Rain Man Airport Scene: Analysis of Editing and Performance

The scene opens with a wide shot of Raymond, he is sitting in a chair watching television. The director uses a wide shot to establish the scene and show the current location, the audio is that of Charlie talking with one of his employees. The camera then moves to an over the shoulder shot from Raymond’s perspective, we see him watching the television on a little screen on his chair and in the background we see Charlie standing by a pay phone, arguing with his employee; telling him to be more forceful with the clients. The camera then changes to a close up of Charlie on the phone; his brow is furrowed and he looks distressed as he continues to argue. It switched to another over the shoulder shot but this time from the perspective of Charlie, the camera faces towards Raymond as Charlie covers his face with his palm, Raymond on the other hand is calm as he sits there peacefully. This is a clever juxtaposition as we see Charlie clearly exasperated at the situation and Ray calmly sitting there unaware of the situation but perfectly content to just sit there.

From there it switches to another wide shot as Charlie puts down the phone and picks up his bag.  Ray meanwhile is still calmly sitting there watching the television, the camera does not follow Charlie as he walks towards Ray and begins to click his fingers to get his attention, the camera then cuts in with a focus of Ray as Charlie continues to attempt to get his attention until finally Ray  jumps having noticed Charlie. It isn’t until Charlie pulls Ray’s bag that he gets to his feet, the Camera transitioning to a wide shot as both characters walk off frame. All the while Charlie is asking Ray what he is watching and Ray responds familiarly with “I don’t know”. The next shot is another wide shot from behind the subjects as they walk towards their gate. Ray’s bag between them as he is almost pulled along by his brother; this is clever because it shows that at this point of the film Charlie thinks little of Ray; treating him almost like a dog as he pulls him about and clicks his fingers at him. At this point Charlie doesn’t seem to see him as a person yet but rather keeps him with him due to necessity and treats him poorly as a result.

The next shot is a close up of Ray as he is being pulled along by Charlie, he  bends down for a moment as he sees the aeroplanes, he displays a worried expression as he exclaims “Oh, oh”, stating that there is an airplane out there. The camera then transitions to a two shot of the pair as Ray worriedly exclaims his disdain for aeroplanes, and Charlie attempts to coax him into getting on one. The director uses this shot for the scene as he is trying to show us the contrasting emotions on the subject’s faces, one a look of exasperation and the other a look of panic. There is then a long sequence of dialogue as Ray tells Charlie about a list of airline accidents all the while trying to explain to him why he will not get on a plane. The next shot is a close up of Ray’s face as he is being pulled by Charlie, he looks scared. Charlie then comes into frame as he questions Ray about his specific objections. The shot then changes to another wide shot facing Charlie’s back but showing Ray; the camera follows Charlie as he moves over to the flight information board and begins telling Ray about the various flights, only to be interrupted by Ray with various crash information. The Camera focuses on Ray with a close up as he tells Charlie about the crashes, his face contorted with worry. The next shot is of Charlie who is staring at Ray, his face a look of calm annoyance at his brother’s supposed ineptitude at doing common and every day things. As Charlie turns back towards the flight information board there is a cut in of the boards showing us a list of the flights. During the close up of the screens showing the flights Charlie starts listing flights, his voice has clear annoyed tone to it. The actor does this during the performance to show us that he is annoyed yet he does not seem angry. Tom cruise, who plays Charlie does a good job at making the Character of Charlie seem not wholly bad. He plays him as an impatient but perhaps selfish man who cares only for himself; this is exemplified during this seen as despite Raymond’s clear objections to flying he insists on doing it anyway. Although he has some redeeming qualities and the character development is well done as nearing the end of the film despite little difference in Raymond’s affection towards him Charlie Begins to love his brother and care for his interests instead of his own, seeing him more like a person and less like an animal.

After Charlie lists a flight for American Airlines, the camera cuts to a close up of Ray’s worried looking face as he lists the reason they should not get on that flight as an American Airlines plane had crashed before, The shot then changes to a close up of Charlie’s face as he stares at his brother. In this instance he does not seem annoyed and instead offers and alternative, looking back at the Board he quickly sees a Continental flight and rushes off towards the gate, possibly in hopes that he could move to quickly, leaving Raymond no time to reject the flight. As Raymond enters the frame the camera stills follows the moving Charlie despite, Raymond being the one who begins dialogue, the director chose to do this to show that this particular shot is focused on Charlie as he rushes off, it helps us know who the subject is at the time and also show us that Charlie is trying to ignore Raymond’s protests. Raymond Begins telling Charlie about a Crash that has happened, Charlie continues walking for a second before turning about and facing Raymond, he sighs heavily and his face looks annoyed now. Raymond does not look Charlie in the eye, this is a common theme through the film that is linked to his autism yet in this particular instance it is done because he is nervous and also perhaps is weary of his brother growing annoyance to his objections. The character that Dustin Hoffman plays is done so well that he won an Oscar for best Actor in a leading Role in 1989. This could be attributed to the well done research into autism and those with Savant skills; specifically the character of Raymond is based off a real life “Megasavant” named Kim Peek, Hoffman’s performance takes into account of Peek’s mannerisms. He learned this during meeting with Peek and developed this into the character, everything from his speech pattern to his posture. It is likely this research that gained Hoffman the Oscar as his performance so closely mirrors that of a real life counterpart.

After stopping and sighing at Raymond, Charlie attempts to reason with him. Though at this point in the narrative Charlie doesn’t fully understand Raymond’s strengths and limitations. During this monologue where Charlie try’s to appeal to Ray by explaining his precarious situation, Ray continue to not maintain eye contact and stare vacantly ahead, this shows us that Raymond does not care. Not because of any selfish desire on his own part, but more so due to his lack of ability to reason and see another person’s perspective. During the monologue Charlie becomes increasingly exasperated and takes on a more forceful tone, almost commanding Ray to get on the plane; despite the fact that the stern nature of his tone has no effect on Ray as he does not understand human emotions well enough, I think the director uses this shot to illustrate that and continue to help paint a picture for the audience by telling us his limitations and help us understand the situation from Raymond’s perspective.

Charlie continues his Monologue as he lists other planes they may take, with brief rebuttals telling Charlie information about when a certain plane has crashed and what were the casualties. As the situation becomes increasingly more heated, we can see that Ray becomes more visibly agitated. He begins to rock on back and forth on his heels and briefly touch his neck; this performance helps strengthen the overall image of Ray, and his autism. The acting is cleverly done as Dustin Hoffman uses these subtle nuances like touching his neck and rocking back and forth to help sell his overall performance as a man with autism, whilst using little dialogue. This also foreshadows the part later in the scene when all the stress of the situation causes him to have a fit; the actor uses these little gestures to show us the build-up of stress, without verbally telling us.

As the section continues we can see Charlie’s increasing annoyance through his voice which becomes more stern and loud, this is a good contrast that shows us the difference between how someone with autism may be getting agitated but would struggle showing that to us with words yet it is their body language that would indicate this. And how Charlie shows his agitation through a more normal method of raising his voice. This build-up of Stress and annoyance by both parties comes out in different ways, Charlie attempts to force Raymond onto the plane by dragging him, much like a pet owner would a disobedient dog. This causes Raymond to go into a fit causing him to begin hitting himself and screaming loudly. This is of course not a normal reaction but it is these kind of nuances in Dustin Hoffman’s performance that make Raymond such a believable character, he reacts how someone with autism might and does it convincingly.

In conclusion I believe that during this scene the director has used subtlety used editing to help with the actors stellar performance, it is a combination of these two micro -features that make the scene as stellar as it is.