Forrest Gump (1994) * * * *

Directed by:  Robert Zemeckis

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Gary Sinise, Robin Wright, Mykelti Williamson, Haley Joel Osment

I recently read a revealing article about the famous scene in Forrest Gump in which Gump is speaking at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration at the Mall in Washington.     His microphone is purposely unplugged, but he speaks anyway even though almost no one can hear him.     Tom Hanks revealed what Gump actually said:  "Some people go to Vietnam and come home to their mamas without any legs.    Some don't come home at all.    That's a bad thing.    That's all I have to say about that."    This is exactly what Forrest Gump would say and how he would say it.     He says only what needs to be said and nothing more.     Many people like to add verbal flourishes because they love to hear themselves talk, they don't know how to be concise, or they are full of shit.     Forrest Gump is about an honest a person as you'll ever meet.    This is an extraordinary movie about him.

For those who are unacquainted with Gump (all three of you), I will describe the story.    Forrest Gump (Hanks) is an Alabama man with a 75 I.Q. born with rickety legs and a doting mother (Field).     He is forced to wear braces on his legs, but soon he frees himself of them and finds he can "run like the wind blows".    The legs take him to many places and smack dab into the major world events of the 1950's to the 1980's, including the Vietnam War for starters.     He has chance encounters with celebrities like Elvis Presley (whom he teaches to swivel his hips), Abbie Hoffman, Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, John Lennon, Dick Cavett....the list goes on.     This is never hokey or silly.    These are events seen through the unfiltered eyes of a man who learns, observes, and processes things in the simplest, yet most profound way.     He says more in one or two sentences than others can say in entire speeches.   

Forrest has been in love with Jenny (Wright) his entire life.    Her life takes numerous twists and turns, yet she always finds a way to cross paths with Forrest.      She starts off as a stripper, becomes a hippie, travels from coast to coast (including Woodstock), and partakes in the 70's disco and drug scenes before finally falling for Forrest too.     She doesn't realize Forrest is the man she's looking for and needs.     She forever tries to talk him out of loving her.     His response is him at his self-aware best:  ("I am not a smart man, but I know what love is.").    

Forrest Gump mixes history, pop culture, and big laughs through observation and examination of Forrest's nature.     Very little escapes him.     President Nixon makes the mistake of putting him up in the Watergate Hotel across from the Democratic National Headquarters.    Forrest makes a call to the police thinking the power is out and THAT is why people were running around the offices in flashlights.     We all know what happened to Nixon.     There are others who bond more closely to Forrest, including Bubba (Williamson) who befriends him in Vietnam, and Lt. Dan Taylor (Sinise), whose life is saved by Gump in battle, but loses his legs.     Lt. Dan is not happy about this outcome.    He sees a battlefield death as the greatest honor possible, but after years of self-pity, reflection, and hitting the bottle, Lt. Dan learns that there is plenty to love about life.     Sinise (Oscar-nominated for his role) goes through the most changes and never steps wrong.     He thanks Forrest years later for saving his life and we see a man at peace at long last.    

Hanks won his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar for his role.    Who else could have played it?   So much happens to Gump and around him, yet he never flinches.    He is consistently himself.     He is never caught up in the moment.    Never aware that he is part of a larger historical context.     Forrest Gump is among the unique and celebrated movie characters in film history.     This is not hyperbole.     Some of the lines and passages from the film are still part of the lexicon of today.   ("Life is like a box of chocolates.    You never know what you're going to get").    Gump's insertion into film and network coverage of famous events is never less than seamless.    We get to see these times through a simpler, fresher set of eyes.     Most of all, we care so much for Forrest through it all.   Forrest Gump is still a rare, unique treasure.