| Forrest Gump | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Produced by | Wendy Finerman Steve Tisch Charles Newirth |
| Screenplay by | Eric Roth |
| Based on | Forrest Gump by Winston Groom |
| Narrated by | Tom Hanks |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Robin Wright Gary Sinise Mykelti Williamson Sally Field |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Editing by | Arthur Schmidt |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 6, 1994 |
| Running time | 141 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $55 million[1] |
| Box office | $677,387,716[1] |
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film (75% comedy, 20% drama and 5% romance) based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a naive and slow-witted native of Alabama who witnesses, and in some cases influences, some of the defining events of the latter half of the 20th century.
The film differs substantially from Winston Groom's novel on which it was based, including Gump's personality and several events that were depicted. Filming took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects were used to incorporate the protagonist into archived footage and to develop other scenes. A comprehensive soundtrack was featured in the film, using music intended to pinpoint specific time periods portrayed on screen. Its commercial release made it one of the top selling albums of all time, selling 4.42 million copies.
Released in the United States on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump was well-received by critics and became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released that year. The film earned over $677 million worldwide during its theatrical run. The film garnered multiple awards and nominations, including Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, People's Choice Awards and Young Artist Awards, among others. Since the film's release, varying interpretations have been made of the film's protagonist and its political symbolism. In 1996, a themed restaurant opened based on the film, and has since expanded to multiple locations worldwide. The scene of Gump running across the country is often referred to when real life people attempt the feat. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected Forrest Gump for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[2]
Contents |
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) sits at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia, telling his life story to strangers nearby. His tale starts with the childhood braces he wore on his legs. At Forrest's home, he meets a young Elvis Presley, teaching him a hip-swiveling dance. On his first day of school, Forrest meets a girl named Jenny (Robin Wright), with whom he immediately falls in love and whose life is followed parallel to his throughout the movie. Despite his below average intelligence quotient (IQ), his ability to run very fast gets him on the University of Alabama football team. He ultimately becomes an All-American and meets President John F. Kennedy. While attending college he witnesses George Wallace's attempt to prevent integration at the school.
After graduation, Forrest enlists in the Army. He makes friends with Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), who convinces him to be his partner in the shrimping business when the Vietnam War is over. He also meets Jenny again, who is now part of the counterculture movement and working as a stripper. In 1967, he and Bubba are sent to Vietnam, and after several months of patrolling with the 9th Infantry Division, their platoon is ambushed. Forrest is shot in the buttocks but rescues many of the men in his unit, although Bubba is fatally wounded and dies. Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), the platoon's commanding officer, is also seriously wounded and loses both legs. He is furious with Forrest for saving him, claiming that he would rather have died in battle than be left a cripple. For his actions, Forrest is awarded the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson. While in Washington, he becomes swept up in an anti-war rally where he makes a speech at the National Mall and again meets Jenny. They spend the evening walking around Washington, but when morning comes she leaves with her abusive boyfriend.
While in the hospital, Forrest discovers an aptitude for ping pong. He begins playing for the U.S. Army team, eventually competing against Chinese teams on a goodwill tour. He goes to the White House for a third time to meet President Richard Nixon who provides him a room at the Watergate hotel. While there, Forrest witnesses a burglary and calls maintenance, inadvertently exposing the Watergate scandal. He also goes on the Dick Cavett Show in New York City and talks with John Lennon, presumably inspiring him to write the song "Imagine". When leaving, he meets Lt. Dan, now an embittered drunk living on welfare. Lt. Dan is scornful of Forrest's plans to enter the shrimping business and jokingly promises to be Forrest's first mate if he ever does.
Forrest is honorably discharged, and uses money from an endorsement for ping pong paddles to buy a shrimping boat, fulfilling his wartime promise to Bubba. Lt. Dan keeps his earlier promise and joins him as first mate. They initially have little success, but after Hurricane Carmen hits the Gulf states, their boat is the only one to survive. Business now booms and Forrest buys an entire fleet of shrimping boats; the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company becomes a household name. He leaves the company in the hands of Lt. Dan, who invests a portion of their wealth in shares from Apple. As a result, Forrest makes a lot of money, donating much of this to the local Gospel Church, using some to build a hospital for the community fishermen, and giving Bubba's family a share of the profits. Lt. Dan, after having had an epiphany on the boat, forgives Forrest and thanks him for saving his life. Forrest returns home when his mother falls ill, and she dies soon afterward.
