Barry Levinson directs Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman and Valeria Golino in this Oscar winning road movie about a yuppie car importer who discovers he has an institutionalised brother and heads across America with him to hold the familial inheritance hostage.

So slick it should slip right off the screen. So sentimental it should make hard hearts sneer their eyes shut. Yet everyone brings their A-game. Levinson takes swiping blows at the American Dream and fuses every scene with peril and humour. The stars compliment each other (and compete in each and every interaction). With its gorgeous view of the roadside landscape and attractive soundtrack, Rain Man’s only crime is it stretches itself by about 15 minutes of excess.

8