History Film / CastAway

* LeftYourLifesaverBehind: In the middle of the chaos to escape the crashed airplane, the survival kit is torn off Chuck's life raft. Chuck [[MacGyvering has to make do through other means]].

* MacGyvering: How Chuck survives using the contents of the [=FedEx=] boxes that washed up on the island, which appear to be full of useless crap. Some notable examples include him using the taffeta from the party dress to make a fishing net, using the videotapes as rope for his raft, and using the ice skates to cut and sharpen things, even fashioning an axe by attaching one of them to a stick. He also uses the skates' laces to hold together a makeshift bandage for his injured leg and keep his ramshankle tent propped up.

* ForWantOfANail: Chuck keeps his Swiss Army Knife clipped on his keyring. He leaves his keys with his fiancée because she forgot the house keys.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Chuck is rescued and makes it back to civilization but his fiancée has remarried, he lost practically everything save for his career and a few friends, and some pretty severe psychological damage.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In 1995, the year when the film begins, [=FedEx=] did not yet offer the express services to Easter Europe shown in the film that would have warranted Chuck to be in Moscow chewing the ears of the the hub's crew. The intra-European services started on 1996, but wouldn't have the coverage shown in the film until around 1999.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In 1995, the year when the film begins, [[=FedEx=]] did not yet offer the express services shown in the film that would have warranted Chuck to be in Moscow chewing the ears of the the hub's crew. The intra-European services started on 1996, but wouldn't have the coverage shown in the film until around 1999.

* MeaningfulName: The shortened form of Chuck Noland's name is C. Noland: See No Land.
* MortonsFork: [[spoiler:Chuck's chances with Kelly are equally bad. Either he elopes with her while making her abandon her family, or leaves her to her family and losing her forever. He chooses the latter, as he can't make Kelly do something so awful to herself and her family.]]

%%* OceanMadness: Spiritually fits. (ZCE: How?)

** Upon his return, Chuck notices the seafood and understandibly doesn't want any of it.

** At the start of the movie, Bettina Peterson, the art welder, sends a [=FedEx=] package to her husband Dick in Moscow, who we see is cheating with a Russian woman. At the end of the movie, his name has been removed from the sign above the entrance to her ranch.

* ChekhovsArmory: After a while, Chuck opens the [=FedEx=] boxes that washed ashore with him, and the contents appear to be comically useless for his situation: video tapes, a volleyball, ice-skates and such. He finds a use for all of them, ''especially'' the volleyball.

** The Porta potty that washes ashore on the island.

* MacGyvering: How Chuck survives using various [=FedEx=] boxes full of apparently useless crap. Some notable examples include using the taffeta from a party dress to make a fishing net, weaving videotape together to make rope, and making an axe out of an ice skate attached to a stick.

* TheToothHurts: Chuck already has a bit of a toothache before he gets stranded on the island, but it only gets worse once he's there, forcing him to remove the rotten tooth. With an ice skate and a rock. Feel free to faint now.

* AmFmCharacterization: Chuck, who spends his initial scenes being a hard-core ClockKing dealing with the Moscow office's inefficiency like a DrillSergeantNasty, reveals himself to be an Elvis Presley fan when he hands Nicolai an Elvis CD as a reward for delivering Chuck's package. Sure enough, when he is off the clock, he is a much nicer guy.

* UnstoppableMailman: Even after being stranded on an island for years, he still delivers the last package. (Strictly speaking, he doesn't. Like the song said, he "[[Music/ElvisPresley Return[s it] to Sender]]".)

** [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19138_7-hotly-debated-movie-questions-that-totally-have-answers.html One deleted scene from the script]] actually has Chuck open the box. It holds... [[spoiler:two cans of salsa verde.]]
*** [[spoiler:...and a rather touching note. Too bad about the BrickJoke.]]

* OceanMadness: Spiritually fits.

This was Zemeckis' second live-action film after ''Film/WhatLiesBeneath'' and his last overall to be made during the 2000s, the rest of which he spent making MotionCapture films before returning to live-action twelve years later with ''Film/{{Flight}}''.

* FirstWorldProblems: After surviving on his own on an isolated island for years, when he is rescued there are a few moments where Chuck has to contemplate some of the luxuries of society. Cocktail shrimp being one of them.

* WrongTurnAtAlburquerque: Chuck winds up so far off the beaten path after the plane crash that not only does it take him five years to get home, but rescue efforts were searching for him hundreds of miles away from the island where he'd been living.

** At the start of the movie, Bettina Peterson, the art welder, sends a [=FedEx=] package to her husband Dick in Moscow, who we see is cheating with a Russian woman. At the end of the movie his name has been cut away from the sign above the entrance to her ranch.
** Near the end of the movie, Chuck has a volleyball in his car.