Cast Away (2000)
Goofs
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Anachronisms (3) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (2) |
Boom mic visible (1) |
Character error (2) |
Continuity (16) |
Crew or equipment visible (2) |
Errors in geography (3) |
Factual errors (13) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (2) |
Plot holes (5) |
Revealing mistakes (6) |
Spoilers (14)
Anachronisms
Kelly, when talking to Chuck after he comes home, talks of the Tennessee Titans Super Bowl appearance. That Super Bowl was Super Bowl 34, which took place on January 30, 2000, but when Chuck was found and returned home, it was still 1999.
Wilson's box bears the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) logo. Spalding was the "official" manufacturer in 1995, not Wilson.
Chuck was lost in 1995, yet his Jeep Cherokee is clearly a 1999 model. The newly styled front end first appeared in 1997 models, and the wheels were first available in 1999. The dashboard and instrument cluster are from the newer model. The front blinkers on the 1995 Cherokee were attached to the headlights, not on the front fender.
Audio/visual unsynchronised
The thunder on the island occurs at the same exact instant as the lightning, even though we can see the lightning is off in the distance.
In the theatrical version, the audio/visual sync is off when Chuck pounds coconuts against a large rock.
Boom mic visible
When Chuck is on the island opening the packages, when he opens the ice skates, you can clearly see the boom mic and operator in the reflection of the skate.
Character error
When Chuck is talking to Wilson after retrieving the hanging rope from the cliff, he says "I'm glad we tested it, it wouldn't have been a quick little snap. I would have landed on the rocks". But given the fact that neither the tree nor the rope broke, there's no reason he should have thought that to be the case.
Chuck shipped a package from Memphis, Tennessee to Russia. When he opens the package, a timer comes out and he stops it 87 hours 22 minutes and 17 seconds. He goes on a rant about how it's unacceptable and how certain things have happened in that time frame. As a shipping carrier manager, he should know that it takes several days for international packages to go through customs.
Continuity
Chuck cuts the toes off of Albert's shoes. When he enters the cave for the first time, the toes aren't cut out.
When Chuck Noland is in the airplane prior to the crash, he is wearing khaki pants. After the plane crashes by the island, when he wakes up on the beach on the island, he is wearing black pants.
When Chuck carves HELP in the sand with his foot, you can see the high tide mark of the sea weed is below the letters and the sand is obviously soft indicating it is above the high tide mark. However, in the next scene when the tide has come in and washed half the letters away the high tide sea weed mark is up above the letters.
When Chuck first finds the port-a-potty piece that washes up on shore, the first shot revealing his left thigh does not bear the long scar shown earlier in the movie. Yet afterwards, the scar appears once again on his left thigh.
When Chuck first spears a crab, he shows the crab then reaches down, out of camera range, and breaks off a leg. When he brings the leg up into camera range, it is a much larger leg than was shown on the original crab.
Early on in his ordeal and early in the morning when Chuck sights a light off on the horizon, as he is prepping to paddle out to the ship which he assumes is there, you can see the rising sun in the same direction off to the left of the light. However, as he starts his short ill fated journey towards that ship's light, the sun is behind him.
When Chuck walks over to the cave for the first time, the light switches several times between midday and evening sun.
When Chuck grabs the volleyball for the first time while trying to start the fire, he clearly grabs the front of it with his bloody finger spread out, but when we see "Wilson" a minute later, the hand print shows the fingers straight and tightly together.
When Chuck throws the volleyball, it is still in its packaging. But in an earlier scene while he is holding the ice skates, the ball is seen out of its box and loose on the ground.
Just after the FedEx driver pulls down his rear roll-up truck door, after picking up a package from Bettina, the scene switches to Russia. The Russian FedEx driver "pulls up" his roll-up door and then swings opens his rear side-hinged "barn door." There is no roll-up door on this truck. It only has swinging doors. Later scenes show this to be true. Besides, no truck has both types of doors being used at once.
