The All Time Hollywood Classic Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks was one of the biggest blockbuster smash hits of the 1990s. It was adapted from the novel of the same name written by Winston Groom and released in 1986 and the movie was released in 1994. The movie stars Tom Hanks, Robyn Wright Penn, Sally Field and Gary Sinise.
Although the movie had some pre-production troubles with casting and finding a director who was prepared to make the movie, it ended up winning seven Oscars and grossing $677 million. It became an instant hit and gave birth to a number of movie quotes that have entered popular language even to this day.
The plot of the movie centers on Hanks’ character Forrest Gump who is person that is lacking in what most of us would consider intelligence, yet manages seemingly by accident to live a most extraordinary life. Through apparent good luck or coincidence he manages to be present at some of the most historic events of the sixties and seventies and rub shoulders with the leading lights of the time. All this is juxtaposed against his love for a simple life and a completely unaffected view of both himself and the people that he meets.
At the beginning of the movie Gump is sat at a bus stop and begins telling a woman about the series of events of his life that have lead him to the bus stop. The woman listens incredulously as he tells her that “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get”. The beginning of his amazing journey really begins with his scholarship to study at Alabama State based on his football prowess.
After university he enrols in the U. S Army and is sent to Vietnam where he befriends Bubba who will influence his life in a number of ways. Gump becomes a war hero after rescuing many of his platoon, but is off on medical leave for some time. During his convalescence he takes up ping pong and is sent as a national champion to Maoist China. He is decorated by the U. S President with the medal of honor and then becomes a successful businessman.
All throughout his life Gump is enamoured of his friend Jenny who he met on his first day of school. Jenny was an abused child and ends up being a damaged adult who follows a number of self-destructive paths. Gump however, is blind to her weaknesses and they end up together. Gump also manages to become involved in setting up Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. And this becomes a multi million dollar company. He becomes very wealthy when his business partner ends up investing in a little known company called Apple.
The book and the film are both ironic, funny and poignant all at the same time. When you finish watching the movie, you are really left wondering if we are as smart as we all really think we are and if someone like Forrest Gump doesn’t have it right after all.
Forrest Gump is at once entertaining and funny as well as offering a deeper story line that is filled with symbolism. The fact that it became one of the most popular and highest earning movies of the 20th century is amazing when you consider that the directorship was offered to two others who turned it down before Robert Zemekis and casting the movie was not as simple as one would imagine with roles being rejected by a number of high profile Hollywood actors.
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