#25 Forrest Gump - the man who did everything

1994. dir Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field.

Seen it before? Many, many times...

And until I met Sam I thought everyone else had too.

Forrest Gump is a simple minded man who grew up and did unbelievable things...met three Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon) and John Lennon, and inspired Elvis; fought in Vietnam, played ping-pong, ran his own shrimping company, and ran - for "3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours"

Contrary to Sam's view about how interesting the movie would be from Jenny's perspective, I think we saw just enough of her life to be able to piece it together. She was abused as a child. She continued to choose relationships where abuse was a norm. She used drugs and was screwed up for a time. The movie showed enough things she did throughout their lives that we didn't need to know the other stuff. In fact, that movie would have been SO different and so totally NOT a feel-good movie.

And that's what I love about this movie. You feel good at the end of it. Yes, it's kind of a tear jerker - Forrest Gump: Mama always said, dying was a part of life. But you see several relationships in the movie which helped shape the simple man played by Tom Hanks...speaking of which - the role was originally intended for John Travolta, REALLY?!?!?! John freaking Travolta? and Bill Murray was also considered for the role...remember when we watched Groundhog Day and talked about how no one but Bill Murray could have played that role? Same thing here...Tom Hanks IS Forrest Gump!

Great music. Amazing effects. And I just loved Gary Sinise! Lt. Dan is awesome! Sally Field was super cute as Forrest's mama. I also loved Bubba's momma...how cute was she when she questioned why Forrest was going into shrimping?!?!?

Okay, Sam has to post tonight's flick and I'm tired.

Would I watch it again? Is life like a box of chocolates?
Would I add it to my collection? Yes, but I guarantee Sam's not buying it for me!