I don't watch the Academy Awards much anymore.
I did when I was a teenager. In those days, I tended to see every movie that was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and I always had my personal choices for each one.
For many reasons, I haven't continued to do that as an adult.
But, in 1995, when "Forrest Gump" was nominated for 13 Oscars, I remember watching the broadcast.
At the time, I hadn't seen the film. In fact, I often felt like I was the only person in America who hadn't seen it by the time Oscar Night rolled around. But I liked Tom Hanks, who was cast in the title role, and I was familiar with the slogans that had rapidly become cliches — "life is like a box of chocolates," "stupid is as stupid does," etc.
Such phrases came to be known as "Gumpisms" — and, ever since that film was released in July 1994, I've heard them spoken or seen them written in all sorts of settings.
What is your favorite Gumpism? If you're not sure, may I recommend that you watch the film when Turner Classic Movies shows it tonight as part of its annual "31 Days of Oscar" celebration? You can see it at 9 p.m. (Central).
Anyway, on Oscar Night, I remember seeing one of the people who won an Academy Award for his contribution to the picture (at present, I forget who it was) and observed that everyone had his or her particular favorite line from the film — and he said his favorite line was "Sometimes, there aren't enough rocks."
As I said, I still hadn't seen the movie at the time, and I didn't know which scene he was talking about. Now, of course, I know that it was Forrest's observation about watching Jenny fling rock after rock at the long–abandoned home of her abusive father and then fall to the ground sobbing.
Once I had seen the movie, I had to agree that it was a great line. But, unlike "life is like a box of chocolates" or "stupid is as stupid does," it had to be understood in the context of the rest of the film, in the context of the characters' life experiences.
You had to see the movie to get it.
As a writer, I appreciated the great lines, especially the ones that made sense only within the context of the story. But, as a student of history, I think I was attracted from the start by the way the film wove important events into the narrative and inserted Gump, Zelig style, into archival film footage of famous people — presidents, other politicians, social and cultural icons — and events.
As a fan of the Beatles and John Lennon, for example, I liked the way Gump and Lennon were featured in a scene from the Dick Cavett Show.
Similarly, I liked the scene in which Elvis Presley, in his days before he hit it big as a performer, was presented as a boarder in Forrest's mother's home in Alabama. I don't know if Elvis, in his short career as a truck driver, ever hauled anything through Alabama and had to spend the night there, but I guess it's possible.
Elvis, after all, was born in Mississippi. He grew up there. And it is possible that, in the course of his work, he drove trucks through neighboring Southern states, like Alabama. If that happened, he may have needed to spend the night in Alabama on occasion.
So Forrest's suggestion that he taught Elvis to dance was plausible.
Those are the kinds of moments that I enjoy. They're sort of like "So that is how that came to be!" revelations — like when you first learned the natural laws that made the formations of clouds possible or when you discovered that a rainbow is an optical phenomenon.
Even though you knew, on a deeper level, that what was being presented in "Forrest Gump" wasn't the real story. It was fiction.
But that is what I always enjoyed about "Forrest Gump." I liked the one–liners, but I really liked the way legitimate history was told through Forrest's experiences.
In the alternate universe of that movie, Forrest was always connected, in one way or another, with the people and the events that shaped America and the world in the second half of the 20th century.
OK, it would have been over the top to have him land on the moon, whether on Apollo 11 or one of the missions that followed.
But it was logical to think that he might have been in the Watergate Hotel the night the burglars were arrested in the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
And that, I would say, is my favorite moment in "Forrest Gump."
But I also liked the way he, with Beverly Hillbillies logic, dealt with things. I loved the moment when Lt. Dan asked him if he had found Jesus.
Gump replied, "I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him."
According to Gump, he was where history was made.
He played football for Bear Bryant, influenced musical icons Elvis Presley and John Lennon, met JFK and LBJ at the White House and played a role in the toppling of the Nixon presidency, among other things.
I've never read the book upon which it was based, but the movie was a great ride and I urge you to watch it again.
Or for the first time, if you've never seen it before.
Even if you've seen it before, there are things you probably missed.
Have a box of chocolates. It's nearly Valentine's Day.
