Question: What did Jenny's boyfriend, Wesley, mean when he referred to Forrest as a "baby-killer"?
Answer: Baby-Killer was a term that anti-war protestors used to describe soldiers who fought in Vietnam. This was because a lot of innocent babies were killed by soldiers during the Vietnam War along side men, women, and children. Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre.
Question: Why would Forrest be drafted into the military? Wouldn't his low I.Q. cause him to be rejected?
Answer: As we see earlier in the film, his mother "persuades" the school principal to increase Forrest's test results to the minimum required to attend school. At that point he was on record as having a normal I.Q.
Answer: He also wasn't drafted, he enlisted.
Question: There's an entry mentioning when little Forrest's foot gets stuck in a drain and how the leaves are there, then not. I've seen this movie at least 20 times but don't ever recall seeing that scene in the movie. Did some countries get an edited version?
Answer: Perhaps. It's near the beginning right after Forrest explains how he got his name.
Answer: He gets his foot stuck at 6 minutes and the leaves never move. The shot shifts up in the second shot so you see less leaves but they don't move or disappear.
Question: Is there a way to know what was going on in the TV footage that Forest is in? For example when He shows Johnson his wound and Johnson walks away laughing, or when he has the confrontation with Kennedy, what was going on with the actual footage they used?
Chosen answer: (1) The effects artists involved in "Forrest Gump" used footage of President Lyndon Johnson giving an award to Sammy Davis Jr., and superimposed Hanks over Davis to make it look like the president was giving Gump a medal. (2) Forrest appears with John Lennon on "The Dick Cavett Show." This was morphed with footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s first appearance with Mr. Cavett, which aired September 11, 1971. They were the only guests on the show that evening. But In the film, Forrest Gump's image is superimposed over Yoko Ono’s (original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78L_v3_ufQ0). In the "Forrest Gump" film, Cavett plays himself, made up to look younger. (3) I believe the archival footage of President John F. Kennedy is actual footage of Kennedy honoring a championship football team, with Tom Hanks digitally inserted. But I do not know which team nor the year. In all instances, when Forrest Gump is digitally composited into historic events, the special effects team recreated that archival footage with actor Tom Hanks. They combined their new work with the actual clip via CGI and clever editing. Finally, in post-production, they modified mouth movements of the historical figures so that they appear to be saying the new dialogue.
Question: What does Jenny die of? And is it mentioned anywhere in the film at all?
Answer: It's not specified in the film, but in the sequel book "Gump & Co" the author mentions that Jenny dies from Hepatitis C as a former drug addict in the early 70s. Hepatitis C was an unknown disease until 1989.
Answer: In 1981, when Forrest meets Jenny again, she says she has a virus that doctors don't know. This virus was the HIV virus, as 1981 marks the AIDS outbreak in the World.
Answer: It could have been HIV or Hepatitis C or something else. Maybe someone related to the story or even Winston Groom himself told this at some other place. Nonetheless, it's false that it appears in that book.
It absolutely appears in the second book, 'Gump and Company'.
Question: The scene where Jenny tells Forrest to run, and his leg braces tear apart, how did they manage to do the scene? Was it visual effects?
Chosen answer: There were actually very small charges placed in the joints of the braces. They could therefore detonate them at the right times creating the illusion that the braces were breaking due to the improved strength of his legs.
Question: In the scene where Forrest is talking to Bubba's grave, he says, "for saying, "I just love playing ping pong with my Flexolite ping pong paddle" which everyone knows isn't true, but momma said it's just a little white lie so it wouldn't hurt nobody." He also told his mom that he only like using his paddle. What type of paddle did Forrest actually use?
Answer: His red paddle from the military - the brand is never specified.
Question: Forrest reveals (in the voice over) that Jenny was taken from her father's home and sent to live with her grandmother. He indirectly indicates that Jenny was sexually abused by her father. My question is who would have reported the abuse to the police so that Jenny could be removed from the situation? And where would her sisters have gone assuming they were also sent away and, like Jenny, were minors?
