Last Friday I took another trip to the Arrington Ranch House, the rural location featured at the first and last of the 2000 movie Cast Away. (blog post about my first visit) I hadn't visited the intersection and wanted to take photos of the roads described by Bettina Peterson (played by the lovely C&W performer, Lari White), the artist character who gives directions to the Tom Hanks character, Chuck Noland, at the ending of the flick.
A friend of mine went along for the ride; he works for the Texas Dept. of Transportation and, just before the scenes were filmed, was tasked with removing most of the easily visible highway signs around the intersection.
I asked him why he had to remove them and he said he was told it was to keep the location "secret". Since the roads were mentioned by number in the movie, that didn't make sense to me. Personally, I think they were removed for "artistic reasons", to make it look a bit more barren.
This is a new "goalpost-type" sign that replaced one of those that were taken down.
(click for larger view)
This is the intersection, facing NE.
The last dialogue in the film was between Hanks and White; he has just dropped off the pkg. to the woman's house and is now at the intersection, standing by his vehicle, puzzling over a map, wondering which way he should go. (and the obvious symbolism is that he is also puzzling over which direction he should take his life)
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.
The woman then points to each direction, telling Noland where each will take him.
Bettina Peterson: Well, that's 83 South.
(NOTE: That's not THAT hwy. number, it's 1268, but it connects with Hwy 83, which is one of the longest north/south highways in the U.S. It's also facing east in the above photo.)
And this road here will hook you up with I-40 East
(NOTE: That's facing south, but WILL connect you with I-40. I'll have to check my road map, but I believe one would reach the small town of Mobeetie first via Ranch Road 48 and then wind their way over to the interstate. Yep, you can "hook up" with I-40 that way, it's a twisty path though. Might as well just go ahead and get on 83 which will intersect I-40 at Shamrock, Texas.)
If you turn right, that'll take you to Amarillo, Flagstaff, California.
(That's Ranch Road 1268, facing west. It intersects with Ranch Road 748. Turn left/south to Laketon, then turn right/west on Hwy 152 which will then lead to Hwy 60, Pampa, White Deer, Panhandle then Amarillo and points west. One could also turn right, go to Miami and get on Hwy 60 there. Also, there are a multitude of small farm and ranch roads leading off of Hwy 60 between Laketon and Amarillo that would let a traveler go South and hook up with the interstate. )
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.
I'm not so sure a "whole lot of nothing" would be a nice thing to say to folks in the top part of the Texas Panhandle, the Oklahoma Panhandle, Kansas, etc. It's a lovely drive between Canadian and Miami as well as on up to the state line.
Be that as it may: That is a caliche road, not in the best of shape with some blind corners and hills. If it is wet from a recent rain, it will be slicker than earthworms in a barrel of snot. (I wonder if the mud puddle the FedEx truck drives through at the first of the movie was real or manufactured, i.e., filled up by the film crew from a water truck? As you can see in the above photo, the low spot is still there)
As we made our way on down to the Arrington Ranch house, nice, smooth stretches lulled me into picking up too much speed, then suddenly hitting suspension rattling holes and ruts. "Spur 'im, Hogan! " my pal said after I steered right into a deep hole and nearly lost control. "Hell, I'm barefoot!".
We stopped to take a few pictures, but I had already taken quite a few the last time I was out there and other than a clearer sky, nothing had changed since my previous visit. As was the last time I took photos, there was no one there, and I wondered if they had ever had problems with "fans" prowling around the property.
There's not much to photograph out there; besides the house, there's the sign over the gate. It was altered for the movie, but the angel wings were left when the sign was restored.
09/03/08
I added a bit more information about the various highways, put in some links, posted the Google Earth screenshot. Hope this helps anyone searching for this location.
In case the link was missed at the first of this post, there's another blog post about my visit to the ranch house.
9/19/08
Sheesh, noticed another hit, then figured out I had put the wrong directions in when I described how to go to Laketon. Mea Culpa, I'm an idiot, what can I say. It's correct now...I think.
9/23/08
Edit once again, probably for the sole sake of being anal retentive.
In case you didn't know, click any photo for larger view
1/12/09
Interesting article about the history of the house, plus some photos of it and the intersection
In PDF format
09/16/09
Added a new post about the locations
Cast Away Locations in Google Maps
A friend of mine went along for the ride; he works for the Texas Dept. of Transportation and, just before the scenes were filmed, was tasked with removing most of the easily visible highway signs around the intersection.
I asked him why he had to remove them and he said he was told it was to keep the location "secret". Since the roads were mentioned by number in the movie, that didn't make sense to me. Personally, I think they were removed for "artistic reasons", to make it look a bit more barren.
