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"FORREST GUMP" (1994) (Tom Hanks, Robin Wright) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Extreme Extreme Extreme Heavy Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate Moderate Moderate Mild Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Extreme Heavy Moderate Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Drama: An Alabama man recalls his life so far, which spans three decades and important historic events. PLOT: In 1981, Forrest Gump (TOM HANKS) sits at a bus stop and, noticing a nurse's white shoes, begins to tell the story of his life, starting with his first pair of shoes. The story then extends through three decades, carrying along his life-long love, Jenny (ROBIN WRIGHT), and many events of historical importance. In flashbacks and through his narration, Forrest attends the University of Alabama through a football scholarship and is present when George Wallace blocks the doorway in protest of the desegregation of the school. He joins the Army and goes to Vietnam, where he meets Lieutenant Dan Taylor (GARY SINISE) who becomes just as important in his life as Jenny. He plays ping-pong for the United States in its quest for good relations with China. He meets Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and gets caught up in a protest rally against the Vietnam War. He also ends up at the headquarters of the Black Panthers and all the while, his concern and love for Jenny remain, despite the path that her life takes, one of drugs, the hippie movement, posing in Playboy and performing at a sleazy Memphis theater, and devastation. He also starts his own shrimping company after promising a friend he would go into that business, and there's still more that happens to him, including marathon running which redefines the definition of it. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Older kids may be interested in seeing history in a different light, while fans of Tom Hanks who have not already seen this will definitely want to. Fans of special effects might be interested too. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For drug content, some sensuality, and war violence. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: TOM HANKS plays Forrest Gump, short on I.Q. but big on history finding him, as he lives through events that shape the nation as well as him. His devotion lies with his mother, his life-long love Jenny, and his friend, Lieutenant Dan Taylor. He doesn't curse, but he uses weaponry in battle and punches two people and pushes down two others, sensing them as threats against Jenny. ROBIN WRIGHT plays Jenny Curran, Forrest's newfound friend in childhood and his love in life, though she sees him only as a very good friend most of the time. Her life diverges severely from Forrest, with her performing nearly in the nude at a sleazy theater, joining the hippie movement, and taking drugs. She curses a few times and in addition to the above, is also the victim of some violence. GARY SINISE plays Lieutenant Dan Taylor, Forrest's commanding officer in Vietnam. A hardened, battle-ready man, the Army seems to be his life when he's introduced, though his life changes greatly after he's badly injured in Vietnam, at first for the worst. He curses, smokes and drinks throughout a majority of the movie. SALLY FIELD plays Forrest's mother, a determined woman who wants the best for Forrest, telling him in so many words that his I.Q. should not be factor into who he is, that he's just like anyone else, and can do anything just like anybody else. Her words of advice affect him throughout his life. MYKELTI WILLIAMSON plays Benjamin Buford 'Bubba' Blue, whom Forrest meets on the Army bus, and who drives Forrest in part of his life's work. Bubba, while somewhat like Forrest, immediately tells of his love for shrimping and has it memorized about how shrimp can be cooked and what kinds of shrimp dishes there are. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-13-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 2 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Brief sexually-related song lyrics are present, while a magazine features a bare breast. One sex act is shown onscreen while another occurs slightly onscreen through fogged car windows and then offscreen, and a nearly nude women plays guitar onstage. Violence consists of several people being shot dead, while fighting and other physical contact occurs. The result of the violence has very bloody results, while those scenes and other moments of peril might be unsettling or suspenseful for some viewers. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while all sorts of potentially imitative behavior is present. Drugs, such as cocaine, are present and used, while one character drinks and various others smoke. