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Cast Away poster

Cast Away

year 2000decade 00sdirector Robert Zemeckisgenre Adventure filmgenre Drama filmgenre Robinsonade

143 minutes

IMDb
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Hanks Chuck Noland
Helen Hunt Kelly Frears, Chuck's girlfriend
Nick Searcy Stan, Chuck's best friend and co-worker
Chris Noth Dr. Gerald "Jerry" Lovett
Nan Martin Kelly's mother
Lari White Bettina Peterson
Elden Henson Elden Madden
Timothy Stack Morgan Stockton
Michael Forest Pilot Jack
Jay Acovone Pilot Peter
Viveka Davis Pilot Gwen
Jenifer Lewis Becca Twig
Vin Martin Pilot Albert "Al" Miller
Fred Smith Himself
Valerie Wildman Virginia Larson
Geoffrey Blake Maynard Graham

Cast Away | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmons format Solo Episode
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Producer credits not yet identified.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Chuck's visit to Helen Hunt's character

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:25Read transcript
  • The plane crash is an incredible six minutes and one of the best action scenes of the past 25 years, with the view of the water through the plane's front window and the 'brace for impact' moment.
  • The crash has one nitpick saved for later; the co-pilot's bloody head injury might have been toned down, and it is doubtful Chuck survives.
  • The escape from the wreck, the propeller nearly chewing him up and the overhead shot pulling away from him in the ocean make the scene hard to skip when flipping channels.
  • The second pick is Chuck's failed raft escape after seeing a boat, when a huge wave throws him to the bottom and cuts him; the boredom of island life is also well represented, compared to the current moment.
  • The third pick is Chuck making fire, called Apex Hanks; it is doubted Brad Pitt or Leo could pull it off, and Damon in The Martian has no scene as good.
  • The next pick is Chuck getting off the island: building the raft, raising the sail and clearing the killer wave, after which the score plays for the first time in about an hour.
  • A mini pick is the rescue and Helen Hunt's character fainting on the phone call; losing Wilson is rewatchable but stressful, a 'most makes me uncomfortable' pick.
  • The reunion at Helen Hunt's character's house is walked through: she skips the airport party, he arrives by cab, they talk about the Titans, she shows him the maps, then runs after his car in the rain before they accept it cannot work.
  • The last pick is the ending, confusing at first but brilliant after rewatches; Hanks is quoted describing rejected scenarios, including Chuck as a media celebrity, before they chose to downplay it; the last six minutes are among the strongest.
  • The Helen Hunt scene is the choice because it is a great six or seven minutes that moves several ways and allows getting annoyed at the husband; others might pick the plane crash or the escape from the island.

Picking Nits

Husband sleeping through the reunion; Chuck surviving the crash; unopened last package; sunburn recovery timeline; Kelly missing Chuck at the terminal; Kelly moving on quickly

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:13Read transcript
  • Introduced as an important nitpick: the husband never wakes up despite the maps still in the dining room, her leaving the bed, car commotion and screaming in the driveway.
  • An earlier column is reread: a husband in that position would wake at every car door and come out with a shotgun at his wife screaming Chuck's name.
  • According to a 2009 listener email (Kyle, College Station, Texas), the husband was awake, letting his wife resolve it, like the Packers waiting out Favre with Rodgers; he is either a moron or a genius who played the long game like Belichick.
  • Chuck surviving the crash is doubted: he lurches backward rather than forward, listeners with physics knowledge are invited to email, and the propeller would likely have killed him.
  • Whether pulling the tooth was a good idea is debated as a half-suicide move; the verdict on it is unclear.
  • Not opening the last package in four years, especially before planning suicide, is implausible; anyone would open it, though the narrative needed it.
  • After days sunburned on the raft, dehydrated and with dental problems, Chuck would be hospitalized for months rather than flying home within four weeks; the over-under is 10 weeks, taking the over.
  • Kelly would have seen Chuck at the airport terminal from 20 feet away despite her husband trying to block it.
  • Kelly dating, marrying and having a child within about 49 months is tight, raising suspicion of earlier chemistry with the dentist and why she and Chuck, in his 40s, were never married; it is good she ends up without Chuck.

