Directed by: Robert Zemeckis. Written by Eric Roth, based on the novel by Winston Groom.

Forrest Gump

• My momma always said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."'
  • Note: ranked #40 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

• Now, when I was a baby, Momma named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest. She said we was related to him in some way. And what he did was, he started up this club called the Ku Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their bedsheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around. And anyway, that's how I got my name, Forrest Gump. Momma said that the Forrest part was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don't make no sense.

• Now, because I had been a football star, and a war hero, and a national celebrity, and a shrimpin' boat captain, and a college graduate, the city of fathers of Greenbow, Alabama, decided to get together and offered me a fine job. So I never went back to work for Lieutenant Dan, though he did take care of my Bubba-Gump money. He got me invested in some kind of fruit company. And 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." Now, Momma said there's only so much fortune a man really needs and the rest is just for showing off. So, I gave a whole bunch of it to the Foursquare Gospel Church and I gave a whole bunch to the Bayou La Batre Fishing Hospital. And even though Bubba was dead, and Lieutenant Dan said I was nuts, I gave Bubba's momma Bubba's share. And you know what? She didn't have to work in nobody's kitchen no more. And 'cause I was gazillionaire and I liked doing it so much, I cut that grass for free. But at nighttime, when there was nothing to do and the house was all empty, I'd always think of Jenny. And then, she was there.

• [to Jenny's grave] You died on a Saturday morning and I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.

Dialogue

Forrest Gump: [narrating] You know, it's funny what a young man recollects. 'Cause I don't remember being born. I, I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But, I do remember the first time I heard the sweetiest voice in the wide world.

Young Jenny: You can sit here if you want.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel.

Young Jenny: Well, are you gonna sit down, or aren't ya?

[Young Forrest sits down next to Jenny]

Young Jenny: What's wrong with your legs?

Young Forrest: Um, nothing at all, thank you. My legs are just fine and dandy.

Young Jenny: Then why do you have those shoes on?

Young Forrest: Momma says my back is as crooked as a question mark.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] I just sat next to her on that bus and had conversation all the way to school. And next to Momma, no one ever talked to me or asked me questions.

Young Jenny: Are you stupid or something?

Young Forrest: Momma says stupid is as stupid does.

Young Jenny: I'm Jenny.

Young Forrest: I'm Forrest. Forrest Gump.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] From that day on, we was always together. Jenny and me was like peas and carrots.

Forrest Gump: Hello. I'm Forrest, Forrest Gump.

Recruit Officer: Nobody gives a horse's shit who you are, fuzzball! You're not even a low-life, scum-sucking maggot! Get your faggoty ass on the bus, you're in the Army now!

[Forrest quickly gets on the Army bus.]

Recruit #1: This seat's taken.

Recruit #2: It's taken.

Forrest Gump: [describing his induction] At first it seemed like I made a mistake, seeing how it was my induction day and I was already gettin' yelled at.

Bubba Blue: You can sit down... if you want to.

[Forrest sits down next to Bubba.]

Forrest Gump: [narrating] I didn't know who I might meet or what they might ask?

Bubba Blue: Have you ever been on a real shrimp boat?

Forrest Gump: No, but I've been on a real big boat.

Bubba Blue: I'm talkin' about a shrimp-catchin' boat. I've been workin' on shrimp boats all my life. I started out on my uncle's boat, that's my mother's brother, when I was maybe about nine. I was just lookin' into buyin' a boat of my own and got drafted. My given name is Benjamin Buford Blue, but people call me "Bubba." Just like one o' them ol' redneck boys; can you believe that?

Forrest Gump: My name's Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] So Bubba was from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and his momma cooked shrimp. And her momma before her cooked shrimp. And her momma before her momma cooked shrimp, too. Bubba family knew everything there was to know about the shrimpin' business.

Bubba Blue: I know ever'thing there is to know about the shrimpin' business. Matter of fact, I'm goin' into the shrimpin' business for myself after I get out o' the Army.

Forrest Gump: Okay.

Drill Sergeant: GUMP! What's your sole purpose in this army?!

Forrest Gump: To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant!

Drill Sergeant: God damn it, Gump! You're a goddamned genius! Thats the most outstanding answer I have ever heard! You must have a goddamned I.Q. of 160! You are goddamned gifted, Private Gump! Listen up, people...

Forrest Gump: [narrating] Now for some reason I fit in the army like one of them round pegs. It's not really hard. You just make your bed real neat and remember to stand up straight and always answer every question with "Yes, drill sergeant!"

Drill Sergeant: This is one very intelligent individual! You lock your scuzzy bodies up behind that private and do exactly what he does, and you will go far in this man's army! Is that clear?!

Forrest Gump, Recruits: YES, DRILL SERGEANT!

Bubba Blue: I'm gonna lean up against you, you just lean right back against me. This way, we don't have to sleep with our heads in the mud. You know why we a good partnership, Forrest? 'Cause we be watchin' out for one another. Like brothers and stuff. Hey, Forrest, there's somethin' I've been thinkin' about. I got a very important question to ask you. How would you like to go into the shrimpin' business with me?

Forrest Gump: Okay.

Bubba Blue: Man, I tell you what, I got it all figured out, too. So many pounds of shrimp to pay off the boat, so many pounds for gas, we can just live right on the boat. We ain't got to pay no rent. I'll be the captain; we can just work it together. Split everything right down the middle. Man, I'm tellin' you, fifty-fifty. And, hey, Forrest, all the shrimp you can eat.

Forrest Gump: That's a fine idea.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] Bubba did have a fine idea.

Dick Cavett: Here he is, Forrest Gump. Right here. Mr. Gump, have a seat. Forrest Gump, John Lennon.

John Lennon: Welcome home.

Dick Cavett: You had quite a trip. Can you, uh, tell us, uh, what was China like?

Forrest Gump: Well, in the land of China, people hardly got nothing at all.

John Lennon: No possessions?

Forrest Gump: And in China they never go to church.

John Lennon: No religion, too?

Dick Cavett: Ah, it's hard to imagine.

John Lennon: Well, it's easy if you try, Dick.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] Some time later, that nice young man from England was coming home to see his little boy, and he was signin' some autographs when, for no reason at all, somebody shot him.

[John Lennon's picture fades into snow.]

Forrest Gump: What's the matter, Momma?

Mrs. Gump: I'm dyin', Forrest. Come on in, sit down over here.

Forrest Gump: Why are you dyin', Momma?

Mrs. Gump: It's my time. It's just my time. Oh, now, don't you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. It's something we're all destined to do. I didn't know it, but I was destined to be your momma. I did the best I could.

Forrest Gump: You did good, Momma.

Mrs. Gump: Well, I happened to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you.

Forrest Gump: What's my destiny, Momma?

Mrs. Gump: You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.

Mrs. Gump: I will miss you, Forrest.

Forrest Gump: [narrating] She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that's all I have to say about that.

Lt. Dan Taylor: Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?

Forrest Gump: Uh, I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him.

Lt. Dan Taylor: There are two standing rules in this outfit. One, take care of your feet. Two, don't go doing something stupid, like getting yourself killed!

Forrest Gump to Bubba: I sure hope I don't let him down.

Cast

• Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump
• Robin Wright Penn - Jenny Curran
• Gary Sinise - Lieutenant Dan Taylor
• Mykelti Williamson - Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue
• Sally Field - Mrs. Gump
• Siobhan Fallon Hogan - Dorothy Harris (bus driver)
• Sonny Shroyer - Paul "Bear" Bryant
• Haley Joel Osment - Forrest Gump Jr.