Forrest never blinks while playing ping-pong.
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00:00 Forrest Gump is one of those all-time classic movies
00:03 that most of us have seen literally dozens of times
00:06 since its 1994 release.
00:08 Between Tom Hanks' Oscar-winning performance,
00:10 the excellent ensemble cast, amazing direction,
00:13 and witty, heartfelt script,
00:15 it's an enduring classic for so many good reasons.
00:18 But no matter how well you think you know this movie,
00:20 there will always be one or two things you missed.
00:23 So let's take a look at some of them now.
00:25 I'm Amy from WhatCulture,
00:27 and here are 20 things you somehow missed
00:29 in Forrest Gump.
00:31 20, Elvis is voiced by Kurt Russell.
00:34 Of the many, many ways Forrest influences the world
00:36 throughout his life,
00:37 one of the most amusing must surely be
00:40 teaching Elvis Presley his famous jerky dance moves.
00:44 And though Elvis was physically portrayed
00:45 by Peter Dobson in the film,
00:47 his voice was dubbed in afterwards,
00:49 and you'll never guess who that voice belongs to.
00:52 He lent his voice to the film as a favor
00:54 to Robert Zemeckis after previously playing Presley
00:56 in the 1979 TV movie Elvis.
00:59 For which he received a Best Actor Emmy nomination.
01:02 You'd never guess it simply by listening,
01:04 but that is Kurt all right.
01:06 19, dirty shoes, clean laces.
01:09 One of the very first shots we see in the film
01:11 is of Forrest sat on the famous bus stop bench,
01:14 in which there is particular attention paid
01:16 to his very dirty shoes with weirdly clean laces.
01:20 This is telling not only because the condition of the shoes
01:22 makes it clear that Forrest has been running a lot,
01:25 but that they're also the same Nike running shoes
01:27 that Jenny gave him, and which he called
01:29 the best gift anyone could ever get in the wide world.
01:33 And so while Forrest surely replaced the shoes
01:35 after spending so many years running across the US,
01:38 he kept buying the exact same make.
01:40 Plus he was clearly heeding Lieutenant Dan's advice
01:43 on keeping his feet good and healthy
01:45 by making sure that he had a quality clean pair of laces
01:48 always in his shoes.
01:50 18, Forrest closes his eyes in every photo.
01:54 One of the film's funniest recurring gags
01:55 appears to be that Forrest is completely incapable
01:59 of keeping his eyes open for a single photograph.
02:01 In the Bubba Gump photo with Lieutenant Dan,
02:04 the graduation picture with his mother,
02:06 and the ping pong promos,
02:07 including that cardboard cutout of him,
02:09 his eyes are hilariously closed every single time.
02:13 Granted, many people are especially sensitive
02:15 to the sharp flash of a camera bulb,
02:17 but even so, you'd have to be pretty unlucky
02:20 to have every damn photo come out that badly.
02:23 Hey, at least in these modern days,
02:24 they could probably fix that with Photoshop.
02:26 17, Tom Hanks's daughter plays a girl on the bus.
02:30 One of the most heartbreaking scenes
02:32 comes early on in the film,
02:33 when Forrest gets on the bus to go to school,
02:35 but nobody will let him sit next to them.
02:38 That is, of course, until he meets Jenny.
02:40 You might recall a distinctive looking girl
02:42 who simply looks at Forrest and shakes her head
02:44 when he motions to sit next to her.
02:46 This girl is, in fact,
02:47 Tom Hanks's own daughter, Elizabeth Hanks.
02:50 It's perhaps a more surprising fact,
02:52 because you might not even be aware
02:53 that Tom Hanks has a daughter.
02:55 She keeps a relatively low profile
02:56 compared to two of her more famous brothers,
02:58 Colin and Chet.
02:59 And here's a not-so-fun fun fact.
03:01 Elizabeth is now older than Tom was
03:03 when he initially played Forrest.
03:05 Do you feel old yet?
03:07 16, Forrest's uniform is clean
03:10 because nobody can catch him.
03:12 Forrest famously attends the University of Alabama
03:15 on a football scholarship,
03:16 where we see that he has an aptitude for running
03:18 and running very fast, so fast, in fact,
03:22 that none of the opposing teams
03:23 seem to be able to catch him.
03:25 This is slyly exemplified by Forrest's uniform,
03:27 which hasn't got a spot of dirt on it.
03:30 And that's compared to just about every other player
03:32 on the field whose duds are thoroughly smeared with mud.
03:35 Throughout the scene, he's the only player
03:37 with pearly white pants,
03:39 no matter how rough and competitive the play gets.