This is a new "goalpost-type" sign that replaced one of those that were taken down.
(click for larger view)
This is the intersection, facing NE.
The last dialogue in the film was between Hanks and White; he has just dropped off the pkg. to the woman's house and is now at the intersection, standing by his vehicle, puzzling over a map, wondering which way he should go. (and the obvious symbolism is that he is also puzzling over which direction he should take his life)
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.
The woman then points to each direction, telling Noland where each will take him.
Bettina Peterson: Well, that's 83 South.
(NOTE: That's not THAT hwy. number, it's 1268, but it connects with Hwy 83, which is one of the longest north/south highways in the U.S. It's also facing east in the above photo.)
And this road here will hook you up with I-40 East
(NOTE: That's facing south, but WILL connect you with I-40. I'll have to check my road map, but I believe one would reach the small town of Mobeetie first via Ranch Road 48 and then wind their way over to the interstate. Yep, you can "hook up" with I-40 that way, it's a twisty path though. Might as well just go ahead and get on 83 which will intersect I-40 at Shamrock, Texas.)
If you turn right, that'll take you to Amarillo, Flagstaff, California.
(That's Ranch Road 1268, facing west. It intersects with Ranch Road 748. Turn left/south to Laketon, then turn right/west on Hwy 152 which will then lead to Hwy 60, Pampa, White Deer, Panhandle then Amarillo and points west. One could also turn right, go to Miami and get on Hwy 60 there. Also, there are a multitude of small farm and ranch roads leading off of Hwy 60 between Laketon and Amarillo that would let a traveler go South and hook up with the interstate. )
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.
I'm not so sure a "whole lot of nothing" would be a nice thing to say to folks in the top part of the Texas Panhandle, the Oklahoma Panhandle, Kansas, etc. It's a lovely drive between Canadian and Miami as well as on up to the state line.
Be that as it may: That is a caliche road, not in the best of shape with some blind corners and hills. If it is wet from a recent rain, it will be slicker than earthworms in a barrel of snot. (I wonder if the mud puddle the FedEx truck drives through at the first of the movie was real or manufactured, i.e., filled up by the film crew from a water truck? As you can see in the above photo, the low spot is still there)
As we made our way on down to the Arrington Ranch house, nice, smooth stretches lulled me into picking up too much speed, then suddenly hitting suspension rattling holes and ruts. "Spur 'im, Hogan! " my pal said after I steered right into a deep hole and nearly lost control. "Hell, I'm barefoot!".
We stopped to take a few pictures, but I had already taken quite a few the last time I was out there and other than a clearer sky, nothing had changed since my previous visit. As was the last time I took photos, there was no one there, and I wondered if they had ever had problems with "fans" prowling around the property.
There's not much to photograph out there; besides the house, there's the sign over the gate. It was altered for the movie, but the angel wings were left when the sign was restored.
EDIT: 11/11/18
I removed a YouTube user created video of him at the crossroads; that is the reason for the comment from my sister at the start of the comments below this post. Sorry for any confusion.
Here's the end scene from the movie. As I have pointed out in the comment section, the surrounding area looks much different now.
I removed a YouTube user created video of him at the crossroads; that is the reason for the comment from my sister at the start of the comments below this post. Sorry for any confusion.
Here's the end scene from the movie. As I have pointed out in the comment section, the surrounding area looks much different now.
09/03/08
I added a bit more information about the various highways, put in some links, posted the Google Earth screenshot. Hope this helps anyone searching for this location.
In case the link was missed at the first of this post, there's another blog post about my visit to the ranch house.
9/19/08
Sheesh, noticed another hit, then figured out I had put the wrong directions in when I described how to go to Laketon. Mea Culpa, I'm an idiot, what can I say. It's correct now...I think.
9/23/08
Edit once again, probably for the sole sake of being anal retentive.
In case you didn't know, click any photo for larger view
1/12/09
Interesting article about the history of the house, plus some photos of it and the intersection
In PDF format
09/16/09
Added a new post about the locations
Cast Away Locations in Google Maps
71 comments:
Nah....you're way cuter than that guy, Mike!
It's been a couple years since ya seen me, ain't it sis?
My ol' face now looks like it's done wore out two or three bodies.
Hey...I don't care what you say. You'll always be my cute little brother. Besides, my face is several years older than yours!
I noticed a couple of hits on this post, then noticed I had spelled the name of the movie as one word...the proper term, but not how the movie was spelled.
Fixed!
Loads of hits on this post and the other about "Cast Away".
If you need anymore info. about how to get there, please ask in this thread or you're more than welcome to email me. (address at the top of the page on graphic)
or, any more, either way.
