kopf, Norman; Somalia conflict; Terrorism; U.S. em-
bassy bombings in Africa; Wolfowitz, Paul; World
Trade Center bombing.
Forrest Gump
Identification American film
Director Robert Zemeckis (1952- )
Date Released on July 6, 1994
This ultimate underdog movie about a simple man who ex-
periences and influences the great events of postwar Amer-
ica was a huge success at the box office and won numerous
awards.
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences,Forrest Gumpwas the best film pro-
duced in 1994. It won six Academy Awards: Best Pic-
ture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Visual Effects,
Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Gary Sinise was nominated for Best Supporting Ac-
tor. The film centers on a mentally challenged man
(played by Tom Hanks) who overcomes all odds to
become an all-American football player, an interna-
tional Ping-Pong star, a Congressional Medal of
Honor winner, and a millionaire in the shrimp busi-
ness.
The character of Gump, for many, demonstrated
that determination, courage, and love are more im-
portant than intelligence and ability. For others,
Gump was the quintessential baby boomer who ex-
perienced (by means of special effects and archive
footage) many great postwar events (Watergate, as-
sassinations, Vietnam, demonstrations, integration,
and so on), but who was untouched by what he saw
or with whom he was photographed. Jenny (Robin
Wright), his love, unattainable until she contracts an
unnamed deadly “virus” that is clearly AIDS, is
touched by what she sees—the dark side of the
1960’s, with its drugs, violence, and politics. Though
the film cuts back and forth between Gump’s activi-
ties and Jenny’s, the emphasis is clearly on what
some critics saw as “Disney’s America.”
Impact The film, which the American Film Insti-
tute ranked seventy-sixth in its 2007 list of the top
one hundred movies of all time, may have won many
awards, but it generated a great deal of controversy.
Not everyone liked the sentimentality and believed
that someone like Gump could not only survive but
also prosper. Opinion was split along political lines,
with the Right being, for the most part, Gump fans
and the Left being critical of the lack of political
awareness. WhileForrest Gumpwas hardly the only
“feel-good film” made in the 1990’s, it certainly was
one of the most important ones. Nor was it the only
film to make sports underdogs the focus and to cre-
ate an atypical hero, a Mr. Nice Guy, one at odds with
“heroes” who are dysfunctional leaders. The other
impact was a linguistic one. Gump’s mother’s say-
ings became famous, especially the one about life be-
ing like a box of chocolates: “You never know what
you’re going to get.”
Subsequent Events The film was so popular that a
sequel was planned. Eric Roth, whose adaptation of
Winston Groom’s 1986 novel had won him an Oscar,The Nineties in America Forrest Gump 349
Tom Hanks as the title character inForrest Gump. (©Trapper
Frank/Corbis Sygma)