Jenny returns to visit Forrest, and he eventually proposes to her. She tells him that she does love him, although she declines his proposal. They sleep together and she leaves the next day. On a whim, Forrest elects to go for a run and simply decides not to stop. Over the next three years, two months, fourteen days and sixteen hours, he runs coast to coast across the country several times, gathering a small following. Realizing that he had been running to try to make sense of his feelings for Jenny and the deaths of his mother and Bubba, he abruptly stops and returns home.
While finishing his story, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because Jenny has contacted him and asked him to visit her. Once they are reunited, he discovers they have a young son together, also named Forrest (Haley Joel Osment). Jenny tells him that she is suffering from an unknown virus. She proposes to him and he accepts. The three move back to Greenbow where they marry. At the wedding, Forrest sees Lt. Dan, now happily engaged and wearing prosthetic legs. Jenny later passes away, and Forrest visits her grave and tells her their son is doing well, is very smart, and loves ping pong. He then leaves a letter on her grave from Forrest Jr. While leaving Jenny's grave, Forrest sees a flock of birds fly overhead, symbolism of how when Forrest and Jenny were children she prayed to be turned into a bird so she could "fly far, far away." On his son's first day of school, Forrest Sr. sits with his son at the bus stop. As the bus picks Forrest Jr. up and drives away, Forrest Sr. sits on the same tree stump that his mother did, watching a feather float into the air.
"The writer, Eric Roth, departed substantially from the book. We flipped the two elements of the book, making the love story primary and the fantastic adventures secondary. Also, the book was cynical and colder than the movie. In the movie, Gump is a completely decent character, always true to his word. He has no agenda and no opinion about anything except Jenny, his mother and God."
The film is based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Both center on the character of Forrest Gump. However, the film primarily focuses on the first eleven chapters of the novel, before skipping ahead to the end of the novel with the founding of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and the meeting with Forrest, Jr. In addition to skipping some parts of the novel, the film adds several aspects to Gump's life that do not occur in the novel, such as his needing leg braces as a child and his run across the Continental US.[17]
Gump's core character and personality are also changed from the novel; among other things his film character is less of an autistic savant—in the novel, while playing football at the university, he fails craft and gym, but receives a perfect score in an advanced physics class he is enrolled in by his coach to satisfy his college requirements.[17] The novel also features Gump as an astronaut, a professional wrestler, and a chess player.[17]
Two directors were offered the opportunity to direct the film before Robert Zemeckis was selected. Terry Gilliam turned down the offer to direct.[18] Barry Sonnenfeld was attached to the film but left to direct Addams Family Values.[19]
Filming began in August 1993 and ended four months later in December.[20] Although most of the film is set in Alabama, filming took place mainly in Beaufort, South Carolina, as well as parts of coastal Virginia and North Carolina,[5] including a running shot on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The scene of Forrest running through Vietnam while under fire was filmed on Fripp Island, South Carolina.[21] Additional filming took place on the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone, NC. The most notable place was Grandfather Mountain where a part of the road is named "Forrest Gump Curve"[22] The Gump family home set was built along the Combahee River near Yemassee, South Carolina and the nearby land was used to film Curran's home as well as some of the Vietnam scenes.[23] Over 20 palm trees were planted to improve the Vietnam scenes.[23] Forrest Gump narrated his life's story in Chippewa Square in Savannah, Georgia as he sat at a bus stop bench. There were other scenes filmed in and around the Savannah area as well, including a running shot on the Houlihan Bridge (Port Wentworth, Georgia) while he was being interviewed by the press, and on West Bay Street in Savannah.[23] Most of the college campus scenes were filmed in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California.
Ken Ralston and his team at Industrial Light & Magic were responsible for the film's visual effects. Using CGI techniques, it was possible to depict Gump meeting deceased personages and shaking their hands. Hanks was first shot against a blue screen along with reference markers so that he could line up with the archive footage.[24] To record the voices of the historical figures, voice doubles were hired and special effects were used to alter the mouth movements for the new dialogue.[16] Archival footage was used and with the help of such techniques as chroma key, image warping, morphing, and rotoscoping, Hanks was integrated into itcitation needed.