I got to lookin' in the mirror real good and decided my ol' face looks like it's done wore out three or FOUR bodies.
será resbaladizo 'n lombrices en un barril de moco
...I love this scene.
Thanks for your description...maybe, one day...you know...I like running...
CIAO
Già
Thanks for commenting, Remi. Lots of room to run here in the top part of Texas, for sure!
I remembered something else that probably won't be interesting to anyone, but just after the scenes were filmed, I ran into a guy I graduated h.s. with and he said he had been taking care of some wells down that road and couldn't get to them that day.
No big deal, but he was annoyed that he had to go back down there after the film crew left to check everything out.
Many thanks for all the information and effort that went into the post and blog about "Cast Away". One of my favorite movies, if not my actual favorite (the contest is still ongoing).
The movie is a very personal one for me, for what oddly end up being very personal reasons. The details would probably be very boring, and happen to involve complex mathematical analysis (well, just some addition and subtraction, and the natural logarithm, actually), and so I won't go into them here. Just some strong parallels with my life, especially at the time I first saw the movie (back in 2007)
But I'd like to point out something about the name of the movie. First, here's a quote from you about the title:
"I noticed a couple of hits on this post, then noticed I had spelled the name of the movie as one word...the proper term, but not how the movie was spelled."
When referring to an individual who has been "cast away"/"stranded on an island", the proper term is indeed "castaway". But when the focus is on the event or state itself, the proper term is "cast away". Plus, I think the makers of the movie chose the latter term as a sort of joke, as a reference to the fact that for most of the movie the only actor was Tom Hanks - thus, the title becomes an accurate description of the movie: The rest of the actors (cast) are gone (away). (Or, "(The) Cast (are) away.")
I started to reply to this earlier, then forgot until now.
Thanks for commenting, Douglas. The movie is one of my favorites, too, and would be even w/out the scenes filmed here.
The title is a clever play on the world "castaway". Noland casts away everything but hope, even as the world has cast away all hope for him...everyone except Kelly. Noland then has to cast away his fears in order to get off the island and then, in the end, has to cast away his love for Kelly.
The movie is full of meaning.You reckon there was a hidden symbolism in the fact that the cheating husband's name was "Dick"?
-eg-
Nice article on the Texas Commission for the Arts website about Canadian and with a mention and photos of the house and intersection: Assessing the Arts in Canadian – DAY THREE
I have to thank you, seriously for creating this amazing and -for me- encouraging post. I'll be travelling to NYC next year to catch up with some old days friends, and with these descriptions, I'll be SURELY going to the Cast Away intersection!
Thanks a lot!
I stumbled across your blog and I found it very interesting, not the best word I could come up with at the moment. It's more than that. I saw the movie recently on cable. It wasn't the first time I had seen it. I first saw it in theater back in 2000. I didn't know what to make of it then. Having seen it again, I understand it so much more now and enjoyed it even more. How time changes one's perspective. It has become one of my favorite movies of all time. I grew up in the Panhandle of Texas and so the area filmed looked familiar. I was searching for it on the map which is how I happen to stumble on to your blog. I haven't been up there in that area for over 25 years but I may make a trip just to stand where Chuck Nolan stood. Because it describes exactly how I feel at the moment. Not sure what road to take any more. Thank you for putting this out there.
John, I'm sorry I didn't reply to this sooner; I read your post just after it was posted and meant to reply, but got sidetracked and forgot.
Thank you for your kind words; I hope you're reading this so you'll know I appreciate your post and your sentiments. What part of the Panhandle do you hail from?
It's one of my favorite movies, too, although Mr. Hanks has annoyed me lately with some of his comments, but at least he's not nearly as obnoxious as are some of his peers in Hollywood.
Again, thanks for posting. I hope you've got past your crossroads and have gone down the best path.
MaipónDelCajo, thanks to you as well for your post. I hope you get to come to this part of the world. There's not a lot of different things to see around here, but there's certainly a long way to be seen!
Always get a ton of posts on this after the movie has been shown on TV. There are visitors from all over the world and I appreciate the interest. Wish I made money from the hits, though. -grin-
Was re-reading the post and comments and noticed I wrote this: "The title is a clever play on the world "castaway"."
World should be "word".
My word! My typos could fill up the world!
Excellent blog. It answered a lot of questions I had about the final and first scenes. It really stuck in my craw that Cast Away did not get an Oscar for Best Picture, and Hanks didn't get an Oscar for Best Actor. Yes, the movie is loaded with symbolism and metaphor. One I just realized is that earlier in the movie, Chuck Noland refers to the area that they'll have to search to find him as being “twice the size of Texas”. The vastness of the state is clearly indicated in these two scenes.
Thanks, David, glad you enjoyed it and got some answers. If there are any more questions you have, I might be able to answer them.