What’s Aged the Best?

Widescreen HD viewing; dentist parallels; ice-skate tooth removal; food and lighter at the welcome-home party; Nashville football line; volleyball in the front seat

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:28Read transcript
  • As a widescreen HD home-theater experience the film has aged well; the blue ocean, clarity and sound benefited as TVs improved.
  • Chuck's dental pain on the island while his fiancee falls for his former dentist creates clever parallels, including his line about wanting a dentist in the cave.
  • Chuck pulling his tooth with an ice skate is pretty cool, though it would likely have caused a deadly infection.
  • Chuck examining the crab legs, sushi and lighter after the welcome-home party is heavy-handed symbolism but effective.
  • The line about having a pro football team in Nashville cleverly subverts a setup that sounds like he will confront her about marrying his dentist.
  • The volleyball in the front seat at the end went unnoticed for 15 years; it is unclear whether he is returning it or has a new best friend.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Gilligan's Island references; Chuck's suicide plan

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:15Read transcript
  • The Titans coming off a Super Bowl season is offered as aged worst because it has not happened since, followed by an unclear remark that none of it has aged the worst.
  • Jokes referencing Gilligan's Island made more sense in 1999 and are barely understood by anyone under 25.
  • An early version is said to have included a scene where Chuck tests a hanging with a tree trunk that snaps, since removed from the TV and home-video versions; it should have been kept.
  • Chuck's suicide plan is called weird and needlessly elaborate.

Casting What-Ifs

No casting what-ifs found

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:30Read transcript
  • The segment is announced, but no casting what-ifs could be found, so it moves on.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Bettina

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:29Read transcript
  • The candidates are Wilson the volleyball and Bettina, with the injured co-pilot mentioned as a joke option.
  • Bettina wins: she is on screen for maybe 90 seconds, yet by the end of her interaction with Chuck he should be with her; the flirting, her truck and her dog all impress.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Hanks's FedEx origin idea; Fiji filming location; Silvestri's minimal score; FedEx cooperation; Wilson's origin; Hanks's staph infection; Lost's origin at ABC; Wilson coincidences; Hanks on Chuck's fate; deleted hanging scene; death of Bettina's actress

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:41Read transcript
  • Hanks is quoted saying the idea came from reading about FedEx 747s full of packages crossing the Pacific and wondering what happens if one goes down; the film is said to have made over $450 million.
  • The film is said to have been shot on a small island in Fiji (names admittedly mispronounced) that became a tourist attraction; a joke Rewatchables vacation would pair it with the Shawshank location.
  • Alan Silvestri's minimal score is said to have won a Grammy in 2002, with no original score until Chuck escapes.
  • FedEx is said to have provided facilities in Memphis, Los Angeles and Moscow plus planes, trucks and uniforms, with marketers overseeing more than two years of filming after being initially horrified by the plot.
  • The screenwriter is said to have stranded himself for a week on a beach near Mexico's Sea of Cortez, where a washed-up volleyball inspired Wilson; spearing stingrays, opening coconuts and making fire went into the film.
  • Hanks is said to have gotten a staph infection from a cut during filming and been hospitalized for three days.
  • Lost is described as a Cast Away rip-off: ABC chief Lloyd Braun is said to have loved the film and had writer Jeffrey Lieber write a pilot that J.J. Abrams took over; Braun is also said to have hired Jimmy Kimmel.
  • Other Wilsons in Hanks's life are listed: wife Rita Wilson, his Bosom Buddies character Kip Wilson, and Charlie Wilson's War.
  • As stated on air, on Inside the Actors Studio Hanks told James Lipton that Chuck turned around, went back and made babies with Bettina; that reading is endorsed.
  • The deleted scene of Chuck hanging a log dummy from a branch that snaps is said to have really been in the movie.
  • The actress who played Bettina is said to have died in January 2018 at age 52.

