Forrest Gump 1994

The Film:

Two of my absolute favourite films of all time were released in this year. Neither of them are Forrest Gump.

I did rather like Forrest Gump at the time - particularly the soundtrack, which makes for a really good compilation CD, including the Alan Silvestri theme tune. I also really liked Tom Hanks - and still do.

However, I fear that time may not have been good to this one. Partly because of the schmaltzy portrayal of an "inspirational" person with learning difficulties (and a lot of very lucky breaks), partly because the technological "wow" moments are probably not that wow-ish now - and also because I'm not entirely sure how the historical elements of it are going to look - we're essentially watching something from twenty five years ago which is mainly set a further twenty five years in the past. Hmmm.

The Ceremony:

March 27th 1995 - this year at the Shrine Auditorium. Another three and a half hour marathon - but it got the best ratings in over a decade.

Whoopi was asked but turned it down this year, so they went with David Letterman - who made such a hamfisted botch of the whole thing that it just showed how tightly scripted (and not by him) his own show was. The most infamous cringey bit is attached - I think both Uma and Oprah got over this a lot more quickly than Letterman did!

Other Notable Winners That Night:

Tom Hanks got his second Best Actor award in a row, Jessica Lange was Best Actress. Young upstart Quentin Tarantino won for the Screenplay of Pulp Fiction - and future Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi won the Oscar for Best Short Film for the decidedly weird "Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life" (who'd a thought that Malcolm Tucker had an Oscar!)

However, the most important win of the night (imho) is the singular Oscar that my absolute favourite film of all time won. Best Costume went to the genius designers of the frocks worn by the stars of the faaaaabulous Priscilla Queen of the Desert!

Best Song:

Yes, you've guessed it, it's a Disney. Having said that - it's one of the best. Three of the five nominees were from The Lion King - and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" was the one that won Sharon (to appropriately give him his drag name) her Oscar.....

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

The simple answer - any other of the nominees other than Forrest Gump. They are all better films! It's a classic year. We have Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show and - my other all-time favourite from this year - The Shawshank Redemption.

Other nominees that didn't make it to the Best Picture category but wipe the floor with Forrest Gump - Priscilla (of course!), The Lion King, The Madness of King George, Bullets Over Broadway, Ed Wood, Heavenly Creatures.....

It just shows how much a good marketing campaign can make a difference at the time (something we will see much more of in the 90s, unfortunately!) but also that the cream will rise to the top eventually. Shawshank now appears on many more "best of" lists (often at number one, or second behind The Godfather) than Forrest Gump does.

Our Verdict:

Lieutenant Dan

I'm trying really hard not to judge Forrest and co too harshly just for being the sort of film it was in the year it was, up against all those other films. When I was in my early 20s I went to see Forrest Gump and really enjoyed it - but now I'm in my late 40s and I'm struggling to see why.

Clearly the film itself hasn't changed, but I certainly have - and the extra 25 years of post-Forrest history since it was released have definitely changed things. Watching it again now, it's far clearer than it was at the time that Hollywood went for the safe ultra-American patriotic flag waving option rather than the cross-dressing, prison-escaping, British-swearing, murdering alternatives that were on offer. What a shame.

Jenny

I feel, therefore, that this is another film that needs a Good/Bad/Ugly review. First, the Good. Tom Hanks really shouldn't have got the Oscar, but he's always worth watching and just the thought of anyone else trying to play that part is frankly horrifying. I love Tom Hanks, and I like him in this, so he's definitely a good thing about the film. Secondly, the cinematography is great. It's a good film to look at. The technology is impressive for the time, and holds up far better than I thought it would, from Forrest being patched in to various world events to the disappearance of Lt Dan's legs (sparing Gary Sinise the trials that Jon Savage went through in The Deerhunter!). Thirdly, that soundtrack is still great - in fact, I sang along to keep my strength up for the rest of the film.

Jenny!!!! (again!)....and I bet you struggled to read
any of these captions without doing the voice!

Now, the Bad (and there may be some controversial views here). I'm generally a fan of Sally Field but I really couldn't stand her as Forrest's mom. The southern drawl that worked so well in things like Places In The Heart and Steel Magnolias just grates on me here. I find the character unsympathetic and the performance cartoonish, and that spoils things. The whole story, when it really comes down to it, is also pretty bad. If it's meant to be believable and realistic, then it really isn't. If it's meant to be magic-realism, with a fantastical element, then it doesn't go far enough. It just sits awkwardly somewhere in the middle. Forrest is portrayed as a simple, limited, innocent and honest man who manages to influence Elvis, become a war hero, a millionaire businessman, a sporting hero and a national inspiration - and yet, with the themes of war, abuse, HIV/AIDS and bereavement, none of this is really played for laughs or even whimsy. It just doesn't work. Forty-something year old me isn't buying it!

Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates

As for the Ugly. The character of Jenny comes under this category. She really bothers me and I can't feel any sympathy for her. Whatever the reasons/excuses, Jenny is unpleasant and mistreats Forrest in all sorts of different ways throughout the film. She is selfish and exploitative and never really gets her redemption - not even through the emotionally manipulative way her story ends. Linked with that is the portrayal of a the "developmentally challenged" Forrest. Where Rain Man still (imho) triumphs, Forrest Gump completely fails. We're made to feel patronisingly sorry for Forrest, ("ah, bless him"), particularly by the way he's dressed, sitting bolt upright on the bench, trustingly telling anyone that sits next to him every little detail of his life. Remember - this is a millionaire-businessman-war-hero - but we need to feel like we're better than him. Because if that's the case, we too can live the American Dream with the same success that he does.

In the Trump era, I can't help feeling that this film would go down a bit too well with his supporters. The small liberal shout-outs in the story, such as his Black best friend (who dies) and the anti-war hippies like Jenny (who dies) are drowned out by some very MAGA-esque patriotism. I'm pretty certain that this wasn't the intention of Winston Groom (who wrote the original novel) or even Tom Hanks and Bob Zemeckis (both out and proud Democrats!) - but it's what I see this time round, so I don't think I'll rush to see it again.