Answer: It's never explained. Perhaps the grandmother or a teacher reported the abuse. It's possible the abuse was never reported, maybe Jenny simply asked her grandmother if she could move in with her. Maybe there was no proof that the other girls were being abused, or they didn't want to leave, or they were moved to foster families or other relatives.
I think this is accurate. I have in-laws whose children have been taken away, and the children went to households of different relatives. It's also possible that Jenny's sisters were older and left home on their own. During this time, it would have been easier for teenagers to leave town and not be discovered.
Answer: I think you're reading things into it. He was certainly talking about real life sisters.
Answer: It doesn't matter who reported it to the policeman. It doesn't have to happen on the same day. And regarding Jenny's sister, there was never a sister. When the policeman send the kid to her grandmother, it was only Jenny. The 'sister' word was from the voiceover of Forrest who didn't really understand what kind of misery happened. The 'sister' was Jenny's privates. Her father touched them improperly.
I'm approaching middle age and have lived in the southern USA for my entire life. I have never heard of "sisters" being slang for a person's private parts. At least not around here. Also, Jenny understands that Forrest is mentally slower than than the other kids at their school. I don't think she would use such a term when speaking to him. And I can't imagine him choosing to use it.
Question: Was there any proof other than Jenny's word that her child was Forrest's child?
Answer: It is implied in many ways, such as the manner in which they sit in front of the TV when they first meet and they way they physically resemble each other. Beyond that, Jenny had never lied to Forrest before and there was no reason to doubt her.
Question: Does young Forrest start school a couple of years later than the other children shown on the bus? He appears to be older than five or six, the age when most kids go to kindergarten and first grade.
Answer: He starts some time later than the other children, since the principal won't let him in school until he sleeps with his mother. We're not told how much time passes before this happens, so it could be a year or more. Kindergarten is optional in the US. A school in the Deep South in the 1950s may not have even offered a Kindergarten, so Forrest would be going into 1st Grade, probably a bit older than the other kids.
Question: When I read the cast list for this movie, I have noticed that Presidents Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy are "playing themselves" in this movie, even though they are dead. How did the editors managed to put Tom Hanks near the actual Predsident?
Answer: Tom Hanks was inserted into actual footage of the presidents, replacing real persons who were there at the time. Computer editing was then used to modify the presidents' mouth movements to match dialog that was recorded by voice doubles for the film.
Question: By the buses, when Jenny's boyfriend apologizes for hitting her and mentions "that lying S.O.B. Johnson", who is the Johnson he is referring to?
Answer: Johnson refers to Lyndon Johnson, the US President.
Answer: He's referring to president Lyndon Johnson AKA the guy Forrest shows his gunshot wound to.
Question: In the hotel, when Forrest calls about the flashlights in the room across the hotel keeping him awake, what is going on with the people in that room? I'm guessing it's not really a power outage, because if it was, Forrest wouldn't be able to use the phone.
Answer: Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal - The Watergate Scandal. Burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. The implication is that Forrest is why they were caught. Also, in 1972, you didn't need electricity to power phones. You still don't unless the phone is cordless. When the guard answers the phone, the name he gives is the actual name of the guard who discovered the famous burglary - without the help of a call from Forrest - Frank Wills. Wills was a 24 year old privately contracted security guard in the Watergate office building, which was a connected structure with a different purpose from the Watergate hotel. The two structures sit across the street from the each other, and the Watergate burglars were caught with several portable 2 way radios, indicating that someone besides Forrest was watching them, probably to give the a warning if the police showed up. As it came out later in the investigation, the Watergate burglars were not the sharpest tools in the toolkit, and they apparently turned off their radios due to their noise, so that the warning from the hotel spotter - if he had time and was competent enough to give one - was not heard. This scene, except for the specific call from Forrest Gump, is pretty accurate since the police and Mr. Wills were responding to a call of a "possible burglar" in the Watergate Office complex.
