Forrest Gump

Tom Hanks has made so many films where he has played the title character (A Man Called Otto, Sully, Captain Ron, Forrest Gump, among others) that I could create a post or Letterboxd ranking just focusing on those films.  However at the end of his career if there is one film he is most remembered for it will likely be Forrest Gump.  

When Forrest Gump came out I resisted it somewhat and I have not been too kind to it in other posts.  I saw it in the cinema a couple of months after it was released and thought it was both inventive and touching in spots but also overrated and I did not understand why in a year that included The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show The Lion King, and Nobody’s Fool, it walked away with Best Picture and more accolades than those other five films, all of which I thought were superior.  I read the Winston Groom novel a year or so after the film was released and found it to be much more satirical.  In the film we are supposed to be amused by, but also believe that Forrest finds himself at the center of, and influencing a lot of cultural moments.  In the book we never do, it’s all a joke as is Forrest himself who is much bigger and less innocent (if no less naive) than the sweet man of the movie.  The on/off relationship with Jenny is nowhere near as impactful as in the film.  

The film has never gone away either.  People still remember it well, though many film fans feel The Shawshank Redemption is a better film, but it’s important to note that at the time of the Academy Awards in 1995 (infamously hosted by David Letterman whose talents are far better suited to his quirky talk show -of which I was a big fan-than a room full of stars) Shawshank was still finding its audience and Forrest Gump, driven by the star power of both Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis (whose previous few films had been Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Back to the Future trilogy), had been an enormous hit that offered audiences a touching story in the middle of summer.  Now with some distance I rewatched the film and simply enjoyed it on its own terms and was pleased.  

Spoilers below:

As a fan of history there is a lot of to enjoy here.  Forrest is ironically named after the founder of the KKK though his actions are so kind in the film he nearly redeems them.  Forrest inadvertently teaches Elvis his signature move, interferes in the Wallace Stand in the Schoolhouse Door in 1963, reports the Watergate break-in, founds the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, is an early investor in Apple (presumably helping it become a huge success), speaks at a war protest at the National Mall in front of Abbie Hoffman, and coins the phrase “Shit Happens”.      

These events are not portrayed as seismic in the course of the film but rather little moments in the life of Forrest and none carry the emotional weight to either Forrest, who does not have much awareness of it, nor the audience or that the effect of Jenny or Lieutenant Dan’s surprise appearances, which is as it should be.  Big events should not define one’s life, because in the end what matters is the people who are in your life and how they make you feel.  

The film went through several drafts and potential directors but for it looked like Barry Sonnenfeld was going to direct it, until he dropped out to make Addams Family Values and Robert Zemeckis replaced him.  I can see how Sonnenfeld would have been attracted to the material as he has made numerous films with offbeat characters.  However I imagine based on his other work such as the Addams Family films, Get Shorty and Big Trouble, that he would have leaned more into the quirky aspects and the film might have been funnier but much less poignant.  I enjoy Sonnenfeld’s films but I can never take his characters seriously. 

Zemeckis brought in his team of cinematographer Don Burgess (who gives the film a bright look and uses a lot of Steadicam shots), editor Arthur Schmidt,  and composer Alan Silvestri who created a poignant score using piano and strings that seem to express Forrest’s pure emotions.  Additionally the film has an extensive soundtrack with songs from the 30 years or so that the film takes place in.  My favorite is “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne from the third act sequence where Forrest is running through the country.  Veteran screenwriter Eric Roth wrote the screenplay, following many others who had worked on it over the years.

One of the biggest surprises I had was how warm Sally Field was.  To this point I had seen her in Mrs. Doubtfire, Soapdish, and Steel Magnolias where she often played someone who was a little cold (though she definitely does the right thing at the end of Mrs. Doubtfire).  Mama Gump is nurturing and gives Forrest his values when he is young and makes him feel loved.  Zemeckis and screenwriter Eric Roth tastefully let the awful moment when Mama lets the principal have sex with her in order to admit Forrest into school offscreen and gives Forrest some agency when he teases the principal (perhaps the only time he does something like that in the film).  As the film goes on Mama Gump lets Forrest go into the world and does not hover over him, knowing that she has done all she could to prepare him for it.

As for Hanks as Gump, by the midpoint of his first scene I had forgotten that I ever saw Hanks in anything else even though I’d been watching him in films for a decade since Splash.  Hanks keeps his head still, uses a deep accent and intonation, and sometimes seems completely zoned out but he is just contemplating.  Hanks’ best moment is when Jenny introduces him to his son and upon learning this Hanks as Forrest jumps back and then conveys his worry that the boy might also be mentally challenged by asking delicately but is unable to find the right words.  

In other moments Hanks and the filmmakers are happy to make Forrest the butt of the joke but never in a cruel way.  For example when Forrest starts running on the football field it’s funny that he keeps going long after scoring a touchdown but then his team puts up a sign to get him to stop.  Forrest’s ability as a football player is that he can run really fast, not that he understands the nuances of the game.  People who look down on Forrest are seen as bad and people who work with him (such as Coach Bryant played by Sonny Shroyer in a role very different from Enos on The Dukes of Hazzard) understand that he is a little different, are seen well.  

