History Film / ForrestGump

There's an Indian adaptation called ''Laal Singh Chaddha'', which is scheduled to be released in South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia on August 11, 2022.

** Forrest's namesake General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who founded the Ku Klux Klan and to whom Forrest's mother said they were related "in some way," is played by Tom Hanks.

* IdenticalGrandson: Lieutenant Dan's ancestors are all played by Creator/GarySinise, and Forrest's namesake General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, is played by Tom Hanks even though Forrest Gump and Nathan Bedford Forrest are unrelated. Bubba's mother and her ancestors are played by the same actress.

''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 [[{{EpicMovie}} Epic Historical]] Comedy-Drama film starring Creator/TomHanks and directed by Creator/RobertZemeckis. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom.

-->'''Forrest:''' ''[narrating]'' When I got home, I had no idea, but Mama'd had all sorts of visitors.
-->'''Mama Gump:''' ''[on-screen]'' We've had all sorts of visitors.

* UngratefulBastard: Lieutenant Dan is initially mad at Gump for saving his life, in part because he had [[AnArmAndALeg his legs blown off]] and feels like life isn't worth living anymore. He eventually [[CharacterDevelopment gets better]].
** Also Bubba's mother. Rather than being happy that a member of her late son's platoon cared enough for him to come pay his respects and make an effort to live out Bubba's shrimping dream for him, she simply calls Forrest an idiot with a contemptuous look on her face. Nor is there any indication that she showed him any gratitude for the share of the Bubba Gump Shrimp fortune that she received.

* OnlyAFleshWound: Forrest gets shot in the buttocks in Vietnam and suffers no long-lasting ill effects. In fact, he gets all the ice cream he can eat at the hospital. [[DeconstructedTrope This is about the only part of the body where this can realistically happen]] (thus, why it's called a "million-dollar wound"). It also happens to infantrymen ''a lot'', as one's natural inclination when crawling is to stick your butt in the air. Army training tries to curtail this, but not everyone remembers.
** This might qualify as a ShoutOut to Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront which includes a scene during which one of the experienced squad members places a panicked recruit’s helmet over the recruit’s raised buttocks, for this reason. This becomes a DeconstructedTrope when the recruit is last seen having sustained a serious wound there, which the more experienced soldiers regard as certainly crippling and probably fatal; one contemplates MercyKilling but is dissuaded on the grounds that the shelling is over and witnesses are starting to appear.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: [[spoiler:Subverted. When Forrest finds out that he has a son with Jenny, he asks if he's smart or dumb (he can't bring himself to say it, he just places his hand on his chest to indicate himself. Jenny reassures him that Forrest Jr. is one of the smartest in his class.]]
** [[spoiler:Played straight to a small extent. In the final scene, when Forrest Jr. is getting on the bus to school, he is, like Forrest himself in several earlier scenes, wearing a blue and white plaid shirt; he also introduces himself to the same bus driver, Dorothy Harris, in more or less the same way that Forrest did. As well as, of course, the fact they both have the same first name.]]

---> '''Forrest:''' Lt. Dan, what are you doing here?\\

* AngryBlackMan:
** Jenny's Black Panther acquaintances are very angry, because they were an angry group over all. One of them gets into Forrest's face and tells him just how angry he is about how black men are sent to Vietnam "to fight and die for a country hates them."
** Averted with Bubba. Bubba is totally genial and friendly in all his scenes.

* EpicMovie: The film has an EnsembleCast that includes Creator/TomHanks, Creator/RobinWright, Creator/GarySinese, and Creator/SallyField. It also is set from the 1950s to the 1980s and shows Forest's experiences (and [[BeenThereShapedHistory accidental influence]]) on several major events of American History of the time. Such as: the start of [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis Presley's]] Career, the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, the [[Main/TheSixties 60s]] Counter-Culture, the [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar Cold War & opening relations with Maoist China]], The Watergate Scandal, etc. He also meets and interacts with many famous figures from the time period, such as [[{{UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy}} Three]] [[{{UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson}} U.S.}} [[{{UsefulNotes/RichardNixon}} Presidents]], George Wallace, Legendary College Football Coach Bear Bryant, Music/JohnLennon, and many others.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Forrest teaches Music/ElvisPresley his hip-swinging dance, inadvertently exposes the Watergate scandal, coins the phrase "Shit happens," and creates the design for the smiley face logo.

