Forrest Gump

Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Sally Field, Gary Sinise
Written by: Eric Roth, Winston Groom
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Year: 1994

Rating: * * * * 1/2   Stars       +       (Fan Bonus -  )  Total: * * * * 1/2 

The complex story of a simple man. Forrest Gump is a heartwarming character who experiences an extraordinary life through the eyes of a less than average person. It begs the question of life being a series of chance, or destiny.

A single feather in the breeze lands at the feet of some random fellow sitting on a bench waiting for the bus. An unassuming fellow, he shares his life story with anyone who sits with him. Random people are taken in by his sincerity as he shares his experiences.

Tom Hanks plays the title character, Forrest Gump. The character narrates his story through extensive flashback scenes starting with his childhood. Forrest starts off wearing leg braces, and having an IQ below scholastic standards. His Mother (Sally Field) is uncompromising in having her son be treated like everyone else. After seducing the principle to obligate him into enrolling Forrest in school, she runs a bed & breakfast out of her large home in Alabama. She's very nurturing and loving with Forrest, and puts the world in a perspective he can understand.

By a miracle, Forrests back straightens up enough that he no longer needs braces. He befriends a neighbor girl named Jenny, who remains his best friend throughout college. Yes, due to his extraordinary speed, Forrest attends school on a football scholarship. After that, he enlists in the military and earns a Medal of Honor. In the military he meets Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), another dim-witted fellow who forms a friendship with him. Bubba goes into never ending detail about shrimping, and offers Forrest an opportunity to go into the shrimping business after Nam. He also meets Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise). After Nam, Forrest becomes an international Ping Pong Champion, and buys a shrimping boat to honor his promise to the now deceased Bubba. A disabled Lt. Dan joins him. A few years later, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is worth millions, and Forrest returns home a millionaire, yet still taking work mowing the lawn of the high school field and keeping up the home after his Mother passes. Yet despite all his success and encounters, Forrest remains a humble, open-minded soul who always wants for nothing, except to win the affection of his one and only love, Jenny.

It is his humble nature and humility that drives this film. Experiencing success on a massive scale, meeting three Presidents, receiving a Medal of Honor, an international Ping-Pong Championship, making it as an All-American in Collegiate Football, a self-made millionaire, does nothing to boost his ego, give him cause to brag, or alter his childlike obedience to the opportunities life presents to him.

Jenny (Robin Write) is a complex character as well. A victim of sexual molestation from her Father, she makes one bad choice after another. She sleeps with boys in college, runs away and ends up as stripper. A perversion of her dream to be on stage as a singer. Later she moves to California with the hippies to protest the war, winding up with radicals, and eventually falling into the drug/sex culture of the 70's before coming home to Forrest where she spends time to finally get clean and put her life in perspective. Through it all, Forrest has been there for her and protected her every chance he had. 

Gary Sinise gives a powerful performance as Lt. Dan. A proud soldier and squad leader, he comes from a long line of soldiers that fought, and died, in every American war. Forrest rescues him after being wounded, resulting in the amputation of his legs. Lt. Dan grows bitter and withdrawn feeling he should have died in the field, with honor, and not being a pitiful cripple. Lt. Dan shows up in Forrests life years later, living off disability, drinking, and bitter towards life, people, and God. He ends up working with Forrest on the shrimping boat, and after a terrible storm makes peace with himself and the Lord.

Sally Field plays Mrs. Gump as a strong-willed, but tender Mother. She tells Forrest that it was her destiny to be his Mother, and that he needs to find his own destiny. When she dies, Forrest is alone for the first time. He stands on his own two feet. Eventually, this all leads up to him at the bus stop where we learn what he's doing there. Jenny has returned to Alabama and sent him a letter wanting to meet him, with directions to her apartment.  There, she is clean and sober, and introduces Forrest to his 4 year old son. Jenny is dying, inferred that she's dying from AIDS that she must have contracted in her tumultuous past. Forrest marries her anyway and keeps her comfortable until she passes away. 

Extraordinary performances by all, this film is among the greatest films of all time. The characters are rich in depth and very relatable. Wonderful special effects seamlessly put Forrest into actual footage such as meeting Nixon, Kennedy, as well as being on tv sitting next to John Lennon. Humor and tragedy are blended well as this film fully illustrates the range of experiences we share in life. It also shows what potential life has for all of us if we just remain humble and obedient. Whether life is destined, or merely chance, what we do is our choice.

SEE THE TRAILER: Forrest Gump