Titanic (1997)

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Plot

In 1996, Brock Lovett, an American treasure hunter, uncovers a previously unregarded safe within the wreckage of the famous White Star Line cruise-liner, the RMS Titanic. Cracking it open, he assumes he's about to be the one to finally find Le Cœur de la Mer ("The Heart of the Ocean"), a very rare and valuable diamond that had been in the possession of the safe's owner, Caledon Hockley. Much to Lovett's dismay, however, he discovers only ruined bits of paper and a single preserved drawing detailing a beautiful, naked young woman. Around her neck is a sketch of the very diamond for which the explorer has been searching.

The drawing's discovery is broadcast on the national news and catches the attention of an elderly woman named Rose. She phones Lovett, claiming to have been the subject of the drawing, and is immediately flown out to the explorer's ship parked directly over the Titanic. After settling in, the team subjects Rose to live images of Titanic's deteriorating remains, and shows her a brief CG demonstration of the ship's sinking. When Rose remarks that experiencing the disaster was considerably different from any simulation, Lovett asks her to recall her own time on board the ship, and the meat of the film begins.

In 1912, a nobly-dressed Rose DeWitt Bukater boards the majestic ocean-liner with her fiance, none other than Caledon "Cal" Hockley himself, as well as her mother and Hockley's entourage of butlers, maids, and personal bodyguards. Rose isn't at all happy with her situation, and not at all in love with her husband-to-be. Regardless, she faces pressure from her peers as well as her own family to marry into Hockley's name in some effort to preserve the DeWitt Bukater social and financial status. Seeing no way out of her predicament, she attempts suicide on her first night aboard the Titanic, stepping over the railing of the stern. Jack Dawson, a homeless artist, sees this and attempts to stop her. He's ultimately successful, but a sudden mishap forces the misunderstanding amongst Cal, his right-hand Lovejoy, and some of the ship's security that Jack had attempted to rape Rose. The young girl corrects the initial misconception by explaining that Jack had actually rescued her from falling overboard, and that he was a hero, leaving out the bit about her trying to take her own life. Cal thanks Jack in earnest, not without provocation from Rose, and invites Jack to dinner amongst the first-class passengers. Back in their suite, Rose is presented with Le Cœur de la Mer by Cal as a token of his love.

Of course, being a third-class passenger himself, Jack feels mildly uncomfortable within this particular social clique, and is quick to ask Rose down to steerage to "show her a real party." Below deck they are seen by Lovejoy in a very provocative position, and Rose is forbade by Cal and her mother from ever seeing her "hero" again. Jack doesn't accept this outcome, and stealthily pulls Rose aside before proclaiming his love to her, warning her at the same time that the rich stiffs with which she associates will eventually be the death of the free-spirited spark that makes her an individual. Rose resists his advances here, but later meets him on the ship's bow where they share their first kiss.

Later in the evening, the couple proceed to Cal's suite where Rose asks Jack to draw her wearing nothing but the diamond. It's at this time that picture discovered by Lovett at the opening of the film is created, and it's tucked away inside the safe for Cal to see. Rose and Jack are interrupted soon after by Lovejoy. They flee from the suite and through a large portion of the ship, finally losing him when they enter the boiler rooms. They seek refuge in the back of a vehicle being transported within the storage area and it's there that they make love. Afterward, they go out onto the deck where Rose tells Jack that she's planning to get off the ship with him once they dock in New York.

"From this moment forward, no matter what we do, Titanic will flounder."

The lookouts above spot the iceberg then, looming in the distance, and they call it in to Officer Lowe. First Officer Murdoch orders the ship hard-to-starboard, and then hard-to-port in an effort to port-round the mass of ice. The port side of the ship collides with the berg, chunks of ice hitting the deck, and it's revealed soon after by the ship's designer Thomas Andrews that the Titanic will sink.

Jack and Rose return to Cal's suite after witnessing the iceberg collision and are immediately met with accusations of theft. Lovejoy plants the diamond in the pocket of Jack's coat, and when he's frisked by security it's found on him. He's arrested and Rose is left to confront Cal. They're interrupted by the ship's staff, who have begun rounding up passengers and directing them to the boat decks where lifeboats are being prepared. Precaution is being cited as the reason, an order given by the ship's Captain Smith to prevent widespread panic.

In the dining room, Rose is informed by Thomas Andrews that the ship is sinking in earnest, and he warns both her and Cal to get themselves and the people they care about to the boats before it's too late. There are only enough lifeboats aboard the Titanic for about half of the passengers and crew. Cal rushes both Rose and her mother out and onto the deck the moment the boats are ready. Only women and children are being transported off of the ship for the time being, so Rose's mother climbs to safety while Rose herself runs away from them, proclaiming to Cal that she'd "rather be [Jack's] whore than [Cal's] wife."

