This genre transition even inspired a trope in its likeness on this site, fittingly named Tom Hanks Syndrome. It's worth noting that this film, along with Philadelphia, was largely responsible for audiences seeing Hanks as more than just a comedic actor, and led to a long string of critically acclaimed performances in dramas which continues to this day. Between her and Forrest, they cover all the significant cultural emblems of that time period, all the while their lives intersect with each other's repeatedly.įorrest Gump was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, winning for Best Picture, Actor (Hanks), Director (Zemeckis), Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth), Editing (Arthur Schmidt), and Visual Effects. On the other hand, Jenny's life takes her from a Catholic Schoolgirl to being in one of the early issues of Playboy, from a flower child of the '60s to a hippie protester of the '70s.

But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall and Robin Wright).įorrest's journey takes him from his native Alabama to the jungles of Vietnam, from walking in corrective leg-braces to running across North America, from misunderstood country boy to college football star to champion ping-pong player to shrimp tycoon, without ever quite losing the undying optimism of the era. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. As the story continues, you find Forrest touching important events and people from the 1950s to the 1980s (ranging from Elvis Presley to several Presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. The film tells the tale of Forrest Gump, a good-natured but simple-minded man from Greenbow, Alabama, telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. Forrest Gump.'įorrest Gump is a 1994 Epic Historical Comedy-Drama film starring Tom Hanks and directed by Robert Zemeckis.

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