Movie #26: Forrest Gump

Movie #: 26
Movie Title: Forrest Gump
Year Released: 1994

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Notable Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field

Short Description: Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny Curran, eludes him. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #76
IMDB.com: #19
Ranker.com: #7
Lifed.com: #42
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #6
FlickChart.com: #62



Date Watched: 11/12/2016

Grade: 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding)
Adjusted Grade: 5 out of 5 (Exceptional)

Rationale: If there's any one movie that shows off what an outstanding actor Tom Hanks is, Forrest Gump is it. I absolutely love Hank's portrayal of the titular character with good intentions and a heart of gold despite his cognitive shortcomings and constant detractors. I've also always appreciated how well Gump's story intertwines with events throughout history and that technology in the 90's, while obviously not as good as today's, was advanced enough to put him into old video footage and have historical figures "address" him. What made me reconsider my grade and bump it up to the highest I can give is the scene where Forrest talks to Jenny's grave and lets her know how their son is doing. It's always been a touching scene, but as a father with two young children it made me more emotional than I had been during any previous viewing. A tear or two may or may not have been shed and to me that's a strong indicator of an exceptional movie.