If you missed my first post where I explain what this is and how I’m scoring things, here you go.
Alright people, time for a history lesson. Many years ago, in a time before the internet, there were no streaming services, and there was no YouTube. Some people had cell phones, but they literally just used them to call other people. In these dark and long ago times, we would entertain ourselves by doing things like going outside, or, if it was raining, we would flip through channels on our televisions to see if our boredom happened to line up with something worth watching being shown. Back in those days, I was just a young whippersnapper, and I remember this weird thing we would sometimes do where we would turn on a movie after it had already started, and watch whatever was left of it on TNT or TBS. Actually, this is how I remember most of my movie watching being done in the first half of my life. Even if you had a huge collection of VHS or DVDs in your house, it was sometimes just easier to do it this way. In my house, we had a rotation of classic American cinema that would be playing. Films like Con Air, The Rock, Shawshank Redemption, and of course, Forrest Gump.
I’ve seen the last hour of Forrest Gump probably twice as many times as the first hour, and probably more than I’ve seen all the rest of the movies on the AFI 100 combined, well, I had before I started this project at least. If I’m being completely honest, I think sitting down and watching it in my living room for this post was the first time I’ve ever seen the non-cable edit version of this movie. Not to spoil the “Rewatchability” category, but this is one of the first movies where I think I understood the concept of a movie that was so good for just dropping in at any point and going along with it until the credits rolled.
In the almost 30 years since Forrest Gump was released and became one of the most wildly quotable and successful movies of the 1990s, there has been an almost exhausting level of discourse written about it that I’m not even going to touch at this point. With a lot of the movies I’ve watched for this little project, I can barely find anything online, but with Forrest Gump it’s an almost never ending series of back and forths about the movie’s politics and who the movie belonged to, and a bunch of other stuff that you can go find on your own if you have that desire. I’m here to see how it holds up today, not what it meant in 1994.
So, as always, I think the categories are our best bet to do this:
Entertainment Value- 2/2
From an entertainment standpoint, this movie holds up with the best of them. Sure, some of the scenes are less entertaining than others, and others are just plain downers, but Tom Hanks is just so entertaining as Forrest, that it makes all of his ridiculous life events seem realistic and engaging.
Correctness- 0/2
This really just came down to a gut feeling about the totality of the movie for me, and all together, there’s just something that doesn’t sit right with me. I guess I’ll go one at a time with the three things that pop into my mind about the political correctness of Forrest Gump.
Tom Hanks as Forrest. Yes, I know that I just said I loved his performance from an entertainment standpoint. Listen, I’m a flawed person, ok. All of this gives me very confused feelings. Is it ok that Tom Hanks is playing someone with some unidentified mental disability? Is this actually representing them and making them feel seen? There doesn’t seem to be any type of consensus about any of this online, but if there’s any question about it for me, that means that there are definitely people who have the right to be offended by the portrayal of Forrest.
Jenny. I’ve been confused about how to feel about the character of Jenny for years. I can accept that she is living a certain way because of addiction and past abuse by her father, but does that justify how she treats Forrest throughout the film? Does she actually love Forrest? If so, why does she wait so long to tell him about Forrest Jr.? Is Forrest being taken advantage of because of his disability and financial prosperity at the end of the movie?
Then I started doing research about Forrest Gump to prepare for this writing, and stumbled upon years old arguments that Jenny is actually a representation of politically liberal values, and she is “saved” by the conservatism that Forrest’s character represents, making this whole movie a piece of political propaganda. Now I had to ask myself, is this movie really propaganda? Can propaganda ever be politically correct? Now I’m just more confused.Racism. Let me be clear, I don’t think this movie is racist. In fact, I think it is trying to be the opposite. But trying to be anti-racist and actually being anti-racist are not the same thing. Forrest as a character is completely ignorant to the whole concept that people could be treated differently because of their race, which sure, is great, but also, with that, is it being implied that people with mental disabilities can’t understand that racism exists?
Anyway, like I said before, no single one of these things really makes me really question the movie, but in tandem they give me some pause, and if there’s any doubt with this category, I have to give it a zero.
Influence- 2/2
I’m not sure if there is a more quotable movie on this list. More importantly, there is literally still a chain of seafood restaurants themed after this movie. If that’s not cultural influence, I’m not sure what is.
“Rewatchability”- 2/2
Seriously, put any scene of this movie on in front of me and I’ll watch it until the end.
Technical Score- 2/2
Forrest Gump won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. That’s all I have to say about that.
Overall- 8/10
While life may be like a box of chocolates, Forrest Gump is not. I know what I’m getting every time, and I’ll keep going back for more.
What’s your favorite Forrest Gump line?
You can stream Forrest Gump on Paramount+.
Hasta luego,
Josh
Up Next: #70 The French Connection