Forrest Gump Review

You're listening to the decaf radio network of

podcast Hello, my name is Forrest, Forrest Gump.

Would you like a chocolate? Oh, thank you. It's

funny what a young man recollects. You're the

same as everybody else. You are no different.

You're boys different. Are you stupid or something?

Mama's as stupid as a stupid does. I'm Jenny.

I'm Forest, Forest Gump. She was my most special

friend. My only friend. We was together all the

time. We were like peas and carrots, Jenny and

I. Run, Forest! He's stupid! Run! Now, you wouldn't

believe it if I told you, but I can run like

the wind blows. Who in the hell is that? That

there's Forest Gump, Coach. Just a local idiot.

I never thought it would take me anywhere. They

even put me on a thing called the All -America

Team. Where you get to meet the President of

the United States. Congratulations. How does

it feel to be an All -American? I gotta pay.

I believe he said he had to go pee. Now maybe

it's just me, but college was very confusing

times. Have you ever been with a girl, Forrest?

I sit next to them in my home economics class

all the time. Have you given any thought to your

future? Go! What's your sole purpose in this

army? To do whatever you tell Major Al Sargent?

You're damn genius. You are going to be a general

someday, go! Yes, Major Al Sargent! They're sending

me to Vietnam. Son, you promise me something,

okay? If you're ever in trouble, don't try to

be brave. You just run, okay? Okay. Where are

you boys from in the world? Alabama, sir. You

twins? No, we are not relationship. For some

reason, what I was doing seemed to make sense

to people. Forget about me! Get yourself out!

I've been awarded the Medal of Honor. How come?

Now, my mama's always telling me how miracles

happen every day. What?! Some people don't think

so. Jenny! But they do. You can come home with

me to my house in Greenbow. I'll take care of

you. Why are you so good to me? You're my girl.

Paramount Pictures presents... Tom Hanks. I'm

not a smart man. But I know what love is. Robin

Wright. Will you marry me? I'd make a good husband

to you. You would, Forrest. But you won't marry

me. Gary Sinise. I never thanked you for saving

my life. And Sally Field. My boy Forrest is gonna

get the same opportunities as everyone else.

A film by Robert Zemeckis. What's my destiny,

Mom? You're gonna have to figure that out for

yourself. It will never seem the same once you've

seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump. functional

well functional well yes broken English is very

common in the morning I was gonna say is functional

well kind of like feng shui no okay then today

we will be discussing forest gump oh boy stupid

ass and stupid does i don't even think megatron

can say that no it's too early yep oh man all

right so this is going to be a really not really

quick episode but this is going to be bang bang

boom so to um Set the stage for Forrest Gump.

It was a 1994 American comedy -drama film based

on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston

Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Oh, hey, I know him. Seems like he's done a couple

other movies we like. Yeah, you're right. Yeah,

and Roger Rabbit. Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright

Penn, and Gary Sinise. The story depicts several

decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a simple

Alabama man who travels across the world, sometimes

meeting historical figures, influencing popular

culture, and experiencing first -hand historic

events in the late 20th century. When did you

first see Forrest Gump? Oh, man. Probably...

About the late 90s. I remember watching it at

home. Not really knowing what to think about

it. I think it was just on and it was something

my parents were watching. So in order to stay

up late, I sat and watched it too. So, but yeah,

I remember it being a fairly entertaining, if

not stupid movie. points. Yeah. Um, the film

differs substantially from Winston Groom's novel

on which it was based. Filming took place in

late 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina

and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects

were used in the incorporation of protagonist

into archive footage. and to develop other scenes.

An extensive soundtrack was featured in the film

and its commercial release made it one of the

top selling albums of all time. Yeah, the soundtrack

in this, and we'll get to it a little bit later,

the soundtrack in this is just amazing. So basically

getting into the plot here, in 1981, Forrest

Gump begins to tell the story of his life to

a woman who is sitting next to him at a bus stop

in Savannah, Georgia. As his story progresses,

the listeners of the bus stop change regularly

through his narration, each showing a different

attitude ranging from disbelief and indifference

to great interest and fascination. What did you

think of the opening scene with the bus stop

and all that? I was just pretty much wondering

why the hell he was sitting there. To find out

that pretty much the entire movie is him sitting

on this bench talking to anybody that happens

to walk up not realizing different people are

here throughout the movie. It's quite an interesting

thing in itself. Yeah, although Forrest has well

below average in intelligence, his mother is

able to get him into public school. On his first

day of school, he meets a girl named Jenny, whose

life at times is followed in parallel to Forrest's.

