Corrected entry: When Young Forrest and Mrs. Gump walks by the Appliance Store and sees Elvis Presley perform "Hound Dog," that performance originally aired on June 5, 1956 on the Milton Berle Show while Forrest had yet started Elementary School, but when Governor George Wallace gives his infamous "Stand at the Schoolhouse Door" speech, the date that event occurred was June 11, 1963. So, there's no way that Forrest Started Kindergarten in 1956 and be in College already by 1963, especially with a below average IQ. Now, if I go off of the Jenny's date of birth off of her grave which was sometime in 1942 or '43 (I don't have the exact date), we can assume that Forrest would be the correct age when in college in 1963; that would mean also that Elvis Presley performed "Hound Dog" earlier than 1956 (more like 1949 or 1950, while Elvis would've been still relatively unknown at that point in history.).
Corrected entry: In the scene where Forrest is carrying Bubba out of the jungle away from the airstrike, look carefully when Forrest starts down the trail into the open and the napalm starts hitting the ground. Several rounds land very close to him, and one even lands in a bush that he has just passed. In actuality Forrest and Bubba would have been crispy to the bone before they realised what hit them. (00:53:00)
Correction: The movie is a memory play so Forrest is telling someone all of this. The explosions may have sounded closer than they actually were. This would then be reflected in his recap of the story.
There's nothing in the movie to imply his memories are inaccurate. I call it a movie error.
Factual error: In the scene where Forrest Gump is wheeling Lt. Dan across a street between a bunch of taxis, the car they go behind is a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice (see the tail lights). However, several scenes later we know the year is 1971 because it is New Year's Eve 1971 because we see the TV flash 1972 as the year changes. (01:13:30)
Suggested correction: 1971 to 1976 was the second generation of these automobiles, with production of these models beginning in mid-1970. This car would absolutely have existed at the time depicted in the movie.
Factual error: When Forrest and Lt. Dan first try catching shrimp on the new boat in the mid 70s, they catch a bunch of junk, including a Mello Yello can, which wasn't launched until 1979. (01:30:05)
Suggested correction: The time frame is right on track. It took Dan a lot of years to get to the point where he joined Forrest on the boat. 1979 tracks with what comes before and after.
You should watch the film again. Hurricane Carmen, which happened after Lt. Dan joined, and they were struggling to catch anything, was in 1974. And Forrest leaves the shrimp business in 1975 when he finds out his mother is dying of cancer. 1979 comes well after all those events. Not to mention that it's only 1981 when Forrest is sitting on the bench telling his story.
Question: Was anything actually wrong with Forrest mentally? Is is possible that he was "normal" but had just been sheltered, hadn't socialized with any kids at a normal age, etc.? In addition to the IQ test from the school, Forrest's mother apparently hid things from him or lied. She did not tell him what "vacation" really means.
Answer: Gump is stated, in the book at least (can't honestly remember about the film) to have an IQ of around 75. While IQ ranges are somewhat subjective, this would usually be considered to indicate a mild or borderline mental deficiency. It also certainly wouldn't have helped that he's been relatively sheltered.
Answer: 8 minutes into the movie, the principle shows his mother a chart of IQ's and points to Gump's IQ being 75.
I know, but I was considering how his mother has sheltered him. His low score could be partially due to her not always giving him accurate information. For example, she told him that "vacation" means "you go somewhere, and you don't ever come back." Maybe his test results were low because of her sheltering; at least partially.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Robin Wright is supposed to be playing the guitar and singing nude in the club, you can see the nude-coloured thong she is wearing when they show her from the back.
Correction: The thong is so noticeable that it is apparent that it's presence is a deliberate one. Two explanations within the storyline: One, it's a topless bar not a totally-nude bar and she chose to wear a thong that was flesh/skin colored. Or two, it is a totally-nude bar and perhaps she planned to strip after the song, and didn't get a chance to get that far, due to the unruly crowd and Forrest's interruption.
But what year was it supposed to have been? Thongs weren't invented until 1974.
This scene takes place around 1967 and Jenny is wearing a G-string with a fur front. G-strings had been in use for many years prior to 1967.
Question: Forrest's mother doesn't want him at a "special school", where he would learn "how to re-tread tires." What does that mean? Would a school for mentally disabled children also be a vocational/trade school?
