Forrest Gump

• rookie_j70

  

  Its been on AMC all week, and I'll admit I've watched it at least 5 times already this week. Hands down, great movie. So much history. One of my all time favs
• Gobuckeyes1

  top 10 for me...
• cat_lover

  Top 10 movie for me as well.
• thavoice

  Think Ive watched parts of it every single night this week.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Great movie. Even my kids love it.
• se-alum

  

  Has anyone seen the "Forrest Gump in the Hood" promo that they've been runnin' during the movie? It's hilarious.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  I have it on dvd, but for an oscar winner I don't think it has aged all that well and rarely watch it. It has some nice moments, particularly in the beginning. The flashback scenes with real historical figures that were impressive in 1994 are painfully dated now (particularly the John Lennon scene).
• This_DJ_3

  me and the old lady have gone to sleep watching this movie every night this week. I love it
• Upper90

  I agree with the fact that it hasn't aged well...I definitely own it, but really hardly ever watch it.
• noreply66

  one of the best
• Fab1b

  

  Love this movie
• stroups

  

  lieutenant Dan.... Ice cream
• Laley23

  

  Eh, I never really got into this movie. I always hated the fact that the people he was telling his story too didnt know who he was. Or when he was running how the news didnt make not of the fact that it was Forest Gump etc. Just always really bugged me.
• Glory Days

  

  i used to live right down the street from where they filmed Jenny's naked guitar scene and have even eaten there(its a seafood resturant in real life). its weird seeing how the area had changed in 10 years. and of course i did my forrest gump impression when i sat on the bench in downtown savannah.
• End of Line

  

  Great movie, but I'd rather watch Pulp Fiction for 5 days.
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  Hadn't watched this movie since it was at the theater, when i was really young. i watched last night and really enjoyed it.
  
  I read the wikipedia article on the movie and it said the guy who wrote the book only received 350,000 from the movie. They screwed him over, pretty much.
  
  The book did hit #1 on the best sellers list so I imagine he's doing alright for himself, but he'd be doing alot better had he really been able to cash in as much as he could have...
• Manhattan Buckeye

  "I always hated the fact that the people he was telling his story too didnt know who he was."
  
  I had that same issue even back in 1994, especially during the run. We have an All-American football player, MOH war hero, ping pong celebrity and shrimp kingpin, yet during the run people acted as if he was a regular joe.
  
  I didn't read the book but from what I understand the movie tuned down even wackier stuff that was in the book, e.g. Forrest being an astronaut.
• rookie_j70

  

  Laley23 wrote: Eh, I never really got into this movie. I always hated the fact that the people he was telling his story too didnt know who he was. Or when he was running how the news didnt make not of the fact that it was Forest Gump etc. Just always really bugged me.

  i never realized this until you just now mentioned it. i recall now that when he's crosiing the mississippi river the news reporter says something like "a gardner from greenbow alabama, a man named forrest gump is about to cross the mississippi river"
• Writerbuckeye

  

  Sorry to disagree with so many on here.
  
  It was very much overrated and didn't deserve to win crap.
  
  Shawshank Redemption was BY FAR the better movie that year.
• Laley23

  

  Manhattan Buckeye wrote: "I always hated the fact that the people he was telling his story too didnt know who he was."
  
  I had that same issue even back in 1994, especially during the run. We have an All-American football player, MOH war hero, ping pong celebrity and shrimp kingpin, yet during the run people acted as if he was a regular joe.
  
  I didn't read the book but from what I understand the movie tuned down even wackier stuff that was in the book, e.g. Forrest being an astronaut.

  Not to mention the guy who spoke in front of thousands about peace (ok they didnt hear it) and the guy who mooned the freaking president. The dude would be famous worldwide. haha
• Red_Skin_Pride

  

  Since we've got some context of the last 16 years since it was made, the movie was more important for establishing Ron Howard as one of the elite directors in hollywood, more than it was for any individual performance (Hanks included) or even in the history of American cinema. Hanks has gone on to have many, many successful movies, and better performances IMO (Green Mile, Castaway, BIG, Apollo 13) although it is easy to like the character of Forrest Gump, and I though Hanks did an admirable job of being consistent and believable all the way through. Because of the huge success of his career, it won't be remembered as one of the best movies of the modern era (probably one of the best of the '90's, but not the last 50-60 years), it'll just be remembered for another really good movie that Hanks starred in. However, as I said in the beginning, that was the movie that really brought Ron Howard recognition and kicked off a run of extremely successful movies for him. That is now what it has been most remembered for, and probably what it will be forever prominently known for.
  
  However, it is not a bad movie at all, and the entertainment factor is an A+ for me. It is also extremely hard to tell a story that covers SO many years like that, condensed into a film that's less than 3 hours (it's 3 hours long on TV, but that's with AMC's limited commercial breaks). So I don't mind seeing it on all week, as there are about 5,000 other movies you could find that would be a worse choice to have on than this one.
• Little Danny

  

  Good post Redskins, one thing people have to remember is that Hanks was the hottest actor in Hollywood at the time. He just came off an Oscar for the movie Philadelphia when this movie came out. I personally agree Shawshank was a better movie, however Forrest Gump appealed to the very large "Baby Boom" sect of our population with its references to the 60's and 70's. Finally, it was a movie that appealed to women and younger audiences as well. IMHO that is what pushed it over Shawshank.
• cbus4life

  Never gets old.
  
  It isn't "overrated," though i do agree Shawshank should have won that year. Still, a wonderful movie, one that is just "fun" to watch.
• gerb131

  

  Good movie for sure, not my favorite Hanks movie but a good one none the less.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  I'm pretty sure Robert Zemeckis directed this film, I'm not aware of any role Howard had in it.
  
  Back to it, I enjoyed the first act all the way up to Bubba dying (Williamson did a great job IMO), I found the next part tolerable until Forrest's mom died. The last bit was pure schmaltz, aside from the complete leap of faith you had to take to believe the plot (as Laley pointed out), Jenny was simply a poor character. You didn't have sympathy for her, you didn't understand why she made the choices she did, you didn't understand why Forrest cared so much (other than he's an imbecile). The less she was in the film, the better.