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The Rewatchables ·

Forrest Gump

year 1994decade 90sdirector Robert Zemeckisgenre Comedygenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Sean Fennessey
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 17:42

The Vietnam rally

It was hard to come up with more than three candidates. The first is Forrest playing football, with a clip, and a tangent on Forrest as a kick returner against Devin Hester and Desmond Howard: he has no escapability, runs in a straight line and turns left like a car, so Alabama's blocking schemes deserve credit, and he is dubbed the best white kick returner ever.

There are only two football scenes and a host could have watched a hundred; Bear Bryant's reaction when Forrest breaks one is loved. One host did not know the coach was meant to be Bear Bryant on first viewing, the hat now gives it away; Alabama football was down when the film came out and is back, and the school was a smart choice because it carried Bear Bryant and the integration material.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 55:32

"life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get"

The nominated lines are the box of chocolates line, 'you don't know what love is', which is a really mean thing to say to somebody, 'sorry i had a fight at your black panther rally', 'stupid is as stupid does' and 'I'm not a smart man but I know what love is'. Both hosts agree the box of chocolates line is the signature quote of the movie, though pop culture instantly made it a cliche. Nearly an hour in, the hosts are proud that neither has done a Forrest Gump accent.

The film

Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis · Comedy / Drama

142 minutes

IMDbLetterboxdJustWatch
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Hanks Forrest Gump
Michael Conner Humphreys young Forrest Gump
Robin Wright Jenny Curran
Hanna R. Hall young Jenny Curran
Gary Sinise Lieutenant Dan Taylor
Mykelti Williamson Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue
Sally Field Mrs. Gump
Haley Joel Osment Forrest Gump Jr
Peter Dobson Elvis Presley
Dick Cavett himself

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

17:42

Most Rewatchable Scene

The Vietnam rally

The Vietnam rally

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:42Read transcript
  • It was hard to come up with more than three candidates. The first is Forrest playing football, with a clip, and a tangent on Forrest as a kick returner against Devin Hester and Desmond Howard: he has no escapability, runs in a straight line and turns left like a car, so Alabama's blocking schemes deserve credit, and he is dubbed the best white kick returner ever.
  • There are only two football scenes and a host could have watched a hundred; Bear Bryant's reaction when Forrest breaks one is loved. One host did not know the coach was meant to be Bear Bryant on first viewing, the hat now gives it away; Alabama football was down when the film came out and is back, and the school was a smart choice because it carried Bear Bryant and the integration material.
  • A second favorite is the scene in which Forrest's first intimate moment with Jenny ends abruptly, which one host and his friends imitated at bars for the rest of the nineties; it is given a zero percent chance of being the pick.
  • The Vietnam rally crowd was built with about 1,500 extras who were filmed on one side, moved to the other side and composited so it looked like 35,000 people.
  • The rally is fantastic: the fake Abby Hoffman (as transcribed) saying 'Forrest' very sharply, then the two running through the pool to meet each other feels like an iconic movie moment, and one host calls it the best scene in the movie.
  • Forrest getting rich while Jenny comes back is a great four-minute montage, with the lawn mowing and the bought church. The running scene is called appalling but its music choices are incredible, Jackson Brown's (as transcribed) Running on Empty straight into Bob Seeger's (as transcribed) Against the Wind, very late seventies; Zemeckis loves the obvious musical cue, as with Joe Cocker's Feeling Alright in Flight when Denzel falls off the wagon, and only Scorsese is worse.
  • Forrest meeting his son, with the exchange about the boy being named after his daddy, is a great, touching scene; Haley Joel Osment is incredible at about two years old. The meeting, the wedding and Lieutenant Dan's arrival can be lumped together.
  • One host picks the Vietnam rally as the best scene; the other agrees, offers the hurricane with Lieutenant Dan going to war on top of the mast as a fun candidate he had forgotten, and goes with the rally too. The film has no knock-your-socks-off scenes like Shawshank's opera scene, but the rally is pretty good.
  • The football scene connects directly to the previous scene where Forrest learns to run, so it is less individuated than scenes in other movies. 'Run, Forrest, run' with little Jenny and the braces breaking off is a candidate but short; the principal sleeping with Sally Field so Forrest can stay in school is funny but was hesitated over, and the first-encounter scene is not getting any votes.
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23:14

What’s Aged the Best?

Robin Wright; the redemption of Lieutenant Dan and Sinise's performance; the soundtrack, disputed and also filed unde...