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Jenny's father calls out angrily for her, stalking through the cornfield with a beer bottle in one hand. As Forrest narrates Bubba's family history, one of his great-grandmothers is shown serving shrimp to a plantation owner and on the table is a glass of wine, and a squat bottle sits nearby. A man rises up from a front table at a sleazy Memphis theater to hand Jenny some cash, but she kicks his hand away and he responds by throwing his drink at her. At the soldiers' base in Vietnam, one soldier passes by carrying cases of Budweiser and on a long table are different kinds of beers. At the grill, one soldier drinks from a beer can, and two beer cans are seen near a checkerboard. Around a campfire, a hippie puts a cube of a drug on Jenny's tongue and she takes it in. Lt. Dan drinks from a bottle in a paper bag as Forrest pushes his wheelchair. One alcohol bottle is near the TV in Lt. Dan's apartment. While looking for more alcohol, Dan examines an empty bottle and throws it down, and he finds another empty bottle, but throws it onto a table and does the same to a third one. Lt. Dan asks Forrest, "....why don't you get your ass down to the corner and get us another bottle of Ripple?" A half-full glass of beer sits in front of Lt. Dan at a bar. Vodka bottles are part of the clutter on another table in Lt. Dan's apartment. At a disco nightclub, Jenny snorts a line of cocaine, her hair blocking the sight of it. Pills are seen on a table, and a man puts down a syringe, having injected himself with something. Jenny grabs at the cocaine on a small mirror and spreads it across the mirror. BLOOD/GORE Archival footage is shown of the assassination attempt on George Wallace and, lying on the ground, a blot-sized bloodstain is seen on Wallace's shirt. Forrest tells of Lt. Dan's family line, which has seen one family member die in each American war. The last Taylor to die, in WWII, has blood on three of his fingers and a bloodied hand belonging to somebody else is to the upper left of him. In Vietnam, Forrest's platoon is suddenly ambushed, with one soldier shot in the back of the head, a spray of blood flying away from him and that solider dropping dead. Forrest grabs each of his fellow soldiers wounded in the field and carries them back to safety. One, Cleveland, has a bloodied cloth over his right eye and another, Dallas, has a charred arm. Forrest finds another soldier, badly wounded, very bloody, his insides having been shot open. At the Army hospital, Forrest pulls back a curtain, expecting to find Lt. Dan, but instead finds a heavily bandaged soldier with dried blood stains on his bandages. When Wesley gets up after being punched by Forrest, blood from his nose is on his hands. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Three kids don't allow Forrest to sit next to them on the bus, on account of him and his leg braces. A rock hits Forrest on the back of his head, thrown by a young bully who throws another one that lands hard on his face. The bully taunts him with, "Are you dumb, or just plain stupid?" Off-screen, another kid exclaims, "Look, I'm Forrest Gimp!" Another rock bounces off of Forrest's shoulder and when he's told by Jenny to run, he does, and the other boys chase after him on their bicycles. The same scene is repeated in high school, with one of the bullies throwing a rock at Forrest's neck, Forrest running, and the young men chasing him down in a truck, getting precariously close to him and throwing more rocks at him. Seeing Forrest run clear across the football field faster than any of the players playing on it, a visiting football coach asks who he is and one of the men with him says, "That's Forrest Gump. Just a local idiot." Noticing crowds in front of the entrance to the University of Alabama, Forrest asks a classmate what's going on and is met with the reply, "Coons are trying to get into the school." Forrest then tells the classmate that when "coons" (as in "raccoons") tried to get into his house, his mother just chased them off with a broom, and the classmate replies with, "No, not coons, you idiot. N*ggers." Despite her college being girls' only, Jenny sneaks Forrest into her room. Forrest tells Jenny that he thinks he ruined her roomate's bathrobe and Jenny replies, "I don't care. I don't like her anyway." On the Army bus, two men refuse to allow Forrest to sit next to them. At a sleazy Memphis theater, a man at a table right at the stage rises up to give Jenny some cash and she kicks his hand away and he responds by throwing his drink at her. At a Vietnam protest rally in Washington D.C., a police chief takes all the microphone cords out of the amplifier, cutting off what Forrest is saying and angering the rally's organizers. Jenny argues with Wesley and he slaps her down hard. In disbelief over Forrest receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, Lt. Dan says to him, "They gave you, a moron, an imbecile who goes on television and makes a fool out of himself in front of the whole damn country…" While Lt. Dan's actions such as this one are unpleasant, it is justifiable with him a Vietnam veteran, cynical about a lot, including God and questioning God's existence, and perhaps even feeling abandoned by the government. Lenore kisses Forrest and gets on top of him, but he pushes her away from him, knocking her down to the floor and she exclaims, "Oh, what are you, stupid or something?" Lt. Dan shouts at the women not to call them stupid and before they leave, one of them derisively tells him that he should be in a sideshow and that he's pathetic. