Top 6 Tom Hanks Movies

by Helen Earnshaw | 14 October 2013

Tom Hanks returns to the big screen this week as he leads the cast of Captain Phillips: a movie that sees him take on the title role.

Over the years Hanks has delivered some wonderful and memorable performances, not to mention he has picked up two Best Actor Oscars along the way.

To celebrate his return we take a look at the top six performance from the actor over the years.

- Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump remains Tom Hanks's most famous role as Winston Groom's novel was adapted for the big screen.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the movie followed Everyman Forrest Gump, a character who finds himself involved in some of the many historic moments.

Forrest Gump is a warm, optimistic and sentimental movie, while Gump himself is a character that you cannot help but life: he really does see life as a glass half full no matter what pain or danger he is facing.

Hanks has delivered Gump in a way that you cannot help but like him. He may have been through some amazing experiences and yet he is still someone that audiences can relate to.

This central performance secured Hanks his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar and remains one of the best performances of his career.

- Philadelphia

Hanks' first Oscar came in 1993 when he team up with director Jonathan Demme for the hard hitting Philadelphia.

Hanks took on the role of AIDS sufferer Andrew Beckett in a movie that was the first big budget film to tackle the medical, political and social issues of this disease.

Twenty years later Philadelphia remains one of the best movies to tackle this issue, and Hanks gives a devastating central performance.

Hanks, Demme and Denzel Washington successfully showed the ignorance and prejudice that surrounded HIV and AIDS at the time and yet it did this in a very moving and touching manner.

Hanks picked up the Best Actor Oscar for this wonderful performance, seeing off the challenge from Daniel Day Lewis, Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne and Anthony Hopkins.

- Saving Private Ryan

In 1998 Hanks returned to the big screen in Steven Spielberg's war drama Saving Private Ryan: one of the greatest movies in this genre of all time.

The movie was set after the Normandy Landings and followed a group of U.S. solders who are given the task to find a paratrooper who has lost three brothers in action.

Hanks took on the leader of the group Captain Miller, a mysterious character who tries to keep his life and his war life completely separate.

It is a riveting performance from Hanks in another everyman role: he sees himself as a man who fights for his country because his country needed him, and nothing more. He doesn't want hero status or accolades he just dreams of making his way home.

As well as strong performance from Hanks, Saving Private Ryan was a visual and technical masterpiece: the opening scenes of the Normandy Landings are some of the most powerful images in cinema history.

Hanks received another Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, but lost out to Jack Nicholson for As Good as it Gets.

- Cast Away

Hanks reunited with director Robert Zemeckis in 2000 for Cast Away: a tale of survival against the odds.

This was a very different role of Hanks as he alone carried this movie in what was a very solitary role and performance.

Chuck Noland's world is turned upside down when he is left stranded on a remote island after his plane crashes. He must change physically and emotionally to endure the loneliness and survive.

It really is an acting masterclass from Hanks as this character goes through a range of emotions: from despair, loneliness to a strong will to survive.

This is a powerful and brutal story that sees Hanks give an absorbing one man performance. He picked up a Best Actor Oscar nomination, but lost out to Russell Crowe for Gladiator.

- Road To Perdition

Road To Perdition tends to be one of the Tom Hanks movies that gets overlooked and yet it is one of the best gangster movies of the last fifteen years.

Road To Perdition is based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins, and saw Sam Mendes return to the director's chair for the first time since American Beauty.

Hanks took on the role of Michael Sullivan, a Depression era hitman who works for John Rooney (Paul Newman). But after his wife and youngest son are murdered by the people he trusted he is forced to go on the run with his oldest son.

Road To Perdition is more than just a gangster film as it is an interesting father/son story. Hanks has been a distant father as he tries to keep his sons away from the life that he leads.

This is a powerful and very beautiful movie that boasts fantastic performances from both Hanks and Newman.

- Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips may be hitting the big screen this week but it really is one of Hanks' best performance.

Directed by Paul Greengrass, the movie tell the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and how his ship was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009.

Hanks takes on the title role in the film as he delivers a stunning performance.

This movie is fast paced and action packed, but it is Hanks that makes this film totally unforgettable as a man who is put in an impossible situation.

Hanks really is one of the best actors of his generation - that is evident in this latest performance. He turn as Phillips will have you gripped to the big screen and willing him to come through the other side. The final scene is one of the most powerful!!!