Robin Wright; the redemption of Lieutenant Dan and Sinise's performance; the soundtrack, disputed and also filed under what aged worst

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:14Read transcript
  • Robin Wright looks great; one host is in her corner and in Michelle Pfeiffer's corner for life.
  • The soundtrack has smart choices, like the Midnight Cowboy theme when Forrest wheels Lieutenant Dan around New York in 1970, with Sinise hitting a cab and saying 'I'm walking here' from a wheelchair. One host found it too on the nose and hokey as an adult, the other liked it as over the top. There are at least four and in fact six Doors songs; rock critics consider the Doors terrible, but Zemeckis is not a rock critic.
  • The gimmick of Forrest intersecting with fifty years of American history should not have worked but is enjoyed, moving from Vietnam to the disco and post-disco eras; whether the scenes with historical figures actually work is saved for what aged worst.
  • The soundtrack identified cool songs for young people but is the most obvious soundtrack of all time; it set up a bad run of Creedence and Fortunate Son in every movie and calcified classic rock as the soundtrack for boomer filmmakers through the nineties, so it goes in what aged worst too. One host just likes hearing Running on Empty and the Doors because he never listens to classic rock anymore, like a jukebox from a dead era.
  • Movies have ruined songs: Sloop John B, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch by the Four Tops in Disney sports movies like Remember the Titans, and Ain't No Mountain High Enough.
  • The redemption of Lieutenant Dan has aged really nicely, with his wife Susan, titanium legs and the Apple investment; Sinise's performance is awesome.
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26:55

What’s Aged the Worst?

The soundtrack's obviousness; the CGI, especially John Lennon's mouth; Forrest's mother sleeping with the principal; ...

The soundtrack's obviousness; the CGI, especially John Lennon's mouth; Forrest's mother sleeping with the principal; the three-and-a-half-year run; Bubba; Jenny's journey, defended; Sally Field being only ten years older than Hanks

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:55Read transcript
  • The CGI was groundbreaking in 1994 but the Ringer office could do better now, and Jurassic Park a year earlier had much better CGI. John Lennon talking with his mouth moving to different words looks like the Ringer's social videos such as Bill Belichick as Scarface; the ping pong ball, by contrast, looks great.
  • Zemeckis and Hanks made a great deal of money from this film and Zemeckis also made Back to the Future, so the hosts ask him to spend 1.5 million on the CGI for a 25th anniversary home release; George Lucas did that with the original Star Wars trilogy and people flipped out, and Star Wars fans are called lunatics, with the producer asked to cut the remark and then told not to.
  • Forrest's mother sleeping with the school principal is a delightful scene that has probably aged badly in certain corners.
  • Forrest ran for three years, two months, fourteen days and sixteen hours, from July 5, 1976 to September 19, 1979.
  • Somebody running for three and a half years is absurd: who was getting his checks from the shrimp company, who ran the bank, who mowed his lawn; the defense is that he was a simple man who did not need possessions. The scene is called absolutely idiotic, nine months would have been fine, no decade exists where anyone would do that, and he does it in the same pair of Nike Cortez.
  • The movie is meant to be a parable, but the run is more than ridiculous, one of the few parts that should not make sense on screen. One thing to like is that he breaks out the Castaway beard as foreshadowing, though the makeup is not good; in Castaway it was real, and the lesson was learned.
  • Bubba has not aged well, too broad as a character, a second superhero with the same power; the counter is that two undereducated guys with sweethearts underscores the friendship of dumbass soulmates.
  • Jenny's journey is a tough thirty-year stretch of a rough home, bad men, coke and heroin, but the film showed many young people the effects of child abuse, an honest if not raw attempt; it is a little facile that everything in her life traces back to her childhood, and unfortunate that everything that happens to Forrest is great and everything that happens to Jenny is bad, yet Robin Wright is so empathetic that the character works and it has not aged poorly.
  • Sally Field is only ten years older than Tom Hanks and they co-starred in Punchline ten years earlier, which is obvious when Forrest comes home from Vietnam and she is aged up; it looks like someone twenty years old cancelled at the last second and they had to audible.
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37:00

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Dick Cavett

Dick Cavett

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:00Read transcript
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37:28

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Gary Sinise

Gary Sinise

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:28Read transcript
  • There was no Joey Pants in this one and no recognizable that-guy. The award was just launched for the that-guy who eventually stopped being a that-guy, and Gary Sinise arguably qualifies: he may not have been Gary Sinise yet, this movie may have made him Gary Sinise, and Chicago theater people from the Steppenwolf era would have known him.
  • Immediately before this he starred in ABC's adaptation of The Stand, which one host thought was great; he was in A Midnight Clear and an Of Mice and Men adaptation but had done little in movies, so the award goes to him.
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43:27

