Forrest Gump

I remember John Byner, the stand-up comic and impressionist of the 1970s talking about guys crying at movies, how it's not an acceptable behavior. He advised the men in his audience to drop their keys, do something that gets them to lean forward, wipe their faces, and get things under control.

I dropped my keys watching Forrest Gump. Lieutenant Dan comes over the hill at Forrest and Jenny's wedding, new legs, fiancé at his side, clean-cut and happy.

Forrest states the obvious, "Lieutenant Dan, you gawt le-eggs!"

And the water-works just started to flow.

I sit up straight and clear my throat. Got 'em (the keys, that is). My wife leans over and gives me a kiss. She says, "That's why I love you."

Other than a few historical fussinesses and plot slickeries, none of which are worth mentioning, this is as close to a perfect, emotionally-satisfying entertainment as I have ever seen.

I love this movie. I never tire of the simple story of the guy with the lowest IQ in the room being the smartest guy in the room. It's filled with a patriotic decency you can only find in The Wizard of Oz and To Kill a Mockingbird.

When Dorothy is aching for home and the Wizard can't deliver, I drop my keys. When Scout points to the man behind Jem's bedroom door and says, "Hey, Boo," the fob goes flying.

The next time I get out my copy to show to my 11th Grade US History kids, I'll start fingering my key chain.

I can't help it.

This is a powerful yet charming movie; fun for its special effects and profound in how it keeps you thinking long after it's over. Like others, I've seen this movie more than once. One comment I've never heard is that Forrest's simplicity is almost zen-like. I should read the novel to get the author's intention (I remember some people preferring the book and complaining that no one at the Academy Awards gave him any credit.) But rather than an implication that you should do what you're supposed to do and believe in God and you'll win in the end, I see it as zen-like, i.e., living in the moment and not having expectations or particular cravings (other than his loving Jenny.) So he ends up just stumbling into all the major historical events of the time. Granted, he achieves this only because he doesn't have the brains to think otherwise and actually have expectations, but so many of our problems are because we do have higher intellect and desires, which ironically makes us unhappy because we know what we are missing. We love our cats and dogs for the same simplicity and always being in the moment. There's a line in the movie wondering if everything is predestined or happens randomly or it's a combination of both. It is something to mull over for a long time.

I believe everyone has a right to their opinion about films or other topics. However from a lot of the comments I have read about this film, I do not think many got the gist of the message from the author and the film maker. This film is a great modern fable, a fable in the dictionary is defined as a brief fictitious story that teaches a moral. There are many morals defined in this film but foremost is integrity and a simple goodness.

I have a half brother who grew up in the Southern U.S. and on one occasion we were discussing this film and he said he felt it portrayed Southerners as dimwitted. I disagreed with him and informed him that the author himself was a native Southerner. The setting is central to this story in that it lets the tale unfold tying in factual events with the fable before us.

The film is wonderfully directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film is his opus and is acted by a great cast on all levels. From the children who were Forrest Gump and Gump Jr. by Haley Joel Osment. Say what you want but I feel Tom Hanks deserved the Oscar award. Gary Sinise is synonymous with Lt.Dan whenever you hear those words. Sally Fields is the loving dutiful mother in her challenging situation. Mykelti Williamson as Bubba gives you a real sense in the story that Gump had a genuine friend, he moves you with his character. Words don't grasp the full performance of Robin Wright Penn as Jenny. Jennys' tenderness and pain are palpable as exhibited by Wright.

I feel that much of Gumps' appeal is his downright sense of doing the right thing regardless of the people and situations around him and we see that in this film. That being the case maybe we all wish we could be just a little more like that, trying to maintain innate goodness and not the trade-offs we often make as we go down lifes highways.

The movie has it all too,drama,comedy and it challenges societal norms as well. Then there are the almost endless quotes from the movie that have slipped into everyday speech. They are too numerous to say at this point.One of the toppers for me in the movie is when Forrest is in a quandary about life and wondering as Lt.Dan said we all have a destiny and his Mom says it is where we are all just floating around like a feather in the wind. Forrest's character terms it very well with this quote,"I think it is a little bit of both." From my experiences in life it does appear to be that way. So if you have not seen the movie,see it soon you are in for a real treat. If you did not like it, give it a try again and hopefully you will see it for the great story it is!

... seems to be the theme of this film. Forrest Gump has an IQ of 70, is being raised by a single mom, lives in a remote part of the Deep South where there are few opportunities, and has legs that require that he wear braces as a child. Sounds like the recipe for a sad tale or at least a slow death from mediocrity right? No, instead, because Forrest isn't really bright enough to realize the situation he is in, he simply does what he's told to do or what occurs to him to be the right thing at the time and succeeds due to a lack of self doubt. He's told to run and he becomes the star of the Crimson Tide and an All American. When recovering from a war wound, he's taught ping-pong and winds up competing at the global level in China itself. He promises his dying friend Bubba that he'll go ahead with their plans and become a shrimp boat captain and his brand of seafood products becomes a household name.All along the way he never learns the lessons in life that tend to make the rest of us cynical.

Gump's childhood sweetheart Jenny starts out with high aspirations - she wants to be like Joan Baez and fight for world peace - and instead she winds up disillusioned, drug addicted, and a near suicide before age 30. She doesn't have Forrest's childlike innocence and this leads her to self-doubt and ultimately failure. Also, fate or "destiny" as the film calls it, is not on her side in one big way - her own father molested her as a child, which couldn't help but play a role in the decisions she made.

Now Gump does have a bunch of coincidences on his side - call it destiny if you will - the storm that beaches every shrimping vessel in the Gulf of Mexico but his, for example - but in most cases this is just the story of a man going through life without self doubt and that little voice that tells the rest of us "You can't do that! What are the odds! You'll fail! Make the safe choice!" To me, this is what this film is about. I think everyone sees something different in it. I highly recommend it as it is truly one of a kind. I remember when it came out it absolutely made professional reviewers crazy that people liked this film, probably because they didn't understand it.

I have seen this movie easily a half a dozen times, and I find that the beauty of the film is how Forrest Gump not only shares his innocence and purity with others, including the audience, he also manages to retain that innocence and purity through some very difficult times. As a Viet Nam veteran, and a college graduate of the late Sixties, I could of course personally relate to the various periods that Forrest Gump endures. I would only mention that the skillful and seamless blending of music, action, and period costume was enthralling. And yet it was so perfectly understated that Forrest Gump's travels through thirty five years of the stormiest and most meaningful years of American history only became clearly defined for the viewer. Even more so than the well known chocolates quote as a metaphor for life, I felt that the remark that stupid is what you do is probably more workable for most of us.