 |
Forrest Gump: Tom Hanks Jenny Curran: Robin Wright Lieutenant Dan Taylor: Gary Sinise Mrs. Gump: Sally Field Bubba Blue: Mykelti Williamson Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Written by Eric Roth. Running time: 135 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for drug content, sensuality and war violence). |
My name is Forrest. Forrest Gump.
-Forrest Gump
I can listen to Forrest Gump talk until the sun goes down only to have it come back up again. I can even picture the setting: him and I sitting on a park bench waiting for the number nine bus to come. He is wearing a white suit that can only be from Tom Wolfe's personal closet. Beside him is a small and torn brown suitcase that acts almost like his own personal mini-museum of his life. Forrest is such a natural storyteller that he could even recite the Bill of Rights and still make it sound interesting and funny.
His mother once told him that he was the same as anyone else, but she couldn't be far away from the truth. Forrest is different from anyone I have ever seen on the screen. He is a simple man with simple needs. Devoid of prejudice and hate, he is as caring and loving as any man can be. He isn't stupid ("Stupid is as stupid does."), but he is aware that he is slow, with an IQ of 75, compared to most individuals. Forrest has this somewhat childish behavior, where his manners and the way he talks would make you think that you're watching a ten year old boy trapped inside a thirty-five year old body. He is a man who takes things for exactly what they are. What makes him so interesting to watch is that he sometimes is oblivious of what he is saying and doesn't realize it, which makes him all the sweeter.
Tom Hanks plays Forrest so convincingly that you really believe that he is Forrest Gump. His portrayal of Gump is done so well that it isn't a surprise that he won the Oscar that year. His performance is even more powerful in scenes where he doesn't talk. His posture and facial expressions tell us exactly what he is thinking and feeling, better than if he had expressed them with his mouth.
He was born in Alabama to a mother (Sally Field), who owned a boardinghouse. She never treated Forrest differently and gave him every opportunity in life. Her love and ability to explain things to Forrest in a way that he could understand helped Forrest become the person that he is now.
Forrest is a special individual, who has the uncanny ability, be it luck or fate, to be in the right place at the right time. When Forrest finds out the he can run like the wind, it starts to take him places that he never have imagined. It leads him to college, thanks to a football scout, who accidentally saw Forrest run across the football field while being chased by a truck full of bullies.
Forrest Gump is a movie about American History in the eyes of man who describes events the way they are. Which is good, since his journey after college leads him on an adventure that takes him to every major event in American history in the 60s and 70s. It feels as if history revolves around Gump than vice versa. Forrest becomes a war hero in Vietnam, then a ping pong champion, then a shrimp boat captain, then a millionaire and has just enough time to meet three presidents, see America with his running shoes, and help certain musicians, like Elvis and John Lennon, jump start their careers. His list of accomplishments is staggering, as I have only listed a couple.
In Vietnam he meets two of his best friends, Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), who I bet could name your favorite shrimp dish, and Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), whose family has the proud honor to have one of their family members die in every major war that America has fought in. Look at the last death scene and see the facial expression Gary has when he falls to the ground.
He also finds companionship with a girl that he fell in love with in grade school named Jenny (Robin Wright). Their relationship was very close "like peas and carrots," but the romance deteriorated as Jenny decided to take a different path from Forrest. Because of her abusive father, Jenny had no direction in life and became a lost soul who didn't know what to do with her life. While Forrest took the regular American route, Jenny experimented with all sorts of lifestyles. She went to California and became a hippie. She started getting involved with psychedelics, antiwar rallies, love-ins, drugs and needles. His love for her continued as he thought about her every night and waited for her arrival.
The director, Robert Zemeckis, who is well experienced with special effects, including Back to the Future series and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, uses the latest computer technology to place Gump in historic situations with actual people. Using TV clips and dubbed voices, Zemeckis is able to create Forrest interacting with all sorts of famous people from George Wallace to John F. Kennedy, whom Forrest even got to shake hands with.
Forrest Gump is a series of small adventures dealing with this one man like a modern Beowulf. A journey from one place to another, it quickly takes you back to the past and makes you remember where you were and what you were doing at that time. The memories either brought you joy or sorrow, but remember you will.
You can judge a movie's response to an audience if there are a lot of catch phrases for the audience to recite over and over again. Forrest Gump doesn't disappoint, as there is a bevy of quotable phrases to choose from. Forrest, if he wanted it or not, has now become an icon. He is as American as apple pie and "that is all I have to say about that." Grade: A
MAIN MENU
MOVIES A-F
MOVIES G-M
MOVIES N-T
MOVIES U-Z