03:41 Because, as Coach Bryant says, he sure is fast.
03:45 15, the shot of Jenny outside her home
03:48 is inspired by an iconic painting.
03:51 You may recall the scene where Jenny angrily throws rocks
03:53 at her childhood home,
03:55 trying to lash out at every horrible thing
03:57 it represents to her.
03:58 The image of Jenny collapsed in the mud,
04:00 the house in the distance is a striking one for sure,
04:03 and one that Robert Zemeckis
04:04 received a little inspiration in composing.
04:07 The shot is actually an homage
04:09 to the beloved 1948 Andrew Wyeth painting,
04:11 Christina's World, which similarly depicts a woman
04:14 laying in a field with a house in the background.
04:16 This is one that you wouldn't necessarily get
04:18 unless you're super into art,
04:20 but nonetheless, if you did manage to catch it,
04:22 I hope you feel very, very smart.
04:25 14, Bubba's helmet says, "I'd rather be shrimpin'."
04:29 Obviously, in the film, Forrest enlists in the army
04:31 and goes to war in Vietnam,
04:33 where he becomes best friends with fellow soldier, Bubba.
04:36 In this whole period of the film,
04:37 there's a lot of details to keep track of,
04:39 so much so that you might miss
04:41 what's written on Bubba's helmet.
04:43 Newer, higher definition releases of the film
04:45 make it easier to catch,
04:46 though you can still easily fail to notice it
04:48 written in its entirety.
04:50 As a way to inject a little bit of personality
04:52 into his uniform, Bubba has written,
04:54 "I'd rather be shrimpin' on his helmet."
04:56 And what could possibly be more appropriate
04:59 for him to put up there?
05:00 I mean, come on.
05:01 13, Forrest's blue shirt signal the passing of time.
05:05 Something that fans began to pick up on in recent years
05:07 is the recurring appearance of a blue plaid
05:10 or checkered shirt whenever the time period
05:12 shifts in the film.
05:13 Though everything is always shifting
05:14 and changing around Forrest, there's always one constant,
05:18 and that is that he starts every new time period
05:21 with his first scene in a plaid or checkered blue shirt.
05:24 Beyond the fact that it helps us
05:25 easily identify Forrest in his younger days,
05:28 it also helps contrast the change around him,
05:30 whatever it may be.
05:32 Sometimes the simplest details are the best,
05:34 because even though maybe you didn't
05:36 consciously pick up on that,
05:37 I bet your brain noticed it at some point.
05:40 12, the Beach Boys foreshadow Bubba's dying words.
05:44 When Forrest and Bubba first meet Lieutenant Dan,
05:47 Dan tells them, "Try not to do anything stupid
05:49 "like getting yourself killed,"
05:51 or whilst the Beach Boys song "Sloop John B"
05:54 can be heard playing in the background.
05:56 Fittingly, one of the lyrics to the song is "I want to go home,"
05:59 which we all know tragically are Bubba's final words.
06:02 As he finally succumbs to his wounds later on,
06:05 he laments that he just wishes he was home,
06:08 and I'd say that using the Beach Boys
06:09 to foreshadow a beloved character's death
06:11 is quite the cruel trick indeed.
06:14 Mr. Zemeckis, we'll never forgive you for it.
06:16 11, the meaning of the writing on Forrest's helmet.
06:20 Whilst it was hard to decipher
06:22 what was written on Bubba's helmet
06:23 because of the low res at the time
06:25 and the fact that you're kind of distracted
06:26 by other things like war whenever you see it,
06:29 Forrest's was kind of indecipherable
06:31 because it was a scrawl at best,
06:34 but fear not, some people have worked it out.
06:36 His helmet has written on it, bear with me,
06:38 G-N-M-I-F-2/47,
06:43 which translates, believe it or not,
06:45 to Gump, no middle initial, Forrest,
06:48 to identify his name, with 2/47
06:51 referring to the 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment.
06:55 Though this might seem like an Easter egg-y code
06:57 hidden in the movie by a member of the production team,
06:59 it's really nothing more than a pretty basic means of ID
07:02 for Forrest and his helmet.
07:03 In a way, it's sort of anticlimactic
07:05 'cause you almost wish it was something
07:06 more personality-driven like Bubba's message,
07:09 but at the same time, it makes sense.
07:11 10, the ping pong ball was CGI.
