Cast Away(2000)
20th Century Fox Dec 22, 2000 | Wide
A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.
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Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: SDDS,DTS,Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English,Russian
Summaries
Plot Summary
- A Fedex employee picks up a package from a woman which has red angel wings hand drawn on it. The package it delivered to man in Russia, who is the husband of the sender, and is cheating on her.In 1995, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is a time-obsessed systems analyst, who travels worldwide resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots. Chuck is in a warehouse in Russia and admonishes the staff that it took 87 hours and 22 minutes (as he mailed the package and put a timer in it) to deliver a package from Memphis USA to Nicolai in Russia. Chuck tells the staff that the days orders have to sorted and loaded into the delivery truck before the close of business. One of the incoming trucks is stuck in Kremlin, so Chuck takes the sorting stating next to the truck in Kremlin and gets all the packages sorted and loaded on to the outgoing trucks.He is in a long-term relationship with Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt), whom he lives with in Memphis, Tennessee. The two talk of getting married but keep experiencing setbacks due to Chuck being constantly called away to work, which also starts to put a strain on their relationship. During a Christmas dinner, Chuck experiences pain due to an infected tooth, just before he is summoned to resolve a FedEx problem in Malaysia. Chuck promises to be back on New Year's Eve and says that he will be present for Kelly's dissertation presentation to the University on January 12th.Before leaving, Kelly gives Chuck her grandfather's pocket watch with a photo of her in it. Chuck winds the watch to Memphis time so he is always reminded for Kelly. He gives her a small box, saying she can wait to open it on New Year's Eve when he returns, implying it is an engagement ring.Flying through a violent storm, his Fedex cargo airplane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. The plane was carrying a lot of Fedex packages bound for Malaysia and Singapore. Chuck is able to escape the sinking plane and is saved by an inflatable life-raft but in the process, loses the raft's emergency locator transmitter. He clings to the life-raft, loses consciousness, and floats all night before being washed up on an island.After he awakens, he explores the island and soon discovers that it is uninhabited. He had landed on the beach which was right next to a jungle and the island had a peak in the middle of it. At night, Chuck was startled by a strange thudding noise, but Chuck cannot see anything.Several FedEx packages from the crashed plane wash up on the shore, as well as the corpse of one of the pilots (whom he buries).In the following days, Chuck struggles to locate food and water. After seeing a ship on the horizon, he unsuccessfully tries to escape the island on a life raft but is prevented by the tide and injures his leg. Chuck realizes the chances of his rescue are low because of the wide search area, and opens most of the packages, finding items he uses to improve his living conditions. However, he does not open a package with golden angel wings painted on it, thinking the wings have symbolic meaning.During a first attempt to make fire, Chuck receives a deep wound to his hand. In anger he throws several objects, including a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball from one of the packages. A short time later he draws a face in the bloody hand-print on the ball, names it Wilson and begins talking to it. Due to severe pain from his infected tooth, he performs his own tooth extraction using a rock and an ice skate. The extraction is successful, but he passes out from the pain.Four years later Chuck is dramatically thinner, bearded, his hair is longer, and he is wearing a loincloth. He has become adept at spearing fish and making fires. He also has regular conversations and arguments with Wilson.After a large section from a portable toilet washes up on the island, Chuck uses it as a sail in the construction of a raft. After spending some time building and stocking the raft and deciding when the weather conditions will be optimal (using an Analemma he has created in his cave to monitor the time of year), he launches, using the sail to overcome the powerful surf. Chuck is accompanied by Wilson, the unopened FedEx package and his belongings in towAfter some time on the ocean, a storm nearly tears his raft apart. The following day, "Wilson" falls from the raft and is lost. He unsuccessfully attempts to rescue Wilson and is left to grieve his loss. Later, he is found drifting by a passing cargo ship.Four weeks later, Chuck is returned to the mainland, where he learns he was presumed dead by his family and friends. As he is given a hero's welcome at the FedEx headquarters in Memphis, he meets his dentist Jerry Lovett (Chris Noth), who he discovers has married and had a daughter with Kelly. A homecoming party is held at Chuck's hotel room but Kelly is emotionally unable to greet him. Later that night, Chuck visits Kelly, where they bond for the last time; the two share a passionate kiss and confess their love for each other, but they both realize she cannot leave her family, and they part ways. Chuck returns the pocket watch Kelly gave him, and she gives him back his Jeep Cherokee that she had kept after his disappearance.Chuck drives to Texas to return the angel-winged package to the address of the sender. Finding no one home, he leaves it at the door with a note saying the package saved his life. He departs in his vehicle and stops at a crossroads. A woman in a pickup truck, headed in the direction of the house, stops and gives information about where each road leads. As she drives away, Chuck notices the same angel wings painted on the tailgate of her truck. He looks down each road, trying to decide which way to go, smiling as he finally faces the direction the truck went.
Storyline
- Memphis-based FedEx operations executive Chuck Noland and grad student Kelly Frears have long dated and lived together, and despite each being the love of the other's life, have not gotten married because of their respective busy schedules, especially Chuck's as he is more often on business trips than he is at home. That marital status changes when on Christmas Day 1995 as Chuck is rushing off to catch yet another FedEx plane for a business trip, he gives Kelly a ring. That flight experiences technical difficulties, and goes down somewhere in the south Pacific. In a life raft, a relatively unharmed Chuck washes up on shore what he will learn is a deserted island, he unaware what has happened to any of his fellow flight mates, or the plane. However several of the packages on board for delivery do wash up on shore with him, those packages which he initially treats with respect. Chuck realizes that his priority is survival - which primarily means food, water, shelter and fire - and rescue. But survival is also in an emotional sense. To fulfill that emotional need, he has an heirloom pocket watch with Kelly's photo that she gave him as a Christmas present, and eventually opening the FedEx packages, a Wilson volleyball on which he paints a face and which he names Wilson. As time progresses, Chuck goes through a range of emotions, but if rescue is ever in the cards, he realizes that he has to find a way to get off the island, which is seemingly impossible in his circumstance due to the strong on shore surf he cannot get beyond without assistance. What Chuck may not fully realize is the longer he is not rescued, the harder it will be for him to return to his old life in its entirety if he ever is rescued. Although the thought of Kelly is what largely keeps him motivated to be rescued, Kelly, who probably believes him to be dead, may have moved on emotionally from him in the intervening time. — Huggo Flying from one country to another, troubleshooting problems and arranging package transfers all over the world, the driven but overworked and time-obsessed Federal Express executive, Chuck Noland, is living a hectic life. In 1995, against the backdrop of the impending New Year's Eve, an unforeseen complication forces Noland to leave his sad but understanding girlfriend, Kelly, behind, and catch a plane to Malaysia, only to end up marooned on an uncharted, uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly, for the first time in a long while, Chuck has all the time in the world; however, bereft of the comforts of civilisation, tending to his fundamental needs now becomes a constant struggle. Now, Chuck, the only living soul on the islet, must summon up the strength to survive. But, can he resist despair, and maintain hope to stay alive? — Nick Riganas After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland is ripped out of his hasty life by the clock in a plane crash, he finds himself alone on the shores of a tropical island. First, frustration gets to him and then he realizes how little his chances are to ever get back to civilization. Four years later, Chuck has learned very well how to survive on his own: mending his dental health, catching fish with a spear, predicting the weather with a self-made calendar. A photograph of his girlfriend Kelly has kept his hopes alive all these years. Finally, Chuck takes the opportunity to take off for home: he sets off on a wooden raft with a sail that has washed ashore. — Julian Reischl
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