Apex Mountain

Tom Hanks; Gary Sinise; Robin Wright; Michael T. Williamson (as transcribed)

Tom Hanks; Gary Sinise; Robin Wright; Michael T. Williamson (as transcribed)

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:27Read transcript
  • Tom Hanks with back-to-back Oscars makes the case. One host wonders whether it should be Castaway; the other argues this is his most commercial movie, won his second Oscar and cemented him as the alpha dog in Hollywood, the most bankable actor, who could make any movie he wanted, and it is probably his most iconic performance. A League of Their Own is preferred as funnier but conceded not to be an apex since he had not won an Oscar yet.
  • Gary Sinise did ten seasons of CSI New York, and whether this can be topped is left as an open question. One host was never a giant Sinise fan, though he is really good here and creepy in Ransom in a way that made him dislike the man; he is also in The Green Mile, without many great performances, and the verdict is that this is definitely his Apex Mountain.
  • Zemeckis is not a yes: Back to the Future, a hundred out of a hundred times. One host had forgotten Zemeckis made Back to the Future and calls himself a dumbass; Who Framed Roger Rabbit is loved and What Lies Beneath is underrated, though not in one household.
  • Robin Wright is called her most complete performance with the most to do, unlike The Princess Bride where she is beautiful but barely on screen, and her career apex; the rejoinder is that she did not win the Oscar.
  • Michael T. Williamson (as transcribed) is an absolute yes; he had a good hoop show on Showtime, and Chris Ryan only wanted to be on this episode to talk about his performance in Heat.
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45:38

Is This Movie Better With…?

Yes, in the military scenes, as Lieutenant Dan or the boot camp drill sergeant

Yes, in the military scenes, as Lieutenant Dan or the boot camp drill sergeant

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:38Read transcript
  • Obviously yes: a younger, Heat-era Danny Trejo in his late thirties could have been Lieutenant Dan, which one host is fine with and the other disputes, or the drill sergeant in boot camp. Trejo as Sally Field's character would not work and the principal is rejected too; he belongs in the military scenes.
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46:51

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Wesley, Jenny's abusive boyfriend

Wesley, Jenny's abusive boyfriend

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:51Read transcript
  • Sinise dials it up a couple of times, especially on the boat in the hurricane, literally screaming lines like 'y'all never sink this boat' and 'you call this a storm', possibly inventing the 'they knew' moment; the hosts enjoyed it but call it Ruffalo-y. The joke is that Ruffalo is a bad actor when it is really one scene, and he is great in Spotlight.
  • The other nominee is Wesley, Jenny's abusive boyfriend, whom Forrest beats up at the Black Panther party: he goes super evil like Billy Zane in Titanic and looks like a combination of John Lennon and Vladimir Lennon (as transcribed), literally like a communist. The award goes to him, since Sinise is good in the movie.
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1:02:40

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Split: a ten-episode Jenny Gump series versus the film being better as a movie

Split: a ten-episode Jenny Gump series versus the film being better as a movie

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:40Read transcript
  • The question is introduced as a new category because it has come up on every podcast. The series pitched is Jenny Gump, perhaps more Amazon than Netflix, running from 1968 through 1980 and probably raunchy, basically Vinyl; Forrest is barely in it, and it is imagined in a world where the movie does not exist.
  • The other view is that this movie is better as a movie and would not have worked as a Netflix series.
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1:03:34

Who Won the Movie?

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:34Read transcript
  • Tom Hanks, with no other answer. From a piece one host wrote about Hanks seven years ago: he is in almost every scene and has to play a dimwit in a blatantly manipulative movie without crossing into the Robin Williams zone; Robin Williams as Gump in a Terry Gilliam movie would probably be too funny, and it is interesting he was not considered.
  • Hanks has to pull off a crazy accent that should not have worked and is so annoying neither host attempted it; one take is that he does not pull it off and it does not matter. According to the internet research he did not want to go too southern and was pushed to go further, and normal Tom Hanks voice slips out when he finishes assembling his rifle in boot camp and shouts for the drill sergeant.
  • He has to pull off the terrible cross-country sequence without making you turn on the movie, make you believe Jenny would want to sleep with him, and believably be a football player, soldier, Vietnam vet, shrimp boat owner and jogger with a heart and soul who is slightly smarter than he lets on, all while you buy the 70 IQ.
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Tom Hanks
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Mentions across The Rewatchables

Recorded movie reference

Apollo 13

The Rewatchables · aired August 25, 2026

Forrest Gump is listed in the sourced research for this episode. The precise discussion has not been linked yet.

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