07:14 The film's Oscar-winning VFX work
07:16 is primarily attributed to the removal of an actor's legs
07:19 to play an amputee later on,
07:21 this obviously being Lieutenant Dan's character
07:24 and the effect being so ingeniously executed
07:26 that it might prevent you from realizing
07:28 the other extremely impressive visual effects shots
07:31 present in the film.
07:32 It might be mean of me to say that you'd be an idiot
07:34 to assume that for the film,
07:36 Tom Hanks would somehow become a ping pong pro
07:39 'cause there's certainly actors out there
07:40 that go and learn new skills
07:42 and get really good at things for movies,
07:44 but I'm afraid to say this was not one of them.
07:46 Tom Hanks did not become a ping pong pro
07:49 just for Forrest Gump.
07:50 No, no, quite the opposite.
07:52 Actually, basically every single ping pong ball
07:54 seen in the movie is CGI.
07:56 Instead of having Hanks rally the ball for real,
07:59 he simply faked the motion with a paddle
08:01 whilst set to a click track
08:02 in order to maintain his timing,
08:03 and the ball was then added in post-production.
08:06 It is a totally seamless effect
08:08 and thus a perfect example of invisible VFX at play.
08:11 Nine, Jenny's meaningful choice of suicide song.
08:15 In one of the much darker periods in her life,
08:17 Jenny becomes addicted to drugs
08:19 and contemplates suicide whilst standing on a balcony,
08:22 the scene being set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."
08:25 This isn't simply Robert Zemeckis picking a cool song
08:28 for Jenny's near-death experience, though,
08:30 because it's actually incredibly thematically appropriate.
08:32 Birds are associated with Jenny throughout the film
08:35 ever since that unforgettable moment early on
08:38 when we see young Jenny praying.
08:39 Hiding from her father, she prays,
08:41 "Dear God, make me a bird
08:43 "so I can fly far, far, far away from here."
08:46 It may be a subtle callback,
08:48 but it is very effective indeed.
08:50 Eight, Forrest never blinks whilst playing ping pong.
08:53 Now, Forrest may blink constantly
08:56 when it comes to having his picture taken,
08:58 but it turns out that when he's playing ping pong,
09:00 he goes way down the other end of the scale.
09:02 Watch Tom Hanks throughout any of the ping pong scenes
09:05 and you won't see him blink once.
09:07 The reason for this?
09:08 When a fellow soldier introduces him to ping pong
09:10 at the Army Hospital, he tells Forrest,
09:13 "The secret to the game is, no matter what happens,
09:15 "never, ever take your eye off the ball."
09:18 Safe to say Forrest took that advice to heart.
09:21 If maybe a little literally, it clearly served him well.
09:24 Seven, the Lincoln Memorial crowd was CGI.
09:28 Another jaw-dropping visual effect
09:30 that you may have never noticed was a visual effect at all
09:33 takes place when Forrest gives his speech
09:35 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
09:38 Given that Forrest Gump was shot in 1993,
09:40 you certainly cannot be blamed for assuming
09:43 that the production simply corralled
09:44 like a few thousand extras to shoot the scene,
09:47 but that wasn't the case at all.
09:49 Instead, the crowd was replicated digitally.
09:51 Only the audience members at the very front, below Forrest,
09:54 were there for the entire shoot,
09:56 whilst the crowd at the sides
09:57 were created through visual effects.
09:59 The crew had a pool of 1,500 extras
10:01 to move around the sides of the reflecting pool in stages,
10:04 allowing them then to stitch these shots together
10:06 and give the impression of a massive crowd.
10:09 It was incredible stuff for its time,
10:11 and yet something that we totally take for granted today.
10:14 Six, Forrest has grazed hands
10:17 the day after punching Wesley.
10:19 Sometimes the smallest, tiniest,
10:21 seemingly most insignificant details
10:23 can make the biggest difference,
10:25 and that's because it shows us
10:27 that the filmmakers were actually paying attention.
10:29 Case in point, you remember
10:31 when Jenny's abusive boyfriend Wesley
10:33 slapped her at the Black Panther meetup,
10:34 prompting Forrest to fly into blind rage
10:37 and punch his lights out.
10:38 In a small but notable feat of continuity,
10:41 when Jenny leaves the next morning
10:43 and Forrest hugs her goodbye,
10:44 we can see minor cuts and grazes on his hands
10:47 from where he put them to good use.
10:49 90% of filmmakers probably wouldn't even think
10:51 to include such a minute detail.
10:54 I mean, most people would never even notice it,
10:56 and yet, there it is.
10:58 Five, Bubba's family attended Forrest's wedding.
