Tom Hanks: Our Generation’s Everyman
While growing up in Alabama during the 1990s, it was a requirement to watch Forrest Gump. It was a film that showed us one of our state sons, even though he was fictional. As a young child, the character of Forrest Gump was someone kids could relate to. He was a simple man, he thought like us to some extent, and there was an innocence to Forrest that we recognized when we saw him.
For the majority of people my age, Forrest Gump was one of the first times we ever saw the talent of the man named Tom Hanks. Today, his onscreen persona represents a sense of idealism that lives within the majority of the American public. In him, we may see our parents, our family, our friends, and even ourselves. We see ourselves in the performances of Hanks because in them he shows us different facets of the human condition that we all have within us.
For my parents, they were introduced to Tom Hanks through his comedic performance in Bosom Buddies, a short-lived television series that introduced a portion of the country to Hanks. It wasn’t until hits like Splash and Big that the rest of the country met Hanks. His persona was boyish, comedic, and charming. However, besides a few films, the 1980s was a decade full of misfires and lukewarm receptions. To most audiences, this was Hanks’ comedic decade. Most of the unpopular Hanks films come from this decade, but if you are true HanksPhile, you will know that there are glimmers of the actor that was to come in these early films. From films like Nothing in Common, Punchline, or even Turner and Hooch. Yes, I said Turner and Hooch. Go back to the operation scene between Turner and Hooch at the end. It gets me every time.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Tom Hanks was in an artistic rut. After several box-office failures, he was looking for something else. Something else that wasn’t “Tom Hanks”. The big turning point for the career of Hanks did not come with an Academy Award-nominated performance or a film directed by Steven Spielberg, but it occurred when he played the against-type role of the alcoholic baseball manager of Jimmy Dugan in Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own. In The Washington Post article “The Evolution of Tom Hanks,” Geoff Edgers stated that “[Hanks] was desperate and needed the part…[and] with [Penny] Marshall’s support, Hanks, at 35, began his reinvention.”
A League of Their Own was another childhood favorite of mine. Jimmy Dugan could be cold, mean, arrogant, disgusting, but with Hanks in the role, he was able to show both the dark and lighter side of the character. It was a challenge for Hanks because he was offering audiences a new version of himself. A version of Tom Hanks that no one had seen. But, audiences were willing to start this journey with Hanks. After A League of their Own, he started a hot streak that lasted for over a decade. From Sleepless in Seattle to Philadelphia. From Toy Story to Cast Away. From Saving Private Ryan to Catch Me if You Can. Hanks has shown that no matter what the film is, he can deliver.
Tom Hanks has become a major star within the history of American cinema. Over the years, he has drawn many comparisons to the legendary actor Jimmy Stewart and I would have to agree with these comparisons. Professionally, Stewart and Hanks have had a similar career. The way Hanks is loved by his generation, Stewart was loved by his just the same. Like Stewart, Tom Hanks can jump from genre to genre with ease.
Also during their careers, both actors have been a part of a very popular director/actor duo. Stewart, paired with the idealistic director, Frank Capra, promoted the idea of the American Dream in films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s A Wonderful Life. While Hanks has worked with the legendary Steven Spielberg, another director who fills his films with American idealism.
But, the similarities between the two do not just lie within their film careers. Both Stewart and Hanks have shown a true passion and admiration for the American Armed Forces. Stewart spent 27 years of service within the U.S. Air Force and even served during both World War II and the Vietnam War. For Hanks, after playing a Captain of the U.S. Army in Saving Private Ryan, he has been a part of numerous projects and events dealing with the Armed Forces. He has served as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, while also being inducted as an honorary member of the United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his performance in Saving Private Ryan. Stewart starred in many films related to the military, while Hanks has also produced two award-winning military-related series (Band of Brothers and The Pacific).
Even though Hanks is not experiencing the same hot streak he experienced through the 1990s, he is still a marvel to watch. As he has gotten older, he is starting to make even more daring decisions. From the sci-fi opera Cloud Atlas to the docu-esque Captain Phillips, Hanks is not pulling any punches. He hovered around awards seasons for a while with Bridge of Spies and Sully, but he finally received his sixth Oscar nomination for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, his first in almost twenty years.
Nowadays we praise the great performances of these method practicing, chameleon-like actors, but we tend to forget just how talented and chameleon-like Hanks also is. He is an actor who is constantly reinventing himself in some way, but because of his star persona as “Tom Hanks,” we tend to glaze over the things he is doing. But, in every role, he shows us something new. Something eye-opening. Sometimes it’s subtle, but other times it isn’t. He is an actor that audiences are so in tune with that with just one look we can see within the mind of his character. Many actors have this quality, but not many as good as Tom Hanks.