Robin Wright plays the troubled Jenny, a good person whose childhood abuse leads her to make self destructive choices.  Jenny tries to be a free spirit but she is ultimately always running away from something.  Forrest is the one constant in her life and his ongoing devotion to her ultimately is not enough to save her but it does help bring her peace.  One of the most touching elements is although Jenny is with other men Forrest, due to his nature, is only blithely aware of it and never acts out of jealousy.  When Forrest sees Jenny he is always excited regardless of who she is with.  While Forrest does love her he also covets her friendship as she was the one schoolmate who was kind to him when he was young.  

The structure of the story leaves some unanswered questions regarding Jenny.  Jenny goes to find Forrest after he has moved back to his old house and stays with him for a time.  After she turns down his marriage proposal she has sex with him and gets pregnant.  When Jenny and Forrest reunite Jenny says she has a virus and clearly part of the reason she has reached out to Forrest is for her son to live with his father after she has died.  

Here are my questions:

Why did Jenny leave Forrest?  Presumably she felt she needed to get her life together and knew that she might bring a destructive influence into his if she stayed longer but this is never made clear.

How did Jenny contract the virus (AIDS or hepatitis or whatever it is)?  

Did she get it before or after having sex with Forrest (which must have been unprotected since she got pregnant)?  

If she got it before would Forrest have gotten it?  

If she got it afterwards if she was pregnant at the time could that have infected her son?  

Did Forrest and Jenny live chastely after they were married to avoid him being infected?  

Zemeckis and screenwriter Roth also tread a fine line in the treatment of Jenny’s father.  Early in the narration Forrest claims Jenny’s father was overly affectionate (indicating that he was misinterpreting that her father’s sexual abuse) but Jenny hides with Forrest from her father.  After Forrest witnesses Jenny’s breakdown when she sees the old house he later has it torn down.  However when Forrest is speaking about his childhood memories with Jenny although it occurs early in the narrative it is after he has destroyed her house.  Therefore Forrest’s comments make little sense unless he just thought the house was bad but not the man.

Gary Sinise plays Lieutenant Dan, Forrest’s C.O. In Vietnam, where the film spends more time than I might have expected.  Zemeckis sets up that Dan has had relatives die in many previous wars so when he is wounded Dan fully expects to follow suit.  Forrest saving him embitters him since he is forced to live with no legs and we see him struggle as a vet for awhile.  This is helpful for us in audience who see veterans and have no sense of what they suffered.

Sinise generally acts in an understated manner, keeping his voice flat and using his eyes for emotion during his early scenes and then again in the scene at Forrest’s wedding.  In the aftermath of his being wounded Sinise goes much bigger with wild eyes and gestures (though Dan’s arms still look pretty jacked) but never over the top.

At the time the film came out I had only seen Sinise in an adaptation of For Mice and Men which he played Lenny’s brother opposite John Malkovich and also directed (I always wondered how a relatively unknown actor got the funding to direct a film though it is a story that can be told on a relatively low budget.  Sinise is small but fit and always projects a focused energy.  One of the nicer points of the film is that Forrest never pities Dan but consistently treats him with respect.  Forrest never tries to get away from Dan when they meet again in New York and when Dan defends Forrest from the prostitute who tries to humiliate Forrest he stops feeling sorry for himself and by allying himself with Forrest he becomes successful (he clearly has a good business sense) and rebuilds his life.

Mykleti Williamson is charming as Bubba, a man similar to Forrest who develops a kinship with him by his hyperfocus on the shrimp business.  The film shows us just enough of these two for the friendship to make an impact.  Many of Forrest’s fellow soldiers might have paid Bubba less attention because he is both different and African American.  Forrest does not get tired of Bubba’s frequent talk of shrimp and the scenes are edited in a way that the audience is amused rather than tired as well.  Williamson has been memorable in Heat, 24, and I especially liked him as Lieutenant Gerard in the 2000-2001 TV show Fugitive (putting his own take on a character that’s been played many times) and this character shows his impressive range.

Forrest Gump deals with death in a positive way.  When Bubba, Forrest’s mom, and Jenny, all die we learn of it through Forrest’s narration mentioning their deaths while we still see them alive onscreen.  Jenny’s is the only death that seems to break him.  The others are all dealt with in a matter-of-fact way.  In life people close to us pass away sometimes and others will come in and out of lives and Forrest always moves forward regardless.

The flashbacks are fun as they are only used to catch the audience up with Forrest (even though he starts and ends the film sitting on a bench looking off to the side) and we see him interact with different people and how people react to him.  One woman just tries to ignore him, one man walks off laughing, and a third elderly lady is intrigued by him.  As audience members we get the sense that Forrest is lost in the telling of the tale and it does not really matter who he is talking to.

This revisit has given me a better view on Forrest Gump.  It’s still not my favorite Hanks or Zemeckis movie by a long shot but it is a special film about a man free of cynicism who sees the best in people.  Especially nowadays, we need more people like Forrest.  ****