Jack has been left on E-Deck, handcuffed to a steel pipe, when Rose finds him standing in ankle-deep water. With no spare key to be found, the artist instructs Rose to go and find help. She returns with an axe, and after demonstrating her inability to be accurate with it, successfully separates Jack from his confinement. The two of them wade through now-waist deep ocean water and eventually find themselves on the ship's exterior. The Titanic's bow vanishes beneath the sea as Jack hurries Rose to a boat, the deck exploding with panic as everyone begins to come to the realization that the ship really is sinking.

Titanic during the final plunge

Cal arrives and helps Jack convince Rose to leave the ship, placing his jacket on her shoulders. They're briefly successful, but the girl leaps back aboard the doomed vessel after several moments of staring up at the object of her affection. Jack chases after her and kisses her before Cal pulls a gun and opens fire. The couple run deep into the ship and find themselves again struggling to find their way back onto the boat deck. When they do, it's too late, and the Titanic has begun its final plunge into the sea. The stern reaches a near impossible angle as passengers cling to the railing for dear life. Cal is briefly shown escaping the ship aboard the last remaining lifeboat. Funnels begin collapsing, and the dome above the Grand Staircase shatters, flooding the midsection of the ship.

With a thunderous sound, the Titanic splinters into two halves and the stern briefly levels out before being pulled straight up into the air by suction of the bow's descent. Before long, this too plummets into the ocean, sending everyone remaining aboard into the freezing water, Jack and Rose included. The two of them struggle against the temperature as well as the other crazed survivors. Jack gets Rose onto a floating door and remains in the water himself, clinging to it. After a time, everything gets quiet. A single lifeboat returns to the scene of the sinking, searching for survivors and finding none. Rose snaps out of her trauma-induced daze to find that Jack has frozen to death in the water. After a long moment of grief, she summons her strength of will, promising her lover that she'll never forget their time together. She climbs to a floating bit of wood and grabs a whistle from a dead officer, blowing on it and bringing herself rescue.

The Carpathia arrives to pick up the lifeboats from the scene of the Titanic disaster, and before long Rose finds herself in New York City. When she's asked for her name, she responds, "Rose. Rose Dawson."

In 1996, Brock Lovett mourns the idea that he's not likely to ever discover the location of the diamond he's sought after for so many years. Old Rose is then seen dropping the necklace into the ocean just over the Titanic's wreckage, having found it in the pocket of the coat Cal had given her aboard the ship the night of the sinking. That night, she dies in her sleep, and her spirit goes back to the ship and into the Grand Staircase. She wanders by the welcoming forms of all those who perished aboard Titanic and into Jack's arms. The two kiss, and those around them break out into applause.

Box Office

Titanic was an instant hit and in its first run made well over a billion dollars. This was enough to make it the highest grossing movie of all time in both the US and the world by a large margin (though it didn't crack the top ten when adjusted for inflation).

When Titanic was rereleased in 3D in 2012, it made a great deal more, making it the second movie ever to make 2 billion dollars in theaters. Interestingly, the only movie ahead of it--Avatar--was also written and directed by James Cameron.

70th Academy Awards

Titanic scored big at the 70th Academy Awards. The film, which was nominated for 14 awards, won 11. This was a great blessing to the Academy, as the show got a record number of viewers, most likely due to the fact that everyone had scene the favorite. The awards won were:

Best Picture

Best Director-James Cameron

Best Editing-Conrad Buff, James Cameron, & Richard A. Harris

Best Dramatic Score-James Horner

Best Cinematography-Russel Carpenter

Best Art Direction-Tom Belfort and Christopher Boyes

Best Visual Effects

Best Original Song--"My Heart Will Go On"

Best Costume Design-Deborah Lynn Scott

Best Sound Editing

Best Sound Mixing

Titanic also got nominations for Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Stuart), and Best Make-up. These categories were lost, respectively, to Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets, Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential, and Rick Baker and David LeRoy Anderson for Men in Black.

In a very rare occurrence, the winner of Best Picture--Titanic--was not even nominated for a screenplay award.

3D Rerelease

After Titanic's writer/director James Cameron made the hugely successful Avatar, he got funding to convert Titanic into 3D. This was something he very much wanted to do. Cameron said he was very tempted to re-edit certain scenes in minor ways (as George Lucas did to both Star Wars trilogies), but decided against it. However, when an astronomer wrote him saying that the stars in the night sky in the scene where the Titanic sinks were placed inaccurately, Cameron agreed to digitally alter that one scene.

The rerelease occurred in April of 2012. The 3D in the rerelease was heavily praised and the rerelease was a big financial success. It even brought the theatrical gross of Titanic past two billion dollars, which was only the second time a movie had ever done this.