Rain Man is a 1988 American road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father Sanford has died and bequeathed his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, an autistic savant of whose existence Charlie was unaware. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting real-life savant Kim Peek; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote. Best Picture at the 61st Academy Awards, March 29, 1989 at Shrine Auditorium. 42.77 million US viewers. Most awards that night: Rain Man and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Wiki link Wiki link Poster: TMDB (this product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB).