Cast Away... what an incredably dumb movie

not2sharp

not2sharp

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Just came back from seeing this latest blockbuster want-to-be. My thoughs going in ran along the lines of - well with a cast of one you really have to do something interesting to keep your audience focused. How will a man of modern society be able to adapt to manage extended survival under very primitive conditions?

Sounds interesting, but the movie never goes there. Tom Hank's caracter never adapts, never actually learns anything, or builds anything. Frankly, he fails miserably, and quickly drops into a state of pure apathy. I can't see how someone with this mindset could survive four weeks, much less four years, under these conditions.

It's Hollywood cornball all the way. Our lead is having an intimate conversation with a soccer ball in one scene, and ready to conquer the world in the next. Wait for the video on this one.
 
I didn't think it was all that badly done, albeit it was Hollywood. What ticked me off was that he left his SAK on his keychain with his girlfriend... dumb, dumb, dumb!
 
They lost me when he buried the dead pilot......WITH HIS CLOTHES STILL ON !!!.

(I was able to overlook the fact that he would've been dead due to hypothermia within a couple of hours after the crash)

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SarcasmGuy

"fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering"
Yoda
 
I don't know... I'm a pretty survival-minded fellow, and I don't think my first impulse would have been, "Hey, I'm going to need a change of clothes, so I'll take the ones this dead guy voided his bowels in." I mean, he's only a FedEx guy in the movie, not Rambo.

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.
 
For what little the character had to work with, Hanks was pretty inventive. Clearly his
character was meant to be portrayed as an
average "everyman". I found myself making a checklist of items that I would have carried-that even an airline would find unobjectionable.
I'm not certain that I entirely bought the
scenes of food gathering under the given conditions-and you're right, even with the
tropical locale, wet is wet. A modest amount
of shivering/retching would have been in order.
And how about that raft. I was under the impression that open rafts went out of
use in the 60's. No ditching kit? On an International overwater flight? Terribly
dramatic and cinematic, but...
 
All I have seen is the HBO special thats shows how they made the movie. From the clips I saw I was fairly impressed with the way they got the mindset right and some other things we wouldnt think about if we were in that situation. The producer of the show went through several survival schools before making the movie so he could get a feel for what the show should portray. The soocer ball named Wilson was born out of one of the schools that the producer went through. During the school he was alone for a few days and found a soccer ball that he used to pass the time.

Jeff

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Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com
 
Two minor points: 1) Hanks' character would not have had any trouble toting along any sort of knife (the jet was a FedEx charter afterall, not commercial). It's just too bad for him that the idyut gave his SAK to his lady friend. And 2) his friend Wilson was a volley ball not a soccer ball. I know what you're saying - "Oh, now that changes EVERYTHING!" ;-)
 
What I want to know is where is that island that has overhead+ surf, nicely peeling lefts and rights, every single day for four years?!? As soon as I find out I'm moving there and setting up a surfing mecca.

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Mike Melone

"Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. " Psalm 144:1
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." Thomas Jefferson
 
Try Fiji. I think that's where they filmed it.

[This message has been edited by not2sharp (edited 01-03-2001).]
 
I haven't seen the movie, but I just remembered a GREAT book, titled "Adrift" and I think the author was named Steven Callahan. His big sailboat flipped upside down, alone in the Atlantic, he had a nice liferaft and a t-shirt but no pants, and wrote a book about the sunburn and the agony of an unplanned raft trip from the Canary Islands to the Carribean.

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ChuteTheMallGawdSortaMount
 
Heh.......yeah..........I guess it'd be kind'a unlikely that someone like Hanks' character would think to do that..........or most people for that matter.

I guess it helps that I'm somewhat nutty.

But I wouldn't be short of clothes
wink.gif
.

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SarcasmGuy

"fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering"
Yoda
 
I thought the same thing about all that wet and no shivering or runny nose. I was thinking that he needed to save those clothes and that belt. Leather looked hard to come by on that island.
After about three throws of the coconut I was laughing out loud and was shushed. I've never had to open a green coconut, but I knew that wouldn't work even if he was Nolan Ryan!




 
Adrift -76 days at sea -recycled it through half-price books several years ago, and now I wish I hadn't.

Very detailed in many aspects: improvisations, mental state, food and water collection, navigation (as much as thats possible in a drifting raft). The main thing I got out of it was his never give up attitude.

Havn't seen the movie . . .yet.
 
I just bought a copy of Wreck of the Medusa by Alexander Mckee. Don't know how it is yet, I am saving it for a business trip next week. But, it's a non-fiction about the 1816 sinking of the French frigate medusa. Supposedly 150 passengers and crew were left adrift on a makeshift raft. The tales of cannibalism shocked 19th century Europe. Should make for an interesting read.

Maybe I better pack a SAC on the plane.
smile.gif
 
Hi All,

I understand that the movie may have been below par at showing good survival skills...
smile.gif
to bad he hadn't been to one of my programs
wink.gif


How about entertainment? I have been thinking about going to it. Another one I am considering is (?name) Vertical Ascent (about a K2 climb)... how was that.

Are both worth theater cost or would it be better to wait for video?

Thanks all,


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Greg Davenport
Simply Survival's Wilderness Survival Forum
Simply Survival's Web Page
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?
 
Hi Greg,

Unfortunately, Vertical Ascent violates all the laws of physics (not to mention common sense). Its like watching a 90 minute live action episode of the Road Runner; but, the characters are no where near as charasmatic.

Rent K2, The Eiger Sanction (Clint Eastwood), or The Mountain (Spencer Tracy), you will have alot more fun.

N2S



[This message has been edited by not2sharp (edited 01-10-2001).]
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by not2sharp:
Hi Greg,

Rent K2, The Eiger Sanction (Clint Eastwood), or The Mountain (Spencer Tracy), you will have alot more fun.

(edited 01-10-2001).]</font>
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice on the vertical ascent movie. I own K2 and really enjoy Clint's movie. Haven't seen the mountain... will have to rent it and try it out.

Now... anyone else on the Castaway movie?
smile.gif



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Greg Davenport
Simply Survival's Wilderness Survival Forum
Simply Survival's Web Page
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?
 
Hey Greg, I enjoyed Cast Away. As stated it really did not get into the the skills one should have but overall it was entertaining.

Colt

P.S. When is the next book going to be on the shelves. Enjoyed the first one.
 
Hi Colt,

Thanks for the input... I guess... I'll have to go and see it for myself. I do enjoy Tom Hanks movies for the most part... so should enjoy it.

Kinda like watching the edge when they killed the bear and in the next seen were wearing a new bear skin coat
smile.gif
. I enjoyed that movie and just had to put the little things aside.

As far as the ball goes... I must confess that once on a solo trip (only about a week) I played a basket ball game using an improvised hoop and ball that I made from what mother nature provided. The crowd went wild as I beat myself everytime
smile.gif


My next book will be out this summer. Just finished reviewing the copy editors comments about grammmmmer (oopps)
smile.gif
. Most of the table of contents can be seen <a href="http://www.simply-survival.com/WildLiving.htm">here</a>.

Take care,


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Greg Davenport
Simply Survival's Wilderness Survival Forum
Simply Survival's Web Page
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?
 
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