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Titanic is a 1997 romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the lead roles. Titanic tells the story of the RMS Titanic's ill-fated Maiden Voyage from the perspective of fictional characters, Jack Dawson, a poor, Third Class artist, and Rose DeWitt Bukater, a First Class teenager who is to be married to a wealthy but abusive man, and shows the two passengers from different social classes meeting and falling in love on the RMS Titanic before it sinks after colliding with an iceberg.

At the time, Titanic was the most expensive film ever made (costing approximately US $200 million), partially funded by Paramount Pictures in the United States and Canada and 20th Century Fox internationally. It was the highest-grossing film of 1997, beating The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Men in Black, Batman & Robin, Hercules, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Fifth Element, Anastasia, Flubber and Alien Resurrection. Titanic achieved critical and commercial success on its release. Critics also praised the performances of DiCaprio, Winslet, & Stuart. It remained the highest-grossing film of all time for 12 years before being dethroned by 2009's Avatar, also directed by James Cameron.

A 3D version of Titanic was released in theaters on April 4th, 2012 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking disaster event. 11 years later, the film would return to theaters on February 10th, 2023 in honor of the 25th anniversary of it's original theatrical release.

Plot[]

The film begins in 1996, where a treasure hunting team, led by Brock Lovett, dives to the wreck of the Titanic aboard one of the submersibles of Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in their search for a necklace with a rare diamond, known as the Heart of the Ocean. They discover a safe and upon opening it, fail to find the diamond except a nude drawing of a woman wearing the said jewelry. The sketch is dated April 14th, 1912, the same day the Titanic struck the iceberg that caused it to sink on the early hours of April 15. The discovery gains the attention of an elderly pottery businesswoman named Rose Dawson-Calvert and her granddaughter, Lizzy. After contacting the team and revealing her identity as the woman in the drawing, Rose and Lizzy are flown to the Keldysh where they meet the team and take up residence there. After the team exhibits the artifacts recovered from the wreck and gives forensic detail on the sinking, Rose reveals her story about her experiences onboard the doomed luxury liner 84 years ago.

The film flashes back to April 10th, 1912, where a 17-year old Rose, then known as Rose DeWitt Bukater is returning to North America on Titanic with her fiancée Caledon Nathan "Cal" Hockley and mother Ruth DeWitt Bukater. Despite being from a very wealthy background, Rose finds herself trapped in this marriage so that Cal can have his trophy wife and Ruth can get the money from Cal's family to pay off the debts from her late husband. Not long into the journey after departing from Queenstown, Rose decides that suicide is the only way out.

Jack Dawson is a traveler who never stays in one place for long. He finds himself in a bar at a poker game with two Swedish men who are about to board Titanic. One of the Swedish men bets their Titanic tickets and Jack wins the game, and thus the tickets, with a full house. So Jack and his Italian friend, Fabrizio De Rossi take their winnings and board the Titanic. They befriend the proud Irishman Thomas "Tommy" Ryan and whilst hanging out on the Poop Deck, Jack catches the eye of a beautiful woman on A-Deck, and he's completely fixated on her.

That night, Jack is relaxing on a bench with a cigarette when a woman, no less the same woman he saw during the day, runs past him. Jack investigates and sees that the woman about to commit suicide by jumping off the stern of the ship. Jack intervenes and convinces her to reconsider this idea but as she climbs back over, Rose slips but is saved by Jack. Because she's hanging on one arm, she screams in panic, which draws the attention of some seamen. When they arrive and find Rose on her back with Jack besides her with his shoes off, Quartermaster George Rowe assumes that Jack tried to assault the young woman and summons for the Master-at-Arms. Later, Cal and Spicer Lovejoy arrive at the scene. Caledon is angry and shakes Jack, asking him what he was thinking. Rose makes up a story about her attempting to see the propellers, to cover Jack and hide the fact that she was attempting to kill herself. Jack plays along and with this revelation, Jack is recognized as a hero by Colonel Archibald Gracie and invited to dine at First Class as a reward. However, Cal's right hand man Lovejoy was a smart detective once, and deducts that the story of him saving Rose is fishy based on Dawson's untied shoes.

The next day, Jack and Rose take a stroll around the Boat Deck and they have a bit of an argument after Jack asks straightforward questions about her relationship with Caledon, which upsets Rose who feels he's being rude. Rose discovers that Jack is a great drawer and Jack tells her the story behind the drawings he's kept in a bundle. After a brief encounter with Ruth, Jack prepares himself for dining in First Class, with help from Margaret "Molly" Brown. The dinner goes well as the First Class passengers take a liking to Jack. Much later, the party breaks apart and the men retreat to the Smoking Room, of which Jack refuses the offer to join in on. Before leaving, Jack passes a note to Rose, requesting to meet him at the clock of the Grand Staircase.