Having discarded his leg braces used to straighten

his spine, his ability to run incredibly fast

gets him into college on a football scholarship.

After his college graduation he enlists in the

army and there he makes friends with Bubba Who

convinces him to enter the shrimp in business

With him When the Vietnam War is over He also

meets Jenny again when he sees her in a Playboy

magazine Then he goes and finds her and discovers

that she is a stripper working at a bar. In 1967,

Forrest and Bubba are sent to Vietnam and after

several months of patrolling with the 9th Infantry

Division, their platoon is attacked. Though Forrest

rescues many of the men in his unit, Bubba is

killed in action and Lieutenant Dan... The platoon's

commanding officer is wounded in both legs, requiring

amputation. Forrest is wounded during the battle

and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

It's stupid, but it's funny. And I like how it

transitions from that to the college. And the

first time, they're like, run, boy, run. And

he just runs right through. He just runs through

the touchdown and then runs right through back

into the locker room. And then the next scene.

on the football field it's like he's running

he's gonna get a touchdown they all have a a

giant uh like stop signs and stuff oh man um

forest discovers an uncanny ability for ping

pong while in recovery for the bullet wound in

his buttocks He starts playing for the U .S.

Army team gaining popularity and rising to celebrity

status. He eventually plays competitively against

Chinese teams and wins against the Chinese. At

an anti -war rally in Washington D .C. Forrest

reunites with Ginny, who has been living a hippie

counterculture lifestyle, while Forrest was away

and became engaged with another man. Upon leaving

military service and returning home, Forrest

endorses a company that makes ping pong paddles

for a fee of $25 ,000. He uses the money to buy

a shrimp and boat and fulfill his wartime promise

to Bubba. His commanding officer from Vietnam,

Lieutenant Dan Taylor, joins him as his first

mate, as he jokingly promised, as the joke promise

that he made to Forrest. Initially, Forrest has

little success, but after finding his is the

only surviving boat in the area after Hurricane

Carmen hits the Gulf states, he begins to pull

in huge amounts of shrimp. He buys an entire

fleet of shrimp boats in Bubba Gump. Shrimp becomes

a household name. He returns home when his mother

falls ill. She dies some time after. Lieutenant

Dan takes over the operations of the Bubba Gump

shrimp business. and invest the earnings in some

sort of fruit company. And the funny thing about

this movie, especially that part about this movie,

is that was the old Apple. Because that was the

old multicolor logo. I remember that. But when

I still had that multi -color Apple logo and

now it's just metallic silver or whatever In

1976 oh Wait hold on and So for it so with investing

with Apple Forrest Dan and Bubba's families are

financially secure for the rest of their lives

In 1976, Jenny returns to Forrest after some

time. He proposes marriage to her. She declines,

though feels obligated to prove her love to him

by sleeping with him. She leaves early the next

morning on a whim. Forrest affects to go for

a run. Seemingly capriciously, he decides to

keep running across the country several times

over the same three and a half years, becoming

famous again. While finishing the story, Forrest

reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because

he received a letter from Jenny, who having seen

him run on television, asks him to visit her.

Once he is reunited with Jenny, Forrest discovers

she has a young son, also named Forrest, of whom

Forrest is said to be the father. Jenny tells

Forrest that she is suffering and dying from

an unknown virus, which has no known cure. Together

the three move back to Greenbow, Alabama, where

Jenny and Forest finally marry. Jenny dies soon

afterwards, leaving their son in Forest's care.

He talks to Jenny's grave and tells her how well

their son is doing in school. On his son's first

day of school, Forest sits with him at the school

bus stop. Forest's former and first bus driver

also is his son's first bus driver, as the movie

concludes. Um, well, let's talk about that stupid

feather. I so wanted to just shred that feather.

Yeah, I don't remember anything about the feather.

The feather was at the beginning and the end

of the movie. Oh, okay. The floating feather.

Yeah, I remember now. You said it was at the

beginning and the end, then I instantly knew.