I met a woman from England while in an online chat room some yrs. ago and she came over several times to see me. On the way home from the airport in Amarillo, she was looking out the window at the landscape, the twilight view to the horizon broken only by the blinking lights on top of cell phone towers and a very few houses. She said something and I had to ask her to repeat it and she turned away from the window and said it again. I still couldn't understand her and had to ask her to say it one more time. She said very slowly "Its. All. So. VAHST."
OH! VAST!
We went to see one of my sisters who lives north of Dallas, about a six hour drive or longer, depending upon how many times you stop. She commented that it didn't take that long to drive from Oxford to Scotland where some of her kinfolk lived. We stayed down there for a few days and came on back home. Later that evening, resting up from the journey, she asked where my other sister lived and I told her down near Houston. "We should go see her, too." she declared. I had to bring up a chair next to the computer, show her the size of Texas compared to Great Britain. She finally understood just how "vahst" it was when she saw the entire U.K. could fit within Texas with plenty of room to spare. Comparison
Thanks for posting!
Thanks for all the tidbits of information and the directions! Paying a visit to the Crossroads myself, in the morning
You're welcome, Jason. This and my other posts about the farm house and crossroads are still the most-visited ones on this pathetic excuse for a blog and to be honest, were some of my favorite ones to do. I used to actually post regularly, but as you can tell by the number of posts over the last couple of years, I do less and less as the months roll by.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for commenting. I hope you have a great visit!
I have always wondered where exactly this was. I knew by the scenery it was close to home. Happened upon your blog while looking for the location. Born in Amarillo, raised on a large ranch in Stinnett. Thank you for the information.
Glad to have helped, Don. It took me a while to get off my butt and come see where it had been filmed, but after getting there, realized I had been down that road a hundred times or more when I was working on drilling rigs. I had also been to the crossroads taking a shortcut from Wheeler to Miami...just never paid any attention to it then.
I've been in Amarillo hundreds of times, but never took the time to go see the Cadillac Ranch.
It's not nearly as open as it was when I took photos or when the scenes were filmed. There's a new gas pipeline installation of some sort just to the east of the intersection, either a small booster station or something similar, plus some of those power generating windmills.
I have kinfolk in Stinnett, but we're not close and I haven't had any contact with them in years.
Thanks f/ posting!
Vahst haha my mom was from the UK and we would have visits from family and they didn't know how big Texas was. Been close to the crossroads several times, but too big of a hurry. Will stop next time through on the way up to Alaska from Houston.
John, I have kinfolk from Alaska (saw in your profile where you had lived there for a while after retiring)and my cousins used to rub it in how much larger Alaska was than Texas. I finally shut them up when I found out just how much of the state was Federal land and told them it was basically Delaware w/out that factored in.
Thanks for your post!
Hi!
I work at Texas Monthly and we are doing a story that features the Castaway crossroads you have pictured above.
We would love to use your photo.
Please contact me at HPigott@texasmonthly.com!
Thank you, Hayden
Great blog! I was deployed to Bosnia when the movie went to DVD. I watched it a dozen times while I was there. Love it. I watched it again tonight, almost 2 decades later, and it remains one of my favorites.
I live near Austin now, and I'm hoping to drive by that intersection one day, just for kicks.
Thanks for your post, Bart.
It's one of my favorite flicks, too, but I don't think I've watched it a dozen times...then again, I've never been in a place like Bosnia where - what's that saying? - there are hours of tedious boredom interrupted only by moments of sheer terror.
If you do go to the intersection, might as well drive the couple of miles down to the farmhouse.
Mike,
It's a really nice thing you've done with this blog post...
I have some questions if you have a few minutes. Can't type much.
234-567-3566
Thank you,
Joe
Thanks, Joseph.
Sorry, but I cannot call you. I'm not in the habit of calling people I don't know. For all I DO know, you might just be wanting to scam me.
If this is legitimate, then go ahead and ask. You typed out all that above, seems like you could type out a few questions. You're also welcome to email me at the address in the right hand column, down near the bottom of the page.
Why! Why do people love the movie so much? Please share. As for myself, I lost everything in the.com bubble and bottomed out. I felt just like I was on that solitary island. Everything was castaway except for hope. But my future was wide open and new much like the ending. Life changing decisions at the crossroads, and of course true love was always a possibility. Thanks for making this blog Mike.
Sad to hear that Lari White, the singer/actress with Hanks in the crossroads scene, passed away a couple of days ago.
Lari White's passing greatly saddens me. She really nailed the crossroads scene in Cast Away with Tom Hanks, my favorite actor. It's one of the great iconic scenes in movie history.
