Cast Away

Cast Away is a 2000 adventure film about a fictional FedEx employee who is stranded on an island after his plane crashes on a flight over the South Pacific. The film depicts his attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane's cargo, as well as his eventual escape and return to society. Star Tom Hanks was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 73rd Academy Awards for his critically acclaimed performance.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Written by William Broyles Jr..

At the edge of the world, his journey begins.

[first lines, addressing Russian workers at FedEx hub in Moscow] Time rules over us without mercy, not caring if we're healthy or ill, hungry or drunk, Russian, American, beings from Mars. It's like a fire. It could either destroy us or keep us warm, that's why every FedEx office has a clock. Because we live or we die by the clock. We never turn our back on it, and we never, ever allow ourselves the sin of losing track of time! Locally, it's 1:56, that means we've got 3 hours and 4 minutes before the end-of-the-day's package sort; that's how long we have, that's how much time we have, before this pulsating, accursed, relentless taskmaster tries to put us out of business! [sees Nicolai] Hey, Nicolai. Hey. Nicolai, good to see you. How are you, kid? Look what you did. You just delivered you just delivered your very first FedEx package. That deserves something special, like a Snickers bar, and a CD player. And something to listen to, a CD. [hands Nicolai a Snickers bar, a CD player and an Elvis CD from his duffel bag] There, Elvis Presley, 50 million fans, can't be wrong. [holds up package, to workers] You all recognize this, don't you? I took the liberty of sending this to myself, I FedEx'd it before I left Memphis. You're probably wondering what could be in here. [opening the package] What could it possibly be? Is it architectural plans? Maybe technical drawings? Is this the wallpaper for the-- for the bathroom? It is... [pulls out a timer] a clock, which I started at absolute zero, and is now at 87 hours, 22 minutes and 17 seconds. From Memphis, America to Nicolai in Russia, 87 hours. 87 hours is a shameful outrage! This is just an egg timer! What if it had been something else, like your paycheck? Or fresh boysenberries, or adoption papers? 87 hours is an eternity! The cosmos was created in less time! Wars have been fought and nations toppled in 87 hours! Fortunes made and squandered.
We live and we die by time, and we must not commit the sin of turning our back on time.
[talking to Wilson, the volleyball] Hey, you want to hear something funny? Back home in Memphis, my dentist's name is James Spaulding.
[to Wilson] You wouldn't have a match by any chance, would you?
[Having successfully lit a fire, putting more wood onto it] There we go! Light it up, c'mon! [singing] "The time to hesitate is through!" [throws more wood and gets briefly burned] Ouch! Haha, ouch! "No time to wallow in the mire. Try now, we can only lose. 'Cause girl, we can't get much higher. C'mon, baby, light my firrrrre!" [takes a palm branch, lighting the end, then holding it up] There you go. There you go! It's a signal fire! And it spells out S.O.S! [embers start falling around him] Woah! It's a meteor shower! [drops the branch back into the fire] Fireflies, go! Run! You're free, you're free! [the fire burns bigger] Yes! YES! Look what I've created! I have made FIRE! I...have made fire!
Gotta love crab. In the nick of time too. I couldn't take much more of those coconuts. Coconut milk is a natural laxative. That's something Gilligan never told us.
We were enroute from Memphis, for eleven and a half hours, for 475 miles an hour, so they think that we're right here. But, we went out of radio contact, then flew around that storm for about an hour, so that's a distance of what, 400 miles? Four hundred miles squared, that's 160,000 times pi, 3.14... 502,400. That's a search area of 500,000 square miles. That's twice the size of Texas. They may never find us.
Here we are today. That gives us another month and a half until we're into March and April, which is our best chance for the high tides and the offshore breezes. We need... we need 424 feet of good rope, plus another 50 feet, say, for miscellaneous, that, round that off to 475 feet of good rope. Now, if we average 15 feet a day, plus, we have to build it, we have to stock it, we have to launch it. That's gonna be tight. That's not much time. But, we... we live and we die by time, don't we? Now, let's not commit the sin of turning our back on time. [chuckles] I know, I know.
This is it. That's all that's left. I checked over the whole island, and that is all that's left. So we're gonna be short. Short. We'll just have to make some more out of videotape. Yes. No, we have time. We do, we have time! Look, the wind's still blowing in from the west. I know. Yeah, I know! I know where there's 30 feet of extra rope! But... but I'm not going back up there.
[to Wilson] Do you have to keep bringing that up, can't you just forget it? Huh? You were right. You were right, it was a good thing we did a test, 'cause it wasn't going to be just a quick snap. I would have landed on the rocks. Broken my leg, or my back or my neck, bled to death, but it was the only option I had at the time though, okay? It was what, a year ago? So let's just forget it. And what is your point? Well... we might just make it. Did that thought ever cross your brain? Well, regardless, I would rather take my chance out there on the ocean, than to stay here and die on this shithole island spending the rest of my life talking TO A GODDAMN VOLLEYBALL!
I'm always going to keep this on Memphis time. Kelly time.
[to Kelly] So, let me get one thing straight here...we have a football team but they play in Nashville?
[to Kelly] I should've never gotten on that plane. I should've never gotten out of the car.
We both have done the math. Kelly added it all up and...knew she had to let me go. I added it up, and knew that I had...lost her. Because I was never going to get off that island. I was going to die there, totally alone. I was going to get sick, or get injured or something. The only choice I had, the only thing I could control was when, and how and where it was going to happen. So...I made a rope and I went up to the summit, to hang myself. I had to test it, you know? Of course, you know me. And the weight of the log, snapped the limb of the tree, so I-I-I couldn't even kill myself the way I wanted to. I had power over nothing. And that's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew, somehow that I had to stay alive. Somehow. I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic said that I would never see this place again. So that's what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing. And one day, the logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I'm back in Memphis, talking to you. I have ice in my glass...And I've lost her all over again. I'm so sad that I don't have Kelly. But I'm so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I got to keep breathing. Because tomorrow, the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?

