"Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. While of sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honors in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny (Robin Wright), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that's far more troubled than the path Forrest happens upon. Starring alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field as Forrest's mother, Gary Sinise as his commanding officer in Vietnam, Mykelti Williamson as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that involves shrimp, and the special effects artists whose digital magic places Forrest amidst a remarkable array of historical events and people.