I did not know that she had died, will have to go read about that. Thanks for the update. To be honest, I never had heard of her before the movie and had to go look her up when researching for this post.
Todd, I think it's a combination of things, a movie that had a great plot, featured the brilliant Tom Hanks (with the middle part of the movie basically being just a monologue from him), action, adventure, humor, a love story and while the ending wasn't "all's well that ends well", and more bittersweet, it was positive enough to leave a good feeling as the credits rolled. The lovely soundtrack had something to do with it as well, I think.
I am from Shamrock, TX. When I heard her saying that she was on the intersection of 83 and I-40 I didn't even catch it at first because it is such a normal thing to hear people say here. I hit rewind and listened to it again and thought, OMG! They are talking about the location of Shamrock but that is definitely not Shamrock, lol. So I started searching for where they were. I'm so glad I found this blog. It answered all my questions. And yes, there are many ways to get to Amarillo on backroads but the easiest way is take 83 straight on in to Shamrock and get on I-40W from there 😉
Yeah, "Unknown", that's what puzzled me, too. It's one of those mistakes,however, that doesn't bother anyone except those from the area. That said, I'm sure the screenwriter just wrote that in order to make it sound...whatever, who knows? He probably never set foot in that location, just got the directions off a map.
I've made online friends from all over the world and they were surprised to find out all the old westerns set in Texas were actually filmed in Arizona. They also all thought Texas was flat and dry b/c it was all a desert.
Thanks for commenting.
I'm from Houston, and remember watching on TV in the 1980s an old western filmed in the early 1950s. One of the first scenes had a posse riding through a mountain pass on the outskirts of Houston. I had to quit watching after that monumental goof. The nearest anything that could be called a mountain to Houston is over 200 miles away in the Hill Country. Movies, even the best ones, are ripe with those kinds of errors.
Hey, David, thanks for your comment!
Yep, that's Hollywood for you, not exactly keen on historical accuracy. I subscribe to several YouTube channels that like to dissect movies and blast them for taking certain liberties with history. Some can be excused, but others simply cannot. (esp. if it's a movie about a historical event!)
So many TV shows are filmed in Canada these days b/c of tax credits or b/c of cheaper costs; not long ago the series Supernatural- filmed in Canada- had a scene that was supposed to be in Amarillo, but when they were passing the city limits sign, there were loads of trees. Uh, no. Maybe a used car lot or packing house, even the Cadillac Ranch, but NO trees.
Hi! I just found your article and Im planning a road trip and would really like to stop by this intersection and the house. I am confused as to which roads are actually crossed at the intersection. I understand 1268 crosses another road to form this intersection, but what is the name of that road? Please let me know. Thanks so much!
also my name is Annie. (unknown comment from above)
Well, Annie, if I understand you correctly, the other road is Farm Road 48. It's a "crossroads" but if you're only considering paved roads then that's a "T" intersection.
It's not nearly as "stark" there now as it was in the movie; there are huge wind turbines surrounding the intersection.
Travel north on the dirt road a couple of miles to get to the farm house. You can't miss it. If you keep going on past the house, then you'll hit Hwy 60.
is there another name for farm road 48? I cannot seem to find it on the maps. Thanks! -annie
No, I don't think there's another name. I looked online and found it and opened up Google Earth and it's labeled as 48. I didn't open up Bing Maps, but I'm sure it's labeled on that as well.
Find Mobeetie (New Mobeetie on some maps, I expect) and go north on 48 for right at 7 miles to get to the intersection. (there will be an "S" curve just outside of that tiny town, but other than that, it's a straight shot to the intersection.)
There's also a map/screen shot of the roads in the post. That's all I can do to help you, I've given directions from every direction, so....
Also called country road 5 on google maps for others trying to locate. thanks for your help.
That's the dirt/unpaved road that leads to the farmhouse, NOT Farm Road 48.
Howdy all. I'll put in my two cents worth. If you enter "The intersection of the last scene in Castaway with Tom Hanks" in the Google Maps search field (without the double quotes), Google Maps should take you right to the intersection.
When Google Maps brings it up on my PC, it shows 1268 running east-west. At the intersection, 48 is shown coming in from the south and meeting 5 from the north at the intersection. I don't know if those roads are labeled correctly or not. You sort of have to take Google's word on it. Highway 5 is also labeled as "Neece".
I have a friend who has a cabin on a mountainside in Pennsylvania, and Google Maps shows the road to his house cutting across a field, where in actuality, there is no road. Another road in the vicinity has the wrong name in Google Maps. He says he has trouble with delivery people not being able to find his cabin. So Google Maps is not always correct. I wonder how self-driving cars will be able to follow such errant maps.