In one Vietnam War scene, Gump carries Bubba away from an incoming napalm attack. To create the effect, stunt actors were initially used for compositing purposes. Then Hanks and Williamson were filmed, with Williamson supported by a cable wire as Hanks ran with him. The explosion was then filmed, and the actors were digitally added to appear just in front of the explosions. The jet fighters and napalm canisters were also added by CGI.[25]
The CGI removal of actor Gary Sinise's legs, after his character had them amputated, was achieved by wrapping his legs with a blue fabric, which later facilitated the work of the "roto-paint" team to paint out his legs from every single frame. At one point, while hoisting himself into his wheelchair, his legs are used for support.[26]
The scene where Forrest spots Jenny at a peace rally at the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., required visual effects to create the large crowd of people. Over two days of filming, approximately 1,500 extras were used.[27] At each successive take, the extras were rearranged and moved into a different quadrant away from the camera. With the help of computers, the extras were multiplied to create a crowd of several hundred thousand people.[5][27]
The film has received mostly positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 71% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 53 reviews, with an average score of 7/10.[28] At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a favorable rating of 82/100 based on 19 reviews by mainstream critics.[29]
The story was commended by several critics. Roger Ebert 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. It's a comedy, I guess. Or maybe a drama. Or a dream...The screenplay by Eric Roth has the complexity of modern fiction...[Hanks'] performance is a breathtaking balancing act between comedy and sadness, in a story rich in big laughs and quiet truths....what a magical movie."[30] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that the film "...has been very well worked out on all levels, and manages the difficult feat of being an intimate, even delicate tale played with an appealingly light touch against an epic backdrop."[31] In addition, the film received notable pans from several major reviewers. Anthony Lane of The New Yorker called the film "Warm, wise, and wearisome as hell."[32] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that the film "...reduces the tumult of the last few decades to a virtual-reality theme park: a baby-boomer version of Disney's America."[33]
Critics had mixed views on the main character. Gump has been compared to various characters and people including Huckleberry Finn, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan, among others.[34][35][36] Peter Chomo writes that Gump acts as a "...social mediator and as an agent of redemption in divided times".[37] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Gump "...everything we admire in the American character – honest, brave, loyal...".[38] The New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin called Gump a "...hollow man..." who is "...self-congratulatory in his blissful ignorance, warmly embraced as the embodiment of absolutely nothing."[39] Marc Vincenti of Palo Alto Weekly called the character "...a pitiful stooge taking the pie of life in the face, thoughtfully licking his fingers."[40] Bruce Kawin and Gerald Mast's textbook on film history notes that Forrest Gump's dimness was a metaphor for glamorized nostalgia in that he represented a blank slate by which the Baby Boomer generation projected their memories of those events.[41]
Film critic Pauline Kael stated, "I hated it thoroughly."
The film is commonly seen as a polarizing one for audiences, with Entertainment Weekly writing in 2004, "Nearly a decade after it earned gazillions and swept the Oscars, Robert Zemeckis's ode to 20th-century America still represents one of cinema's most clearly drawn lines in the sand. One half of folks see it as an artificial piece of pop melodrama, while everyone else raves that it's sweet as a box of chocolates."[42]
Produced on a budget of $55 million, Forrest Gump opened in 1,595 theaters in its first weekend of domestic release, earning $24,450,602.[1] Motion picture business consultant and screenwriter Jeffrey Hilton suggested to producer Wendy Finerman to double the P&A (film marketing budget) based on his viewing of an early print of the film. The budget was immediately increased, per his advice. The film placed first in the weekend's box office, narrowly beating The Lion King, which was in its fourth week of release.[1] For the first ten weeks of its release, the film held the number one position at the box office.[43] 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 Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars IV: A New Hope, and Jurassic Park).[43][44] As of June 2011, the film is ranked as the 23rd highest grossing domestic film and 45th worldwide.[44][45]
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).[46][47][48] The film had gross receipts of $329,694,499 in the U.S. and Canada and $347,693,217 in international markets for a total of $677,387,716 worldwide.[1]
Forrest Gump was first released on VHS on April 27, 1995, LaserDisc April 28, 1995 (2 Discs Containing the Through The Eyes of Forrest Special Feature), before being released on a two-disc DVD on August 28, 2001. Special features included director and producer commentaries, production featurettes, and screen tests.[49] The film was released on Blu-ray in November 2009.[50]
In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, the film was recognized by the American Film Institute on several of its lists. The film ranks 37th on 100 Years... 100 Cheers, 71st on 100 Years... 100 Movies, and 76th on 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition). In addition, the quote "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." was ranked 40th on 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.[51] The film also ranked at number 240 on Empire's list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