Right after Chuck cuts his hand, while he is trying to create fire, the boxed volleyball is sitting on the ground with the black part of the box on the right hand side. When Chuck goes to pick it up to throw it, the black part of the box is now seen on the left hand side.
When Chuck is first trying to make fire, Wilson in the background has a logo visible in the left top corner of the box, but after he cuts his hand, the next scene shows Wilson's box in a slightly different position and without the logo.
When Chuck throws the boxed volleyball with his bloodied hand after the failed attempt to create fire, the box is right-side-up; since he bends down to pick it up, this means that the fingertips should be pointing down on the ball. However, when he looks at the ball soon after, the box is upright but the fingertips are pointing upwards.
When Chuck is getting out of the Jeep at the airport before his fateful flight, he closes the driver door twice.
When Chuck is lying on the beach and the first package rolls onto the beach, there are very few rocks. When he walks toward it, the camera cuts further out, and you see significantly more rocks.
When Chuck starts painting the face on Wilson, the white line (where the "chin" would be) changes several times.
Crew or equipment visible
When Chuck is walking to the caves for the first time and his feet are being cut on the rocks, you can see a flash of the tube sticking out of his pants that are used to squirt fake blood into the water.
When Chuck is walking through the water to the cave for the first time,there is a shadow on his right hand side from something, or someone standing just outside the view.
Errors in geography
When the boy runs on the streets of Moscow delivering the package to Chuck, he passes by several Moscow landmarks: St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow State University, Big Stone Bridge, etc in a short span of time. In reality, it would've really taken him a good four or five hours to pass by all those landmarks.
Towards the end of the movie, Kelly tells Chuck his island was 600 miles south of the Cook Islands. In reality, there is no land between the Cook Islands and Antarctica.
At the end of the movie when looking at a map on his hood, the road sign shows FM 1265 [Farm to Market Road 1265]; however, FM 1265 was retired in 1990 and the portion was re-designated as part of Texas State Highway 23.
Factual errors
When the plane is going down, Chuck watches the ocean's surface approach through the pilots' windshield. When the plane strikes the water, he is thrown backward into the cargo area. In reality, he would have been flung forward, into the cockpit, and likely would have died from the impact.
When Chuck goes to use the restroom in the airplane, there is a small brown UPS sticker on the bottom right of the mirror on the FedEx airplane.
As the FedEx MD-11 dives toward the ocean, none of the alarms that should go off during a steep dive (i.e. Excessive Sink Rate, GPWS) are going off. All
aircraft operating out of the United States since 1972 have been equipped with such alarm systems to help prevent crashes.
The invoices on the FedEx packages that Chuck recovers are domestic (USA) FedEx manifests. International manifests have always been much larger and more detailed.
When the plane crashes in the ocean, the engine is still running by the time Chuck emerges from the water. Airplane engines are powered by electrically powered fuel pumps and would not be able to run under water.
Chuck finds a lot of FedEx boxes floating in the sea and although the boxes aren't waterproof, the contents are undamaged.
Chuck is wearing Albert's shoes and the toes of the shoes have been cut off so they would fit Chuck. But, there is absolutely no way Chuck could have cut those shoes. At that point on the island he hadn't opened the ice skates up yet, and even if he had they still wouldn't have been sharp enough to cut through the strong leather of the shoes. When Chuck is wearing them and they show a close up of the shoes, it's a very smooth, nice clean even edge were they were cut. It just was not possible for Chuck to have made that cut to alter those shoes.
The Dissolution of Marriage Agreement in one of the FedEx packages opened on the island is dated 23 December 1995, which was a Saturday, an unlikely day of the week for a legal document.
At 22:04, the First Officer is attempting to contact Tahiti Control. He states he is "broadcasting in the blind" but then states "how do you read" in the same transmission. A blind transmission, or broadcasting in the blind, is when the person transmitting the message makes the transmission without obtaining a receipt, or acknowledgment of reception, from the intended receiving station. A blind transmission, in the case of this aircraft is very reasonable. Transmitting their position to ATC regardless of receiving a response when your receiver is getting blocked by interference from lightning is smart.