''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 film starring Creator/TomHanks and directed by Creator/RobertZemeckis. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom.

* BarefootSuicide: Subverted. Jenny absentmindedly slips out of one of her shoes while standing by a bridge, asking if she'd fly if she jumped off. Forrest is a little worried to hear her say that. Later on she actually does try to commit suicide, but doesn't take her shoes off and ultimately grows too scared to jump off.

** Bubba's momma serving dinner to a white woman, then being served dinner by a white woman.

* TheGhost: Jenny's sisters are spoken of but never seen.

* HistoricalFiguresInArchivalMedia: Almost all of the historical figures and celebrities appear in the film as footage of themselves. [[note]] With the exception of Dick Cavette[[/note]]

* BastardBoyfriend: Jenny goes through a bunch of them, in particular the hippie who slaps her and tries to defend his actions as being angered by the Vietnam War and bullies Forrest for being a veteran.

* AnAesop: The moral of the movie as stated by Forrest in the end is essentially, while people don't know the cards fate will deal them, they also choose what to do with them. They both have a hard start in life, but Forrest runs ''towards'' his challenges, while Jenny always runs ''away''. This is shown throughout the movie, as Forrest often meets with success with the opportunities he's given through no action of his own but always makes the most of them by giving 100% of his effort and being a {{Determinator}}. Contrast that with Jenny, who is smart, beautiful and creative while constantly putting herself in places to do some serious meaningful things (the Civil Rights Movement, protesting the Vietnam War, etc.) but never gets anywhere because she can't or won't work through her own emotional trauma at the abuse she suffered as a child. Forrest succeeds in spite of his mental handicap while Jenny fails because of her emotional handicap because Forrest always faces his trials, obstacles and jobs head-on while Jenny always runs when things get bad.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Jenny tells Forrest that her dream is to "be up on a stage with just [her] guitar and [her] voice". She gets that dream, all right, but she neglected to mention whether she'd be wearing anything, and when the time comes, she isn't.

* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Lieutenant Dan is mad when Gump saves him and says he [[DeathSeeker wishes he died with honor instead]].

* DumbIsGood: Forrest is "stupid is as stupid does", which, in practice, means that he is polite to everyone he meets, and never considers sinister undertones in what he hears or sees.

* IWasJustJoking: It was strongly implied that LBJ's "desire" to see the wound on Gump's behind was actually intended to be a joke. Forrest, being Forrest, [[ExactWords interprets this literally]], and proceeds to [[{{Mooning}} oblige his "request"]] on live TV, causing Johnson to chuckle to himself and say "Goddamn, son!"
** This is actually a historical reference of sorts: LBJ once pulled his shirt up to display a scar from gallbladder surgery to the press, as a way of dispelling a rumor that he had had cancer. Furthermore, behind closed doors LBJ was also famous for such things as taking meetings -- in person -- while on the toilet, and flopping out his own Johnson.
** Also, possibly, a ShoutOut to actor Lee Marvin, who served in USMC in the Pacific War and (by some accounts) was wounded in the buttocks, resulting in a severed sciatic nerve.
* IdenticalGrandson: Lieutenant Dan's ancestors are all played by Creator/GarySinise and Forrest's namesake General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, is also played by Tom Hanks (despite not being related). Bubba's mother and her ancestors are played by the same actress.
* IdiotHero: Forrest Gump becomes, among other things, a war hero and a successful shrimp boat captain based on single minded determination and a lack of sense to know that what he's doing is stupid/crazy/dangerous etc.

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Forrest runs back and forth in hostile territory and under fire to recover all the injured people from his unit; played with, in that his main objective was to find Bubba.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, in a PetTheDog moment, inquires what hotel Forrest is staying at and instead books him a room at a better one. Unfortunately for him however, he booked Forrest a stay at the ''Watergate Hotel'', and it is ''Forest'' who later reports the break-in (albeit unintentionally) that prompts the Watergate Scandal and Nixon's resignation from the Presidency.

* PottyEmergency: Happens to Forrest, simply saying "I gotta pee!" as he meets [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]]. Drinking fifteen Dr Peppers will do that to you. A RunningGag in the book, to the point that [[spoiler:it becomes his senatorial campaign slogan]].
* PragmaticAdaptation: While the screenplay stays fairly close to the novel's structure (mostly as it relates to Forrest getting involved in life events), the character of Forrest is, in the novel, fairly smart; he just has extreme difficulty articulating his thoughts. The book is also rather dark and mean-spirited in several instances.