In December 2011, Forrest Gump was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.[52] The Registry said that the film was "honored for its technological innovations (the digital insertion of Gump seamlessly into vintage archival footage), its resonance within the culture that has elevated Gump (and what he represents in terms of American innocence) to the status of folk hero, and its attempt to engage both playfully and seriously with contentious aspects of the era’s traumatic history."[53]
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67th Academy Awards[54] | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role[55] | Tom Hanks | Won |
| Best Director[55] | Robert Zemeckis | Won | |
| Best Film Editing[55] | Arthur Schmidt | Won | |
| Best Picture[55] | Wendy Finerman, Steve Starkey, and Steve Tisch | Won | |
| Best Visual Effects[55] | Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Allen Hall and Stephen Rosenbaum | Won | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay[55] | Eric Roth | Won | |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role[56] | Gary Sinise | Nominated | |
| Best Achievement in Art Direction[56] | Rick Carter and Nancy Haigh | Nominated | |
| Best Achievement in Cinematography[56] | Don Burgess | Nominated | |
| Best Makeup[56] | Daniel C. Striepeke and Hallie D'Amore | Nominated | |
| Best Original Score[56] | Alan Silvestri | Nominated | |
| Best Sound Mixing[56] | Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands, and William B. Kaplan | Nominated | |
| Best Sound Editing[56] | Gloria S. Borders and Randy Thom | Nominated | |
| 1995 Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor (Film)[57] | Gary Sinise | Won |
| Best Fantasy Film[58] | Won | ||
| Best Actor (Film)[59] | Tom Hanks | Nominated | |
| Best Music[59] | Alan Silvestri | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects[59] | Ken Ralston | Nominated | |
| Best Writing[59] | Eric Roth | Nominated | |
| 1995 Amanda Awards | Best Film (International)[60] | Won | |
| 1995 American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Feature Film[61] | Arthur Schmidt | Won |
| 1995 American Comedy Awards | Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)[62] | Tom Hanks | Won |
| 1995 American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases[63] | Don Burgess | Nominated |
| 1995 BAFTA Film Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Special Effects[64] | Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Doug Chiang, and Allen Hall | Won |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role[64] | Tom Hanks | Nominated | |
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role[64] | Sally Field | Nominated | |
| Best Film[64] | Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey, and Robert Zemeckis | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography[64] | Don Burgess | Nominated | |
| David Lean Award for Direction[64] | Robert Zemeckis | Nominated | |
| Best Editing[64] | Arthur Schmidt | Nominated | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay[64] | Eric Roth | Nominated | |
| 1995 Casting Society of America | Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama[65] | Ellen Lewis | Nominated |
| 1995 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor[66] | Tom Hanks | Won |
| 1995 Directors Guild of America | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures[67] | Robert Zemeckis, Charles Newirth, Bruce Moriarity, Cherylanne Martin, and Dana J. Kuznetzkoff | Won |
| 1995 Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama[68] | Tom Hanks | Won |
| Best Director – Motion Picture[68] | Robert Zemeckis | Won | |
| Best Motion Picture – Drama[68] | Wendy Finerman | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture[68] | Gary Sinise | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture[68] | Robin Wright | Nominated | |
| Best Original Score[68] | Alan Silvestri | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture[68] | Eric Roth | Nominated | |
| 1995 MTV Movie Awards | Best Breakthrough Performance[69] | Mykelti Williamson | Nominated |
| Best Male Performance[69] | Tom Hanks | Nominated | |
| Best Movie[69] | Nominated | ||
| 1995 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award) | Best Sound Editing[70] | Won | |
| 1994 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures | Best Actor[71] | Tom Hanks | Won |
| Best Supporting Actor[71] | Gary Sinise | Won | |
| Best Picture[71] | Won | ||
| 1995 PGA Golden Laurel Awards | Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award[72] | Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey, Charles Newirth | Won |
| 1995 People's Choice Awards | Favorite All-Around Motion Picture[73] | Won | |
| Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture[73] | Won | ||
| Favorite Actor in a Dramatic Motion Picture[73] | Tom Hanks | Won | |
| 1995 Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role[74] | Tom Hanks | Won |
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role[74] | Gary Sinise | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role[74] | Sally Field and Robin Wright | Nominated | |
| 1995 Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Screenplay Adapted from Another Medium[75] | Eric Roth | Won |
| 1995 Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actor 10 or Younger[76] | Haley Joel Osment | Won |
| Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actress 10 or Younger[76] | Hanna R. Hall | Won | |
| Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actor Co-Starring[76] | Michael Conner Humphreys | Nominated |
American Film Institute Lists
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.[77] However, Paramount and the film's producers did not pay him, using Hollywood accounting to posit that the blockbuster film lost money—a claim belied by the fact that Tom Hanks contracted for the film's gross receipts instead of a salary, and he and director Zemeckis each netted $40 million.[77][78] Additionally, Groom was not mentioned once in any of the film's six Oscar-winner speeches.[79]
"I don't want to sound like a bad version of 'the child within'. But the childlike innocence of Forrest Gump is what we all once had. It's an emotional journey. You laugh and cry. It does what movies are supposed to do: make you feel alive."