Cargo pilots on long haul flights do not fly in full uniform as depicted. Upon reaching initial cruise altitude (usually 15-20 minutes after take off) it is common practice to change into "cruise pajamas". These range from simply removing the uniform shirt and tie to full pajamas complete with slippers. No long haul crew would remain in full uniform for a flight lasting up to 16+ hours.
When Kelly relates to Chuck that the Tennessee Titans "nearly won" the Super Bowl but lost because of "one lousy yard" she is referring to SB XXXIV on January 30, 2000 when the game ended with Titan Kevin Dyson being tackled on the one yard line on the last play of the game. However, the final score of the game was 23-16 so even had Dyson scored and the extra point converted the game would've gone into overtime and the outcome would still be in doubt. It was possible that the Titans could've gone for a two-point conversion to win the game, however it's highly unlikely that a coach would take that chance in that scenario. Thus for Kelly's statement to be correct there needed to be several scenarios to play out in the Titans favor.
TYPO of the title: The title of the movie in two words, "Cast Away" means to throw away, dispose of, reject, or discard. The title should actually be one word: "Castaway" which means cast adrift or ashore as a survivor of a shipwreck.
Before the plane dives into the ocean, unsecured cargo is shifting with a barrier net just uselessly hanging loose. The boxes should have been strapped down with a floor to floor net.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
The plane was obviously having problems flying through a storm before going down, but Kelly told Chuck that FedEx decided the plane went down due to some unmarked hazardous material in one of the packages.
The plane's only problem regarding the storm were lack of communication and 'flying blind.' The undeclared hazardous material (i.e. corrosive or combustible substances compromising hull integrity) caused an explosive decompression, dooming the aircraft to crash. Hence one of the pilots shouting, "Explosion!" as the hull is ruptured.
Early in the movie, Kelly gives Chuck a pocket watch, telling him her grandfather, who was a railroad crewman, used it on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Chuck subsequently winds and sets the watch to local "Kelly Time" just before departing on the plane. The watch shown is a stem set in a hunter style case (i.e. has a sprung, hinged cover that closes over the watch face). This is not a real railroad watch since the specific design was controlled by federal regulations, and would have never been allowed to be used on the job by a railroad crewman. Among a long list of standards, they were required to have an open face (hunter case hinged clamshell covers were prohibited) and be "lever set." That requires the watch back to be opened, exposing the movement, and a lever moved in the movement to allow setting the time by turning the crown. (The crown cannot be pulled out from its winding position for time setting as was common with non-railroad watches and is the standard setting method today.) This prevented a railroad crewman from accidentally changing the time while winding the watch. It also allowed for station masters to control setting crew watches to calibrated time standards as they would seal the watch back after setting it. Had they used a proper railroad pocket watch, Chuck wouldn't have been able to wind the watch and so easily set its time during this scene.
Plot holes
In the cave, Chuck has made an analemma, which is impossible without a precise watch, which is stated he didn't have. The analemma is a graph of the difference between solar time and civil time, in any case he only had access to a solar time reading.
In the beginning of the movie he is haranguing the Russian FedEx office, as an example, he sent a stopwatch clock to himself and ranted how, as he opened it, it took 87 hours to reach here and that isn't good enough. Why would he be chewing out the receiving end for what he considers too long to get there? Shouldn't he be in New York yelling at that office for taking so long to get it across the ocean to Russia?
Chuck plans for his launch by looking at where the Sun is shining on a rock in his cave. The spot of light makes a figure 8 as the year progresses. But the light spot would have to be marked at the same time each day, as it would also move across the rock throughout the day. It is unlikely that it just happened to be that time of day as he looked at his "calendar", and it is unlikely that he knew what time it was since his watch did not work.
Figure skates are like pencils: they are dull when fresh, and have to be sharpened before being used for the first time. The sharpening also has to be maintained periodically, and Chuck's use of the skates in survival skills would have greatly damaged them to the extent that they would no longer be usable. There is no credible way Chuck could've used the skates as survival tools, especially given the four-year time span and lack of a skate sharpener.