Answer: In the past, (perceived) "dumb" students were more likely to be placed into vocational rather than academic programs because it was assumed they had limited ability and would not "amount to much" in life (make much of themselves). Therefore, they could at least be trained to perform something almost anyone could do with little or no training. Once someone is trained how to re-tread tires, for example, he should be able to repeatedly do the same thing everyday for years and be "productive." A variation of re-treading tires was learning how to make "birdhouses and ashtrays" - non-essential products in society that some people still might want to buy.
More recently, the trend has been to "mainstream" such students - keep them in classes with their peers.
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?
Corrected entry: In the scene where Forrest and Bubba meet Lt. Dan, Lt. Dan asks where Forrest and Bubba are from. They both reply that they are from Alabama. Moments later, Lt. Dan says, "So Arkansas huh?"
Correction: I think that this was intentional. Lt. Dan wasn't really listening to them when they said where they were from. He goes on to tell them that he'd been through Little Rock once. I am sure that the writers knew that Little Rock is not in Alabama, and I am sure that they remembered that Gump was not from Arkansas.
Intentional by the film makers, not Lt. Dan. Dan has a million things on his mind and has probably given this same speech several times. He really doesn't care where they're from, he's giving them important information.
Question: Would the army really take a guy with a low I.Q., much less one with a cleft lip?
Answer: The Army doesn't issue IQ tests upon enlistment. Given that Forrest had a college degree, and passed basic training with flying colors because of his amazing ability to follow orders, he would be allowed in just fine. And Bubba didn't have a cleft lip, just big gums.
Answer: I can't even guess why you think a cleft lip would disallow someone from being admitted into the Army, or anything/anywhere else for that matter.
Because an unrepaired cleft lip is a disqualifying disability. You can't join the US military if you have one.
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.
Corrected entry: It makes no sense that Lt. Dan was shocked about Forrest receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. First off, as Forrest's commanding officer in the field, Lt. Dan would have had to recommend him for the medal. Also, as one of the people who Forrest rescued from the battlefield, Lt. Dan would certainly have been interviewed to verify Forrest's heroic actions.
Correction: Lt. Dan was not as shocked as he was angry. He was left a paraplegic while an "imbecile" like Forrest was spared. He was using this opportunity to vent his frustration; surely he knew Forrest was going to receive the medal.
He's not angry that Forrest got the medal, it's more disbelief because Forrest showed his butt on TV.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the movie, before meeting Jenny, Forrest is sitting on a bus bench wearing the Nike shoes he received from Jenny and ran across the country in. When he arrives at Jenny's and crouches down to meet little Forrest, he's wearing brown loafers.
Suggested correction: It's certainly possible that he brought a nicer pair of shoes in his suitcase to change into when he arrived to her place.
Except nothing in the film suggest he had a chance to change shoes. He was so excited to see her and when he found out he's only 5 or 6 blocks away, he runs all the way to her apartment. It wouldn't be in his character to then stop and change shoes before knocking on her door.
If we look closely, those are just dirty shoes. Same ones Jenny gifted him.
Of course it would be in his "character." Forrest Gump was always a tuck in your shirt and straighten your tie kind of guy.
Corrected entry: Throughout the whole movie they call Gump Private Gump when it is shown on his military uniform (when speaking at the hippie rally by the Washington monument) a listing of a E-5 - a sergeant. Also he went to college before the army, which means he would have been an officer, not a noncommissioned officer.
Correction: The last time some one called him Private Gump was the when he got the letter in Vietnam for the Medal of Honor. The next time someone said his rank and name was when he got his discharge papers, and he said SGT. Gump. So I see no mistake. And if you join the military after college doesn't mean your going to be automatically an officer unless you were in ROTC while in college, or you went to a Military Academy. You can be recommended for OCS (officers candidate school) if you have a college degree. Like his drill Sarge in boot camp recommended "if it was not such a waste of a fine enlisted man". So even with a college degree, if you enlist you start from the bottom.
Not true entirely. If you have a degree you start out enlisted as an E-4 SPC.
That may be true now, but probably not in the mid 60s. I knew several people in the US Navy (1990s) that came in with college degrees and weren't advanced past E3. I'd imagine it to be the same in the other branches.
You only start from the bottom if you want to. Or you don't qualify on the AFOQT. But, given his low intelligence score, he probably wouldn't have passed. But he would have still been given higher than an E-1.
Correction: It is a major plot point that Forest is slower than alot of people so begining school around 13 or 14 makes sense. it is also never stated that he was in kindergarden for his first day of school.
That kid was a lot younger than 13 when he started school.
Brian Katcher