I spend a silly amount of time thinking up random trivia questions. Questions that almost certainly have no answer, well, not one that I could ever know or prove, anyway. For example, today on the way to the office I spent about an hour wondering what year dead homo sapien sapiens outnumbered living homo sapien sapiens. When did the population boom make that the case? Did we ever look back? Was it just, like, 100 years after the first of our species? Also, what actor or actress had the best ten-year run in the history of film? Hmm. Well my first guess is Tom Hanks. I’m not as good with years as some of my fellow tMbU contributors, but I’m thinking 1992-2001. So, as the great James Lipton says, lets start at the beginning.
A League of Their Own (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes – 77%
Metacritic – 67
Box Office – $132.4 Million
Budget – $40 Million
I’m a huge baseball fan. This movie has little to do with baseball. Other than it’s line, which came in at #54 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Quotes list (“There’s no crying in baseball!”) which Hanks says over and over again at one of the funniest moments of the film, it has almost nothing to do with baseball. It’s almost a war movie more than a sports movie. But whatever you call it, it’s damn good. It’s also the film that not only launched the period it Hanks career we’ll be taking a brief look at, but it changed Hanks mindset from goofy, lovable, guy who can’t get the girl because of the thing, and made him look for more challenging roles. As Hanks himself said it “I’m tired of playing pussies.”
Hanks absolutely kills as Jimmy Dugan and we are off to a great start.
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes – 71%
Metacritic – 72
Box Office – $227.8 Million
Budget – $21 Million
Oscars – Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t quite done playing helpless romantics. But if you are going to make one, it’s not a bad screenplay to pick. Sleepless reunites Hanks with his Joe Versus the Volcano costar, Meg Ryan. It won’t be the last time we see this pair. The screenplay is great and Meg Ryan gets to say she was in two (maybe three, if you’re me) of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. Tom Hanks is great, but this might be the only film discussed in this article where Hanks doesn’t “win the movie.” He’s good. But Ryan takes this one. It doesn’t make this movie any worse or any less impressive to have on Tom’s resume. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. While we at tMbU genuinely despise the Golden Globe’s, it’s still something to mention.
That’s a bunch of money.
Philadelphia (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes – 78%
Metacritic – 66
Box Office – $206.7 Million
Budget – $26 Million
Oscars – Best Actor*, Best Makeup, Best Original Song, Best Original Song Again*, Best Original Screenplay
If he wasn’t on the map already (he had already been nominated for an Oscar in 1988 for Big) he was now. Director Jonathan Demme was coming off of The Silence of the Lambs which performed about as perfectly as you could hope any movie to in the box office and in awards season. He followed it up in 1993 with a movie about aids and rights. He wanted Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington to play the lead roles. He got two of the greatest actors of the 1990’s in a movie together before everyone knew they were the greatest actors of the 1990’s. Anytime you can out perform Denzel in a film (Hanks would probably disagree) that’s something you can hang your hat on.
So, just so we’re clear, in 1993 Hanks appeared in two movies that cost about $40 million total to make and cleared about $400 million in the box office internationally. Wow.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Rotten Tomatoes – 72%
Metacritic – 82
Box Office – $677.9 Million
Budget – $55 Million
Oscars – Best Picture*, Best Actor*, Best Director*, Best Visual Effects*, Best Adapted Screenplay*, Best Film Editing*, Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing
All Robert Zemeckis had done up to this point was direct Romancing the Stone a decade earlier, three Back to the Future films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Death Becomes Her, the last getting his films recognized by the Academy for its visual effects. But man, he took this Winston Groom adaptation and ran with it and struck gold. This movie ages well, is hilarious, has a great supporting cast, a fantastic lead, and took the world by storm in the mid-90s. Everyone loved this film at the time even if people now have decided it’s not worthy of its praise. Forrest Gump suffers from being released, and winning Best Picture in a year that also included Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption, Ed Wood, Bullets Over Broadway, The Lion King, and the stunning live-action adaptation of The Flintstones (Oh man, it’s so bad).
SAY FORREST GUMP ISN’T THAT GOOD ONE MORE TIME!
Apollo 13 (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes – 95%
Metacritic – 77
Box Office – $355.2 Million
Budget – $52 Million
Oscars – Film Editing*, Best Sound*, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Best Picture, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay
Demme, Zemeckis, now Howard. Yet another award-winning film from Hanks and an amazing supporting cast. Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan deliver along with another Gary Sinise/Hanks homer to follow up Forrest Gump. This movie seems to be the one that gets lost in the mix. Apollo 13 has a valid argument for being the best film in the set, however. It’s a very easy watch, it made a ton of money, and cleaned up on the awards circuit. It’s almost a perfect movie.
What’s he gonna do next? Lend his voice talent to what many people at the time thought was the best (at least most innovative) animated movie of all-time.
