uncomfortable in sympathy with Raymond during the in-flight entertainment, the scene was shown intact on flights of Qantas, and commentators noted that Raymond mentions ''it'' as the only airline whose planes have "never crashed".
The film is credited with introducing Qantas's safety record to U.S. consumers. However, contrary to the claims made in the film, Qantas aircraft have been involved in a number of fatal accidents since the airline's founding in 1920 (although none involving jet aircraft, with the last incident taking place in December 1951).
The Buick convertible
Two 1949 Roadmaster convertibles were used in the filming, one of which had its rear suspension stiffened to bear the additional load of camera equipment and a cameraman. After filming completed, the unmodified car was acquired by Hoffman, who had it restored and added it to his collection. He kept it for 34 years. ''
Hemmings Motor News
''Hemmings Motor News'' is a monthly magazine catering to traders and collectors of antique, classic, and exotic sports cars. It is the largest and oldest publication of its type in the United States, with sales of 215,000 copies per month, and ...
'' reported that the car was auctioned in January 2022 by
Bonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought t ...
in
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...
, and sold for $335,000. The camera-carrying car was similarly acquired by Barry Levinson, who had it restored by Wayne Carini of the ''
Chasing Classic Cars
''Chasing Classic Cars'' is a US television documentary series presented by Wayne Carini of F-40 Motorsports and produced by Clint Stinchcomb. It looks at classic cars from all eras, focusing on finding and getting cars running, with the optio ...