 First edition | |
| Author | Winston Groom |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 242 |
| ISBN | 0-671-52170-5 |
| Preceded by | Forrest Gump |
Gump & Co. (alternatively titled Forrest Gump and Co.) is a 1995 novel by Winston Groom. It is the sequel to his 1986 novel Forrest Gump . It was written to chronicle Forrest's life throughout the 1980s. [1]
On the first page of Gump and Co., Forrest Gump tells readers "Don't ever let nobody make a movie of your life's story," and "Whether they get it right or wrong, it don't matter." [2]
However, the character is not an idiot savant, as in the first book, but more similar to Tom Hanks' "warmhearted dope." [3] The text intentionally contains grammar and spelling mistakes in order to indicate the character's deficient education and cognitive difficulties, albeit less frequently than its predecessor, reflecting that Forrest is a more mature and somewhat more astute man. [4]
The story suggests that the real-life events surrounding the film have affected Forrest's life. [5]
In 1980, the shrimp market has exploded, and Forrest cannot keep up with the demand. Adding to Forrest's troubles, Lt. Dan sells off his share of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and the company eventually goes under. To make ends meet he gets a job as a janitor in a strip club, where he meets a former college football teammate who gets in a tryout for the New Orleans Saints. Forrest is kicked off the team when he's informed that Jenny has died and leaves town for her funeral. Jenny's mother is in poor health and Forrest resolves to earn money to support his son, Forrest, Jr, who only recently became aware that Forrest is his actual father.
Again unemployed, Forrest sells encyclopedias door-to-door, helps create the infamous New Coke, and operates a pig farm, all of which end in disaster.
Once at Union Station in Washington, Forrest sees a homeless, handicapped man, who says he is Lt. Dan, who had fallen in with those who took advantage of him and absconded with his retirement money, leaving him bankrupt. On top of that, Dan has become half-blind. Forrest, not wishing to see Dan homeless, says they will work something out. Forrest soon meets with a Marine colonel who recruits Forrest into a clandestine mission to Iran. They meet with Ronald Reagan. On the mission itself, they meet Ayatollah Khomeini. The mission is discovered, and everyone disavows responsibility save for Forrest, who is jailed.
Some time later, Forrest and the other prisoners are eligible for a work release program, to which they are put to work under a "religious rehabilitation" at Holy Land, along with John Hinckley Jr., where he accidentally exposes Jim Bakker's affair with his secretary.
Forrest then works with Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken on Wall Street, where he and his son meet Tom Hanks, who does not impress them. Forrest is visited by Jenny's ghost, who is worried about Forrest. Sure enough, he is set up to be the fall guy for their schemes, but his trial is disrupted by news of a crash. He's later met by two MPs, who tell him that due to an error in being medically released while in Vietnam, his enlistment has yet to expire and he is back on active duty. He is taken from New York to a remote post in Alaska, while his son stays behind.
Forrest considers Alaska a nice change of pace from the superficiality of Manhattan, but ends up accidentally wrecking the Exxon Valdez after a drunken night with an old friend. In the environmental hoopla that ensues, the Army spirits Forrest out of the States and decides to quiet his involvement, as court-martialing a Medal of Honor recipient would look bad. Forrest is then assigned to the reputed worst job in the Army: cleaning mud off tank treads in West Germany.
Forrest also meets an attractive blonde woman named Gretchen, who works in a beer hall. Originally from East Germany, Gretchen was spirited to the West, but her family still remains in the Soviet zone. Forrest and Gretchen start dating, but when Forrest suggests buying Little Forrest an oompah horn, Gretchen thinks he cannot afford such a gift on a private's salary and suggests better rapport could be built through writing letters explaining his situation in Germany.
When Forrest's background in pro football is discovered, he gets recruited for the unit's football team. During a game, Forrest punts the ball, which flies over the Berlin Wall, causing another turn of events where people in both East and West Berlin start breaking the wall with sledgehammers.
Forrest is deployed for the Persian Gulf War, where he is reunited with Lt. Dan. His tank crew captures Saddam Hussein. Norman Schwarzkopf is shocked at this, while privately praising such initiative, he remarks they got all of them in trouble with President Bush as it was not in the orders to get Saddam, and orders Saddam returned. They do so, taking Saddam to the outskirts of Baghdad. However, right afterwards they are hit by friendly fire. Forrest flees to safety, but not Lt. Dan, who says his time has come like all his ancestors who died in an American war.
Forrest starts harvesting oysters and builds it into a very successful business with the help of Forrest Jr. and all his old contacts. When thinking about investing the proceeds, he meets Bill and Hillary Clinton at Whitewater. The final chapter deals with Forrest arguing with Forrest Jr., who has taken up to adolescent rebellion by clandestinely drinking beer, and Forrest Sr. laying down the law in an old-fashioned way. Forrest gets one final visit from Jenny saying that he has set their son straight and that she "likes that German girl", implying that she is ready to crossover to Heaven. Forrest marries Gretchen, and his story gets put into film.
