Forrest Gump - BRIAN HEATH

1 Forrest Gumpscreenplay byEric Rothbased on a novel byWinston Groom presented byEXT. A SAVANNAH STREET - DAY - 1981A feather floats through the air. The falling city, Savannah, is revealed in the background. The featherfloats down toward the city below. The feather drops downtoward the street below, as people walk past and cars driveby, and nearly lands on a man's walks across the street, causing the feather to be whiskedback on its journey. The feather floats above a stoppedcar. The car drives off right as the feather floats downtoward the street. The feather floats under a passing car, then is sent flyingback up in the air. A MAN sits on a bus bench. The featherfloats above the ground and finally lands on the man's mud-soaked man reached down and picks up the feather. His name isFORREST gump . He looks at the feather oddly, moves aside abox of chocolates from an old suitcase, then opens the the old suitcase are an assortment of clothes, a ping-pong paddle, toothpaste and other personal pulls out a book titled "Curious George," then placesthe feather inside the book.

2 Forrest closes the in his eyes reveals that Forrest may not be looks right as the sound of an arriving bus is heard. A bus pulls up. Forrest remains on the bus bench as the buscontinues BLACK WOMAN in a nurse's outfit steps up and sits down atthe bus bench next to Forrest . The nurse begins to read amagazine as Forrest looks at My name's Forrest opens a box of chocolates and holds it out for the want a chocolate?The nurse shakes her head, a bit apprehensive about thisstrange man next to could eat about a million and ahalf of these. My momma always said,"Life was like a box of never know what you're gonnaget." eats a chocolate as he looks down at the nurse' must be comfortable 'll bet you could walk all day inshoes like that and not feel a wish I had shoes like WOMANMy feet always says there's an awfullot you could tell about a person bytheir shoes. Where they're they've black woman stares at Forrest as he looks down at hisown 've worn lots of shoes.

3 I bet if Ithink about it real hard I couldremember my first pair of closes his eyes said they'd take my COUNTRY DOCTOR'S OFFICE - GREENBOW, ALABAMA - DAY - 1951 A little boy closes his eyes tightly. It is young Forrest ashe sits in a doctor's ( )She said they was my magic has been fitted with orthopedic shoes and metal right, Forrest , you can openyour eyes now. Let's take a littlewalk doctor sets Forrest down on its feet. Forrest walks aroundstiffly. Forrest 's mother, MRS. gump , watches him as he clanksaround the room do those feel? His legs arestrong, Mrs. gump . As strong as I'veever seen. But his back is as crookedas a walks foreground past the doctor and Mrs. we're gonna straighten him rightup now, won't we, Forrest ?A loud thud is heard as, outside, Forrest GUMPF orrest!EXT. GREENBOW, ALABAMA Mrs. gump and young Forrest walk across the street. Forrestwalks stiffly next to his , when I was a baby, Momma namedme after the great Civil War hero,General Nathan Bedford RURAL ALABAMA A black and white photo of General Nathan Bedford photo turns into live action as the General dons a hoodedsheet over his General is in full Ku Klux Klan garb, including his General rides off, followed by a large group of Klanmembers dressed in full ( )She said we was related to him insome way.

4 And, what he did was, hestarted up this club called the KuKlux Klan. They'd all dress up intheir robes and their bedsheets andact like a bunch of ghosts or spooksor something. They'd even putbedsheets on their horses and ridearound. And anyway, that's how I gotmy name. Forrest GREENBOW Mrs. gump and Forrest walk across the ( )Momma said that the Forrest part wasto remind me that sometimes we alldo things that, well, just don'tmake no stops suddenly as his brace gets stuck. Forrest 'sbrace is caught in a gutter grate. Mrs. gump bends down andtries to free Forrest . Two old cronies sit in front of abarber shop and GUMPJust wait, let me get gump struggles to pull the stuck brace from the GUMPLet me get it. Wait, get it thisway. Hold pulls his foot out of the GUMPAll gump helps Forrest up onto the sidewalk. She looks upand notices the two old GUMPOooh. All right. What are you allstaring at? Haven't you ever seen alittle boy with braces on his legsbefore?

5 Mrs. gump and Forrest walk along the sidwalk past the twoold men. Mrs. gump holds tightly onto Forrest 's GUMPDon't ever let anybody tell youthey're better than you, Forrest . IfGod intended everybody to be thesame, he'd have given us all braceson our ( )Momma always had a way of explainingthings so I could understand OAK ALLEY/THE gump BOARDING HOUSE Mrs. gump and Forrest walk along a dirt road. A row ofmailboxes stands ( )We lived about a quarter mile ofRoute 17, about a half mile from thetown of Greenbow, Alabama. That's inthe county of Greenbow. Our househad been in Momma's family since hergrandpa's grandpa's grandpa had comeacross the ocean about a thousandyears ago. Something like gump and Forrest walk along the gump Boarding ( )Since it was just me and Momma andwe had all these empty rooms, Mommadecided to let those rooms out. Mostly to people passing from, oh, Mobile, Montgomery,place like that. That's how me andMommy got money.

