Rewatchables Reference

• Winner: The Vietnam rally / Washington Monument scene – Forrest's mic gets cut, the fake Abbie Hoffman yells his name, and then Forrest and Jenny run through the reflecting pool to meet each other. Sean: 'It's the best thing in the movie.'
• Other nominees: Forrest playing football at Alabama (Bear Bryant: 'Look at that boy go!'), Forrest meeting his son ('His name's Forrest... like me'), Lieutenant Dan going to war with God during the hurricane, and the 'Forrest gets rich and Jenny comes back' montage.

• Robin Wright – she looks incredible through every phase of the character and delivers the most empathetic performance in the movie.
• The incredible music and soundtrack – it identified a lot of cool songs for young people and functions as a jukebox from a dead era. Running on Empty, Break On Through, Against the Wind.
• The redemption of Lieutenant Dan – Gary Sinise's entire arc from bitter amputee to 'This is my wife Susan, these are my titanium legs, I'm a billionaire' is really satisfying.

• The CGI was groundbreaking in 1994 but looks terrible now – John Lennon's mouth moving looks like an Etch-a-Sketch. Bill: 'We could do better stuff in the Ringer office now.' They note 'Jurassic Park' came out a year earlier with much better CGI.
• The soundtrack, while great, calcified classic rock as the soundtrack for all Boomers making movies through the 90s. It launched a bad run of soundtracks overusing Creedence Clearwater Revival and Fortunate Son.
• Bubba – too broad a performance. 'I don't know if we needed the second superhero with the same power.'
• Sally Field is only 10 years older than Tom Hanks. When he comes home from Vietnam and she's 'aged up,' they're clearly contemporaries.
• The running scene – Forrest running for three years, two months, and 14 days is 'the dumbest fucking thing.' The smiley face t-shirt and 'shit happens' bumper sticker gags feel like an SNL sketch.

• Zemeckis's first choice for Forrest was Harry Anderson (Night Court), who was unavailable due to a commitment to Dave's World on CBS.
• Bill Murray, John Travolta, and Chevy Chase all turned down the role. Travolta called it one of the biggest regrets of his career.
• David Alan Grier, Dave Chappelle, and Ice Cube all turned down Bubba. Ice Cube refused to play an idiot. Chappelle thought the movie would bomb. Tupac auditioned but didn't get it.
• Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, and Demi Moore all turned down the role of Jenny.
• Terry Gilliam and Barry Sonnenfeld turned it down as directors. Bill says Gilliam's version would have been amazing.

Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan. Bill says he wasn't sure Sinise was 'Gary Sinise' yet before this movie – he'd done Of Mice and Men, A Midnight Clear, and The Stand on ABC, but this is the role that made him. Sean agrees this is his apex mountain.

• Tom Hanks – back-to-back Oscars ('Philadelphia', 'Forrest Gump'). This cemented him as the alpha dog in Hollywood. Whatever movie he wants to make, he can make.
• Zemeckis – No, it's 'Back to the Future'. '100 out of 100 times.' Bill temporarily forgets 'Back to the Future' exists, which they leave in the podcast.
• Robin Wright – Sean says this is her most complete performance and her career-high pick.
• Gary Sinise – possibly, though he did ten seasons of CSI: New York. This is definitely apex mountain for him.

• Winner: Wesley, Jenny's abusive boyfriend at the Black Panther party – 'He went Billy Zane 'Titanic'. He literally looks like a combination of John Lennon and Vladimir Lenin.'
• Other nominee: Gary Sinise on the shrimp boat during the hurricane, screaming at God. Bill: 'It's a little Ruffalo.'

Tom Hanks took points instead of salary, made over $40 million. Based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Jim Hanks (Tom's brother) doubled in running scenes. Warner Bros traded away the rights for Executive Decision. The bench is in the Smithsonian. Kurt Russell voiced Elvis. Jenny's birthday is the same day as the Trinity Test. The running scene was inspired by a real 1982 cross-country run. Zemeckis cut a scene with MLK. Nike Cortez shoes. Six Doors songs in the movie. Bubba Gump has 33 locations.

• How long was Forrest at that bus stop? He was there for nine hours at minimum, waiting for a bus that was only six blocks from where he needed to go.
• What did Forrest do from 1970 to 1974? The movie just skips ahead – apparently he played ping-pong for four straight years.
• The running scene: three and a half years is absurd. Where was he staying? Who was mowing his lawn? Who was handling his Bubba Gump checks? They didn't have cell phones.
• Why didn't Jenny ever find the right guy? She's 'smoking hot' and traveling around – not one law student at Georgetown in the early 60s?
• Why did Jenny leave the morning after sleeping with Forrest? She packed her stuff, left the Medal of Honor on the nightstand, called a cab that took 40 minutes to get to rural Alabama. Bill: 'That's the meanest thing you could do to that guy.'

Danny Trejo as Lieutenant Dan. Sean is fine with it. Bill also suggests Trejo as the drill sergeant in boot camp, or even as Sally Field's character (Forrest's mama).

Sean pitches 'Jenny Gump' as a 10-episode Netflix/Amazon series – just her journey from 1968 to 1980, trying to make it work. Forrest is barely in it. Bill says it would be pretty raunchy. They ultimately conclude the movie works better as a movie.

• Why didn't Forrest go pro? He was an All-American kick returner at Alabama in 1964 – the AFL's New York Jets should have been all over him.
• Did Jenny die of AIDS, hepatitis, or something else? She died in March 1982, nine months after the first recorded AIDS case in the US. She uses the word 'virus.' Bill thinks it might not be AIDS – maybe hepatitis C or something from her rough lifestyle. Sean thinks they might have just messed up the timeline.
• Why didn't Forrest catch whatever Jenny had? Maybe they didn't have a sex life after they reunited.
• Where did the 150 followers go after Forrest stopped running in the middle of Utah/Montana? Bill: 'These people would be like, what the fuck, man?'
• What does the feather mean? Hanks interpreted it as 'our destiny is only defined by how we deal with the chance elements of our life.'

Tom Hanks. No other answer. Bill: 'He has to play a dimwit in a blatantly manipulative movie without crossing over into that Robin Williams zone.' He pulls off a terrible accent, a cross-country running sequence, and makes you believe Jenny Gump would want to sleep with him. Nobody else could have done it.