Yeah, the floating feather. Because I get what

it is as far as symbolism of, you know, going

out into the world and making your mark and then

at the end the feather comes back and he puts

it in the book or whatever else and it's like,

oh geez. I really, for some strange reason, I

still enjoy this film. It's very well done. Especially

for... Well, and they used a lot of CG work in

it, surprisingly. They had to. They couldn't.

How are they going to get him into the classic

footage? I mean, how are they going to get him

into the, like, see the President for Christ's

sake? I mean, that's not something you can act

out. No. And they actually had real footage.

They just, you know, kind of photoshopped his

ass in there. Same thing with, uh... I think

there were two instances of that and then Lieutenant

Dan, they actually put like a blue, basically

a blue tarp or thing over his legs. Yeah. So

that they could just edit it out. Yeah. Which

is kind of interesting. Yeah, I was kind of wondering

how they would do that as far as, just obviously,

you're not going to cut Gary Sinise's legs off.

Well, they might in some cultures. Well, I mean,

for a film role, actors will do pretty much anything,

but... Cutting off limbs is not one of them.

No. No, no, no. So, overall, what did you think

of the story as far as the plot and stuff goes?

I mean, I think it was pretty interesting and

entertaining throughout the entire film, despite

that some of the... aspects of it were a little

hokey at parts but it was supposed to be just

because of how off Gump is in the head. So getting

into the who's who in the cast of course like

we said Tom Hanks is Forrest Robin Wright Penn

plays Jenny Karan and a Gary Sinise McHenry Williams

as Benjamin Buford blue Bubba Sally field is

his mom Haley Joe Osment as Forrest Gump and

jr. Peter Dobson is Elvis Presley Nice see Sam

Anderson is principal Hancock Overall, I mean

it's it's it's pretty much just those those four

ones that I mentioned I mean up to Haley Joel

Osment Or did you think of the cast overall?

I think they did a pretty good job casting them

because I really I don't know if I could imagine

anybody else playing those specific parts There's

no I'm sorry then for forest Considering who

they were gonna have cast beforehand I'm so glad

they picked Tom Hanks. Yeah, apparently John

Travolta was the original choice to play the

title role and admits passing on the role was

a mistake. Bill Murray was also considered for

the role. Hanks revealed that he had signed on

to the film after an hour and a half of reading

the script. He initially wanted to... Ease Forest's

pronounced southern accent but was eventually

persuaded by director Bob Zemeckis to portray

the heavy accent stressed in the novel. Hanks

agreed to take the role only on the condition

that the film was historically accurate. Michael

Connor Humphreys portrayed the young Forest Gump.

Yeah, there's no way I could see anyone else

other than Tom Hang. It doesn't even matter who

they decided it, you know, who they initially

went to. I couldn't see John Travolta or Bill

Murray as this guy. And I think one of the reasons

why I wouldn't be able to see Bill Murray as

this guy is because of a little known film called

What About Bob? You know, I mean, Bill Murray

plays kind of a crazy guy in that, and granted,

Forrest isn't crazy, but I just... Tom Hanks

is Forrest Gump. That's it. Yeah, and I think

that's one of his more notable films as well.

Oh yeah. Yep. As far as the other characters,

I was actually surprised to see Sally Field as

Mama. Yeah, that was a little different. I was

kind of surprised with that because... The last

time I had seen her, I believe, was... Mrs. Doubtfire.

Yeah, Mrs. Doubtfire. Yep, you're right. And

it's just, I don't know, it's not something that

I would have thought she would be in, but, you

know, hey, she did a very well, you know, a very

good job of it. Robin Wright Patton, eh, she's

alright. She did good for this, but I don't know.

And it worked with her and Hanks, but I don't

know. Maybe somebody else would have done a little

bit better. Not really sure. But they kind of

cashed it that whole other lifestyle of the 70s

and early 80s. Oh yeah. The whole being on it.

I mean, she's almost a rock star on drugs. Pretty

much. And she's probably so loose that she could

slide down a bar stool. Which is probably what

killed her. Yeah. Well, it doesn't say, I don't

think it says specifically in the film, but the

mystery illness, the virus that she had was obviously

HIV or AIDS. But... Good ol' Lieutenant Dan.