Good luck finding it. Yes, the windmills have partially spoiled the location, as they have other of my favorite spots around Texas. I suppose, "Environmental pollution bad; visual pollution good."
I generally don't use Google Maps, David, but prefer Google Earth instead. That said, I didn't know Google Maps would do that! I guess you could input other sites, such as "Buddy Holly's plane crash site", huh? I'll have to test it out sometime. Thanks for the information!
Yes, those directions are correct as to what directions the roads are. Not sure about "Neece", maybe that's someone who lives out there, but I don't know. I used to work on drilling rigs that drilled several wells close to the farm house.
I'm conflicted on the wind turbines; like you say, "Environmental pollution bad; visual pollution good.". They ARE ugly and those sited by playa lakes where migrating waterfowl rest on their long journey are responsible for killing thousands of the birds. OTOH, if the things were on MY land and I was making money off them, they might look a little prettier to me. I don't know for sure, but I *think* nearly all the turbines are made in China.
Thanks for the information and for your comment.
Google maps is great at fixing mistakes once you submit them. We have corrected many for friends and businesses.
I'm not really meaning to be too critical of Google Maps. It's an amazing tool. I also use Google Earth as well. The zoom is much more variable on Earth than in Maps. One thing I've noticed between the two is that sometimes Google Earth's current aerial photos are more recent than Google Maps Satellite View.
About the windmills: I don't seem to mind them nearly as much when they're on flat land (like around Raymondville in south Texas) or around a place that is not one of my favorite spots. They have a certain elegance, but I sort of wish they weren't there, even though last year I signed up for 100% windmill electricity. :)
Anyway, back to the movie: I don't think there's any other movie location site I care about nearly as much as this one particular Cast Away scene location. There's just something about it.
I've noticed that as well about the overhead imagery, David. I used to like Bing maps until they overhauled it a couple yrs back; their imagery is not up-to-date.
I uploaded some of my crossroads and farm house pics to the Google "Local Guides" but not sure where to find them now.
I think part of the reason the last scene in the movie affects so many people is b/c of the soundtrack, but I think that's true of a lot of movies and TV shows. I'm going to add a YT video of the last scene to this post. There wasn't one when I created this several yrs. back. To me, the music is bittersweet and sad, yet it ends with a crescendo of hope for the future.
Todd, it's good that you help out with that; like David said, I have found some strange mistakes/glitches in Google Maps; not long ago I saw a restaurant's location in the middle of a lake.
Thanks to you both for your comments.
People driving into lakes because GPS told them to.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/01/waze-app-directs-driver-to-drive-car-into-lake-champlain.html
https://bgr.com/2016/05/17/car-gps-mapping-directions-lake/
I'm not a Luddite by any means, but I think I prefer good old fashioned maps.
If only I had a machine to fold it back up for me.
Thanks for the link...and speaking of, I believe the comment section of these blogs allows for some rudimentary HTML and creating a link was one of them. I will test to see:
People are still driving into lakes because their GPS tells them to
Yep, works, but I had forgotten that I can't use < . > I had a -grin- in between those two symbols and it was stripped out when I published the comment.
Mike: "Restaurant location in the middle of a lake" is a good one. Maybe their fish was really fresh. I agree about the music. That movie has some of the most effective music I've ever seen. Speaking of paper maps: I recently made a trip to Comanche, Texas, a route I know by heart, but I had to make a detour by Dawson, Texas, so I printed out Google Directions. The problem with their directions is it sometimes tells you to do things like exit a freeway on the inside of a curve, go through a traffic light, and then get back on the freeway, probably because it's 5 feet shorter. I can always avoid those stupid instructions, but when driving through towns, it becomes really idiotic. It makes me look for street signs, and routes me through side streets. Finally, after a wrong turn, I pulled out my paper map, figured out that if I kept on the current highway, it would take me to a major highway that would run right to Comanche, so all I had to look for was a big highly visible highway number sign at a major intersection. One of my worst experiences with Google Directions, is I was making a major road trip from Champaign, IL to Doylestown, PA, and so I printed out Google Directions. When I got on the trip, I found out that the last page did not print out on each of about eight sets of directions. Holy cow!
Todd: "People driving into lakes because of GPS" is funny. I have a friend from Louisiana, and we were driving back to Houston from Driftwood, Texas. He had this GPS thing that gave verbal driving instructions. We decided we wanted to get on I-10 instead of going up to US 290, but he couldn't get the thing to change the routing to I-10. It kept on saying stupid things like, "Make U-turn at next intersection."
I think most places prohibit U-turns in intersections, don't they? Good grief.
I don't travel much and don't have a GPS in my pickup, but not sure I want one now.
Thanks for your comment, David.
