I Finally Got Around to Watching Forrest Gump and It Was Unbelievably Bad

I don't like big studio films and I certainly wouldn't like something like Forrest Gump. I don't think I've ever seen a Tom Hanks movie.

I couldn’t watch it now: there are no cute guys in it.

Fascinating, OP! Really invites me in to converse with you about it. Now watch The Greatest Show on Earth (1952 Best Picture) and report back to us.

Ordering some Bubba Gump Shrimp right now!

R2 I feel that way about Le Mépris.

I thought it was alright when I saw it in ‘95. I was also 7.

Somebody keep the sharp items away from Tom Hanks. I know he'll be devastated when he hears this news.

Horrible movie with conservative messages. Absolutely vile treatment of AIDS. Reaganite dreck.

Agree with R8. The message seems to be that if you question authority or search for meaning, you die from AIDS. Instead, you should just float along in life like an idiot and you'll be fine.

I didn’t refer to the movie as Forest Dump for no reason back then.

R1 is so avant garde

Agreed, OP. I actually saw this in the theater and I don't know how I sat through it, but people raved about it at the time.

Bah.

OP, may I recommend "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles" instead? Watch it and you'll enjoy every minute. It's the best film ever made, everyone says so.

Um first off, the director said Jenny dies of hepatitis, not AIDS. Second wtf did Jenny do to "go against the system"? She was a hippie for a couple of years like most people her age became then settled into being a drug addicted boxing bag for men.

I fucking loathe this movie.

There was nothing about Jenny that was rebelious or anti authoritarian. She sung folk songs cuz they sounded pretty, never uttered an actual political statement during the whole movie...are we counting her becoming a junky and sleeping around as some sort if "fuck you!" to the establishment? Because...

I didn't like it when it came out and I don't want to give it a second chance now.

OP - have you ever gotten around to see Terms of Endearment? I disliked that one even more.

Of the best picture nominees Quiz Show actually holds up the best.

OP I suggest Gone With The Wind, a movie made during the Civil War era. It's amazing they had color back then. Otherwise I wouldn't watch it. Anyway it has lots of drama and excitement. Also you get to see all the useful skills slaves learned from their masters and how many of them were cheerful doing their slaving. Mammy could be cranky but she loved her master and stay with her after the war working for free.

Tom Hanks? More like Tom Hacks!

I watched it recently for the first time in about 20 years and found it pretty effective, even if emotionally manipulative. There were slow parts for me, but I liked it overall (more than Pulp Fiction, which came out the same year). And it's the only movie where I kind of wanted to fuck Tom Hanks.

If I recall, the book Forrest is a moron who drinks, takes drugs, and fucks (and fucks around), but because he is incredibly lucky, suffers no consequences. The movie made Forrest into a naive innocent.

Forrest Gump is a painfully shitty movie with a really rancid underlying message.

Like Kramer vs Kramer, Rain Man, The Shape of Water, The Artist, 12 Years a Slave . . .it's an Oscar winner that doesn't hold up and all of them were IMHO overrated to begin with.

R19, what?!?!? GWTW was produced in the late 1930s, and the Civil War ended in the mid1800s…

I hated it and vaguely remember seeing Slingblade around the same time and wondering why we were making movies about imbeciles. 1994-96 was the golden age of dumbasses in Hollywood.

Will never see this or Titanic. I am not interested

OP is next going to watch and evaluate “The African Queen.”

The African Queen?

I kept wishing he'd choke to death on that box of chocolates.

OP if you want to see good 90s films check out Citizen Ruth, Living in Oblivion, To Die For, Go, A Simple Plan, Jackie Brown.

[quote]Um first off, the director said Jenny dies of hepatitis, not AIDS.

In the book. They changed it to HIV/AIDS for the movie to make it relevant. Many people were getting sick and dying, left and right, in the early '90s; it became alarming. A combination drug treatment known as the "AIDS cocktail" wasn't introduced until 1995, a year after this film was released.

Furthermore, in the film, Jenny dies on March 22, 1982. What became known as AIDS was first observed by the Centers for Disease Control in June 1981. Initially, the condition was believed to affect only homosexual men and was given the acronym GRID (gay-related immune deficiency), but when it became evident that more than gay men were being infected -- and not just through sex -- the name was changed to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in July 1982. The virus that causes AIDS was officially identified as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) in May 1986.

At any rate, it is no coincidence that Jenny's death occurred in the midst of all that. The whole movie is about Forrest Gump taking part in major U.S. events of the late 20th century. The film never outright states that it's HIV/AIDS -- it ends when scientists were still uncertain what it was -- but 1994 audiences deduced what it was supposed to be.

The author hated many of the changes and has renounced the film.

Agree, OP, i hated it at the time as well. It is not only that is sentimental and manipulative (there are many other movies like that, even good ones) but the underlying message, with its eulogy of simple minded idiocy is horrible.

