You see them -- folks of all ages and both sexes -- floating out of the movie theater on waves of honorable sentiment. The kids look thoughtful, the grownups wistful. Couples are holding hands. This is not a Speed crowd; these people haven't just exited a roller-coaster movie -- they've completed an upbeat encounter session with America's recent past. No question: one more audience has been Gumped.
Forrest Gump, a romantic epic starring Tom Hanks as a slow but sweet-souled Alabama boy who lucks into nearly every headline event of the past 40 years, is the summer sensation: a popular hit...