Rain Man

Best Picture. Best Director. Best Original Screenplay. Best Actor. In 1988, Rain Man swept the Academy Awards with eight nominations and four big wins. Directed by Barry Levinson (who played an uncredited bit part as the irksome psychiatrist at the end), it was one of the most popular movies to come out of the '80s. Charlie Babbitt's high-end car dealership is having financial difficulties when he learns that his estranged father has died. Expecting to inherit his father's three-million dollar estate, Charlie is shocked to find himself the new owner of a 1949 Buick Roadmaster and some prize rose bushes, with the majority of the estate willed to an unnamed beneficiary. Tracking down the beneficiary leads Charlie to an institution where he learns that he has an older brother. Raymond is an autistic-savant, with an unparalleled gift for numbers, but he is unable to function in the real world. With the idea of using Raymond as a bargaining chip to get back his fair share of the three-million, Charlie sneaks Raymond out of the institution and heads back to Los Angeles. The journey proves complicated when Raymond absolutely refuses to get on an airplane or take major highways, leading to one long road trip in which Charlie gets to know the brother he never knew he had. "Special" edition is maybe too promising a word for this re-release. Aside from the theatrical trailer, it offers three audio commentaries by Levinson, Barry Morrow (co-writer) and Ronald Bass (co-writer), one deleted scene in which Charlie rescues Raymond from an angry store clerk, a photo gallery full of not so great photos, and a really dated and brief featurette. A good addition to the DVD collection of any Rain Man fans, this special edition falls a somewhat short of what we know DVD features can consist of. (MGM/United Artists)