Apparently Chuck can't remember the looks of Kelly when he's drawing a picture of her face on the wall of the cave, but he has a clear picture of her in the lid of the pocket watch she gave him prior to takeoff and that he has been staring at multiple times since landing on the island.
Revealing mistakes
When the FedEx MD-11 is diving towards the ocean, the First
Officer's altitude indicator (visible by his left shoulder) shows that the aircraft is climbing gently.
When Chuck enters the cockpit, the attitude selection of the Primary Flight Display should be completely brown because the plane is in a steep drive. It shows a pitch indication of zero, or level flight.
After Chuck makes fire and is eating crab, you can see the firewood is cut by a saw.
When Chuck starts paddling his wooden raft towards the breakwater, palm trees can be seen repeatedly on a length of land that is apparently not part of his small island.
When Chuck was building the raft to leave the island and ran out of plant fiber to make rope, he states that he has searched the entire island and couldn't find any more plants; however, there was a plant right behind him.
At the beginning of the movie Stan pours Chuck some wine out of a bottle wrapped in a paper bag. It's obvious he pours nothing or a very small amount that would be too little to drink.
Spoilers
Character error
When Chuck buries Albert Miller, he scratches "1950-1995" on the rock face above the grave. When Chuck examines Miller's wallet, you can see a close-up of Miller's New South Wales, Australia, driver's license, with a birth date in 1949.
The taxi that carries Chuck back to Kelly's home has its "For Hire" light illuminated. Usually on a taxi with a fare on board, this light would not be lit, but the driver simply forgot to turn it off (which happens regularly in the real world).
In Kelly's kitchen, she explains to Chuck that the Titans made the Super Bowl XXXIV and "almost won" but for one yard. In fact, had the Titans scored, the score would have been 23-22 and the likely result would have been an extra point kick that would have tied the game.
Continuity
When Chuck is examining his new shoes with the toes cut out, you see in the background the paddle that he has just used to bury Al still tied to the rope attached to the raft.
When Chucks looks at Albert's family photo, Albert's right breast pocket has a button. When Chuck later slips the photo in his pocket, the button is gone.
The position of Chuck's shadow in the final scene changes between shots. When Chuck is standing on the crossroads, it changes a full 180 degrees.
When Chuck pulls Al ashore, he takes Al's shoes off and measures them against his own feet. When Chuck buries Al, the shoes are back on Al's feet. Then when Chuck sits down, Al's shoes are now on Chuck's feet.
When Chuck climbs the mountain for the first time, his beard is longer than in many later sequences, like immediately after when he discovers and buries Albert Miller's body.
Factual errors
When "Wilson" floats away, his "hair" is vertical. In real life, this is top-heavy. The hair would tip over, and it would float horizontal with the ocean.
The two long tree trunks Chuck uses to launch his raft would be much too heavy for a single man to handle. He could not have moved them onto the rock.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
The plane that Chuck was on took off from Memphis, and crashed somewhere in the South Pacific. But at the end of the movie, he delivered the FedEx package he didn't open on the island to an address in Texas. While it seems odd that a package bound for Texas would be on an international flight from Memphis, the woman who lived there was actually the sender of the package and Chuck was returning it to her (hence the soundtrack playing Elvis Presley's "Return to Sender" when he's driving there). The same woman had sent a package at the beginning of the movie to her husband in St. Petersburg, Russia, with similar golden wings painted on it.
Revealing mistakes
When the whale watches Chuck aboard the raft and dives, his body just fades out, leaving no swell in the water, revealing the whale to be CGI.
When Chuck compares his foot to Albert's shoe his toes hang over the top of the shoe. When Chuck puts the shoe on with the toes cut out, the shoe actually fits his foot.
At the end when Chuck spreads the map out on the bonnet of the car finger marks are visible in the dirt on the bonnet from other takes.
