Rain Man (1988)
This enduring road movie gives us top-form performances from Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. It’s also a chance to glimpse an unsung part of the USA. While we first see Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) in Los Angeles, we’re soon in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he visits his childhood home and the institution where he’s reunited with long-lost brother Raymond (Hoffman) – ‘Walbrook’ is in fact St Anne Convent in Melbourne, Kentucky, further south. From here, they’re supposedly driving cross-country but really stay in the region: their first hotel is the Vernon Manor on Oak Street; the café where Raymond counts toothpicks is Pompilio’s in Newport just over the river; and the airport where they can’t find a Qantas flight is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International. For open country, they move to Oklahoma: El Reno, near Oklahoma City, supplied the Texan motel, gas station and farmhouse where Raymond catches up on TV. After that, it’s on to familiar ground, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for the high-roller suite, back to LA and finally home to Walbrook, with some big lessons learned all round.
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