Not surprisingly, ultra-liberal DLers despise FORREST GUMP, because it's a celebration of Americana, not a reproach. 🙄

Never saw it. Consciously avoided it all these years.

R17, I haven't gotten around to watching Terms of Endearment yet . I'll look forward to loathing it some day.

R31, I saw most of those when they came out—perfectly good movies.

Her father was molesting her, that’s why she was so messed up.

This and Momma Mia were the only 2 movies I walked out on. Both are shit.

R34, go fuck yourself, MAGAt traitor.

I walked out of Evita!

I still really like this movie, it's about growth and the human experience. His relationships (Forrest) with mama, Bubba, Jennie and Lt. Dan made the film.

Jennie was troubled. Lt. Dan was troubled. Sometimes troubled people can move past their difficult experiences and find a way to live, happily or at least at peace. Sometimes they can't. Sometimes life has knocked them around too much and left them with things that can't heal (like Jennie).

Forrest was discounted and bullied and yet he found a way to succeed because he wouldn't quit. He didn't quit on Bubba, he didn't quit on Lt. Dan and he didn't quit on Jennie. I don't think that's such a bad message.

[quote]I don't think I've ever seen a Tom Hanks movie.

Splash is the only one I've ever seen.

[quote]OP I suggest Gone With The Wind, a movie made during the Civil War era.

Oh, dear.

Hate it!

It venerates stupidity, ignorance, and fluke.

It sends the message that to question, to think independently and critically is wrong, and to do so you will end up a failure or, worse, dead.

[quote]I walked out of Evita!

What did Hanks play in that?

Cinematographically, it's a well-made film, it was entertaining to 12-year old me. But yes, manipulative and unsubtly right-wing all the way through. The anti-war protestor beats Jenny because LBJ makes him mad, while all the 'best young men' of the US go fighting in Vietnam. Lt. Dan loses his legs but ends up making 'his peace with God'. Forrest has a good heart and his black friend has a dream and they end up super rich. And on and on.

Never saw and, with this, never will. For some reason,, I wasn't drawn to watching it.

Op, do come back when you see Terms of Endearments. It is a very manipulative movie and i dislked it originally and even after a second viewing hate the director a little but for this,

But it is actually a classic, very effective and fine acted melodrama. Forrest Gump, on the other hand, is jiust conservative garbage (it also features two of my hate favourite actors, Hanks and Field).

Idk how conservative it was, it showed Vietnam in a pretty bad light, and people pushing it as assholes.

Also, if Jenny died of Hepatitis C or AIDS what difference would it make? Both were transmitted in many similar ways.

I'll take Movies for Morons for $800 Alex.

I recall Winston Groom thought Hollywood made a mess of his book.

The real Forest Gump cursed and swore, had sex and resembled a large John Goodman.

R51 a large John Goodman!

Besides "Jeanne Dielman" mentioned above, another good antidote movie to "Forrest Gump" is "Last Year at Marienbad", also with Delphine Seyrig. Gump and Marienbad share some plot devices, but in other ways they're very different.

Best Picture Nominees:

FORREST GUMP

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL

PULP FICTION

QUIZ SHOW

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

Forrest Gump was my least favorite of the five nominated pictures.

"Forrest, now that I've been a disco hooker and let a team of Black Panthers run a train on me, and now that I'm infected with a fatal mystery disease, I'll finally toss you a pity fuck."

"Okay, Jenny! And I'll raise tha AIDS baby!"

[quote] because it's a celebration of Americana,

So as far as Defacto is concerned, “Americana” is basically the perspective of a moron. Got it.

It's the movie version of a McMansion.

She fucked him before widdle Forrest. Thats how ge came into the world.

I really do hope Jenny relapsed after getting pregnant so she didnt give Forrest jr HIV.

R5, I find Michel Piccoli quite sexy in Le Mépris, but then, I love a hairy back on a balding man.

I walked out of Evita!

"Splash" is funny, but John Candy steals the show.

This thread is pitiful.

OP, what the hell were you thinking? I knew as a teenager just from seeing the preview that it would be an enormous pile of sentimental horseshit.

Watch Bad Boy Bubby, an Australian film also about a tard. Heaps better.

Also, Jurassic Park, zero interest in seeing these films

I love the movie, but appreciate the soundtrack more.

R9 or a less cynical view is that impassioned, sympathetic pretty characters were not immune from the AIDS epidemic. Anyone could get it. This is one my favorite films.

R55 😂 Ok that was hysterical.

I can't believe I've never seen Forrest Gump. I've watched a ton of movies but somehow never have seen it.

I've never seen Avatar, r68.

Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care.

I watched it for the first time on TV. When it was over I said to my husband, "I know Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar just last year, but he's going to win it again for "Forrest Gump!"

