MOVIE classics Forrest Gump and Kill Bill have been refilmed and reduced to one-minute skits in a comedic tour-de-force by an amateur film group.

The shorts, created by The University of York Filmmaking Society, have now received huge acclaim after being posted on video-sharing website You Tube.

Forrest Gump, the original of which starred Tom Hanks, has reached an audience of nearly 1,500,000 via the internet, while the spoof Kill Bill I and II have been seen by half-a-million people across the world. In addition, Gump has been rated by 7,869 people and has been given five stars.

In one minute, viewers see the eponymous hero losing his leg calipers, playing American football, meeting the US president, fighting in Vietnam, rescuing Lieutenant “I got no legs” Dan, fishing for prawns with Bubba, meeting and splitting up with Jenny on various occasions, running across America, having a son and giving his famous “life is like a box of chocolates” line.

Thousands have posted messages praising it.

One said: “So funny I couldn’t stop laughing, great video, yeah, I love that film.”

About the Kill Bill send-up, the original of which stars Uma Thurman, someone has posted: “I don’t know why this exists. But I haven’t stopped laughing yet. Bravo.”

But for members of the Filmmaking Society, the films were quick, 48-hour projects designed to raise awareness of the society and get people interested in film-making.

In the case of Forrest Gump, it was filmed in 30 minutes on the university’s Astroturf pitch at 7.30am.

Will Tribble was involved with the directing and editing of both movies. He also appears in the both skits.

He said the group had a vague idea of what they were going to do but much of it was made up on the spot. He said filming was over the space of half-an-hour with various takes being shot and the best one chosen later. The dialogue was then dubbed on afterwards.

Geoff Gedroyc, chairman of the society, said: “I can’t quite get my head around just how successful it has become. It’s really quite amazing.” But he said it was almost disheartening that weeks could be spent making a perfect short film which received little acclaim and publicity but that something done in a morning could become a worldwide phenomenon.

But he admitted the society had enjoyed some good fortune as the day before the university film was posted on You Tube, the original Forrest Gump film was shown on television in America, leading more people to search for it on the website.