6 Mommy was a realsmart GUMPR emember what I told you, 're no different than anybodyelse gump heads Forrest to the porch. She bends down to lookForrest in the GUMPDid you hear what I said, Forrest ?You're the same as everybody are no ELEMENTARY SCHOOL / PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAYPRINCIPALYour boy' different, Mrs. , his is GUMPWell, we're all different, principal sighs, then stands up. INT. HALLWAY Forrest sits outside the principal's office and ( )She wanted me to have the finesteducation, so she took me to theGreenbow County Central School. Imet the principal and principal stands in front of Mrs. gump . Forrest , sittingleft, want to show you something, Now, this is principal holds up a chart with a designations accordingto and points to the center of the graph, labeled"Normal." A red line below the normal area is labeled "StateAcceptance." The principal points to the section below theacceptance line labeled "Below." is right here.

7 The staterequires a minimum of eighty toattend public school, Mrs. 's gonna have to go to a specialschool. Now, he'll be just GUMPWhat does normal mean, anyway? Hemight be a bit on the slow side, butmy boy Forrest is going to get thesame opportunities as everyone 's not going to some special schoolto learn to how to re-tread 're talking about five little pointshere. There must be something can HALLWAY Forrest sits outside the principal's 're a progressive school don't want to see anybody PRINCIPAL'S OFFICEPRINCIPALIs there a Mr. gump , Mrs. gump ?MRS. GUMPHe's on gump BOARDING HOUSE - NIGHT Forrest sits on a swing outside the house. Loud organic malegrunts are heard coming from inside the house. Forrest sitson the swing as the grunts continue. The principal stepsout of the gump House and wipes the sweat from his is sitting on the , your momma sure does care aboutyour schooling, son. principal wipes the sweat from his neck, then looks backat don't say much, do you?

8 Forrest grunts, imitating him. The principal, embarrassed,turns and walks away. gump BOARDING HOUSE/ Forrest 'S BEDROOM Mrs. gump reads from the book "Curious George" as Forrestsits on the bed and GUMPF inally, he had to try it. It lookedeasy, but, oh, what happened. , what's vacation mean?MRS. GUMPV acation?FORRESTW here Daddy went?MRS. GUMPV acation's when you go somewhere,and you don't ever come lies down on his bed and looks ( )Anyway, I guess you could say me andMomma was on our gump BOARDING HOUSE - DAY A cab driver closes the trunk of the car as two women walktoward the house. A milkman steps down from the ( )But we didn't mind. Our house wasnever empty. There was always folkscomin' and goin'.MRS. gump ( ) gump BOARDING HOUSE Mrs. gump steps forward and speaks to all the GUMPIt's suppa, everyone. MAN WITH A CANE steps left across the WITH CANEMy, my. That sure looks gump looks into a sitting room and informs the boardersabout GUMPG entlemen, would you care to join usfor supper?

9 Hurry up and get it beforethe flies do. I prefer you don'tsmoke that cigar so close to ( )Sometimes we had so many peoplestayin' with us that every room wasfilled with travelers. You know,folks livin' out of their suitcases,and hat cases, and sample GUMPWell, you go ahead and start. I cantfind gump walks up the ( )One time a young man was stayingwith us, and he had him a gump looks into Forrest 's room. She hears singing comingfrom another room and walks over to a closed door. Mrs. Gumpopens the door, revealing a young man with long sideburns ashe plays the guitar and sings. Forrest holds onto a broomand dances oddly. The young man is ELVIS PRESLEY(sings)"Well, you ain't never caught arabbit, and you ain't no friend ofmine." Forrest 's legs rock back and forth to the GUMPF orrest! I told you not to botherthis nice young , no, that's all right, ma'am. Iwas just showin' him a thing or twoon the guitar GUMPAll right, but your supper's readyif y'all want to , that sounds good.

10 Thank you,ma' gump leaves and closes the door. Elvis sits back stands left, and looks himself in a , man, show me that crazy littlewalk you just did there. Slow itdown begins to dance again as Elvis plays the guitar (sings)"You ain't nothin' but a hound, " Forrest ( )I liked that dances as he watches himself in the ( )It sounded (sings)".. cryin' all the time" Forrest rocks up and down on his braced legs, then begins (sings)"You ain't nothin' but a hound " Forrest ( )I started moving around to the music,swinging my hips. This one night weand GREENBOW - NIGHT Mrs. gump and Forrest walk along a sidewalk. A televisioninside a store window reveals Elvis Presley as he performs"Houng Dog" on a ( )..was out shoppin', and we walkedright by Benson's Furniture andAppliance store, and guess television reveals Elvis as he thrusts his hips and (sings)You ain't nothin' but a hound gump and Forrest watch the television. Elvis dancesaround in the same manner Forrest did.