11:01 Forrest eventually moves back to Greenbow
11:03 and marries Jenny in a small, intimate service
11:06 with only their closest friends and family.
11:08 Though it's never explicitly stated,
11:10 pay close attention and you might notice
11:12 that Bubba's family are clearly part
11:14 of the wedding party on the left-hand side.
11:16 We never see their faces,
11:17 but given that Bubba's mother
11:19 is a distinctive-looking lady on the larger side
11:21 and is shown to have three daughters
11:23 and two other sons earlier in the film,
11:25 the fact that we see a larger woman
11:26 surrounded by five younger people,
11:28 two boys and three girls, at the wedding
11:30 seems to make it pretty clear who they are.
11:33 Given that Forrest sent half
11:34 of his Bubba Gump Shrimp Company earnings
11:36 to Bubba's family, it's not terribly surprising
11:39 that they might have kept close with him.
11:40 Still, it's a nice detail.
11:42 Four, the smiley face card on Jenny's nightstand.
11:46 Shortly before Jenny passes away from her illness,
11:49 there's a shot where Forrest goes into her room
11:51 to take care of her.
11:52 If you really focus your eyes
11:54 on the left-hand side of the screen,
11:55 you'll see a smiley face card on her nightstand.
11:58 The fact that the card has a smiley face on it
12:00 is of course relevant, given that Forrest
12:02 ended up unwittingly inspiring the iconic smiley face logo
12:06 during an especially muddy run.
12:08 Considering that the scene is mostly naturally lit,
12:11 this one's actually pretty tough to spot,
12:13 but trust us, it's there.
12:15 Three, Tom Hanks is being doubled by his brother
12:17 during the running scenes.
12:19 It wouldn't seem beyond the realms of possibility
12:21 that Tom Hanks would do all of his own
12:23 running and jogging scene.
12:25 He was a fit guy, he wasn't too old,
12:28 there's no reason that he couldn't.
12:29 However, you'd be wrong in that assumption.
12:32 Given some of the geographically disparate locations
12:34 we see Forrest running through during the montage,
12:37 the decision was made to hire a double
12:38 and not just any double.
12:40 In fact, they hired Hanks's own brother, Jim.
12:43 Because Jim Hanks knew his older brother's jogging gait
12:46 better than anyone, he was drafted in to jog
12:49 at various spots around the US
12:50 with a second unit film crew.
12:52 All the while, Tom could keep on shooting
12:54 the main unit with Robert Zemeckis.
12:56 Since then, Jim Hanks has also doubled
12:58 for his brother's voice as Woody
13:00 on various Toy Story short films, video games, and toys.
13:04 Two, Jenny was born the day of the first atomic bomb test.
13:08 When Jenny sadly passes away,
13:10 Forrest goes to visit her gravestone
13:11 and we catch a brief glimpse of it,
13:13 revealing that her birthday is June the 16th, 1945.
13:17 This might seem totally normal,
13:19 but that date is actually very intentional
13:21 on Zemeckis' part.
13:22 It's the same day that the United States
13:24 conducted the first ever test detonation
13:27 of a nuclear weapon.
13:28 Given that Jenny is shown throughout
13:29 to be a staunch peace activist,
13:31 it's pretty damn ironic that she was born
13:33 the same day that the world's first nuke was launched.
13:36 One, Dorothy the bus driver quits smoking
13:39 and chews gum instead.
13:40 As we know, the film is bookended
13:42 by scenes in which first Forrest
13:44 gets on the bus to go to school,
13:46 and at the end, his son gets on the bus
13:48 to go to school, just as he did.
13:49 Both buses are driven by a no-nonsense driver
13:52 by the name of Dorothy.
13:53 And whilst the joke seems to be
13:54 that this woman is still driving
13:56 the same bus route for decades,
13:58 it actually goes one layer deeper.
14:00 Note that in the early scene with young Forrest,
14:02 she's smoking a cigarette.
14:03 Though, amusingly, when we catch up with her again
14:05 about 30 years later, she's no longer smoking,
14:08 but instead maniacally chewing a big wad of gum.
14:11 Hey, if that isn't character development,
14:13 I don't know what is.
14:15 And actually, on that note,
14:16 we've reached the end of this list
14:18 of 20 things that you somehow missed in Forrest Gump.
14:21 If you are super eagle-eyed and have noticed
14:23 any other cool, interesting details,
14:25 then let us know about them in the comments down below.
14:27 And remember to check out whatculture.com
14:29 for more lists and articles like this every single day.
14:32 As always, I've been Amy from WhatCulture,
14:34 and I'll catch you next time.