Forrest Gump (00:13):
Hello. My name's Forrest. Forrest Gump. Do you want a chocolate? I could eat about a million and a half of these. My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
(00:50)
Those must be comfortable shoes. I bet you could walk all day in shoes like that and not feel a thing. I wish I had shoes like that.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
My feet hurt.
Forrest Gump (01:07):
Mama always said there's an awful lot you could tell about a person by their shoes. Where they going, where they been. I've worn lots of shoes. I bet if I think about it real hard, I could remember my first pair of shoes. Mama said they'd take me anywhere. She said they was my magic shoes.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
All right for us. You can open your eyes now. Let's take a little walk around. How do they feel? His legs are strong, Ms. Gump. As strong as I've ever seen, but his back's as crooked as a politician. But we're going to straighten him right up now, aren't we, Forrest?
Ms. Gump (02:18):
Forrest!
Forrest Gump (02:22):
Now, when I was a baby, mama named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest. She said we was related to him in some way and what he did was he started up this club called the Ku Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their bedsheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around. And anyway, that's how I got my name, Forrest Gump. Mama said that the Forrest part was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don't make no sense.
Ms. Gump (03:09):
Get it ... Get it ... Right, this way. Ow. All right. What are y'all staring at? Haven't ever seen the little boy braces on his legs before? Don't ever let anybody tell you they're better than you, Forrest. If God intended everybody to be the same, he'd have given us all braces on our legs.
Forrest Gump (03:33):
Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
(03:38)
We lived about a quarter mile off Route 17, about half mile from the town of Greenbow, Alabama. That's in the county of Greenbow. Our house had been in mama's family since her grandpa's grandpa's grandpa had come across the ocean about 1000 years ago, something like that. Since it was just me and mama and we had all these empty rooms, mama decided to let those rooms out. Mostly the people passing through, like from, oh, mobile, Montgomery. Places like that. And that's how me and Mama got money. Mama was a real smart lady.
Ms. Gump (04:14):
Remember what I told you, Forrest. You're no different than anybody else is. Did you hear what I said Forrest? You're the same as everybody else. You are no different.
Mr. Hancock (04:28):
Your boy is different, Ms. Gump. His IQ 75.
Ms. Gump (04:36):
Well, we're all different, Mr. Hancock.
Forrest Gump (04:42):
She wanted me to have the finest education, so she took me to the Greenbow County Central School. I met the principal and all.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
I want to show you something, Mrs. Gump. Now, this is normal. Forrest is right here. The state requires a minimum IQ of 80 to attend public school, Mrs. Gump. He's going to have to go to special school, and he'll be just fine.
Ms. Gump (05:14):
What does normal mean anyway? He might be a bit on the slow side, but my boy Forrest is going to get the same opportunities as everyone else. He's not going to some special school to learn how to retread tires. We're talking about five little points here. There must be something can be done.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
We're a progressive school system. We don't want to see anybody left behind. Is there a Mr. Gump, Mrs. Gump?
Ms. Gump (05:52):
He's on vacation.