Forest Gump

The film Forrest Gump represents the ultimate American dream in a land of opportunity. It is a history lesson that takes the viewer from Alabama, where Forrest Gump, an improbable modern hero and idiot savant, was born, across America, and back again to the fishing village of Bayou La Batre on the Gulf coast. Governor George Wallace is once again seen standing in the schoolhouse door as he vows "segregation now, segregation forever"; Coach Paul "Bear"Bryant, the legendary University of Alabama football coach, recognizing how Forrest can run, makes him a Crimson Tide gridiron star. Eventually Forrest comes home again to his sweet home Alabama (represented also in song) and makes a fortune in a shrimping business. He had promised his "best good friend," Bubba, that he would go into business with him when the two boys returned from the war. But Bubba was killed and didn't return, so Gump gives half of the million dollars he makes to his friend's family in the small fishing village of Bayou La Batre.

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Based upon the novel by Winston Groom, Eric Roth transformed the book into a screenplay that grossed over $636 million dollars and also won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1994. The film affirms possibility and hope: no matter how grim things may seem, it is possible, as Gump says, "to put the past behind you and move on." He shows that a gimpy kid in leg braces can become a football hero, win a Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in Vietnam, become a Ping Pong champion, crisscross America from sea to shining sea, and marry his childhood sweetheart,