Rain Man is the kind of touching drama that Oscars are made for--and, sure enough, the film took Academy honors for best picture, director, screenplay, and actor (Dustin Hoffman) in 1988. Hoffman plays Raymond, an autistic savant whose late father has left him $3 million in a trust. This gets the attention of his materialistic younger brother, a hot-shot LA car dealer named Charlie (Tom Cruise) who wasn't even aware of Raymond's existence until he read his estranged father's will. Charlie picks up Raymond and takes him on a cross-country journey that becomes a voyage of discovery for Charlie, and, perhaps, for Raymond, too. Rain Man will either captivate you or irritate you (Raymond's sputtering of repetitious phrases is enough to drive anyone crazy), but it is obviously a labor of love for those involved. Hoffman had been attached to the film for many years, as various directors and writers came and went, but his persistence eventually paid off--kind of like Raymond in Las Vegas. Look for director Barry Levinson in a cameo as a psychiatrist near the end of the film. --Jim Emerson

Dustin Hoffman is a 'triumph (People) in an Oscar(r)-winning* role, and Tom Cruiseis 'terrific (ABC Radio) in a film that's fascinating, touching and full of smart surprises (Newsweek)! Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) has just discovered he has an autistic brother named Raymond (Hoffman) and is now taking him on the ride of his life. Or is it the other way around? From his refusal to drive on major highways to a four minutes to Wapner meltdown at an Oklahoma farmhouse, Raymond first pushes hot-headed Charlie to the limits of his patience and then pulls him completely out of his self-centered world! But what began as an unsentimental journey for the Babbitt brothers becomes much more than the distance between two placesit's a connection between two vastly different people and a poignant, profound and powerful film (Joel Siegel, ABC-TV)! *1988: Actor