Hi. I'm Ed. As others have said, the soundtrack or music is outstanding in this movie, so rich, deep, and melancholy, particularly at the end, as it gets softer and more infrequent, it draws me in to listen to it all the way to the end. The parting love scene between Helen Hunt and Tom Hanks really tugs on your emotions, so well done. I live in Fort Worth, and may drive over there one of these days. One final note: I love the frequent use of angel's wings, I think it was a great reminder of God's presence for us all, even for the loneliest of us.
"The parting love scene between Helen Hunt and Tom Hanks really tugs on your emotions". I put, Love of my life, in my wife's wedding band. Not sure if I ever told her where it came from :)
Thanks for your comment, Ed. Have you ever noticed something strange about the parting scene? When she's running after him as he's driving away, it sounds as though she yells "Jack" instead of "Chuck". Now, the names do sound somewhat alike, and there was a lot of ambient noise in the scene but I'm not the only one who thought the same thing. Parting scene.
And I certainly agree about the soundtrack; it adds the frosting to an already excellent cake.
Aw, that's sweet, Todd. Cast Away has to be one of the saddest love stories ever made, don't you think?
I went and watched your link, and it does sound like she said, "Jack!" Never noticed that before. Guess we'd have to look at a copy of the script to know if that's what she actually said.
For what it's worth, one time, to an old girl friend decades ago, I accidentally called her to her face the name of an old girl friend. You can imagine how that turned out! In my case, the two names were similar, and "Jack" and "Chuck" or similar to a small degree.
Well, it probably IS "Chuck" in the script but if she actually made the mistake, then it wouldn't be, right? Only Helen Hunt and the director of the scene and the others involved in the scene would know for sure. They might have caught it when reviewing what they had shot, then decided it wasn't audible enough to go back and re-shoot it. I'd think the water being sprayed to simulate rain might have made too much noise for anyone to catch it at the time. I just don't know about that but as I did say, others have noticed it.
In other forums, they say she yells "Jack" three times, but that clip just had one, the first clip I came across, so I just used it.
Oh, and I have done the same thing, but nothing that embarrassing. My ex's name was "Nancy" and I have a sister named "Sandy", so I would often call either the wrong name at family get-togethers. My sister's husband was named "Mick", so she often did the same thing.
In my case, I made the flub at least twice. We broke up shortly afterwards, which was probably for the best.
That intersection has ALWAYS fascinated me. It reminds me of the first verse of Robert Louis Stevenson's epitaph: "Under the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me lie..." That intersection and ranch would not be the same without the magnetic smile and personality of Lari White!
I would pay ANYTHING to have seen a 15-minute added scene where Hanks follows White, introduces himself as THE Chuck Noland who left her parcel at the door, and after having explained his adventure to her, receives an invitation from Lari/Bettina to "spend the night".
Just thinking........
Probably for the best David!
Sorry I didn't reply to this earlier after you wrote it, no excuse for not acknowledging your comment.
Thanks for your comment, Bruce.
White's character was "sassy". "Well, all right, cowboy." she says to Hanks when he replies he thinks he's got the directions down. I would have liked a little more backstory to her and her husband's relationship, but I guess we saw all we needed to know when we found out he was cheating on her with the Russian woman.
I think it's pretty much the same thing w /the end, ambiguous as it was. The ending is Hanks looking back that direction, (in my mind ->) his eyes watching the dust trail as her old pickup heads towards home. Tom Hanks was asked what happened after that final scene and he said something to the effect that he went back to the farm house and made babies with her. (not sure if I phrased that correctly, but that was the gist)
A follow up movie probably wouldn't have done as well, but it could have been a decent character study and funny in spots; him trying to learn how to weld, work cattle or any number of things done on a working ranch/farm, serious bits where the isolation maybe even triggering some flashbacks to his time on the island....or an exciting moment where he nearly steps on a rattlesnake while walking through a nearby pasture.
Mike: No problem. I'm pretty active on the internet (especially Quora), and know that it is practically impossible to make all the answers and acknowledgements I need to make to people who comment on my answers and comments on various websites. On Quora, I've taken to often simply giving their comment an upvote, which is much quicker than commenting "Thanks" or something, but I often can't even do that.
I have a comment concerning the "Jack" quote from the movie. Sometimes, they "remix" movies, even long after they were filmed, and erase or drown out things the characters say. The most notorious example I can think of is at the very end of the movie "Shane". The very last words little Joey says, as Shane rides off into the gathering darkness, is, "Bye, Shane", which he yells out quite loud so Shane can hear him, as Shane has receded quite a ways into the distance. This is the most important line in the entire movie, because it indicates that Joey realizes Shane will never return.
