The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and other historical events unfold
from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/?p … http_tt_12

Plot
In 1981, at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia, a man named Forrest Gump recounts his life story to strangers who sit next to him on a bench.

In 1951, in Greenbow, Alabama, young Forrest is fitted with leg braces to correct a curved spine, and is unable to walk properly. He lives alone with his mother, who runs a boarding house out of their home that attracts many tenants, including a young Elvis Presley, who plays the guitar for Forrest and incorporates Forrest's jerky dance movements into his performances. On his first day of school, Forrest meets a girl named Jenny Curran, and the two become best friends.

Forrest is often bullied because of his physical disability and low intelligence. While fleeing from several bullies, his leg braces break off, revealing Forrest to be a very fast runner. This talent eventually allows him to receive a football scholarship at the University of Alabama in 1963, where he is coached by Bear Bryant; he witnesses Governor George Wallace's stand in the schoolhouse door at which he returns a dropped book to Vivian Malone Jones,[6] becomes a top kick returner, is named on the All-American team, and meets President John F. Kennedy at the White House.

After graduating college in 1967, Forrest enlists into the U.S. Army. During basic training, he befriends a fellow soldier named Benjamin Buford Blue (nicknamed "Bubba"), who convinces Forrest to go into the shrimping business with him after their service. In 1968, they are sent to Vietnam, serving with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta region. After months of routine operations, their platoon is ambushed while on patrol, and Bubba is killed in action. Forrest saves several wounded platoon mates— including his lieutenant, Dan Taylor, who loses both his legs— before being shot and is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

At the anti-war "March on the Pentagon" rally, Forrest meets a man who "had an American flag for a shirt" and briefly reunites with Jenny, who has been living a hippie lifestyle. He also develops a talent for ping-pong, and becomes a sports celebrity as he competes against Chinese teams in ping-pong diplomacy, earning him an interview alongside John Lennon on The Dick Cavett Show. He spends the holidays and the 1972 new year in New York City with Lieutenant Dan, who has become bitter due to the loss of his legs and angry at Forrest for unwittingly breaking his family's history of dying in the line of duty. Forrest soon meets President Richard Nixon and is put up in the Watergate complex, where he accidentally witnesses and reports some men with flashlights in the building keeping him awake. Forrest is eventually discharged from the army.

Returning to Greenbow, Forrest endorses a company that makes ping-pong paddles. He uses the earnings to buy a shrimping boat in Bayou La Batre, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Lieutenant Dan joins Forrest in 1974, and they initially have little success. After their boat becomes the only one to survive Hurricane Carmen, they pull in huge amounts of shrimp and create the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, after which Lieutenant Dan finally thanks Forrest for saving his life. Lieutenant Dan invests into what Forrest thinks is ”some kind of fruit company” and the two become millionaires, but Forrest also gives half of the earnings to Bubba's family. Forrest then returns home to see his mother as she dies of cancer.

In 1976, Jenny—in the midst of recovering from years of drugs and abuse—returns to visit Forrest, and after a while he proposes to her. That night she tells Forrest she loves him and the two make love, but she leaves the next morning. Heartbroken, Forrest goes running, and spends the next three years in a relentless cross-country marathon, becoming famous again. He eventually decides that he's grown tired of running (metaphorically and physically) and returns home to Greenbow.

Back in 1981, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny, who asked him to visit her, until an elderly woman reveals he can just as easily walk there. As Forrest is finally reunited with Jenny, she introduces him to their son, named Forrest Gump, Jr. Jenny tells Forrest she is sick with an "unknown virus" and the three move back to Greenbow. Jenny and Forrest finally marry, but she dies a year later. The film ends with Forrest seeing his son off on his first day of school.

