10 Movie Titles With Double Meanings Everyone Missed
9. Cast Away
Cast Away does try and hint at the double meaning behind its title by putting a space between castaway to change it from the noun to the verb, but to no avail.
Tom Hanks’ character spends the majority of the movie stranded on an island with various debris from a FedEx crash, learning survival skills and befriending a bloodstained volleyball named Wilson.
This makes him a castaway (the noun), as a man lost at sea and washing up on an island. Though the movie does lean dark in patches - we see him testing the strength of some vine rope to check if he could hang himself - it largely tells a Swiss Family Robinson style story of his inventive use of every day items.
He does eventually make it home, only to learn that he’s been cast away (the verb) with people in his life all moving on without him. It’s not until he’s off the island that he discovers the true cost of being a castaway, and we in turn discover the true meaning of the title.
The ending is kind of hidden right there in the title, but the more obvious meaning obscured it.