They remixed the soundtrack for the movie (in the 1990s or 2000s) I suppose, and increased the loudness of the music at the end, so that these key words were completely drowned out. That has to rank as the stupidest and most asinine remix in the history of cinema. Imagine if in "Casablanca" they had drowned out the words, "We'll always have Paris," or, "Here's looking at you, kid" in a remix.
I purchased a recent DVD of the movie, and was shocked at that omission. I understand that the most recent BluRay release of the movie has the words restored. Some clips on YouTube also have those words, though some don't.
I'm glad this website still has this page on "Cast Away" up, as it is one of my top ten movies of all time. I'm 66 now, so that covers a lot of movies.
Several yrs. ago a friend of mine told me about Quora and I signed up, but *something* annoyed me about it so I got off it. (I don't remember what it was, but it was *something* -grin-) Sometimes when I have Googled something, it takes me to Quora for the answer, but when I try to click on a related topic in the sidebar, it insists I sign up. That's particularly annoying, the same as those news sites that limit you to three free articles a month or those that are behind a paywall and esp. those that keep nagging you to turn off your ad-blocking extension on your browser.
I used to belong to a lot of various forums, but have whittled them down now to only a few.
Your comment about Shane made me smile; I can remember being a toddler and wandering off on my chubby little legs and my mom calling after me "Come back, Shane!" I loved to watch and discuss movies with her.
It annoys me a lot and many others even more when they alter old movies, esp. for television. A lot of folks are annoyed when the TV people alter the aspect ratio of movies to fit the idiot box...and one of the worst ones done was Lawrence of Arabia, totally destroying the magnificent panorama of the original movie by chopping off the sides of the scenes.
And yes, altering the soundtrack is really bad. I didn't discover "Northern Exposure" until after it was off the air, but caught up w/ it in reruns. I wanted to buy the box set, but they're replaced the original rock songs w/ generic background music.
Funny about "Casablanca"; I'm one of those few who don't find it to be as "classic" as most people do. I think Bogie's best movie was "The African Queen". Many critics hail "Citizen Kane" to be the best movie ever made, but I'd definitely disagree with that. Maybe in technique (and what do I know about that?)but not with the story. I really wouldn't care to argue about it though, it's just my opinion and that and five bucks will buy you a latte. That's what makes the world go around, though, right?
But I do agree with you about this movie being in the Top Ten. I also love another Hanks movie "Forrest Gump" but it's often savaged by critics.(anal-retentive critics) Oh well, they're entitled to their opinion, same as I am...they just get paid for theirs, that's all.
Sometimes I get a little fed up with Quora. There's quite a few rude people and quite a few trolls, but I like answering questions. I guess it's the "teacher" in me.
I'm a disc golfer, and back when I started playing, when one of my discs would fly off target to the hinterlands, I'd say, "Come back Lil Sheeba", which is a quote from some 50s movie. I didn't plan on saying that; it just came out involuntarily. I thought I should change that to "Come back Shane," but I just couldn't get it to come out, but one day I was playing with some guy, and his disc went off course, and he said, "Come back Shane," so some disc golfers do say that.
Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, but my favorite of Bogart's is Key Largo. Funny how sometimes a lesser movie can be a favorite. For instance, my favorite Clark Gable movie is not Went With the Breeze, but It Happened One Night.
Tom Hanks being my favorite actor, his other movies I like are That Thing You Do, The Green Mile, and Bridge of Spies. Surprisingly, I haven't even seen half of his movies.
Know how to start an argument on the 'net? Post an opinion.
My nephews like disc golf but not sure if they still play. The only thing I know about it is I probably wouldn't be that good at it and to NEVER call it "Frisbee golf".
I used to think of Bogie as being a "one-note" type of actor; it seemed he played the same character in every movie I had seen up until that point, then I saw him in The Caine Mutiny and developed a better appreciation for his talent.
I was profoundly affected by Hanks' performance in Philadelphia. That might have been his very best work, although I much prefer his other movies b/c that one is so emotional, hitting close to home w/ one of my first online friends suffering from AIDS and who later died from it. It would be a big mistake to not mention Saving Private Ryan; while the movie has its flaws, his performance was excellent.
I'm so glad he (mostly) keeps his mouth shut on politics; so many actors spew their vile hatred these days, it's to where I simply cannot watch them playing a part without thinking of their idiotic and hate-filled rants. I have made the mistake before of seeing some actor I was not familiar with, Googling them and then going to their Twitter feed only to see them marching in lockstep and total agreement with the Hollywood leftists.
That started w/ me a long time ago and I decided I would not subsidize someone who hated my politics, ridiculed where I live and told me I was stupid for not agreeing with them on issues such as abortion, climate change or how this country should be ran. I haven't been to the theater since Titanic.
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