Oh boy. With no legs. Oh man. Gary Sinise is

just a great film actor. I don't think his talents

need to be wasted on television like they are

nowadays. Well and unfortunately a lot of people

that were big actors back in the day are stuck

into that mold now. Yeah. They just can't. rise

up past it. Very, very true. So as far as the

good, the bad, and the ugly, what would you say

is one of your good parts about this film? Well,

if nothing else, there are a lot of good phrases

to take from it. Like that... Pretty much if

you say them anybody knows or should know what

you're talking about. Oh yeah like stupid is

as stupid does or Mom always said life is like

a box of chocolates. You never know what you're

gonna get But I mean, yeah everybody pretty much

if you say those things knows what you're talking

about. Oh, yeah Yeah um you have any Anything

bad about the film that you didn't like or? No,

I think it was a pretty good film. I mean, yeah,

there were parts of it that were kind of just,

you know off -the -wall -ish kind of hokey, but

It was it was needed for the particular film.

Yeah Like after like the first three or four

cities or states or oceans that he got to, I

kinda got sick of the running scenes. Yeah, I

mean that does kinda drag on, but in a sense

it's no different than any modern movie. And

as much as I love Bob Seeger, I'm sorry, Against

the Wind kinda made it drag. Cause it is a very

slow song. Well, at the time that was what...

Well, yeah, so yeah So getting into the box office

stuff here It let's see produced on a budget

of 65 million Forrest Gump opened in 1 ,000 595

theaters then its first weekend of domestic release

earning 24 million 450 thousand six hundred two

dollars Motion picture business consultant and

screenwriter Jeffrey Hilton suggested to producer

Wendy Freeman to double the P &A film marketing

budget based on his viewing of an early print

of the film. The budget was immediately upped

per his advice. The film placed first in the

weekend box office, narrowly beating The Lion

King, which was in fourth in the week of release.

For the first Ten weeks of its release, the film

held the number one position at the box office.

The film remained in theaters for 42 weeks, earning

$329 .7 million in the United States and Canada,

making it the fourth highest -grossing film at

that time, behind only E .T., the extraterrestrial

Star Wars, Episode Four, New Hope, and Jurassic

Park. As of September 2010 the film is ranked

as the 23rd highest grossing domestic film and

43rd worldwide The film took 66 days to surpass

250 million and was the fastest grossing Paramount

film to pass 100 million 200 million and 300

million in box office receipts at the time of

its release The film had a gross receipts of

329 It's basically $330 million. It made a lot

of money. It filled some pocket books. Oh yes.

Yeah, it made a lot of money. As far as the reception,

the film has received mostly positive reviews.

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes

reports that 70 % of critics gave the film. A

positive review based on samples of 53 reviews

with an average score of 6 .9 out of 10. At the

website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized

rating system, the film earned a favorable rating

of 82 out of 100 based on 19 reviews by mainstream

critics. The story was commended by several critics.

Roger Ebert, that asshat of Chicago Sun Times

wrote, I've never met anyone like Forrest Gump

in a movie before, and for that matter, I've

never seen a movie quite like Forrest Gump. Any

attempt to describe him will risk making the

movie seem more conventional than it is. But

let me try, and it's comedy, I guess. This movie

is very popular. It was then, when it came out,

and it is still now. Let's see, as far as the

media stuff... Well, let's, before we get into

that, as far as the iGen replacement crew, one

through four, one being the worst, four being,

have it on DVD, what do you rate it? I would

say at least give it a Netflix watch. But I would

probably say it's a buy just because it's one

of those movies that you can pretty much watch

over again and still pick up on other things.

I mean it's still historically accurate in many

aspects so I think that's what kind of holds

people's interest the most. I agree. It's got

to be a buy. I mean, this thing won tons of awards.

It won for the 67th Academy Awards. It won for

best performance by an actor in a leading role,

best director, best film editing, best picture,

best visual effects, best adaptive screenplay.

It won for best supporting actor, best fantasy

film. it won and was nominated for tons of awards.

Apparently there's some author controversy. Winston

Groom was paid $350 ,000 for the screenplay rights

to his novel Forrest Gump and was contracted

for a 3 % share of the film's net profits. However,

Paramount and the producers did not pay him using

Hollywood accounting to post it or post it that

the blockbuster film lost money, a claim believed

by the fact that Tom Hanks contracted for the

film's gross receipts instead of salary and he

and director Zemeckis each netted 40 million.

