Easy answer: yes
Tom Hanks has proven time and again that he is without a doubt the most stand-up guy in movie history. I’m not talking about him as an actual human being. That is a whole other story. I’m talking about his movie characters. He does not play a bad guy. Never. Each character he plays is a model citizen and is someone we all should try to be. Just to name a few, we’ve got Forest Gump, Chuck Noland, Joe Fox, Sam Baldwin, Mr. Rogers, Captain Phillips and Sully. Again, I could probably name more but it would literally be his whole iMDB profile. Some of these characters are even unrealistically nice.
For starters: Chuck Noland. This guy is stuck on an island for FOUR YEARS. All by himself with nothing but a fucking volleyball to keep him company. The only thing keeping him going is the thought of his girl, who he had proposed to prior to going missing. He finally gets rescued and discovers that his girlfriend moved on. She now is married to someone he knew prior to going missing and even has a kid with this guy. There are two things Chuck could’ve done. 1) he could’ve tried to do what most guys would’ve done and fight back for the love of his life. Sure he would’ve been a home wrecker, but if it wasn’t for the crash he and his girlfriend would be the ones married and with a kid. Then there’s option 2) realize that shit happens for a reason and that maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Let your ex-fiance live her life in peace and not end a marriage. Again, I think most men would’ve done option #1. Hell even his ex wanted option #1. She was ready to go to pound town with him as her husband slept upstairs. But no, what does Noland do? He does the mature thing. He lets life take its course and decides not to be the step-dad. STAND. UP. MOVE.
Now let’s look ate Joe Fox. Fox has seen nothing but women come and go in his life. I’m not talking about his own love life either. He’s had step-mom after step-mom. Hell, he’s even had a list of step-grandmas. The Fox men will fuck anything. Except Joe. Throughout You’ve Got Mail, we see interactions between Joe and his step-mom. I’ll be the first to say it, his step-mom was sort of a babe. She makes pass after pass on Joe and each time she does the thought of Joe taking her up on the offer never crosses your mind because it’s Tom Hanks. He would never in a million years sleep with his gold digging step-mom and ruin his fathers relationship. To make Hanks look even better, he is a saint to his step-aunt (who is like 8 years old) and his step brother (who is like 4). This guy has every right to be bitter and want nothing to do with them. I mean you have to think every time he looks at them, he’s reminded of sadness and failed love. But no, Fox does the right thing and puts all that behind him. He is the model citizen in this instance which makes him a STAND. UP. GUY.
Lastly, we’ll look at Captain Phillips. This one is a pretty simple analysis. Phillips risks his own life to save the members of his ship. I know this character is based on a real person and a true story so I’m not gonna give Hanks too much credit on this one. However, I will say Hollywood nailed the casting. Who else would play a stand up character than Tom Hanks? Same goes with Sully. I bet they even lied about a few aspects of the movie because they had Hanks in the movie. For example, Phillips was actually sort of nice to some of the pirates. And I don’t think he was faking it to safe his own ass. I think it was because Hanks would actually be nice to pirates in real life. He was also a saint to the nurse at the end of the movie. Let’s be honest, she was sort of being a bitch. Very demanding, not super understanding of what happened to Phillips. But of course, Hanks is a STAND. UP. PERSON.
The list for stand-up characters Hanks plays could go on for days. I think there is some unspoken rule in Hollywood that makes it so Hanks can’t play a bad person. His behavior on the big screen has carried over to real life and that is why Hanks is truly an American Hero. The guy can do no wrong and is someone everyone should aspire to be.
Twitter: @paddyp3000
Average College Kid 