Movie - Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump
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This article is about the 1994 film. For other uses, see Forrest Gump (disambiguation).


Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Produced by Wendy Finerman
Steve Tisch
Charles Newirth
Written by Novel
Winston Groom
Screenplay
Eric Roth
Narrated by Tom Hanks
Starring Tom Hanks
Robin Wright Penn
Gary Sinise
Mykelti Williamson
Sally Field
Music by Alan Silvestri
Cinematography Don Burgess
Editing by Arthur Schmidt
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) July 6, 1994
Running time 141 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $55 million[1]
Gross revenue $677,387,716[1]

Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, and Gary Sinise. The film tells the story of Forrest Gump's journey through life meeting historical figures, influencing popular culture, and experiencing firsthand historic events of the late 20th century while being largely unaware of their significance, owing to his somewhat below average intelligence.

The film differs substantially from Winston Groom's novel on which it was based. Filming took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia and North and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects were used to incorporate the protagonist into archived footage as well as for developing other scenes. An extensive soundtrack was featured in the film, and its commercial release made it one of the top selling albums of all time.

Released in the United States on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump was well received by critics and became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released that year. The film ended up earning over $677 million worldwide during its theatrical run. The film garnered multiple awards and nominations, including Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, People's Choice Awards, and Young Artist Awards, among others. Since the film's release, varying interpretations have been made of the film's protagonist and its political symbolism. In 1996, a themed restaurant opened based on the film, and has since expanded to multiple locations worldwide. Although a screenplay was developed on Groom's second novel, as of 2009, no sequel has been officially greenlit.

Forrest Gump, who is sitting at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia, tells the story of his life to a woman seated next to him. The listeners at the bus stop change regularly throughout his narration, each showing a different attitude ranging from disbelief and indifference to rapt veneration.

On his first day of school, he meets a girl named Jenny Curran, whose life is followed in parallel to Forrest's at times. Despite his below-average intelligence quotient (IQ), his ability to run at great speed gets him into college on a football scholarship. After his college graduation, he enlists in the army, where he makes friends with a black man named Bubba, who convinces Forrest to go into the shrimping business with him when the war is over. They are sent to Vietnam and, during an ambush, Bubba is killed in action. Forrest ends up saving much of his platoon, including his platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Dan Taylor, who loses both his legs as a result of injuries. Forrest is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

While Forrest is in recovery for a shot to his buttocks, he discovers his uncanny ability for ping-pong, eventually gaining popularity and rising to celebrity status, later playing ping-pong competitively against Chinese teams in ping pong diplomacy. He is subsequently promoted to sergeant. At an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., now Sergeant Gump is reunited with Jenny, who has been living a hippie counterculture lifestyle. Forest witnesses Jenny being slapped across the face by her boyfriend. This angers him to the point where Forrest beats the man severely, but Jenny convinces him to not hurt the man any further.

Returning home, Forrest endorses a company that makes ping-pong paddles, earning himself $25,000, which he uses to buy a shrimping boat, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Dan joins Forrest, and although they initially have little success, Hurricane Carmen leaves theirs the only shrimping boat in operation, yielding immense catches. They use their income to buy an entire fleet of shrimp boats. Dan invests the money in Apple Computer and Forrest is financially secure for the rest of his life, and also donates a large portion of money to Bubba's family. He returns home to see his mother's last days.

One day, Jenny returns to visit Forrest and he proposes marriage to her. She declines, though feels obliged to prove her love to him by having sex with him. She leaves early the next morning. On a whim, Forrest elects to go for a run. He decides to keep running across the country several times, over three and a half years, becoming famous and accumulating a large following in the process.

In present-day, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny who, having seen him run on television, asks him to visit her. Once he is reunited with Jenny, she introduces him to his son, also named Forrest. Jenny tells Forrest she is suffering from a virus (probably HIV, though this is never definitively stated).[2][3][4] Together the three move back to Greenbow, Alabama. Jenny and Forrest finally marry but she dies soon afterwards. The film ends with father and son waiting for the school bus on little Forrest's first day of school.