Apex Mountain

Volleyballs; Chris Noth; Fiji; Nick Searcy

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:46Read transcript
  • It is Apex Mountain for volleyballs, given the 2000 Olympics, a jump in volleyball purchases and Wilson becoming iconic.
  • It is peak Chris Noth time, between Sex and the City and a film said to have made $459 million.
  • It is Fiji's apex as the best movie ever filmed there.
  • Not Zemeckis's or Hanks's apex; it is certainly Nick Searcy's; Helen Hunt's apex is probably her Oscar win with Nicholson; the Tennessee Titans getting a name drop for 20 years is only a maybe.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

"I have made fire."; "I know what I have to do now. I have to keep breathing. Tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide will bring."

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:07Read transcript
  • 'I have made fire' and the keep-breathing speech are both loved lines.
  • The keep-breathing scene is said to be one continuous three-and-a-half-minute take with only one slight stumble, about missing Kelly.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Yes, as a Netflix series

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:29Read transcript
  • The answer is obviously yes, and it is surprising it has not happened.
  • A previously published plan: a pilot covering life before the flight, a crash episode, island episodes intercut with Helen Hunt's character falling for the dentist, possible TV twists like a surviving pilot or natives, then rescue and the return to Memphis; possibly 16 episodes or two eight-episode seasons.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Chuck's family; losing Wilson as a blessing; Chuck's sanity; The Martian as a rip-off; the sequel plot; Chuck's move at Bettina's ranch

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:21Read transcript
  • Does Chuck have any family? He is presented as an only child with dead parents and only Kelly.
  • A Vancouver reader, Paul Parsons, asked whether losing Wilson was the best thing for Chuck, since returning with the volleyball would get him institutionalized; this is agreed.
  • Did Chuck go insane on the island, and can someone snap back to normal after years of talking to a volleyball?
  • Did The Martian rip off Cast Away? It seems like Cast Away in outer space, which is fine.
  • A previously written sequel pitch, 'Cast Away 2: Wilson Lives', imagines a dark thriller with Chuck as a volleyball-obsessed serial killer tracked down by an old FedEx friend.
  • Chuck's move at Bettina's ranch would be small talk, then 'so crazy story' and two hours of telling it; she would be all in about 45 minutes in.
  • An online essay reading Wilson as Chuck's alter ego, discarded once Wilson floats away, is called too big a stretch and vetoed.

