If only life was interesting as this box of chocolates!

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2019)

The biggest picture of 1994 and one I only got round to watching last night in 2019, some 25 years later. Why had I left it so long? Several reasons which I will list in no particular order:
1) Tom Hanks. I must admit to not been particularly endeared to the actor although I have seen several good films in his filmography.
2) The running time of well over 140 minutes has always put me off.
3) Clips showing Hanks as the title character, Forrest Gump muttering phrases such as 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know quite what your gonna get..'
Anyway actually watching it took me through the interesting life of a fictional character Gump, a man with low I.Q. but who has lived closely through several notable points in U.S. history up to 1994:
1. Elvis Presley's dancing routine which a childhood Gump inadvertently introduces to the King whilst limping in leg braces.
2. Serving in the bloody battlefields of the Vietnam War. Single handedly rescuing half his platoon and introducing fascinating characters including his wounded Platoon Lieutenant Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise).
3. Meeting several U.S. Presidents including JFK as a member of his college football team, and Richard Nixon when being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In the process witnessing the Watergate break in whilst staying at the Watergate Hotel at the recommendation of Nixon!
4. His 'love' interest throughout the film Jenny Curran contracting an incurable virus in the early 1980s after a lifestyle of drug addiction? AIDS?
5. A segment including a TV interview with the late John Lennon.
It was funny seeing Gump interwoven into old footage of famous people from the past 40 years or so.
Director Robert Zemekis, the man who brought Back To The Future to cinema audiences was behind this film and crowd pleasing elements of that film can be seen in Forrest Gump.
Tom Hanks delivers a great performance showing and narrating Forrest Gump's life on a bus stop bench to fascinated passers by.
The running time actually goes quite fast.
The supporting cast including Sinise deliver excellent performances and add to Gump's fascinating lifestory.