Forrest Gump

[Max]

AMC has been showing this movie all day, allowing me to view this classic for the first time in many years.

My favorite scene is when Forrest pulls his pants down and shows LBJ his war wound (as well as everyone's subsequent reaction to what Forrest just did).

As a younger viewer, I never was able to correctly infer that Jenny died of AIDS. I always wondered why the "present time" in the movie was 1981-82 (as opposed to 1994), but this fact helps to explain why.

[juppiter]

Yeah, I didn't realize Jenny died of AIDS until like 10 years after the first time I saw it. I watched it too at least twice over the weekend. What a classic.

[Max]

Juppiter, IMO Forrest Gump may very well be the greatest movie of the 90s. It really has stood the test of time.

I was surprised by all the hatred directed at Jenny that can be found at the IMDB message boards. Certainly, I was upset over how she was quite rude to Forrest at times (like when she didn't respond to his letters, or when she ran away after having sex with him). But one needs to keep in mind that her whole life was ruined as the result of the physical and sexual abuse she suffered from her father. I think that she felt that Forrest was too good for her (and sadly didn't feel otherwise until it was too late). Her own self-loathing led her to a life of drug use and sexual promiscuity.

I don't know of any other movie that integrates a character into stock television footage for the purpose of meeting historical figures. To me, that was the coolest thing about this film. It was so funny too how Forrest managed to change history at times, like when he taught Elvis the "Hound Dog" dance and caught the Watergate burglars.