Forest Gump

The 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s were a very important decades in American history. In the 1950s, there was the start of the Korean War, and many families were moving out of the cites and into the suburbs. The 1960’s were all about fighting for equality and brought a man to the moon. During the 1970’s the cold war was really taking its toll but the United States pulled out of the Vietnam War, and president Nixon resigned. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the presidency over Jimmy Carter and although the cold war tensions were high laissez fair economics were introduced. No movie better exemplifies what happened in each of these decades better than Forrest Gump. This movie is filled with historical events and presents them in an exciting and entertaining way. In the movie Tom Hanks plays a man named Forrest Gump who finds himself in a variety of historical events that he can’t quite understand. He meets many famous people along the way; for example he taught Elvis Presley to dance, John Lennon was one of the guests on the show he appeared on, Forrest met three American Presidents, and was in the Vietnam War, where he received a Medal of Honor. He unknowingly was brought into an anti-war demonstration, where he made a simple speech and found his lost love, Jenny among the hundreds of protestors. He was the person who discovered The Watergate Scandal and Forest started trends like smiley faces. Forest Gump always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to make his mark in history. There is an excellent cast that follows Tom Hanks which includes Robin Wright Penn as Jenny, Forrest's lifetime love; Gary Sinise as Lt. Dan; Mykelti Williamson as Bubba, Forrest’s best friend who was a shrimp catching lover; and Sally Fields as his amazing mother.
This movie allowed many of its viewers to get a real glimpse into the events that were occurring in the time periods from the 1950s through the 1980. I thought that Forrest Gump was a very