The best film of the 80s - This Is Spinal Tap v Rain Man

[milo]

This Is Spinal Tap
1984

Director - Rob Reiner
Producer - Karen Murphy
Writers - Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner
Starring - Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, June Chadwick, Tony Hendra, Bruno Kirby

V

Rain Man
1988

Director - Barry Levinson
Producer - Mark Johnson
Writers - Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass
Starring - Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
Awards - Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hoffman

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

I thought Rain Man was great at the time. Watching it recently, and with the benefit of knowing a little bit about ASD, I was massively unimpressed both by the script and particularly by Hoffman’s take on an aspie. A bit more research and a bit less Method and intituition would have helped.

So, not even sure if it’s better than the Comic Strip’s Bad News, but Spinal Tap can have the point.

 

[milo]

So, not even sure if it’s better than the Comic Strip’s Bad News, but Spinal Tap can have the point.

It is. Bad News is fun but it is very one dimensional. There's something new in Spinal Tap every time you watch it.

 

[billyiddo]

I thought Rain Man was great at the time. Watching it recently, and with the benefit of knowing a little bit about ASD, I was massively unimpressed both by the script and particularly by Hoffman’s take on an aspie. A bit more research and a bit less Method and intituition would have helped.

So, not even sure if it’s better than the Comic Strip’s Bad News, but Spinal Tap can have the point.

Isn't the character based on a real life person that Hoffman spent time with prior to shooting the movie? Sure i saw a documentary about him, though it was a while ago now, and remember thinking it was a reasonably accurate portrayal

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

Isn't the character based on a real life person that Hoffman spent time with prior to shooting the movie? Sure i saw a documentary about him, though it was a while ago now, and remember thinking it was a reasonably accurate portrayal

Yeah, a bloke called Kim Peek. A savant, which is enormously unusual. There still seemed to be a conflation of savantry with autism, particularly in the lines that the psychiatrist gets, and Hoffman’s portrayal felt very off-key to me.

 

[billyiddo]

Yeah, a bloke called Kim Peek. A savant, which is enormously unusual. There still seemed to be a conflation of savantry with autism, particularly in the lines that the psychiatrist gets, and Hoffman’s portrayal felt very off-key to me.

Probably best to remember the time in which it was filmed in that case and that society wasn't as clued up on such things back then, i seem to remember it as a respectful portrayal, even if not entirely accurate

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

Probably best to remember the time in which it was filmed in that case and that society wasn't as clued up on such things back then, i seem to remember it as a respectful portrayal, even if not entirely accurate

They also had to find a convincing brother for Tom Cruise. Warwick Davis was doing his O-Levels when they made the film, which left them with Dustin Hoffman by default.

 

[Daisuk]

I thought Rain Man was great at the time. Watching it recently, and with the benefit of knowing a little bit about ASD, I was massively unimpressed both by the script and particularly by Hoffman’s take on an aspie. A bit more research and a bit less Method and intituition would have helped.

So, not even sure if it’s better than the Comic Strip’s Bad News, but Spinal Tap can have the point.

Still a better portrayal of an aspie than the much lauded Broen (The Bridge), the aspie acting there is horrendous.

Oh, well, off topic, just wanted to say that,hehehe.

I enjoyed both these films back in the day, but Rainman won here!

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

Still a better portrayal of an aspie than the much lauded Broen (The Bridge), the aspie acting there is horrendous.

Oh, well, off topic, just wanted to say that,hehehe.

I enjoyed both these films back in the day, but Rainman won here!

They retconned Saga into an aspie, I think. She was just meant to be a bit odd in season one, and by the last season they’d done some research and tried to give her diagnostically appropriate quirks.

 

[milo]

Rain Man goes through

 

[Lemonade Money]

Rain Man goes through

departs.