* SexForServices: A rather loose variation, when it comes to Mama Forrest and the school principal.
-->'''Hancock:''' Your mama sure does care about your schooling, son!

* WhamLine: Jenny reveals a shocking one about herself.
-->'''Jenny:''' I have some virus, and the doctors, they don't know what it is, and there isn't anything they can do about it.
* WhamShot: In the first shot of Lieutenant Dan in the military hospital, he is so depressed and angry that he takes the ice cream Forrest offers him and wordlessly disposes of it in a bedpan. The next shot shows why he's so depressed and angry: Due to his battle injuries, both of his legs were amputated.

* AbusiveParents: Jenny's father was sexually abusive. Forrest doesn't realize this, at least not to begin with.

** Bubba's montage where [[LongList he talks about the many ways that shrimp can be cooked]] ends with him and Forrest [[ToothbrushFloorScrubbing scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes]], which is a punishment. '''Why''' Bubba and Forest were punished is never explained, although some think it was because Bubba was rambling too much to Forrest about shrimp, and it was distracting them from their duties.

* HowWeGotHere: Twice. The framing narrative is Forrest talking with people at a bus stop.

The film tells the tale of Forrest Gump, a good-natured but simple-minded man from [[TheDeepSouth Greenbow, Alabama]], telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. As the story continues, you find Forrest [[BeenThereShapedHistory touching important events and people]] from [[TheFifties the 1950s]] to [[TheEighties the 1980s]] (ranging from Music/ElvisPresley to several Presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall [[TimeShiftedActor and]] Robin Wright).

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Forrest is the most even-tempered individual you could ever hope to meet, but he has a BerserkButton when it comes to anyone hurting Jenny. He is also incredibly strong due to being a football star and war hero.

* BullyingTheDisabled: As a boy, Forrest Gump had to wear leg braces to help him walk after he got sick from polio. When a group of bullies threaten young Forrest and with Jenny's command "Run, Forrest, run!", he flees with such fervor that he shatters his braces and bolts away with astonishing speed. He also has a mental disability and gets called "stupid" for it, which he hates. Lieutenant Dan, who lost both legs from an injury while they both served in Vietnam, flies [[BerserkButton into a rage over this and being called a "cripple"]].

* ChekhovsSkill: Forrest's ability to run very fast. It allows him to escape from bullies and gets him a place on the football team, but it really pays off in Vietnam when he saves the members of his platoon, but especially Bubba as he has to outrun a friendly airstrike.

* ClusterFBomb: According to Forrest, Abbie Hoffman enjoyed dropping these at the Vietnam War protest rally, and that everyone at the rally enjoyed hearing him dropping them. Being a PG-13 movie, however, we only hear [[PrecisionFStrike one instant of the word]], if you don't count a preceding one that is [[SoundEffectBleep obscured by Hoffman's microphone feedback]].

* DeathSeeker: Lt. Dan, who's lost an ancestor in every major American war, and is looking forward to his turn. He gets over it after [[spoiler:surviving Hurricane Carmen]]. In the book's sequel ''Gump and Co.'', [[spoiler:he gets killed by friendly fire during Operation Desert Storm]].

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Zigzagged to hell and back. Anytime Forrest reunites with and/or attempts to pursue a relationship with Jenny, he's shot down and loses her again and again. Averted by the end of the movie when Jenny finally settles down from her chaotic lifestyle after having Forrest Jr. and asks Forrest to marry her, [[spoiler:then cruelly subverts THAT when Jenny dies not long after their marriage. Basically, Jenny never stays with Forrest for long, no matter what]].

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Jenny is suffering from some sort of viral disease, which hasn't been identified, and for which there's no treatment. Justified, since the term "AIDS" would not be coined until several months after her death, although WordOfGod confirms that it was hepatitis C (which also wouldn't be correctly identified until 1989).

* AlmightyJanitor: After his myriad accomplishments that leave him a war hero, shaper of history, and gazillionaire, Forrest accepts the prestigious job of groundskeeper at his old high school football field, which he ends up doing for free because he likes it so much. Hey, at least he's keeping busy.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: As noted in the {{Foreshadowing}} entry, Jenny tells Forrest that her dream is to "be up on a stage with just [her] guitar and [her] voice". She gets that dream, all right, but she neglected to mention whether she'd be wearing anything, and when the time comes, [[ExactWords she isn't]].