R44, Books and movies with the protagonist as a naif, an innocent, or even a mentally challenged person didn't originate with FG.

The comments here show why this movie and this main character are still discussed: through Forrest Gump we see ourselves. Were we, back in the day, pro- or anti-Vietnam? How did we regard returning soldiers?

Did we take up running as a hobby? Did we go through a hippie phase? Are we loyal to our friends and family? Are we in our own way patriotic? Do we persevere?

To me, though, the message isn't political, isn't topical, isn't anti-intellectual (although, you know, "The Best and the Brightest," ahem). To me, this sentence encapsulates the main theme:

"I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is."

Innumerable stories, songs, and works of art have attempted to describe, define, and display love. "Forrest Gump" succeeds as well as any, from Mama to Bubba to nation to Lieutenant Dan and always to Jenny--- honestly, selflessly, devotedly, purely, as demanded by his very soul.

As his friends call him, he is Forrest Gump. He can be no other.

R70, Forrest Gump did not air on TV before Hanks won the Oscar. The film was re-released to theaters after Oscar noms were announced.

Well, maybe I saw it in a theater.

My memory is getting old!

Whatever one might think of the film, I found alot of Z-ers and millenials are incredibly harsh towards Jenny and dismiss her as a manipulative user. She is outright hated by some....did we forget to teach them that things like being raped repeatedly as a little girl might affect your emotional stability and availability? Jesus...

I thought it was wonderful when I was 12. I cried when he was telling Jenny he knew what love was.

Reading the book was disillusioning. He didn't go into space or land in with the Guinea people.

R74 Cause these fickle cunts think all minority and women characters should be absolutely noble perfection with no flaws. Their film criticism is influencing modern cinema.

I saw in theaters when it first came out...i was in my early 20s. It was the first movie I ever cried at. I don't know what part specifically.

Now I think of it as gimmicky.

R72 Good point. I don’t think any film has ever aired on television before the ceremony.

[Quote] My memory is getting old!

so are your lies!

Are you supposed to like it as an adult? It's a movie for like 10-14 year olds I thought.

I wonder if anyone else was considered for the role of Forrest.

Meh. Parts were very funny to me but i was much younger then. The scrimp, Lt. Dan was great, but as an adult watching it I am just not impressed. Btw, I liked Jenny a lot and never thought she was using him.

[quote]Forrest has a good heart and his black friend has a dream and they end up super rich.

Well, Forrest and Bubba's family. Bubba, not so much.

Forrest appropriatd Bubba and stole his recipes.

[quote]Besides "Jeanne Dielman" mentioned above, another good antidote movie to "Forrest Gump"

Agreed. Because even watching a woman peel potatoes for 10 minutes is more entertaining than Forest Fucking Gump.

[Quote] Are you supposed to like it as an adult? It's a movie for like 10-14 year olds I thought.

I thought the same thing about Barbie

Even if it were for 10-14 yr olds which is not it could still be a great film. Both Toy Story 3 and the Lion King are incredible films that are also kid films.

R70, maybe you saw it on VHS (on your TV).

I liked the movie but found that it said everything it had to say in one viewing. I like to watch old, well-loved movies repeatedly. I have a couple hundred DVDs and choose them depending on my mood, and have found that many deepen as I grow with them.

I re-watched Cool Hand Luke just the other day for the zillionth time and really saw the collapse of Dragline at the end as if for the first time. He ruled that prison camp and was infatuated with Luke. When Luke broke out and began to run and Dragline took it for granted they’d pair up, and Luke just didn’t want it, Dragline’s loss of *absolutely everything* in that moment hit me in places I only have experience with now, as I never did when I was younger.

But I never pick Gump to re-watch, even though I liked it. It just doesn’t resonate for me.

R79, WTF? Being mistaken about an event decades ago isn't "lies," you dope. Moreover, the mistake was hardly pertinent, for WHEREVER and WHENEVER I saw "FG," I made the remark about TH and the Oscar.

Same as I did about Frances McD after viewing "Three Billboards....," and Jessica Chastain after watching "TEOTF" (and posted this prediction on DL). I've said the same for months about Cillian. I admit to being wrong about the winner for 2023.

(^.^} comma down girl

I also remarked the same when I saw GS act in GWTK and GH in ZDATWTSFOR. I told all my F they would win the O and then they did. I am a G. Now if only DJKD would HJBN because we all know IP is a BW.

I never watched it. I could smell the stench of frau/Live Love Laugh shit - with a side helping of I Pulled Up My Own Bootstraps - wafting from it.

I have enjoyed sentimental movies - extremely sentimental ones, even - in the past but there was something about Forrest Gump that was just a big "no" from me.

I didn't like it either but I dislike people like R1 who would never even deign to see a studio movie. What an asshole. No, we are not impressed.