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