Tom Hanks reveals his biggest issue with ‘Forrest Gump’
In terms of Tom Hanks’ many great contributions to cinema, few are as influential, memorable, and treasured as Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump. Based on the Winston Groom novel of the same name, the 1994 film follows the titular character as he unknowingly interacts with some of the great historical figures of the 20th Century, all while changing the lives of his friends, family, and his beloved Jenny.
At various award shows, Forrest Gump ruled the roost. It won six Academy Awards, including ‘Best Director’ for Zemeckis, ‘Best Actor’ for Hanks, and ‘Best Picture’ overall. Hanks also won a Golden Globe, a SAG, and a People’s Choice Award for his work as the bumbling yet good-natured Alabamian. In 2011, it was selected for preservation by the US National Film Registry, establishing it amongst the elite of modern popular cinema. However, it’s not without its detractors.
“Nearly a decade after it earned gazillions and swept the Oscars,” Entertainment Weekly wrote in 2004. “Robert Zemeckis’ 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.”
They’re not the only ones who have a problem with Forrest Gump. Some scholars have interpreted the movie as being covertly right-wing; the protagonist is rewarded for serving his country and following the rules, while the free-spirited Jenny is shamed throughout her life and dies tragically young. Others also take issue with Hanks’ portrayal of a mentally disabled man, especially in an age where authenticity in movies is receiving renewed attention.
Hanks himself addressed some of this criticism in a 2022 interview with the New York Times. He called assertions that the movie represented a rose-tinted nostalgia “not inaccurate”, especially in comparison to Pulp Fiction, another film from the same year that many critics said was more reflective of contemporary society. “The problem with Forrest Gump is it made a billion dollars,” he claimed. “If we’d just made a successful movie, Bob [Zemeckis] and I would have been geniuses. But because we made a wildly successful movie, we were diabolical geniuses. Is it a bad problem to have? No, but there’s books of the greatest movies of all time, and Forrest Gump doesn’t appear because, oh, it’s this sappy nostalgia fest.”
While Forrest Gump might not have made “a billion dollars”, as Hanks exaggerated, it was the second-highest-grossing film of the year, behind only Disney’s The Lion King. It wasn’t just Quentin Tarantino’s nihilistic classic that the film beat out at the Oscars, as The Shawshank Redemption was also nominated that year. You can see why so many people believe that the Academy got it wrong.
“Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece without a doubt,” Hanks admitted, but he wasn’t going to give up on his own work that easily. “There is a moment of undeniable heartbreaking humanity in Forrest Gump when Gary Sinise — he’s playing Lieutenant Dan — and his Asian wife walk up to our house on the day that Forrest and Jenny get married… I might get weepy thinking about it now.”
The Forrest Gump/Pulp Fiction/Shawshank Redemption debate will continue to rage on, but the fact that there’s a debate at all shows why cinema is such an enthralling medium. Movies are not one thing to one person. The fact that these films, with their wildly differing philosophies, can exist alongside each other and all have a separate claim to being the best film ever made is exactly why the art form will always find an audience and always challenge us.