Fred Smith: Four years ago, the FedEx family lost five of our sons. That was a terrible and tragic day. But today, one of those sons, Chuck Noland, has been returned to us. Chuck, welcome home.
Jerry Lovett: I'm Kelly's husband. Jerry Lovett. Kelly wanted... Kelly wanted to be here... Look, this is very hard for everyone. I can't even imagine how hard it is for you. Kelly, uh... she's had it rough. First when she thought she lost you, and now dealing with all of this, it's confusing, it's very emotional for her. She's... she's... sort of lost. Maybe you could just give her a little more time. Anyway, uh... I'm sorry that...

Chuck Noland: I absolutely, positively have to get to Memphis tonight.

Pilot Jack: Can't help you. Try UPS.

Chuck Noland: Hey, with this extra headwind, are we gonna be able to push it a bit and make the sort?

Pilot Jack: We'll do our best.

Chuck Noland: "Our best", huh? Now Gwen, is there something wrong with our doctors that Jack here keeps getting certified to fly? Aren't you concerned?

Pilot Gwen: I'm terrified, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Chuck Noland: That's the spirit there. Relentless is our goal, relentless!

Stan: What do you expect from the guy who stole a crippled kid's bicycle when his truck broke down.

Chuck Noland: I borrowed it. I borrowed it, but I love that the kid's now crippled.

Stan: So you missed the last truck by two minutes, huh?

Chuck Noland: Two minutes. Actually, it was less than that.

Stan: Well, the plane wasn't that heavy; you could've added fuel, picked up the speed and made up the time.

Chuck Noland: It was about the trucks. Today's truck was two minutes late, tomorrow's will be four minutes late, and then six minutes late, and then eight minutes late, and the next thing you know, we're U.S. Mail.

Stan: Yeah, well, all's I'm saying is, if you'd gotten all those trucks on the plane those Russkies would be walking on water right now. [to Gwen, while pouring some wine] Hey, now, don't-- don't give me that look. It's just grape juice. Right, Chuck?

Chuck Noland: Yeah, it's like a 1992 full-bodied grape juice.

Pilot Gwen: I see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Stan: Well, we'd offer you some but, you know, somebody's got to fly the plane.

Pilot Gwen: Yeah, well, I just say no, right? Listen, Stan, I've been meaning to ask you. How's Mary?

