Poster © Paramount Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreDrama & Romance
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 22 mins
ReleasedJuly 6, 1994
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorRobert Zemeckis
StarringTom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise
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Forrest Gump (1994)
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| Forrest Gump's Details | |
| Genre | Drama & Romance |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 06/23/1994 (Los Angeles); 07/06/1994 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 22 mins |
| Budget | Not reported |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Forrest Gump by Winston Groom |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Forrest Gump's Interests | |
| General | Park benches, boxes of chocolates, running shoes, school buses, a single drifting feather. |
| Music | Alan Silvestri wrote the feather theme. The soundtrack album is a whole oldies station. |
| Movies | Back to the Future (1985). Zemeckis messing with history. Cast Away (2000), more Hanks. |
| Television | The nightly news, pick a decade. Forrest is probably somewhere in the background. |
| Heroes | Mrs. Gump. Top-tier mom, undefeated at chocolate metaphors. |
| Forrest Gump's Crew | |
| Director | Robert Zemeckis |
| Writers | Eric Roth |
| Producers | Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Music | Alan Silvestri |
| Edited By | Arthur Schmidt |
| Production | The Tisch Company |
| Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
Forrest Gump turns decades of American history into a parade float Forrest happens to be standing on, and the one person who actually lives through those years, Jenny, gets treated like she’s being punished for it. That bugs me every single rewatch. The rest is easy to love. Tom Hanks commits so completely to Forrest’s voice and posture that you forget there’s an actor in there. Gary Sinise’s Lieutenant Dan is the best thing in it, a man furious at God, the ocean and everyone in between. The tricks that drop Forrest into old news footage still look slick, even if shaking hands with presidents gets old by the third one. Audiences handed it an A+ CinemaScore and $678.2 million worldwide, so I’m outvoted. A 7.3 because the craft is enormous and the message boils down to stay simple and the world will sort it out. $3,432 says you hear a ping pong ball this week and your brain plays the whole montage.
What works: Tom Hanks’s total commitment, Gary Sinise’s Lieutenant Dan, and effects that blend Forrest into real history footage.
What doesn’t: Jenny’s story is handled like a cautionary tale instead of a life, and the movie treats not thinking too hard as a virtue.
Who it’s for: Anyone who wants a big, sentimental crowd pleaser with a soundtrack full of oldies, and people who cry at bus stops.
Spoilers
Jenny tells Forrest he has a son, they finally marry, and she dies not long after from an illness the film never names. The movie ends with Forrest putting Forrest Jr. on the school bus, right where his own story began.
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) is sitting on a bench in Savannah, waiting for a bus, and telling his life story to anybody who sits down. It starts in Greenbow, Alabama, with leg braces, a mom, Mrs. Gump (Sally Field), who won't let anyone count her boy out, and the one kid who lets him share her seat on the school bus, Jenny Curran (Robin Wright). Forrest doesn't think like other people. He does run faster than them, and that carries him places nobody saw coming. Robert Zemeckis directs. One hundred forty-two minutes, and the man barely stops moving.
Anyone at a bus stop with time on their hands. He'll start from the beginning.
| Tom Hanks | Forrest Gump |
| Robin Wright | 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 |
| Sam Anderson | Principal Hancock |
| Geoffrey Blake | Wesley |
| Siobhan Fallon Hogan | Dorothy Harris |
| Sonny Shroyer | Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant |
| Grand L. Bush, Michael Jace, Conor Kennelly, and Teddy Lane Jr. | the Black Panthers |
| Richard D'Alessandro | Abbie Hoffman |
| Tiffany Salerno and Marla Sucharetza | "Cunning" Carla and "Long-Limbs" Lenore |
| Harold G. Herthum | Doctor |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +80 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 8.8 / 10 (2,545,253 votes) → 8.8 / 10 (2,545,647 votes); movie.guru score 9.0 → 8.9.
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +520 Numbers refreshed: Production budget Not reported → $55M; Worldwide box office $678.2M; Domestic box office $330.5M; Opening weekend $24.5M; Profit / loss (est.) +$256.6M; Rotten Tomatoes 75%; CinemaScore A+; box office chart updated; RT 75% (158 reviews); Metacritic 82 / 100; CinemaScore A+; IMDb users 8.8 / 10 (2,545,253 votes); movie.guru score 9.0.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.