A sequel had been in the works, due to the success of the first book and film. [6] Screenwriter Eric Roth submitted a script for the sequel on September 10, 2001, but after the September 11 attacks, there was a sense that "the world had changed" and that the plot of Gump and Co. was no longer relevant. The project ended up languishing in development hell. [7]
In 2007, Paramount and producers Steve Tisch and Wendy Finerman took another look at the project, but nothing came of it. [8]
In 2022, [9] Tom Hanks said that a second film was never seriously considered, noting discussions "lasted all of 40 minutes." [10] He expressed gratitude that he was never contractually-obligated to do another film, stating, "I've always said, 'Guys, if there’s a reason to do it, let’s do it. But you guys can't force me.' There is that natural inclination that is one of pure commerce that says, 'Hey, you just had a hit, so do it again and you’ll have a hit.'" [10]
The publisher, Simon & Schuster, cite a number of positive reviews, including Patricia Holt, in the San Francisco Chronicle , saying it "is a delight". [11] However, The New York Times review called the book's humor “tiresome and banal”. [12]
Robin Gayle Wright Penn, credited as Robin Wright Penn from 1997 to 2009, is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for eight Primetime Emmy Awards.
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is inspired by the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field.
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks' films have grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fourth-highest-grossing actor in North America. He has received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honor both in 2016, as well as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2020.
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy Romancing the Stone (1984), the science-fiction comedy Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990), and the live-action/animated comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). He subsequently directed the satirical black comedy Death Becomes Her (1992) and then diversified into more dramatic fare, including Forrest Gump (1994), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director. The film also won the Best Picture.
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor of stage and screen, as well as a director, producer, musician, and humanitarian. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he has been nominated for an Academy Award. Sinise has also received numerous awards and honors for his extensive humanitarian work and involvement with charitable organizations. He is a supporter of various veterans' organizations and founded the Lt. Dan Band, which plays at military bases around the world.
The 67th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 27, 1995, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 23 categories honoring the films released in 1994. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gilbert Cates and directed by Jeff Margolis. Comedian David Letterman hosted the show for the first time. Three weeks earlier in a ceremony held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on March 4, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Jamie Lee Curtis.
Winston Francis Groom Jr. was an American author. He is best known for his novel Forrest Gump (1986), which became a cultural phenomenon after being adapted as a 1994 film of the same name, starring Tom Hanks. After the film was released, gaining a high box office and winning numerous awards, Groom's novel sold more than one million copies worldwide. Groom wrote a sequel, Gump and Co., published in 1995. His last novel was El Paso (2011).
James Mefford Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker. He has played numerous minor roles in film and guest appearances on television, and often does voice substitution work for his older brother Tom Hanks. He has produced, directed, and filmed several short films. Hanks made his film debut in Buford's Beach Bunnies (1993).
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is an American seafood restaurant chain inspired by the 1994 film Forrest Gump. As of October 2022, 35 Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurants operate worldwide. 22 of these locations are in the United States, four are in Mexico, three are in Japan, and one each are in Mainland China, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Canada and Qatar. The company is based in Houston, Texas, and has been a division of Landry's Restaurants since 2010.
Forrest Alexander Gump is a fictional character and the title protagonist of the 1986 novel by Winston Groom, Robert Zemeckis' 1994 film of the same name, and Gump and Co., the written sequel to Groom's novel.
Geoffrey Lewis Blake is an American film and television actor. Blake is best known for his role as 'Wesley' opposite Robin Wright's 'Jenny' in the Forrest Gump (1994). Blake has appeared alongside Tom Hanks in multiple films. Those performances are part of Blake's frequent collaborations with filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis and Ron Howard. Blake's most critically acclaimed performance was that of the preppy pipe-smoking astrophysicist 'Fisher', the right-hand man, in the Sci-Fi Contact opposite Jodie Foster.
"Here" is a 6-page comic strip by Richard McGuire published in Raw Volume 2 #1 in 1989. In 2010, McGuire announced a graphic novel version Here. It was published by Pantheon Books in December 2014.
Forrest Gump is a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. The title character retells adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships, to thinking about his childhood love, as he bumbles his way through American history, with everything from the Vietnam War to college football becoming part of the story.
Forrest Gump is a 1994 feature film starring Tom Hanks.
Daniel Charles Striepeke was an American makeup artist who was nominated for two Academy Awards and who has often done make-up on Tom Hanks films. With a 40-year career he did makeup on over 100 films. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards in 2004. He also worked on TV shows such as Lost in Space.
Michael Conner Humphreys is an American actor best known for playing young Forrest Gump in the 1994 film of the same name, a performance for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award.
Robert Pope is a British veterinarian, athlete, author and charity fundraiser. He is an elite distance runner, with a number of successes at the marathon and ultramarathon distances. In 2016 he began a 422-day, 15,700-mile run comprising more than 4 complete crossings of the United States, and became the first person to trace the route run by Tom Hanks' fictional character in the film Forrest Gump. He raised approximately £38,000 for the charities Peace Direct and the World Wildlife Fund.
Laal Singh Chaddha is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Advait Chandan and written by Atul Kulkarni. The film is jointly produced by Paramount Pictures, Aamir Khan Productions and Viacom18 Studios. It is a remake of the 1994 American film Forrest Gump which itself is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film stars Aamir Khan as the title character alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan, Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh.