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. Jenny's father stalks through the cornfield calling out for Jenny and she and Forrest run away, hiding from him. A truck -- being driven and ridden on the bullies while chasing after Forrest -- gets precariously close to him before he speeds up even more and runs farther away from them. Archival footage is shown of assassination attempts on George Wallace, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. A hole next to a road in Vietnam is blown up in order to check it for anyone hiding and anything dangerous. Forrest's platoon is ambushed after the rain stops, and one soldier is shot in the back of the head and drops dead. There are numerous explosions, much gunfire, bullets whizzing by throughout the whole attack, a soldier being blasted over by gunfire in a forest, and a napalm bombing by fighter jets of which Forrest barely stays ahead. At a protest rally in Washington D.C., a police chief grabs and pulls out all the microphone cords in an amplifier and the feedback squeals loudly. Lt. Dan tries to light a cigarette and then his wheelchair starts rolling down an incline faster and faster. GUNS/WEAPONS Rifles, handguns, napalm, and rocks are the main weapons featured in various sequences, carried and/or used to threaten and kill others, and the rifles and napalm are especially present during the Vietnam ambush. See "Violence" for details. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Get that pig unf*cked and on the treeline!" "The war in Viet-f*ckin'-nam!" "Nobody gives a horse's sh*t who you are, pus ball!" "How can you watch that stupid sh*t?" "I should have known it was just going to be some bullsh*t hassle," "Who gives a sh*t about shrimping boats?" "You just ran through a big pile of dog sh*t," "Sh*t happens" (seen on a bumper sticker), "Get your maggoty ass on the bus, you're in the army now," "Get a load of the t*ts on her," "I'm living off the government t*t," "Eee! Eee! Eee!...," "Stupid is as stupid does," "Hey dummy!" "Are you dumb, or just plain stupid?" "Look, I'm Forrest Gimp!" "Run, Forrest, run!" "That boy sure is a running fool," "Hey, stupid!" "Quit it!" "You better be runnin'!" "Who in the hell is that?" "Run, you stupid son of a bitch! Run!" "Run, son of a bitch, run!" "Coons are trying to get into the school," (slang for n*gger), "N*ggers," "I gotta pee," "You're not even a lowlife scum-sucking maggot!" "My name's Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump," "Jesus H. Christ," "Hey, g*ddamn it!" "Hey, you stupid jerk!" "Shut up yourself!" "Just shut up!" "G*ddamn it, kick some ass!" "Get down! Shut up!" "Man, what the hell's goin' on?" "Step it up. Look alive out there," "Fire in the hole!" "Mount 'em up!" "Spread out! Cover his back!" "Get that pig up here g*d damn it!" "G*ddamn it!" "Run, man!" "You son of a bitch!" "Get your ass out of here," "G*d damn, son," "Come on, man," "I'll beat your head in, you g*ddamn oinker!" "Jesus Christ!" "That's so right on, man," "Who's the baby killer?" "I think you should go home to Greenbow, Alabama!" "G*ddamn bless America," "Hey, hey, hey, are you blind?!" "Jesus this, and Jesus that," "What a crock of sh*t," "Mr. Hot Wheels!" "Where you been baby cakes, huh?" "Oh, what are you, stupid or something?" "You shut up!" "Don't you ever call him stupid!" "You should be in a sideshow," "You're so pathetic!" "You big guy!" "Loser," "You freak!" "Are you crazy, or just plain stupid?" "Are you stupid or something?" "Where the hell's this God of yours?" "Come on, you son of a bitch!" and "I'll be damned." Young Forrest dangles from a tree and then hangs upside down by his leg braces. When his leg braces break as he's running, Forrest starts running faster and faster, at a shockingly fast clip. Bullies in elementary school and high school throw rocks at Forrest. Bubba recites a laundry list of how shrimp can be cooked and different shrimp dishes. It may be enticing for some kids to imitate the crawling movements of the soldiers in Vietnam. JUMP SCENES There is a cut to a shadow of a helicopter racing through Vietnam, and the helicopter blades whirl quite loudly. During the Vietnam sequence, already laden with many jump moments such as the continuous gunfire, one shot shows Forrest looking over at three soldiers, who are promptly blown backwards and dead by a shot fired by the enemy. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A moderate amount of suspenseful music plays in the film, especially during the Vietnam sequence. Alan Silvestri's score during the rest of the film is occasionally overbearing. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) A song called "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix, played when Forrest is at the headquarters of the Black Panthers, includes the lyrics: "And I gave her the gun. I shot her!" At a disco nightclub, where Jenny snorts a line of cocaine, KC & the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" plays and the chorus is heard: "Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight, get down tonight." PROFANITY At least 2 "f" words, 8 "s" words (1 seen written), 2 slang terms for female breasts ("t*t," though not used to reference breasts, and "t*ts"),, 6 hells, 6 S.O.Bs, 5 asses, 3 damns, 19 uses of "G-damn" 2 uses each of "Jesus Christ" and "Oh God" and 1 use of "God." SEX/NUDITY The principal of the school Forrest's mother wants him to go to makes a sexual proposition toward her in exchange for