Stan: Oh. Uh, well... we really don't know anything yet.

Pilot Gwen: Mm-hmm.

Stan: Uh, she went to the doctor yesterday, and uh... it hasn't me-- metastasized as far as they can tell right now. It's just kind of wait and see.

Pilot Gwen: I'm so sorry. Would you tell her I'm gonna come by and see her on my next layover? I just want you to know, Stan, we are all just thinking about her and you, and just blessings.

Stan: Thank you, Gwen, thank you.

[Chuck and Kelly are exchanging Christmas gifts in the car before he departs on the plane]

Kelly Frears: Merry Christmas.

Chuck Noland: I thought you were gonna stiff me.

Kelly Frears: No.

Chuck Noland: What is the ribbon? Is it a thousand-pound test fishing line or something?

Kelly Frears: [hands Chuck his pocket knife] Here's your fancy thing.

Chuck Noland: Thanks. I love the wrapping. And I love the box.

Kelly Frears: Good.

Chuck Noland: [opens the box, revealing a gold pocket watch] Oh. Oh, my. Oh, that is terrific.

Kelly Frears: My grandaddy used it on the Southern Pacific.

Chuck Noland: [opens the watch lid, sees Kelly's picture inside] Hey, I took this. This is my favorite picture of you. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm always gonna keep this [sets the watch] on Memphis time. Kelly time. Now, you haven't said anything about your presents; is there a problem?

Kelly Frears: No! I'm sorry, no! I love 'em. Look at my journal, ah!

Chuck Noland: What about the pager?

Kelly Frears: Real leather, the pages have gold on em.

Chuck Noland: Did you like the pager or not?

Kelly Frears: Yes. Look at him in his little blue Russian house there.

Chuck Noland: I'm Russian.

Kelly Frears: My God. And it's not one of those loud ones, right?

Chuck Noland: No, you can program it so it vibrates and lights up, and you can see it in the dark.

Kelly Frears: It seems like a real nice pager.

Chuck Noland: Sorry about the hand towels.

Kelly Frears: No, no, I love 'em.

Chuck Noland: You're hard to shop for.

Kelly Frears: Every time I wash my hands, I will think of you.

Chuck Noland: All right, I gotta go. [kisses Kelly] Merry Christmas.

Kelly Frears: Merry Christmas.

Chuck Noland: I love you.

Kelly Frears: I love you too. [Chuck gets out of the car and starts walking to the plane] Chuck! Keys!

[Chuck walks back to the car and hands his car keys back to Kelly]

Chuck Noland: You know, that reminds me. I almost forgot. I have one more present for you. [hands Kelly a small box] Only this isn't an "open the car" kind of present, like, say, hand towels, which were a joke, by the way.

Kelly Frears: I'm terrified.

Chuck Noland: Just take it and hold onto it, and you can open it on New Year's Eve. And I love you. [he kisses her one last time, then walks to the plane and calls back] I'll be right back!

Chuck Noland: Hey, Al, where are we?

Pilot Al: Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

Chuck: [chuckles] You pilots, you're funny.

Pilot Blaine: Tahiti Control, FedEx 88. Position Jenna at 1526...

Chuck Noland: Hey, is all this turbulence from Santa and those eight tiny reindeer?

Pilot Blaine: ...expecting Tamara at 1620. Erick is next. Fuel: 95.5.

Pilot Kevin: Blaine, tell them we're deviating south for weather. Make another position plot on your deviation left.

Pilot Blaine: Tahiti Control, FedEx 88. Position Jenna at 1526. Flight level 350...

Pilot Peter: I've got us plotted. We're 200 miles south of the original course.

Pilot Kevin: Continue plotting, and check contingency procedures.

Pilot Blaine: Tahiti Control, FedEx 88. Broadcasting in the blind. How do you read? [no answer] I've never been out of comm this long.

Pilot Al: Did you try the higher HF frequency?

Pilot Blaine: Tahiti Control, FedEx 88. Broadcasting in the blind. How do you read?

Pilot Al: [to Chuck] Better buckle up, Chuck. It's gonna get bumpy.

