Rain Man as inaugurating a common but mistaken media stereotype that people on the autism spectrum typically have savant skills, and references to "Rain Man", in particular Dustin Hoffman's performance, have become a popular shorthand for autism and savantism. Conversely, "Rain Man" has also been seen as "dispelling" a number of other misconceptions about autism, and improving public awareness of the failure of many agencies to accommodate autistic people and make use of the abilities they do have, regardless of whether they have savant skills or not. The film is also known for popularizing the misconception that card counting is illegal in
Rain Man odyssey across country – because they couldn't fly." While some of those airlines cited as justification avoiding having airplane passengers feel uncomfortable in sympathy with Raymond during the in-flight entertainment, the scene was shown intact on flights of Qantas, and commentators noted that Raymond mentions "it" as the only airline whose planes have "never crashed". The film is credited with introducing Qantas' safety record to U.S. consumers. Rain Man Rain Man is a 1988 American comedy-drama road movie directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of an abrasive, selfish young wheeler-dealer