We’ll use a bit gentler language than FMK and call this Rent, Buy, Trash, but the principles are the same. Assume you have an identical twin who has never seen or heard about “Forrest Gump,” “Pulp Fiction” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” Which one should they buy, which should they rent and be able to see only once, and which should they trash and never see at all?
1994 was the best year ever for great movies that endure. “The Lion King” could join these three in a Fab Four that no other year could match. Not even close. There is no right or wrong answer about our RBT trio, of course, but how you judge them might be kind of a Rorschach test on what you value — and maybe how that has changed over 30 years.
“Gump” won six Oscars, but as this very fun podcast mentions, lots of people disparaged it for a while because they thought “Pulp Fiction” was better. And “Shawshank” kind of entered the love fest organically, embraced by those who saw it over and over on cable.
‘Forrest Gump’
“This is not a heartwarming story about a mentally challenged man,” Roger Ebert writes in this review. “That cubbyhole is much too small and limiting for Forrest Gump. The movie is more of a meditation on our times, as seen through the eyes of a man who lacks cynicism and takes things for exactly what they are. Watch him carefully and you will understand why some people are criticized for being ‘too clever by half.’ Forrest is clever by just exactly enough.”
Thirty cynical years later, the special effects are mostly ho-hum and even Forrest’s best lines are rarely ho ho ho, but the film endures because it’s a wonderful love story. Not Forrest and Jenny — Forrest and everyone.
He would have had a horrible life without the parental love from his mom, the childhood love from Jenny, the platonic love from Bubba, the mentorly love from Lieutenant Dan. Even his often-unrequited love of Jenny helped him grow, painful though it was for him, painful as it is for all of us.
When you watch it with older eyes you can also appreciate the parental love that Jenny didn’t have, and how much crueler that made her life. And maybe scenes like this one make those older eyes tear up in ways they didn’t 30 cynical years ago.
“I’m not a smart man,” Forrest tells Jenny in another conversation, “but I know what love is.”
So do I, Forrest. In our real world, I’ve already bought you. For the sake of this exercise, though, you’re a really close second. I’m renting. I know my twin will love you.
‘Pulp Fiction’
“Like ‘Citizen Kane,’” Ebert writes, “‘Pulp Fiction’ is constructed in such a nonlinear way that you could see it a dozen times and not be able to remember what comes next. It doubles back on itself, telling several interlocking stories about characters who inhabit a world of crime and intrigue, triple-crosses and loud desperation.”
I would guess Gen Xers are particularly passionate about “Pulp Fiction.” It came along when most were in their upper teens or 20s, when all the world was a stage of drama and melodrama, a time filled with sharp intellects and rough edges.
“Nonlinear,” “intrigue” and “loud desperation” are good descriptors of our 20s for lots of generations. Even if you knew exactly where you wanted to go, getting there was a problem. Or, looking back on it, an adventure.
It’s also an age when we have lots of testosterone, good and bad. You could say that about “Pulp Fiction,” too.
It’s a hot date who bedazzles you with beauty, charms you with conversation, intrigues you with intelligence, excites you with elan, awes you with ambition.
There’s only one thing missing: Love.
“Pulp Fiction” has the heat of a thousand suns, but not much warmth. It might be a great one-night stand, but that’s more for people in their 20s. I’d rather be with characters I care about than get gobsmacked with glibness.
Sorry, Pulp. I really like you, but I want to see other movies.
‘The Shawshank Redemption’
“‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is not a depressing story, although I may have made it sound that way,” Ebert writes. “There is a lot of life and humor in it, and warmth in the friendship that builds up between Andy and Red. There is even excitement and suspense, although not when we expect it. But mostly the film is an allegory about holding onto a sense of personal worth, despite everything.”
The dialogue isn’t clever, just powerful. Here’s Red, trying yet again for parole after 40 years in prison. Like Andy, he might have changed, he might be bitter, but he is not broken.
“I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense into him — tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone. This old man is all that’s left. I’ve got to live with that.”
That scene by itself isn’t why I’d tell my mythical twin to buy “Shawshank.” It’s because that scene isn’t by itself.
I could rattle off at least three better ones — and probably half a dozen. About holding on to your dreams as you grow old, about getting the best out of the worst people, about the beauty of music bringing everyone together, about how friendship can help you get by when life is at its worst.
And, most of all, about hope.
Murphy Slaw
Something old: If those three 30-year-old movies are too heavy for you, might I suggest this?
Or this:
Something new: Lots of Baby Boomers have heard for decades about the dangers of marijuana, but often dismiss it as scare tactics and propaganda by people who simply prefer tobacco and alcohol. But this study points to dangers that don’t sound like fear mongering: a significantly higher risk of heart attack and stroke.
Something borrowed: If you love podcasts and are looking for something fresh, NPR just came out with a list of the 10 best college podcasts in America.
Something blue: Some food for thought (but don’t overthink it):