[Four weeks after being rescued at sea after four years on the island, Chuck is being flown home to Memphis on a private FedEx jet with Stan]

Stan: Forty-five minutes. [hands Chuck a Dr. Pepper and two cups of ice] One Dr. Pepper, two cups of ice.

Chuck Noland: [chuckles] I like ice.

Stan: Well, here's the drill. Um, plane pulls in, we get off, and there's a little ceremony right there in the hangar. Fred Smith will say a few words, all you have to do is smile and say "thank you", then we'll take you over to see Kelly.

Chuck Noland: She's actually gonna be there, huh?

Stan: Well, that's what we have arranged. I mean, if you're sure you want to do that...

Chuck Noland: Oh, yeah, yeah. Yes. I don't know what I'm gonna say to her. What in the world am I gonna say to her?

Stan: [sighs] Chuck, Kelly had to let you go. You know? She thought you were dead... and we buried you. We had a funeral and a coffin and a gravestone, the whole thing.

Chuck Noland: You had a coffin? What was in it?

Stan: Well, everybody put something in. You know, just a cell phone or a beeper, some pictures. I put in some Elvis CDs.

Chuck Noland: So you had my funeral... and then you had Mary's funeral. Stan, I'm so sorry I wasn't around when Mary died. I should've been there for you, and I wasn't. I'm so sorry.

Chuck Noland: What happened to you becoming a professor? You're not Dr. Kelly Frears-Lovett?

Kelly Frears-Lovett: When you, um... when your plane went down, everything just sort of got put on hold. I think about taking it up again, though.

Chuck Noland: [pulls out Kelly's pocket watch] I came out here to give you this.

Kelly Frears-Lovett: Oh, my God...

Chuck Noland: I'm sorry it doesn't work. And I, uh... I kept the picture. It was all faded anyway.

Kelly Frears-Lovett: I want you to have it. I gave it to you.

Chuck Noland: That's a family heirloom, and it should stay in your family.

[Chuck turns and notices a stack of maps, magazines and newspapers on the dining room table]

Kelly Frears-Lovett: That's everything I have from when you went down to now. They said they never figured out what caused the crash. Probably some mislabeled hazardous material caught fire. So, here's where that ship found you. [indicates a circled black dot on the map] You drifted about 500 miles. [indicates a circled red dot] This is where your island was, about 600 miles south of the Cook Islands. And these are the search grids. [indicates search grids] Ships went back and forth for weeks looking for you.

Chuck Noland: I should've never gotten on that plane. I should've never gotten out of the car.

Chuck Noland: You think you're gonna have more kids?

Kelly Frears-Lovett: I don't know. It's kind of confusing right now.

Chuck Noland: Well, you should. I mean, really, you should. I would.

Kelly Frears-Lovett: So, what now?

Chuck Noland: I don't know. I really don't know.

[Chuck gets in his car and starts the engine]

Kelly Frears-Lovett: You said you'd be right back.

Chuck Noland: I'm so sorry.

Kelly Frears-Lovett: Me too.

Kelly Frears-Lovett: I always knew you were alive, I knew it. But everybody said that I had to stop saying that, that I had to let you go. I love you. You're the love of my life.

Chuck Noland: I love you too, Kelly. More than you'll ever know.

[They kiss, and she gets in the car with him]

Kelly Frears-Lovett: [before he drives away] Chuck...

Chuck Noland: You have to go home.

[Kelly nods, and he drives her back up the driveway to her house]

[Last lines]

Bettina Peterson: You look lost.

Chuck Noland: I do?

Bettina Peterson: Where're you headed?

Chuck Noland: Well, I was just about to figure that out.

Bettina Peterson: Well, that's 83 South. And this road here will hook you up with I-40 East. If you turn right, that'll take you to Amarillo, Flagstaff, California. And if you head back that direction, you'll find a whole lot of nothing all the way to Canada.

Chuck Noland: I got it.

Bettina Peterson: All right, then. Good luck, cowboy.

Chuck Noland: Thank you.

Tom Hanks - Chuck Noland
Helen Hunt - Kelly Frears
Nick Searcy - Stan
Jenifer Lewis - Becca Twig
Chris Noth - James Spaulding
Lari White - Bettina Peterson
Vince Martin - Albert "Al" Miller
Geoffrey Blake - Maynard Graham

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