Forrest Gump (1994)

It doesn’t matter what Tom does for the rest of his career, he’ll always be known for Forrest Gump. The 1994 movie is the adaptation of Winston Groom’s 1986 novel of the same name and follows Forrest’s life story as he tells it to people waiting at the bus stop with him.

And his story is unbelievable – from teaching Elvis to dance and fighting in Vietnam, to buying Apple stock and running across the US and inspiring the Happy Face logo.

Tom is genius as Forrest, who is possibly autistic or on the spectrum. The cast list includes actors like Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field and Mykelti Williamson as Forrest’s BFF Bubba – they do their jobs perfectly.

Michael Scheinfeld from Common Sense Media sums it up perfectly: “Although epic in length and symbolic in treatment, the movie never loses sight of the intimate love story at its center. The relationship between childlike Forrest and disillusioned Jenny can be seen as an allegory for America’s loss of innocence from the 1950s to the 1980s, reflected by pop culture and socio-political events.”