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Cast Away Poster

December 7, 2000

Cast Away is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter who is stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific, and the plot focuses on his desperate attempts to survive and return home. Initial filming took place from January to March 1999 before resuming in April 2000 and concluding that May.

Cast Away was released on December 22, 2000, by 20th Century Fox in North America and DreamWorks Pictures in its international markets. It grossed $429 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2000. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay and Hanks's performance, for which he won Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the 58th Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 73rd Academy Awards.

Storyline[]

In December 1995, Chuck Noland is a FedEx systems analyst and executive who travels the world resolving productivity problems. He lives with his girlfriend, Kelly Frears in Memphis, Tennessee. During a Christmas dinner, Chuck is summoned to resolve a problem in Malaysia. Before leaving, Kelly gifts Chuck her grandfather’s pocket watch with a photo of her in it. Chuck gifts 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. However, the FedEx cargo plane he is on gets caught in a violent storm and crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck is the only survivor and escapes on an inflatable life raft, losing the emergency locator transmitter in the process. The next day, he washes up on an uninhabited island.

As FedEx packages begin to wash ashore, he gathers and sorts them but leaves them unopened. The body of one of the pilots, Albert Miller, washes up on the coast. Chuck buries him and writes an epitaph on the rock above the burial site. In the following days, Chuck struggles to locate food and water. After seeing the lights of a passing ship in the distance, Chuck tries to escape in the life raft, but the strong surf tosses him onto a coral reef which pierces and badly cuts Chuck’s leg.

Realizing it is unlikely he will be rescued, Chuck opens most of the packages, finding useful items he uses to improve his living conditions. He, however, does not open a package with golden angel wings printed on it. While attempting to start a fire, Chuck cuts his hand and furiously throws several objects including a Wilson volleyball, leaving a bloodstained handprint. After calming down, Chuck draws a face into the blood, names the ball "Wilson" and begins talking to it. After enduring a constant toothache, Chuck is forced to extract his own tooth using a rock and an ice skate from one of the packages.

Four years later in 1999, Chuck, now long-haired, bearded and gaunt, has adapted to life alone on the island. After a section from a portable toilet enclosure washes up on the island, Chuck begins construction on a raft, using the plastic as a sail. While making rope from tree fibers, aided by the enclosure sail, which he has painted with golden angel wings, Chuck launches a raft stocked with his belongings, as well as the unopened package. Chuck survives a storm, but afterward, Wilson falls off the raft and floats away. Chuck futilely attempts to rescue Wilson but fails to do so and is left to grieve its loss. Soon after, he is rescued by a passing cargo ship.

Upon returning to civilization four weeks later, a spruced-up and clean-shaven Chuck learns he was declared dead by his family and friends. Later, he is given a hero’s welcome home party at the FedEx Headquarters in Memphis, where he learns that Kelly has since married and has a daughter. One night after visiting Kelly, the two share a passionate kiss and confess their love for each other before Chuck drives away. However, they quickly realize she has to go home, and they part ways.

Chuck drives to Texas to return the angel-winged package to its sender. Finding no one home, he leaves it at the door with a note saying the package saved his life. He departs in his truck and stops at a remote crossroads. A woman in a pickup truck stops and gives information about where each road leads. As she drives away, Chuck notices two angel wings painted on the tailgate of her truck. He looks down each road, trying to decide which way to go. He then stares down the road the woman took and smiles.

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