Fans Try To Guess Which Four of His Movies Tom Hanks Called 'Pretty Good'

Despite having a successful career that has spanned five decades, Tom Hanks thinks he's only been in four "pretty good" movies, and the internet is enjoying guessing those four movies.

In a recent interview with People, Hanks spoke about his career and the movies he's made but shocked his fans by downplaying the quality of most of them. With his latest movie Pinocchio being met with lukewarm reviews, Hanks is credited with being in over 80 movies in his career.

With so many classic to choose from, from Toy Story to Cast Away, and Saving Private Ryan to Big, people online have started speculating as to which four movies Hanks rates as being "pretty good."

Financial journalist Abhishek Kumar Sahu came in with four classic suggestions from the '90s and '00s. "Castaway, Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, The Terminal," he wrote.

"Captain Phillips, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Catch Me If You Can," suggested @onelastshadow on Twitter.

Various lists of four (and sometimes more) sparked debate online as others always suggested their own favorite movies which were left off certain lists. Unexpected additions to people's lists include the 1989 black comedy The 'Burbs (rated 6.8 on IMDb) as well as the 1990 romcom Joe Versus the Volcano (rated 5.9 on IMDb).

Some of his highest rated films include all of the Toy Story movies, Big, Catch Me If You Can, Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, to name but a few. Meanwhile his highest grossing movies include The Da Vinci Code and The Polar Express, despite not being too highly rated.

Going against the grain of what his fans were suggesting online, Hanks was actually asked to name his own favorite movies that he's been in during an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast in November 2021. He revealed his top three were Cloud Atlas, A League of Their Own and Cast Away.

Hanks was discussing movies with People as he announced the release of his first novel. The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece will be released on May 9, 2023 and will delve into the movie business and the making of a "colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film and the humble comic book that inspired it," per the book's synopsis.

"No one knows how a movie is made—though everyone thinks they do," Hanks said. "I've made a ton of movies (and four of them are pretty good, I think) and I'm still amazed at how films come together. From a flicker of an idea to the flickering image onscreen, the whole process is a miracle."

The throwaway comment in that section is what sparked the online debate. The upcoming novel isn't Hanks' first piece of written work. As well as penning a number of scripts for film and TV, he also wrote Uncommon Type, a collection of short stories which was published in 2017.

If Hanks truly believes he's only been in four "pretty good" movies, then perhaps his upcoming efforts could add to the list. He stars as the titular character in the upcoming adaptation of A Man Called Otto due out on December 14, 2022, while he'll also appear in Wes Anderson's next movie Asteroid City which currently has no release date.