Toy Story (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes – 100%
Metacritic – 95
Box Office – $373.5 Million
Budget – $30 Million
Oscars – Best Score, Best Song, Best ORiginal Screenplay, Special achievement for John Lasseter*
Jumping on board with Pixar’s first film was a move that would show the world Tom Hanks had range. Not that he hadn’t done comedy and drama before. But this seemed next level. There’s no other voice for Woody. It’s an odd combo of knowing that it’s Tom Hanks talking but it not bothering you in the way that can in other films. Obviously this movie launched a studio, changed animation forever, played a big part in the Academy Awards creating new categories, and created a non-Disney animated film that kids and adults love. Huge get here for Tom.
Voice-over, check. Dramas, check. Action, sorta check. Comedy, check. Write music and direct a film. Challenge accepted.
That Thing You Do! (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Metacritic – 71
Box Office – $34 Million
Budget – $26 Million
Without Tom Hanks this movie probably cost the studio more money than they would make. But, to quote Hanks himself, “I went to the 20th Century Fox and I told them they had to let me do whatever I want because I was big star. And they told me I was absolutely right.” Hanks wrote and directed That Thing You Do which, along with Toy Story, is one of the most delightful Tom Hanks’ movies ever made. The movie featured wonderful pop tunes written by a handful of songwriters, including Hanks. The title track was written by Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger. Where the movie misses, it makes up for with its top-notch charm.
Nothing in ’97? So this is post-peak, right? Heading down the mountain now…wait…what? One of the best war films of all-time? DIRECTED BY WHO?
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes – 92%
Metacritic – 90
Box Office – $481.8 Million
Budget – $70 Million
Oscars – Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director*, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography*, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing*, Best Film Editing*, Best Sound Editing*, Best Makeup, Best Score
Couple of things – HOW IN THE HELL DID 8% OF CRITICS NOT THINK THIS MOVIE WAS WORTHY OF A “YES WATCH IT”? C’mon…what the hell? Blows my mind. ALSO, Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture? Best I can think is Saving Private Ryan split some Academy votes with the Terrence Malick war epic The Thin Red Line. Anyway, this movie, in my opinion, is the best war film ever made. The character development is superb. The way the director and the cast, especially Hanks, make death seem sad and relieving at the same instant is almost unreal. The way so many characters are developed rivals many books. Which is insane. They also found that elderly gentleman who looked JUST LIKE MATT DAMON.
Remember earlier when that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan feature made all that money. Well, sequels always make more.
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes – 69%
Metacritic – 57
Box Office – $250.8 Million
Budget – $65 Million
These characters are absolutely adorable. Meg Ryan owns a tiny book store. The kind where you have no idea how they’d be open in that part of NYC. Tom Hanks is an executive at Big Book Stores R Us or some such. They characters don’t know who each other are until the end and it’s just a fantastic reveal for the watcher. The chemistry between the leads is great. And it’s got one of my favorite lines in any romantic comedy. “I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” Hanks got game.
…sequels make more…
Toy Story 2 (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes – 100%
Metacritic – 88
Box Office – $497.4 Million
Budget – $90 Million
Pixar originally envisioned Toy Story 2 as a direct-to-video sequel (LMFAO) but knew what they had in post. It’s everything Toy Story was with more crying. So much crying.
The Green Mile (1999)
Rotten Tomatoes – 80%
Metacritic – 61
Box Office – $290 Million
Budget – $60 Million
Oscars – Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing
If you thought Saving Private Ryan was a rough watch…get ready. The Green Mile tells the story of John Coffey, a magically gifted, mentally challenged, physically intimidating man. Wrongly accused and convicted of a heinous crime, Michael Clarke Duncan plays him as a frightened man who doesn’t understand the world he inhabits. This is another movie where Hanks doesn’t steal the screen, come to think of it. He may not even get the silver medal here, as Sam Rockwell‘s early performance was definitely a sign of things to come. It’s more good choices here for Hanks. A great movie based off a great novella, and a great surrounding cast.
One more, and it’s Tom’s most ambitious role since Philadelphia.
Cast Away (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes – 90%
Metacritic – 73
Box Office – $429.6 Million
Budget – $90 Million
Oscars – Best Actor, Best Sound
Cast Away tells the story of an average man, a FedEx worker who gets stranded after a plane crash on a deserted island. Tom Hanks spends 90% of the movie acting alone (or with a volleyball). It’s always tough to act alone, and anybody who pulls it off will get points from me, but Hanks’ most impressive work in this movie is working with Academy Award winner Helen Hunt in the end of the end of the last act. It’s heartbreaking and real and great. Cast Away reunited Hanks with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis and the result was a great movie, better reviewed by some than Forrest Gump itself.
This is technically only a 9 year run as Hanks had no films in 1991 or 2001. Expanded to 2002 you would get to add Road to Perdition and Catch Me If You Can, two movies that would rival some on this list. I chose to start in 1992 because A League of Their Own seemed to be a turning point for Hanks. Tom Hanks would continue his good choices throughout his still active career. In fact, he hasn’t starred in a movie that lost money since the horrible 1990 adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities. He was a bankable star who had an incredible 10-year run, critically and commercially.
I am not opposed to others that you think are better! Who had the best 10-year stretch in your opinion?
*denotes a win for that Oscar nomination
-all box office numbers are worldwide