Various interpretations have been suggested for the feather present at the opening and conclusion of the film. Sarah Lyall of The New York Times noted several opinions that were made about the feather: "Does the white feather symbolize the unbearable lightness of being? Forrest Gump's impaired intellect? The randomness of experience?"[80] Hanks interpreted the feather as: "Our destiny is only defined by how we deal with the chance elements to our life and that's kind of the embodiment of the feather as it comes in. Here is this thing that can land anywhere and that it lands at your feet. It has theological implications that are really huge."[81] Sally Field compared the feather to fate, saying: "It blows in the wind and just touches down here or there. Was it planned or was it just perchance?"[82] Visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston compared the feather to an abstract painting: "It can mean so many things to so many different people."[83]
The feather is stored in a book titled Curious George, Forrest's favorite book, which his mother read to him, connecting the scene's present time with his childhood in the 1940s. The placement of the feather in the book is directly on a picture of the monkey walking on a tightrope. Whether that was intentional or not, it is very symbolic. The feather also has a correlation with Jenny's constant obsession with "becoming a bird and flying far far away" due to the abuse (sexual and physical) she endured from her father. She goes as far in the film as to ask Forrest if she jumped off the bridge, could she fly?
In Tom Hanks' words, "The film is non-political and thus non-judgmental".[36] Nevertheless, in 1994, CNN's Crossfire debated whether the film promoted conservative values or was an indictment of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Thomas Byers, in a Modern Fiction Studies article, called the film "an aggressively conservative film".[84]
"...all over the political map, people have been calling Forrest their own. But, Forrest Gump isn't about politics or conservative values. It's about humanity, it's about respect, tolerance and unconditional love."
It has been noted that while Gump follows a very conservative lifestyle, Curran's life is full of countercultural embrace, complete with drug usage and antiwar rallies, and that their eventual marriage might be a kind of tongue-in-cheek reconciliation.[30] Jennifer Hyland Wang argued in a Cinema Journal article that Curran's death to an unnamed virus "...symbolizes the death of liberal America and the death of the protests that defined a decade [1960s]." She also notes that the film's screenwriter, Eric Roth, when developing the screenplay from the novel, had "...transferred all of Gump's flaws and most of the excesses committed by Americans in the 1960s and 1970s to her [Curran]."[37]
Other commentators believe that the film forecast the 1994 Republican Revolution and used the image of Forrest Gump to promote his traditional, conservative values. Jennifer Hyland Wang observes that the film idealizes the 1950s, as evidenced by the lack of “whites only” signs in Gump's southern childhood, and “revisions” the 1960s as a period of social conflict and confusion. She argues that this sharp contrast between the decades criticizes the counterculture values and reaffirms conservatism.[85] As viewed by Political Scientist Joe Paskett,[32] this film is "one of the best films of all time."[86] Wang argued that the film was used by Republican politicians to illustrate a "traditional version of recent history" to gear voters towards their ideology for the congressional elections.[37] In addition, presidential candidate Bob Dole cited the film's message in influencing his campaign due to its "...message that has made [the film] one of Hollywood's all-time greatest box office hits: no matter how great the adversity, the American Dream is within everybody's reach."[37]
In 1995, National Review included Forrest Gump in its list of the "Best 100 Conservative Movies" of all time.[87] Then, in 2009, the magazine ranked the film number four on its 25 Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years list.[88] "Tom Hanks plays the title character, an amiable dunce who is far too smart to embrace the lethal values of the 1960s. The love of his life, wonderfully played by Robin Wright Penn, chooses a different path; she becomes a drug-addled hippie, with disastrous results."[88]
Others have interpreted the movie as adding to a discourse of race through the changing contours of white power and privilege during the civil rights era. From the standpoint that studies of whiteness work to dislodge whites from positions of power, Robyn Weigman has argued that Forrest Gump is a "filmic celebration of fundamental white goodness."[89] For example, when George Wallace fails to keep blacks out of the University of Alabama, Gump "symbolically joins the students when he retrieves one of their dropped books," though it is an innocent gesture. His innocent alignment with desegregation coupled with his attributes as a quintessential white—his name being that of Bedford Forrest, Ku Klux Klan leader—leads Weigman to conclude that the movie works to split "whiteness" from the white body, as "white power and privilege are displaced from any inherent relation—historically, ideologically, politically—to white skin."
