The Magnificent Savants

Gump's happened before. Despite a naïveté that borders on the pathological, Forrest Gump manages to be a remarkable runner, Ping-Pong champion, and staggeringly successful businessman. Here are some other movie characters whose apparent simplemindedness masks extraordinary talents.

TOMMY WALKER Roger Daltrey in Tommy (1975, Columbia TriStar)
Personal history: Deprived of his senses, he is scorned by his mother, molested by his uncle, and, scariest of all, forced to be present when Jack Nicholson sings.
Special ability: Transforms himself from social pariah to pop messiah through pinball wizardry.

CHAUNCEY GARDINER Peter Sellers in Being There (1979, FoxVideo)
Personal history: The death of his employer thrusts this childlike, TV-loving gardener into the cruel world of gangs, treacherous women, and politicians.
Special ability: His very emptiness soon leads those in power to believe he's hiding a well of profundity; becomes a national political figure.

THE BROTHER Joe Morton in The Brother From Another Planet (1984, FoxVideo)
Personal history: As a mute black extraterrestrial, he engenders the hostility of bigots and xenophobes as he wanders through Harlem.
Special abilities: Revives a junkie who has fatally overdosed; makes flowers bloom in ravaged ghetto terrain.

ERIC GIBB Jay Underwood in The Boy Who Could Fly (1986, FoxVideo)
Personal history: A boy diagnosed as autistic sits and stares blankly in class — but things change once he takes to perching on his roof.
Special ability: He can fly.

RAYMOND BABBITT Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988, MGM/UA)
Personal history: As an autistic youth, he's sent to a sanitarium when his parents come to believe that he might scald his baby brother.
Special abilities: Can identify the number of spilled toothpicks instantaneously; can count cards at a Las Vegas casino; always knows when it's time for The People's Court.