Tom Hanks’ three favourite Tom Hanks movies: “We just had bold adventures”

Over the past three decades, Tom Hanks has climbed to Hollywood’s apex as one of America’s most beloved actors and a staple presence in high-grossing productions. The star found his way into the Hollywood hills in a slightly less salubrious manner but soon found himself an indispensable player in some of the biggest movies of the century. His big break came with 1988’s Big, a fantasy comedy directed by Penny Marsh, but it wasn’t until the early 1990s that he had top-flight directors clambering after him. 

While so many actors can fall at the wayside when they get offered a small amount of success. However, Hanks has always been determined to be a true star and become an icon, So he dedicated himself to gaining more roles. An appearance in Philadelphia opposite Denzel Washington in 1993 and in Forrest Gump the following year saw the Californian actor win his only two Academy Awards to date, both for ‘Best Actor’. This career peak saw Hanks become only the second actor, behind Spencer Tracy, to have won two consecutive ‘Best Actor’ Oscars. 

After this early peak, Hanks maintained near-constant accolades over the years, appearing in a vast range of highly successful films from the Toy Story franchise to Saving Private Ryan and Captain Phillips thereafter. The breadth of his resume is second to none, and the potency of those titles is truly breathtaking. Hanks’ oeuvre is nothing short of staggering, and as a fan, it’s no easy task to single out his top three movies.

In 2021, the actor was challenged to do just this. However, his approach to the selection made for contentious results. “I would not do it according to the way the movies came out. I would do it by way of the personal experience that I had when I was doing them, which is very different,” Hanks said while speaking on The Bill Simmons Podcast. “I would probably say number one would be League of Their Own because all I did all summer was play baseball”.

“I shagged flies,” he continued. The movie might not be considered among Hanks’ best by critics, but the experience he had on the shoot was enough to make it into Hanks’ top three. “I ate turkey dogs. I took infield with [co-star] Robin Knight and a ton of other people. I played baseball all summer long in Evansville, Indiana, and in Wrigley Field. There was a day of doing that.” 

In Penny Marshall’s 1992 sports comedy-drama A League of Their Own, Hanks starred alongside Madonna, Geena Davis and Lori Petty. The movie tells a fictionalised story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and their triumph against the odds. The movie was a critical and commercial success and gave Hanks a summer he won’t forget in a hurry.

The classic turn-of-the-century survival story was next up on Hanks’ favourite Hanks movies. Cast Away arrived in 2000 and followed the story of a FedEx troubleshooter who finds himself stranded with Wilson the volleyball on an uninhabited South Pacific island following a plane crash. The movie was a big hit with audiences and critics, grossing $429million worldwide and earning Hanks an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Actor’. It has gone down in history among the actor’s finest performances and a movie that is an essential watch for those who enjoy heartfelt blockbuster cinema.

“We just had bold adventures when we were making that movie,” Hanks told Simmons. “We were out in the middle of the ocean trying to grab shots. And we were off in Fiji on two different occasions and, again, had my whole family with me. There was nothing but adventures every single day.”

The final and most surprising film Hanks singled out from his vast catalogue was 2012’s Cloud Atlas. The sci-fi movie, adapted from David Mitchell’s novel of the same name, followed multiple plots occurring during six eras in time to present the development of civilisation and ideology. The movie received a mixed response from critics, with some lauding the ambitious multi-layered spectacle and others deeming it an ill-conceived adaption. Despite the film’s mixed reception, it holds a special place in Hanks’ heart because it gave him a chance to immerse himself in German history.

“That was the first time I’d ever shot extensively in Germany, and I was surrounded by history,” he remembered. “But the work itself was we were part of this big, massive ensemble of fantastic people who were just trying to do the hardest, best work on this deep throw.”

This is perhaps the one movie on Hanks’ list that will have most people scratching their heads. But Cloud Atlas has started to gain cult attention as it aims to deliver a bold science fiction adventure. While Cast Away and Leaguer of Their Own are already on more than a few people’s ‘watched’ list, the sci-fi epic should be finding its way onto the audience’s waiting list to complete the triumvirate of Tom Hanks’ favourite Tom Hanks movies.

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