admitting Forrest to the school. As Forrest sits on a swing outside his house, a lamp is seen in a window moving around, implying sexual activity and a quickening "Eee! Eee! Eee!" sound from the principal is heard. In another shot, the principal comes out, mopping his face with a handkerchief and tells Forrest, "Well, your mama sure does care about your schooling, son." He looks at Forrest and says to him, "You don't say much, do you?" and Forrest responds with the same sounds the principal made. One of the boarders at the Gump home is a young Elvis Presley, who tells Forrest to show him again the "crazy little walk" he did and he uses it in his performances, one of which is seen on a TV in a shop window, which Forrest and his mother stop at, and it is implied that Elvis' dance moves were deemed by society at that time to be too sexual, evidenced by Forrest's mother telling him, "That's not for children's eyes." Forrest describes Jenny's father as "…a very loving man. He was always kissing and touching her and her sisters," but doesn't realize that the man was actually a molester. Forrest emerges from a shower in the locker room, drying off his privates and some of the hair down there is briefly seen. Jenny and the guy with her, parked in front of her college, make out in the car. Only movements are seen from outside and at one point, Jenny exclaims, "That hurts," but doesn't seem to mind it after. Drying off from the rain in her door room, Jenny wears a slip with a white bra that contains some cleavage. She takes off the slip, revealing her panties, and sits down with Forrest, who stares at her breasts and has no shirt on. Jenny asks Forrest if he's ever been with a girl and he innocently answers that he sits with a few in his home economics class. She then unsnaps her bra, slipping it down her front, and part of her right breast can be seen briefly from behind. She takes Forrest's right hand and brings it up to her right breast, off camera, then down further and Forrest looks and suddenly climaxes. Forrest apologizes, and Jenny puts back on her bra, telling Forrest that it's all right. She then says to Forrest, "I'll bet that never happened in Home Ec," and Forrest chuckles briefly and says, "No." He then looks down at the bathrobe that's been wrapped around his lap and he tells Jenny that he thinks he ruined her roommate's bathrobe. While Forrest washes his hands in what presumably is President Kennedy's private bathroom, he looks over at two framed pictures, one of which is Marilyn Monroe, with dress straps partially fallen down her arms, with sizable cleavage shown. One of Forrest's fellow soldiers throws him a Playboy magazine, telling him, "Get a load of the t*ts on her." Bare breasts are seen briefly in the magazine before Forrest picks it up and on the cover is a woman in a red polka-dotted bra. Jenny is on one page, posing in her college sweater, some cleavage noticeable and on the page opposite her is another girl with one bare breast exposed. Forrest learns that Jenny's performing in a show in Memphis and goes there, which turns out to be a sleazy theater, where a woman on stage, covering herself, collects cash from appreciative male patrons closest to the stage. The emcee slaps the woman on the rear as she walks offstage. The next act is Jenny, with the stage name Bobbie Dylan, playing a guitar nearly nude, save for the guitar covering her breasts and the thong she wears, seen from behind. Jenny objects to what Forrest did in trying to carry her off the stage and Forrest says to her that they (the men) were trying to grab her and she responds, "Lots of people try to grab me." Lt. Dan emerges from a tent, with no shirt on. Jenny runs to a van in a free-flowing skirt, in knee-high boots. At a bar, Lt. Dan introduces Forrest to "the cunning Carla and long-limbs Lenore," who each show a little cleavage. At the apartment, Carla sits on Lt. Dan, taking off her shirt, revealing a white bra stocked with cleavage. Lenore kisses Forrest and gets on top of him, but he pushes her off. Later, Forrest tells Lt. Dan that "she tastes like cigarettes." At a disco nightclub, "Get Down Tonight" by KC & the Sunshine Band plays, and includes the lyrics, "Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight. Get down tonight." Jenny walks into Forrest's bedroom, getting into bed with him and then on top of him, taking off her gown and having sex with him, her bare back shown. SMOKING Several characters smoke, including Forrest's bus driver who smokes twice, the barber who smokes at least three times, and Lt. Dan who also smokes at least three times. At the apartment, Carla sits on Lt. Dan, taking off her shirt, revealing a white bra stocked with cleavage. Lenore kisses Forrest and gets on top of him, but he pushes her off. Later, Forrest tells Lt. Dan that "she tastes like cigarettes." TENSE FAMILY SCENES Forrest describes Jenny's father as "…a very loving man. He was always kissing and touching her and her sisters," but doesn't realize that the man was actually a molester. In one scene, Jenny's father calls out for her from the house and then goes stalking through the cornfield looking for her. Jenny and Forrest run from him and then drop to the ground where Jenny tells Forrest to pray with her, for her to become a bird so she can fly far away. