Uncle Scoopy's Fun House

Castaway (1986) - Day 3

As I've mentioned earlier this movie was directed by Nicolas Roeg and stars Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe in one of her first roles. The story deals with Gerald, an older man who wants to go and live on a deserted tropical island for a year and write a book about it. He places an ad in a newspaper to find a young woman to keep him company and share the experience. The woman he chooses is Lucy (Amanda Donohoe), an attractive and intelligent young woman who is willing join the adventure in order to escape the unbearable tedium of her job as a public servant in a London tax office.

On their first meeting they immediately, without realizing it, hit it off with each other, so much so that after a while they end up in bed together. For various reasons the Australian immigration services won't give them visas unless they marry, something that Lucy doesn't like but is compelled to do anyway because otherwise their plan would end right there in London and the film would be over.

When they finally arrive on their remote island, things don't go as they expected from the start. He forgot some vital supplies and, since they decided to live in autarchy, they are facing un uphill struggle. Even building a decent shelter proves a burden, certainly for Gerald, who doesn't carry his weight in the daily activities that are supposed to keep them afloat. Lucy doesn't stop reminding him of this and they have some serious quarrels with each other, but in the end they always come to their senses, although they don't seem to realize it.

Things go from bad to worse. A tropical island without any decent resources proves increasingly nightmarish, but they do hang in, primarily because every time their needs really become desperate, there is always a sort of deus ex machina that comes to the rescue. When they need critical supplies, two Aussies happen to stop on the island to do some repair work on their catamaran. When they need medical treatment, two nuns/nurses happen to pass by in a boat with some natives.

Apparently the island isn't quite so remote as we were led to believe at the beginning.

I think that you are sensing that this film didn't give me the satisfaction that I had hoped for. It is well photographed and some shots are really beautiful, but that is no counterbalance for the all too thin plot and the illogical behavior of the characters. Since both characters are portrayed as intelligent people, it is not credible for the film to portray them as unable to see the obvious fact that the audience can see immediately. They don't realize that despite their differences they have a soft spot for each other, a deep-rooted respect and even love. To give just one example: even though Lucy refuses to have sex with Gerald on the island, she doesn't do the nasty with the Aussie boys either, despite the fact that she and one of the guys were sexually attracted to one another. She stayed faithful to her "husband".

Only at the end does Lucy realize that despite all their differences she loves this husband of hers. He, too, eventually admits that he loves this wife of his. But when does he acknowledge that? When he is lingering in the tropics while she is already back on a plane to England! Would intelligent people who finally realize they really love each other simply let their partners get away? Furthermore, although we were initially led to believe that HE would write a book about the adventure, it is SHE who ends up being the writer, while Gerald settles down on a nearby island to live with the natives. So once again it looks like they weren't that cut off from civilization as suggested.

The movie is not without positives. There is spectacular cinematography, a decent performance from Oliver Reed, and an excellent acting job by Amanda Donohoe. She was completely in touch with her role and had absolutely no problems with the copious nudity required. It is crystal clear that she felt totally at ease with herself in the buff, as the part asked for. And why should she have worried about it? She simply looked great and was certainly aware of that fact.

Unfortunately, the raw clay of those positives is shaped into a film which is too long and which creates its substantial running time not with dialogue, which is sparse, but by padding out the very thin premise with repetitive situations and beautiful nature shots. This is a well photographed movie, but the overlong shots of the spectacular island vistas slow down a pace which is already paralyzed by the repetitive action and lack of meaningful dialogue between the characters. And to top it all off there is the unsatisfying and illogical ending. Maybe at the end someone should have said: "Logic is overrated", like Halle Berry's character in Gothika.

Based on the aforementioned review this movie rates C- on the Scoopy rating scale. Fans of Nicolas Roeg seem to like this film, but it didn't make much of an impression on nor sense to me.

Nudity report:

- Amanda Donohoe is topless to stark naked during her screen time on the tropical island (after the first half hour of the movie)

- Oliver Reed can be seen naked near the end of the film

to be continued...

Donohoe 13 (.wmv zipped, .avi zipped)
Donohoe 14 (.wmv zipped, .avi zipped)
Donohoe 15 (.wmv zipped, .avi zipped)
Donohoe 16 (.wmv zipped, .avi zipped)
Donohoe 17 (.wmv zipped, .avi zipped)
Donohoe 18 (.wmv zipped, .avi zipped)
An index file of all the raw still captures
The Donohoe still captures (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
An index file of all Scoop's collages
The scoop collages (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)