‘Rain Man’ best picture

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 1

‘Rain Man’ best picture

NZPA-AP Los Angeles “Rain Man” has won the Oscar for best picture in yesterday’s Academy Awards. The film also won the best actor award for Dustin Hoffman for. his portrayal of an autistic man, and the .best director award for Barry Levinson. “Rain Man” also won the original screenplay prize for its writers, Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow. Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of his play “Dangerous Liaisons” won the prize for best adaptation. Jodie Foster, aged 26, won the Oscar for best actress for her real-life role of a woman who was raped in a bar while bystanders cheered, in “The Accused.” Geena Davis, the freerspirited dog trainer in “The Acci-

dental Tourist,” and Kevin Kline, the wild-eyed, oversexed safecracker in “A Fish Called Wanda,” were surprise winners in supporting roles in the sixty-first Academy Awards. It was a big triumph for Hoffman, aged 51, who played an autistic savant who could solve complicated problems, but who said little and could not make eye contact. “Rain Man” was the odds-on favourite for best picture but came up short in four categories. The Oscar for film .editing went to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” while “The Milagro Beanfield War” won for best score, “Dangerous Liaisons” won for art direction and “Mississippi Burning” for cinematography. Jodie Foster, page 6