More from the conversation

A Ringer network plug says the site is still producing content, including coronavirus and pandemic coverage and football free agency, and that The Rewatchables is moving to about twice a week with two people at a time because everyone is in remote locations.
Approx. transcript time · 00:00:51Read transcript
A movie-trailer cold open for Cast Away plays before the episode begins.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:45Read transcript
Hosting solo began as a running Ringer joke because Hanks is alone for about 60% of the film; with social distancing escalating over the past seven or eight days, it seemed the perfect time to do it alone.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:13Read transcript
The film came out in 2000 and hits its 20-year anniversary in December.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:03Read transcript
Hanks won Oscars for Forrest Gump and Philadelphia, but his two best performances are named as Big, a timeless movie in which he convincingly plays a 13-year-old, and Cast Away.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:03Read transcript
Childhood memories of Bosom Buddies with Peter Scolari, whose save-on-rent premise is called flawed because of the cost of makeup and clothes; Hanks is tentatively recalled in Family Ties as an alcoholic uncle.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:06Read transcript
After Splash, Letterman appearances and SNL hosting, Hanks's stock kept rising until Bonfire of the Vanities, described as a bomb; through about 1990 Michael Keaton versus Tom Hanks was compared to Bird versus Magic.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:05Read transcript
From 1992 Hanks ran off what is called the best nine-year run of popular movies by any actor, listed from A League of Their Own through Cast Away plus That Thing You Do, with two Oscars in that stretch.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:03Read transcript
Daniel Day-Lewis is granted the reputation as the best actor of the last 25 to 30 years, but reaching as many people as possible while making 12 good movies in nine years is called nearly impossible.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:57Read transcript
Cast Away is compared to Jordan on the 1998 Bulls willing a worn-down team to a title: Hanks carries the film alone for over an hour acting with coconuts, ice skates and a volleyball.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:54Read transcript
Losing Best Actor to Russell Crowe for Gladiator is called defensible, though Gladiator has not endured as a rewatchable the way Cast Away has.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:11Read transcript
Cast Away is constantly on cable and is among the most-rewatched movies of the last 20 years alongside Almost Famous; the absence of music during the island stretch makes it weirdly relaxing despite one of the most brutal plane crashes ever filmed.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:39Read transcript
A first viewing in 2000 at a Revere theater, while living in Charlestown, left the ending confusing; rewatches revealed that he turns back toward the road Bettina took and that the opening ranch with the wings sets up the finish.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:26Read transcript
Three production decisions are described: no voiceover or music once Chuck reaches the island, no cutting back to civilization while he is there, and a genuinely convincing four-year transformation.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:41Read transcript
As stated on air, filming ran from 1998 to 2000; Hanks gained 50 pounds, production halted for a year while he lost weight and grew his hair and beard, and a later four-month halt preceded the return-home scenes.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:35Read transcript
As stated on air, during the halt Zemeckis used the same crew to make What Lies Beneath with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, which is praised as part of a defense of all Pfeiffer movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:34Read transcript
A Hanks quote says Chuck learns no great lessons and the film shows the environment's effect on him without pirates or bad guys; a quote from the screenwriter describes acceptance and, finally, gratitude.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:03Read transcript
Not reuniting Chuck with Helen Hunt's character is called another great decision, true to how real life would go.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:24Read transcript
Four films that would show Hanks's greatness a hundred years from now: Cast Away, Big, Philadelphia and Saving Private Ryan; like Denzel in Training Day, he keeps his own identity across roles, unlike Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:53Read transcript
A hottest take for Spotify complained about Hanks's movie choices in the last 20 years, but no one could match the batting average of those nine years.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:12Read transcript
As stated on air, the film had a $90 million budget, made $429 million and scored 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:38Read transcript
Cast Away is called the most surprising movie to endure as a rewatchable and, with Almost Famous, probably the most-aired film of the last 20 years (Day After Tomorrow is predicted to have a run and Anchorman called timeless); it pulls viewers in at the FedEx plane, the packages, the fire and the return to Helen Hunt's character.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:03Read transcript
A listener email from Daryl in Wildwood, Missouri argues the whole film is about Chuck meeting his destiny, Bettina: the opening ranch pickup, Elvis songs at key moments, the unopened angel-wings package painted on his sail, Kelly calling him the love of her life without him saying the same, and the final note saying the package saved his life.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:58Read transcript
The email's reading of the Blue Christmas lyric as foreshadowing the blue ocean draws doubt.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:19Read transcript
The email concludes that Bettina's line 'you look lost' and Chuck's expression show his ordeal was meant to bring him to her, far from any ocean; the email's premise is fully endorsed as what the movie is about.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:38Read transcript
Those connections went unnoticed through many rewatches, partly because viewers skip the first 15 minutes; the movie is called greater than people thought.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:35Read transcript
Solo hosting is enjoyable enough to joke about dropping the other hosts.
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:25Read transcript
A second Ringer Podcast Network plug lists shows still publishing and points to the Spotify app's playback-speed options.
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:45Read transcript
As stated on air, Hanks announced the previous week that he and his wife had the coronavirus, the same night as the Rudy Gobert news; it was the most shocking celebrity case because everyone loves him, and he is wished a recovery.
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:26Read transcript
The Rewatchables will keep going at two episodes a week, with at least one co-host from now on; this solo format is called a one-time gimmick.
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:54Read transcript

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