** Forrest ends up with one on his cross-country jogging spree. Shaving wasn't on his list of priorites at the time.
** Lieutenant Dan also has one when he first meets Forrest again after the war, when he is bitter and dissillusioned about being "cheated out of his destiny". He shaves it off eventually.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Cancer-stricken Mama and AIDS-stricken Jenny look as pretty and healthy on their deathbeds as they have throughout the entire film. However, when we see his Mama and Jenny, it is believed to be in the early stages, as the doctor was just leaving his Mama's room after finding out she has cancer.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: Forrest does a lot of this, from teaching Music/ElvisPresley his hip-swinging dance to inadvertently exposing the Watergate scandal, as well as coining the phrase "Shit happens" and creating the design for the smiley face logo.
* BerserkButton:
** Call post-Vietnam Lieutenant Dan a cripple all you want, but he ''will'' hurt you if you dare call Forrest any variety of "stupid."
** Try to even lay a hand on Jenny whenever Forrest is around. You'll get your ass beat black and blue by a man in a silent fury.

* AdultFear: Forrest is concerned when he learns [[spoiler:[[WhatIfTheBabyIsLikeMe young Forrest is his son]].]]
-->'''Forrest:''' But... [[spoiler:Is--is he s-smart, or is he...?]]\\
'''Jenny:''' [[spoiler:He's very smart. He's one of the smartest in his class.]]

It's the tale of Forrest Gump, a good-natured but simple-minded man from [[TheDeepSouth Greenbow, Alabama]], telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. As the story continues, you find Forrest [[BeenThereShapedHistory touching important events and people]] from [[TheFifties the 1950s]] to [[TheEighties the 1980s]] (ranging from Music/ElvisPresley to several Presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall [[TimeShiftedActor and]] Robin Wright).

Forrest's journey takes him from his native Alabama to the jungles of Vietnam, from walking in corrective leg-braces to running across North America, from misunderstood country boy to college football star to champion ping-pong player to shrimp tycoon, without ever quite losing the undying optimism of the era. On the other hand, Jenny's life takes her from a {{Catholic Schoolgirl|sRule}} to being in one of the early issues of ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'', from a flower child of the '60s to a hippie protester of the '70s. Between her and Forrest, they cover all the significant cultural emblems of that time period, all the while their lives intersect with each other repeatedly.

Nominated for 13 UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for Best Picture, Actor (Hanks), Director (Zemeckis), Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth), Editing (Arthur Schmidt), and Visual Effects. It's worth noting that this film, along with ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}'', was largely responsible for audiences seeing Hanks as more than just a comedic actor, and led to a long string of critically acclaimed performances in dramas which continues to this day.

Groom published a sequel to the original novel, ''Gump & Co.'', in 1995, but due to UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting cheating him out of his fair share of royalties from the film's smash success, refused to license the rights to an adaptation, snarking that "I cannot in good conscience allow money to be wasted on a failure". Producers went ahead with sequel plans anyway, with a draft script being handed in on September 10, 2001 - when 9/11 happened one day later, the film's very [[TheNineties '90s]] approach to referencing and commenting on past events instantly became dated and all sequel plans were dropped. As a result, the film is one of the most successful to never receive a sequel.

** Perhaps a bit oddly, the author stated that his dream actor for the role was Creator/JohnGoodman, who is...not that.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Does this with Jenny (making her a vapid party girl), Forrest's mom (who loved her son but was much less in charge), and to an extent Forrest himself, who in the books is an IdiotSavant and much less InspirationallyDisadvantaged. For example, in the novel, it's Jenny who winds up pressuring Forrest to stop meandering from one weird occupation to the next and finally settle down, Lieutenant Dan is seemingly just using Forrest's abilities in a series of money-making schemes, and Forrest himself is much more crass and outspoken. For example, Forrest refers to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar as "a bunch of shit" multiple times in the novel, farts in public, and uses racial epithets toward both blacks and Asians.

* HistoricalFiguresInArchivalMedia: Almost all of the historical figures and celebrities in the film all appear as footage of themselves.

* HistoricalFiguresInArchivalmMedia: Almost all of the historical figures and celebrities in the film all appear as footage of themselves.