Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump - Champion ping pong player and more ...
Watch the ping pong action from this film.

In 1994 a film called Forrest Gump burst onto our screens.

With Tom Hanks in the leading role, this comedy drama was a smash hit, winning 6 Oscars at the United States Academy Awards in 1995.

It was based on a novel by Winston Groom and became famous for many things ... including some fabulous table tennis sequences.

  Award winning film

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, and with Tom Hanks in the leading role, Forrest Gump won 6 Oscars at the United States Academy Awards in 1995.

The Oscars were for:

• Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Best Director

• Best Effects, Visual Effects

• Best Film Editing

• Best Picture

• Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

It also won many other awards in the USA and around the world.

So what was the film about?

  The plot

Tom Hanks plays the title character, Forrest Gump, a simpleton who leads a charmed existence over four turbulent decades in US history.

He becomes a college football star, a decorated soldier in the Vietnam War, a champion ping pong player, a millionaire shrimp boat captain and a jogging guru.

But what made the film so popular?

  Popular items in the film

With Tom Hanks playing Forrest Gump, and with great use of special effects, we see him right in the middle of real historical action.

We see him shake hands with J.F. Kennedy ... sit alongside John Lennon on a chat show ... and being recommended a stay in the Watergate Hotel by President Nixon.

The film's also famous for him saying ...

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

 

But for me, this film was best known for some fabulous table tennis sequences.

Whilst Forrest is in recovery for a bullet shot, he discovers his uncanny ability for ping-pong, and he rises to celebrity status before going on to play ping-pong for the USA in China.

 

Here are the the best ping pong clips from the film ...