Answer: The land line phones back then did work with the power out. The power to operate them cam from the phone company. You are thinking cordless bases that need power.
Question: I thought I recognised the woman that pushes Forrest in line for the Vietnam veteran demonstration as a cameo of Sandra Bullock, and the woman Jenny as a hippie is playing guitar with (before the guy asks them to go to SF) as a cameo of Lisa Kudrow. Anyone knows whether this is correct?
Answer: The actress you think might be Sandra Bullock is listed as a actress named Hilary Chaplain.
Answer: They are not listed on IMDB as such. Also by 1994, Sandra Bullock's only memorable appearance was Demolition Man (her real popularity started with Speed in 1994), and Lisa Kudrow was only known for the waitress on "Mad About You" - a minor role. Neither would have been a likely choice for a "cameo" role, yet at the same time would probably have charged too much for an extra/walk-on.
Question: How exactly do the producers "remove" Gary Sinise's legs? Is it through computer imaging, or does Gary bend his legs, creating the illusion of amputation?
Answer: Mostly by computer - they wrapped his legs in "blue screen" fabric, then the computer replaced that color with shots of the same scene taken without his legs.
Question: When Forrest is introducing the members of his Platoon in Vietnam all of the character names are the names of cities, he then tells where each solider is from but their hometown is different then their nick name. (for example "Dallas from Phoenix") why would each person have a name of a city as their name?
Answer: This is just a bit of incidental humor. For example: Dallas is the young man's real name. Why would his parents name him Dallas if he was from Phoenix? Same with Cleveland.
Theyre just nicknames aren't they? Like Bubba.
Tex seems to be an obvious nickname, but Dallas and Cleveland are more than likely their real names since many people have those names.
Answer: Forest is mistaking their nicknames for their actual names, and misremembering where they were from. The soldiers are given nicknames based on where they are from. Tex from Texas, Dallas from Dallas. Etc. The funny bit is that Forest isn't putting it together.
There's nothing to indicate Dallas and Cleveland aren't their real names, just like Dan is his real name. The joke being he's remembering where those two are from but when it comes to Tex, an obvious nickname, he can't remember where he's from. Plus, why would a guy from Texas get the nickname Dallas and another guy from Texas get the nickname Tex and not the city he's from?
Question: When Forrest and Bubba are talking in Vietnam before and after Bubba says "I wanna go home" after getting shot. There is purple smoke coming from behind them into the camera shot. What is this smoke?
Answer: Just a smoke grenade. They used color smoke grenades in Vietnam as a signal to evacuation helicopters to show exactly where the troops were.
Question: Is there any significant reason why Forrest Gump wears blue in almost every scene (when he's not in uniform)?
Answer: Maybe it was Forrest's favorite color? Or sometimes the director of a movie does that to set a mood throughout.
Answer: I believe that in addition to mild mental impairment Forrest also suffers from a degree of autism. Autistic individuals frequently have ingrained mannerisms, such as only wanting to wear a paricular type or color of clothing. Other examples that might point to autism are his mindless devotion to mowing and running.
Question: In Vietnam when Forrest is introducing the other men in his group telling their names and where they are from, all the soldiers names are names of cities. This was obviously done on purpose but why?
Answer: When people from different places are put togther into groups they usually giver eachother nicknames, this is particularly true in the military, and a lot of times your nickmane would just be where you are from, if you do not have some other characteristic, or your name does not rhyme or sound like some other word.
Answer: The nicknames are given to Forrest's troop mates are given in a racial way or by how they act although they are not from that city. For example Dallas had a farmers tan and always had a pack of smokes referencing to chuck Norris in one of his films taking place in the same time period and same helmet that was filmed just outside of Dallas and was also filmed there.
Answer: Presumably, Forrest called Dan and invited him. He seemed surprised to see Dan standing. The last time Forrest saw Dan he was in a wheelchair. His reaction was all about Dan's "magic legs".
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