Additionally, Groom was not mentioned once in

any of the film's six Oscar winner speeches.

Well, you know that goes back to contracts, you

know, you got to make sure you understand what

you're signing If especially if you're gonna

sell the rights to your your original work You

know and that's pretty typical of Hollywood so

that's true I mean look it back to the future

Yeah, there was a lawsuit in that too. And uh

didn't some Ximekis direct that as well. Yep

I kind of mentioned the feather earlier, but

there's apparently some symbolism with it. Various

interpretations have been suggested for the feather

present at the opening and conclusion of the

film. Sarah Lal of the New York Times noted several

opinions that were made about the feather. Does

the white feather symbolize the unbearable likeness

of being Forrest Gump's impaired intellect? The

randomness of experience. Hanks interpreted the

feather as our destiny is only defined by how

we deal with the chance elements into our life

and it's kind of an embodiment of the feather

as it comes in and here is this thing that can

land anywhere and that lands at your feet. And

of course it had political interpretation and

all that stuff. The soundtrack was amazing The

soundtrack had a bunch of Really great songs

on it. You got stuff like Hound Dog by Elvis

Let's see, I don't know why but I do by Clarence,

Fogman, Henry. It's just got Fortunate Son by

Green's Clearwater Revival. Respect by Aretha

Franklin. It's got tons of... And this soundtrack

was a two disc soundtrack. It's not often that

soundtracks have two discs. Especially back then.

Yeah, really. So, oh no. Apparently, according

to Wiki, of course, take it as you want, it's

Wiki, apparently there's a sequel. Well apparently

they were going to do one in 2001, but now there's

talks of them doing it. Yeah... Yeah, a screenplay

based on the original novel's sequel, Gump and

Company, was written by Eric Roth in 2001. Roth's

script began with Forrest sitting on a bench

waiting for his son to return from school. After

the September 11th attacks, Roth, Zemeckis, and

Hanks decided the story was no longer relevant.

In March 07, however, it was reported that Paramount

producers... took another look at the screenplay.

In the very first page of the sequel novel, Forrest

Gump tells readers, don't never let nobody make

a movie of your life story. Though, whether they

get it right or wrong, it didn't matter. The

first chapter of the book suggests that the real

-life events surrounding the film have been incorporated

into Forrest's storyline and that Forrest got

a lot of media attention as a result of the film.

During the course of the sequel novel, Gump runs

into Tom Hanks and at the end of the novel is

the film's release including Gump going on the

David Letterman show and attending the Academy

Awards. It is mentioned Hanks plays Gump and

Forrest seems to have a positive view on the

film. Wow, that sounds really deluded. and that

just sounds oh god no this is exactly why I sometimes

I hate sequels and prequels and all this and

all that crap it's like really you're gonna take

something that was so good and just shit all

over it Hollywood does like to take its shits

yes yes it does big massive shits franchises.

Yes, yes it does. So final words on Forrest Gump,

sir? Buy it. That's all you have to say about

the movie? Yeah. It's an interesting movie. It's

one of Tom Hanks better drama films. Think it's

pretty much his breakout role as like a pretty

much straight drama You know like other ones

other movies prior to that were most like primarily

like comedy Yeah, but this was his first serious

role which pretty much paved the way for things

like cast away and a lot of other movies that

he did from there Which unless Steve wants to

do that by himself cast away will never be covered

on this podcast I've seen this so many times

and I think everybody else has seen it. With

him hanging around his friend Wilson, I don't

think anybody really cares. Oh god, it would

be so awesome if you and Michael Wilson did that

episode. I just feel like, Wilson! That would

be so cool. Alright, so I think that's it. Thank

you for joining us here on MWIRE movie weekend

review. There are several ways to get in contact

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of MOI. I wish

you'll join us next time when JT will be joining

me again for the transporter series. For now,

I am TFG1Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips. Thank

you for listening. Until next time. He's Gump!

He's Gump! He's Gump! Is he inbred? Gump was

a big celebrity He told JFK that he really had

to pee He never feels too dumb because His mom

always told him stupid isn't stupid does He's

Gump! He's Gump! What's with that? You ruled.

There, I said it. Happy?