James Burton argued that conservatives claimed Forrest Gump as their own due less to the content of the film and more to the historical and cultural context of 1994. Burton claimed that the film's content and advertising campaign were affected by the cultural climate of the 1990s, which emphasized family values and “American values” - values epitomized in the successful book Hollywood vs. America. He claimed that this climate influenced the apolitical nature of the film, which allowed for many different political interpretations.[90]
Burton points out that many conservative critics and magazines (John Simon, James Bowman, the World Report) initially either criticized the film or praised it only for its non-political elements. Only after the popularity of the film was well-established did conservatives embrace the film as an affirmation of traditional values. Burton implies that the liberal-left could have prevented the conservatives from claiming rights to the film, had it chosen to vocalize elements of the film such as its criticism of military values. Instead, the liberal-left focused on what the film omitted, such as the feminist and civil rights movements.[90]
Some commentators see the conservative readings of Forrest Gump as indicants of the death of irony in American culture. Vivian Sobchack notes that the film's humor and irony relies on the assumption of the audience's historical (self-) consciousness.[90]
The 32-song soundtrack from the film was released on July 6, 1994. With the exception of a lengthy suite from Alan Silvestri's score, all the songs are previously released; the soundtrack includes songs from Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Aretha Franklin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Three Dog Night, The Byrds, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Mamas And The Papas, The Doobie Brothers, Bob Seger, and Buffalo Springfield, Michael McDonald among others. Music producer Joel Sill reflected on compiling the soundtrack: "We wanted to have very recognizable material that would pinpoint time periods, yet we didn't want to interfere with what was happening cinematically."[91] The two-disc album has a variety of music from the 1950s–1980s performed by American artists. According to Sills, this was due to Zemeckis' request, "All the material in there is American. Bob (Zemeckis) felt strongly about it. He felt that Forrest wouldn't buy anything but American."[91]
The soundtrack reached a peak of second place on the Billboard charts.[91] The soundtrack went on to sell twelve million copies, and is one of the top selling albums in the United States.[92] The score for the film was composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri and released on August 2, 1994.
The film inspired a seafood restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, named for the shrimping company formed by Gump in the film, named for himself and his friend, Bubba. The first restaurant opened in 1996 in Monterey, California, and has since branched out to over 30 other cities in the U.S., Indonesia and other countries.[93] The restaurants' design feature memorabilia from the film. Licensed merchandise is sold at the restaurants.[94]
The screenplay for the sequel was written by Eric Roth in 2001. It is based on the original novel's sequel, Gump and Co. that was written by Winston Groom in 1995. Roth's script begins with Forrest sitting on a bench waiting for his son to return from school. After the September 11 attacks, Roth, Zemeckis, and Hanks decided the story was no longer "relevant."[95] In March 2007, however, it was reported that Paramount producers took another look at the screenplay.[96]
In the very first page of the sequel novel, Forrest Gump tells readers "Don't never let nobody make a movie of your life's story," though "Whether they get it right or wrong, it don't matter."[97] 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.[17] 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 of the film.
The film was mentioned in Cecil B. Demented, a John Waters film. In Cecil, there was a planned sequel for Forrest Gump called Forrest Gump, Gump Again.
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