On July 6, 1994, the movie Forrest Gump, a comedy-drama film,
opened in theaters. A huge box-office success, the film stars
Tom Hanks in the title role of Forrest, a good-hearted man with
a low I.Q. who winds up at the center of key cultural and historical
events of the second half of the 20th century.

Forrest Gump was based on a 1986 novel of the same name by
Winston Groom who himself grew up in Alabama and served in
the Army during Vietnam.