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.
Sound Effects Used[]
- Disney - HERBIE HORNS
- Hollywoodedge, Lightning 08 CloseG SIG012601
- Hollywoodedge, Telephone Rings Fast PE170101/Hollywoodedge, Telephones Electron TE043501
- SKYWALKER, AIRPLANE - SHORT JET ENGINE WHINE DOWN AND UP
- SKYWALKER, ALARM - 'ESI STEEL' EMERGENCY ALARM (Used as the alarm on the cargo ship that ends up finding Chuck in the middle of the ocean.)
- SKYWALKER, ANIMAL - WOODLAND ANIMAL CLICKING, BRAYING (Debut; heard once when Chuck writes his final message on a rock before he launches the raft.)
- SKYWALKER, BUBBLES - DEEP, GURGLING BUBBLES (Either this sound or a near identical sound is heard twice when the last of the wreckage of the plane starts to sink.)
- SKYWALKER, BUBBLES - SINGLE, MUFFLED BUBBLE (Debut; heard once when Chuck starts to float to the surface of the ocean after the strap connected to the ELT device snaps off.)
- SKYWALKER, CAR - BRAKES SQUEAL, LONG
- SKYWALKER, CRUNCH - CRUNCHING CHOKE (Small portions of this sound is heard a few times when Chuck is picking apart a crab as he talks to Wilson.)
- SKYWALKER, DING - ELEVATOR BELL RING
- SKYWALKER, EXPLOSION - EXPLOSIVE RICOCHET, HIGH RICCO, EXPLOSION ACCENT
- SKYWALKER, EXPLOSION - PAC-MAN CHOMPING (This sound or a very similar sound is heard once with an absurd amount of bass added to it when a second tsunami wave hits Chuck as he's in the raft.)
- SKYWALKER, EXPLOSION - SMALL EXPLOSION (An edited variant of this sound or a nearly identical sound is heard once right as the camera whip pans over to the FedEx container right before it starts sliding backwards.)
- SKYWALKER, EXPLOSION - THUNDEROUS, MUFFLED THUMP
- SKYWALKER GLASS KNOCKING SOUND (The 2nd take is used once incorrectly when Chuck opens up the sail on his makeshift raft after he escapes the island.)
- SKYWALKER GLASS, SMASH - LARGE WINDOW CRASH 02 (Only the first half is used.)
- SKYWALKER, INDUSTRY - LARGE MACHINERY RATCHETING (Heard thrice throughout the film. Once before the FedEx container inside the plane slides forward, and twice when Chuck resurfaces after the plane crashes.)
- SKYWALKER, METAL - HARSH CLANKING WITH RATTLE (Debut; heard twice throughout the film only on the left channel. Once when the camera pans in on Chuck as the plane starts to go down, and once in a low volume before Al gives Chuck an oxygen mask and yells "Hold on to it!".)
- SKYWALKER, METAL - QUICK DOUBLE SQUEAK 01
- SKYWALKER, METAL - RAPID, SQUEAKY RATTLE
- SKYWALKER, METAL - SCRAPING RATTLE, RESOUNDING (Heard once when the ELT device gets caught on the sinking wreckage of the plane before Chuck attempts to retrieve it.)
- SKYWALKER, METAL - SHORT, HEAVY METALLIC GROAN 01
- SKYWALKER, METAL - SHORT, HEAVY METALLIC GROAN 03
- SKYWALKER, METAL - STRAINING-LIKE CREAKING 02 (Heard once in a low volume seconds before the string connected to the ELT device breaks off as Chuck tries to retrieve it.)
- SKYWALKER, METAL - WEIRD CLANK (Only the first half is used.)
- SKYWALKER, MUSIC - DEEP, OMINOUS BASS TONE
- SKYWALKER, MUSIC - DOLBY SYNTH SAMPLE
- SKYWALKER, POP - SHARP, WHISTLING POP (A slightly edited variant is heard once with an extra whistling element added to it when Chuck's raft pops on a piece of coral after he gets tossed by the tide during his first attempt of trying to escape the island.)
- SKYWALKER PUNCHING SOUNDS
- SKYWALKER, RUBBLE - SMALL ROCKS SHUFFLING, VARIOUS
- SKYWALKER, SNAP - TREE BRANCH BREAKING (Heard thrice throughout the film. Once when a tree that Chuck eventually uses to make a raft hits the ground after he chops it down, and twice when he chops down two smaller trees.)
- SKYWALKER, THUNDER - LOUD CRACKLING IN A DARK NIGHT
- SKYWALKER, WATER - SINGLE SPLASH
- SKYWALKER, WATER - UNDERWATER SLOSHES, VARIOUS
- SKYWALKER, WIND SOUNDS
- SKYWALKER, WHOOSH - HIGH-PITCHED SHRILL SCREAM
- SKYWALKER, WHOOSH - SINGLE WHOOSH
- SoundDogs, Train: Trains - Freight Cars Coupling Impact - MCU - Bg Engine Noise, Also Rattles, Clunks, Squeaks, & Creaks, All Coupling Related, Several Ambiance Changes (2nd impact only.)
- Sound Ideas, ALARM, FIRE - FIRE BELL RINGING (A small portion of this sound or a very similar sound is heard once before Chuck yells "Fifteen minutes!".)
- Sound Ideas, COUPLING - FREIGHT CARS COUPLING IMPACT, TRAIN (A processed variant of the 1st half or a nearly identical sound is heard once in a very low volume when an airport luggage car passes by behind Chuck and Stan with a line of trailers.)
- Sound Ideas, THUNDER - THUNDER CLAP AND RUMBLE, WEATHER 01 (Series 6000)
- Sound Ideas, WATER, SPLASH - LARGER, BIG THUMP & BIG WAVE
- Sound Ideas, WIND - EERIE WIND, WEATHER (Heard once in a slightly lower volume at the beginning of the film mixed with SKYWALKER, WIND SOUNDS.)
- Unknown Cricket Chirping Sound 01