Receiving six Oscars and being later preserved in the United States National Film Registry, there’s no arguing that Forrest Gump is one of the top films of the ’90s. The movie, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Robert Zemeckis, details multiple decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a mentally slow man who often accidentally makes or influences history just by virtue of being Forrest Gump. Whether it’s playing football for Bear Bryant, meeting three US presidents, fighting in Vietnam, becoming a ping pong champion, or starting a shrimp boat business, though, Forrest maintains his love for his childhood sweetheart Jenny, even while she takes a very different and tumultuous tour of the era.
Often naive, though immensely goodhearted, Forrest thought the best of everyone and looked at things very plainly. With all of his virtues, Hanks’ Forrest Gump also ended up being endlessly quotable despite the fact that the movie is 21-years-old. So, let’s take a look at some of the best of the many quotes from everyone’s favorite simple minded, ping pong playing, marathon runner.
“Run, Forrest! Run!” — Jenny Curran
This quote was surely the worst thing about this movie for anyone named Forrest post-1994. Jenny’s simple advice to Forrest as a child would serve him well throughout his life, helping him get away from bullies, dominate the football field, getting him out of dangerous situations in Vietnam, and making him a sort of celebrity later in life.
“Stupid is as stupid does.” — Forrest Gump
For a man who was called stupid all his life, Forrest was very matter of fact about things. He knows he may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but he knows plenty of other things.
“Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it.” –Bubba Blue
Bubba sure knew his way around a shrimp. Bubba’s love of shrimp and Forrest Gump‘s success would later urge Viacom to open a chain of seafood restaurants worldwide, aptly titled Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
“Jenny and me was like peas and carrots.” — Forrest Gump
Forrest and Jenny were inseparable as kids and somehow kept finding each other as adults. Even if Jenny wasn’t always willing to accept it, Forrest was there for her regardless.
“Sorry I had a fight in the middle of your Black Panther Party” — Forrest Gump
For my money, this is the most (possibly unintentionally) comedic moment of the film. Forrest probably has no idea who the Black Panthers are, but he’s pretty sure he just ruined their party by getting into a fight. Poor Forrest.
“Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?” – Lieutenant Dan Taylor
“I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir.” — Forrest Gump
It’s amazing how Forrest’s dimness can be misunderstood for a pretty sharp comeback to the brusque Lt. Dan’s question. Maybe he wasn’t as slow as everyone thinks he is. Also, Dan is looking pretty Jesus-y himself with that haircut. I wonder if there is B-Roll of Forrest calling him out for that and then maybe doing a tight 5 minutes on how Dan’s apartment smells like [insert ill-smelling homemade Momma culinary creation here] a week after the dog threw it up.
“Have you ever been with a girl, Forrest?” — Jenny Curran
“I sit next to them in my Home Economics class all the time.” — Forrest Gump
Again, are we sure Forrest isn’t playing slow to suit his needs? Also, did anyone else forget how non-innocently that scene ends and how justified Jenny’s roommate was in reporting them? It’s one thing if she sounded the alarm because Jenny had a boy in the dorm room for a bit of light petting, but what if that now-ruined bath robe was a present?!
“My momma always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” — Forrest Gump
Momma was clearly wise beyond her years despite the fact that Sally Field is only ten years older than Tom Hanks.
“Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don’t have to worry about money no more. And I said, that’s good! One less thing.” — Forrest Gump
This is one of those moments that you can miss if you don’t know what you’re looking at. As a kid, that Apple logo didn’t mean much of anything, but apparently that investment was worth something like seven billion dollars in 2012. That is unless Forrest sold off his stock and jumped to Geocities futures prior to the dot-com bust at the turn of the century.
“And that’s all I have to say about that.” — Forrest Gump
Forrest could tell a hell of story and spent much of the movie doing so, but there were still moments that were too personal to indulge in anymore. When he couldn’t find the words, he just summed it up simply. We should all be so sparse with the delicate facts of our existence.