Cast
A man is at the center of the image smiling into the camera. He is sitting on a blue crate and has his hands resting on his legs.
A man is at the center of the image looking at the camera. He is dressed in Vietnam War-era military attire
Tom Hanks (left) and Gary Sinise (right) on the film set in 1993.
Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump: At an early age he is deemed to have a below-average IQ of 75. He has an endearing character and shows devotion to his loved ones and duties, character traits that bring him into many life-changing situations. Along the way, he encounters many historical figures and events throughout his life. Tom's younger brother Jim Hanks is his acting double in the movie for the scenes when Forrest runs across the U.S. Tom's daughter Elizabeth Hanks appears in the movie as the girl on the school bus who refuses to let young Forrest (Michael Conner Humphreys) sit next to her. John Travolta was the original choice to play the title role and says passing on the role was a mistake. Bill Murray and Chevy Chase were also considered for the role. Sean Penn stated in an interview having been second choice for the role. Hanks revealed that he signed on to the film after an hour and a half of reading the script. He initially wanted to ease Forrest's pronounced Southern accent, but was eventually persuaded by director Robert Zemeckis to portray the heavy accent stressed in the novel. Hanks also said it took him three days to learn how to play the role, and footage from that time could not be included. Winston Groom, who wrote the original novel, describes the film as having taken the "rough edges" off the character, and envisioned him being played by John Goodman.
Michael Conner Humphreys as young Forrest Gump: Hanks revealed in interviews that instead of having Michael copy his accent, he copied Michael's unique accented drawl into the older character's accent.
Robin Wright as Jenny Curran: Forrest's childhood friend with whom he immediately falls in love, and never stops loving throughout his life. A victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of her bitterly widowed father, Jenny embarks on a different path from Forrest, leading a self-destructive life and becoming part of the hippie movement in California in the 1960s and the following me decade's sex and drug culture of the 1970s. She re-enters Forrest's life at various times in adulthood. Jenny eventually becomes a waitress in Savannah, Georgia, where she lives in an apartment with her (and Forrest's) son, Forrest Jr. They eventually get married, but soon afterward she dies from complications due to an unnamed disease (presumed to be Hepatitis C, according to Winston Groom, author of the original Forrest Gump novel).
Hanna R. Hall as young Jenny Curran.
Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan Taylor: Forrest and Bubba Blue's platoon leader during the Vietnam War, whose ancestors have died in every U.S. war and who regards it as his destiny to do the same. After losing his legs in an ambush and being rescued against his will by Forrest, he is initially bitter and antagonistic towards Forrest for leaving him a "cripple" and denying him his family's destiny, falling into a deep depression. He later serves as Forrest's first mate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, gives most of the orders, becoming wealthy with Forrest, and regains his will to live. He ultimately forgives and thanks Forrest for saving his life. By the end of the film, he is engaged to be married and is sporting "magic legs" – titanium alloy prosthetics that allow him to walk again. Joe Pesci was considered for the role.
Mykelti Williamson as Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue: Bubba was originally supposed to be the senior partner in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, but due to his death in Vietnam, their platoon leader, Dan Taylor, took his place. The company posthumously carried his name. Forrest later gave Bubba's mother Bubba's share of the business. Throughout filming, Williamson wore a lip attachment to create Bubba's protruding lip. David Alan Grier, Ice Cube and Dave Chappelle were all offered the role but turned it down. Chappelle said he believed the film would be unsuccessful, and he's also been reported as saying that he regrets not taking the role.
Sally Field as Mrs. Gump: Forrest’s mother. Field reflected on the character, "She's a woman who loves her son unconditionally. ... A lot of her dialogue sounds like slogans, and that's just what she intends."
Haley Joel Osment as Forrest Gump, Jr.: Osment was cast in the film after the casting director noticed him in a Pizza Hut commercial. It was his debut feature film role.
Peter Dobson as Elvis: Although Kurt Russell was uncredited, he provided the voice for Elvis in the scene.
Dick Cavett as himself: Cavett played a version of himself in the 1970s, with makeup applied to make him appear younger. Consequently, Cavett is the only well-known figure in the film to play a cameo role rather than be represented through the use of archival footage like John Lennon or President John F. Kennedy
Sam Anderson as Principal Hancock: Forrest's elementary school principal.
Geoffrey Blake as Wesley: A member of the SDS group and Jenny's abusive boyfriend.
Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Dorothy Harris: The school bus driver who drives Forrest, and later his son, to school.
Sonny Shroyer as Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant
Grand L. Bush, Michael Jace, Conor Kennelly, and Teddy Lane Jr. as the Black Panthers