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The breadth of history covered in "Forrest Gump" is cause for long discussions. There's the rise of Elvis Presley, the desegregation of the University of Alabama, footage of assassination attempts against George Wallace, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan; President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War and its effects; the hippie movement, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, relations with China, the Black Panthers, Watergate and the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the creation of the Apple computer company, and the arrival of the AIDS virus. Special effects not only put Forrest Gump in history's grasp, but has him interacting with President Kennedy, President Johnson, and President Nixon, voices of them which have been performed by actors, and new physical and mouth movements computer-created. Robert Zemeckis makes films that lean toward the fantastical, such as the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", "Contact," and "The Polar Express." At the same time, the characters he creates can only exist in the movies, such as Forrest Gump, based on his brushes with history, and Doc Brown. Film history also reveals many other filmmakers who have created other such characters. The arc of Tom Hanks's career, playing men who are generally good and straightforward and determined. VIOLENCE A rock hits Forrest on the back of his head, thrown by a bully, another one hits his face, and a third bounces off his shoulder. The same bullies in high school throw rocks again at Forrest, but also chase him down in a truck, getting precariously close to him before he really starts running. At a University of Alabama football game, Forrest runs clear across the field, past the end zone after a touchdown, and keeps running, inadvertently knocking over three band members. Archival footage is shown of the assassination attempt on George Wallace, who's shown lying on the ground, a blot of blood on his shirt. Sitting outside Jenny's dorm building in the rain, Forrest looks over at Jenny in a car with a guy, thinks she's being hurt, and gets up and runs to the car, opens the left-side door, leans in and punches the guy four times. While she sings, nearly nude, a man nearest to the stage rises up to hand Jenny some cash and she kicks his hand away. He gets angry and throws his drink at her, and Forrest walks over to the offending man, grabs him, and pushes him down. Another man at the table reacts and gets up, but Forrest pushes him down too. Forrest tells of Lt. Dan's family line, which has seen one family member die in each American war, and each family member is shown falling back to the ground, mortally wounded, though not in a graphic manner. The last Taylor to die, in WWII, has blood on three of his fingers and a bloodied hand belonging to somebody else is to the upper left of him. Forrest's platoon blows up a hole at the side of a road in Vietnam, and Lt. Dan tells Forrest to check it, handing him a gun, which Forrest aims in front of him and then goes inside the hole. After four months of rain cease, Forrest's platoon is ambushed, and it begins with one soldier getting shot in the back of his helmet, a spray of blood drifting away, and that soldier drops dead. In a split second, there's gunfire all around (which lasts almost throughout the entire sequence), shouting, confusion, explosions, and when Forrest looks over at three soldiers near him, they're suddenly blasted away in an explosion. In a forested area, one shot sends a soldier cartwheeling, and Forrest finds fellow soldiers who are wounded and takes them to safety, dropping them hard to the ground and going back for another and still another. He picks up a mortally wounded soldier, and while running back to the waterline with him, fighter jets zoom in from overhead, carpet-bombing the area with napalm, explosions that Forrest barely stays ahead of. At the Army hospital, a hand belonging to Lt. Dan reaches out to Forrest from the floor while he's sleeping and drags him down to the floor. At a war rally, a police chief (or at least a man who looks like one in that uniform), yanks all the microphone cords out of the amplifier and one of the organizers recognizes what has been done, pulls the man's nightstick from his side pocket and threatens him with it (heading off-camera) while other people try to figure out where the cords go. A Black Panther holds a gun on Forrest while he's being searched. At the headquarters of the Black Panthers, Jenny and Wesley argue and Wesley slaps her down. Forrest sees this and tackles Wesley across a table, then cornering him on the floor, punching him seven times. When Wesley gets up, blood is seen on his hands. After Lenore, shocked at being pushed away by Forrest, asks him if he's "stupid or something," Carla, the girl on Lt. Dan, asks the same thing and Lt. Dan shoves her to the floor. Archival footage shows the second assassination attempt on President Ford, the scene erupting into chaos. Jenny throws her shoes and a few rocks at her childhood home and one of the rocks breaks an already-broken window. Archival footage of the assassination attempt on President Reagan is shown. Reviewed off DVD / Posted August 27, 2007