Morrow got his first glimpse of the phenomenon he had wrought by reading a letter from a mother shortly after the film opened. She explained that taking her son shopping was an ordeal because he almost inevitably had a meltdown, and other mothers would chastise her for having such an out-of-control child. Recently, however, when a woman skewered her with a withering look at the market, she asked her: “Did you see Rain Man?” “Oh yes,” the woman replied, “I loved that movie.” “Well, my son Johnnie is like Raymond Babbitt,” the mother said. The other woman’s face softened. “Oh, Johnnie,” she
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