Word: savant
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...public, then turns into a whipcracking boss in private, directing every detail of the covert operation, down to computing interest on the money stored in Swiss bank accounts. The show's movie parodies have also had some shrewd twists: Carvey, for example, playing Dustin Hoffman's autistic savant in Rain Man -- who turns out to be giving gambling tips to Pete Rose...
Cunning, cynical young Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learns he has been cut out of his father's $3 million estate, which has gone to an older brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), whom he did not know existed. Ray has long been institutionalized because he is an autistic savant. He has a genius for instant mathematical calculation, but he keeps reality and affection at bay by piling barricades of useless information around himself and by insisting, maddeningly, monotonously, monomaniacally, that certain routines, involving meals and TV viewing, be rigorously observed. Charlie abducts him, hoping to gain control of his inheritance, and they...
...biographer, Fragonard is an exasperating puzzle. He rarely signed his works; dating them is still a cause of scholarly spats. In early 19th century biographies, "the good Papa Frago" was often described as a cheerful, round-faced little man, ever smiling and carefree -- a kind of idiot savant of the easel. Yet it seems that he was also riven with self-doubt, constantly redoing canvases and often failing to complete commissions. But Fragonard's inner self remains inscrutable. Contemporary references are surprisingly few and unrevealing. If he wrote any letters, none survive. And he stares out enigmatically in only...
...Idiot-Savant Handbook, by Ronald Patrick MacMurphy. In a few short pages (and huge bold type) the author explains how to remember what the weather was like every day for the last 100 years. My favorite, page 14: "May 27, 1932: It was cloudy." The book also explains how to remember what day of the week it was for every day of the last 500 years. For example, November 20, 1965 was a Saturday. The epilogue also tells you how to get on "60 Minutes" after memorizing the book...
...tough. She can be vulnerable. Whoopi Goldberg is a bundle of funny, appealing characters in search of an author. Bob Goldthwait is a stand- up comic of surreal mien who spits out his wit in the strangulated voice of an idiot savant after a go at the glue bottle. Both of these gifted comics are trapped in Hugh Wilson's Burglar, an affable movie that is all plot and no common sense...