When doing so, Rose is invited to a "real party" in Third Class where there is Irish dancing. Jack, Rose, Fabrizio, and Tommy dance with many others to happy music. Jack and Rose at one point own the dance floor before the entire party begins a daisy chain. Unknown to anyone, Lovejoy is watching and reports Rose's actions to Cal. Rose returns to her stateroom for lunch with Cal, where he reveals his anger at what Rose did and instructs her to stay away from Jack. Soon after, Ruth reminds Rose why it is so important for the family that she marries Cal, telling her also that she is forbidden to see 'that boy' again.

The next day, Jack attempts to see Rose again during a church service but is led away by Lovejoy. He sneaks up to the Boat Deck by stealing a First Class passenger's hat and jacket. Rose and Cal at the time are being taken on a tour by Thomas Andrews, where it is revealed there are not enough lifeboats for everyone on board. During the tour, Rose is stolen away by Jack who informs her that her family has got her trapped and that her soul is gonna die if she doesn't break free and Rose reluctantly turns Jack down and instructs him to never approach her again, as she states she has already chosen Cal. After sitting at tea with some women, watching a little girl being corrected by her mother in the lounge, whilst her own mother humiliates Rose for choosing a lavender color for her bridesmaid's gowns, she changes her mind after she realizes that her heart truly belongs with Jack.

As the sun sets, Jack is staring in the distance in sadness and stands at the bow, thinking he has lost the woman he loved, but Rose appears behind him, revealing that she changed her mind. Without saying another word, he tells her to close her eyes and guides her up on the railings at the front. When she opens her eyes, Rose feels as if she is flying and the two kiss for the first time. Back in 1996, old Rose reveals that this is the last time Titanic ever saw daylight.

Jack and Rose return to Rose's stateroom where Rose requests that Jack draw her wearing the Heart of the Ocean and nothing else. Jack remains a professional and carries out the duties requested by him from a paying customer. But as they admire his work, Jack and Rose are forced to make their escape from the stateroom as Lovejoy returns because Caledon was getting anxious that she still was not around. The duo run away and hurry down the ship as Lovejoy gives chase after Jack and Rose. The duo manages to evade the bodyguard when they escape into the belly of the ship and enter a decompressing chamber to slide down a ladder to the Boiler Rooms.

Jack and Rose reach the cargo hold at the front of the ship and make love in the backseat of a car. Afterward, the lovers make their way up to C Deck where Rose reveals that when the ship docks in New York, she wants to leave with Jack. Their love is true and they are together. Above them in the crow’s nest, Frederick Fleet watches the lovebirds but as he returns to looking ahead with Reginald Lee, an iceberg at that moment appears out of the darkness, directly in the path of Titanic. Fleet sounds the bell and phones the bridge. James Paul Moody responds and is informed by Fleet that there is an iceberg right ahead. Moody informs William Murdoch, who orders Robert Hichens to turn the ship "Hard to Starboard" and the Titanic begins to evade the oncoming iceberg. Murdoch also switches the engine telegraph to "Full Astern" to slow down the ship. In the engine room and boiler rooms, the engine to the center propeller is stopped, and the port and starboard propellers reverse directions at full speed, slowing down the ship. The crew manages to avoid a head-on, but it is not enough, and Titanic collides with the iceberg on the starboard side, punching holes into the hull through five watertight compartments, allowing thousands of gallons of seawater to surge into the ship. Jack and Rose to watch as the iceberg grazes alongside the ship, sending small chunks of ice falling onto the decks. Murdoch closes the watertight doors as the ship clears the iceberg, though the catastrophe has just begun...

After the iceberg collision[]

Aware of the collision, Jack and Rose return to the latter's stateroom to inform Cal and Ruth. In the corridor, they meet up with Lovejoy and they arrive to find the Master-of-Arms there, as well. Security officers search Jack and find the missing Heart of the Ocean in his coat. A confused Rose watches as Jack is taken away by security as she is led up to the boat deck with Cal and Ruth. Meanwhile, In the crew quarters, important figures gather, including Captain Edward John Smith, Joseph Bruce Ismay, and Thomas Andrews. The crew had inspected the damage and Andrews had a final verdict. Here, Andrews reveals that Titanic has taken too much water and that within an hour, or two at most, she will sink. Crew members begin to gather passengers to be put into lifeboats. The atmosphere on the ship is calm as many passengers are unaware of the danger that they are in.

As women and children are to take the lifeboats above men, Ruth and Molly board one and Rose is invited too but her heart still remains with Jack and flees. Ruth's lifeboat is then lowered into the water despite her protest. Rose climbs down the decks and runs into Thomas Andrews, who reveals the location of Jack. Rose rides the elevator down to E-Deck and makes her to way to the room where Jack is handcuffed to a thick white pipe. After a lover’s reunion, Rose goes off to find help to free Jack. But after finding help from bystanders to no avail, she uses a fire ax to break Jack free, and they begin their escape to the Boat Deck.

As they reach the Boat Deck, Jack and Rose find most of the lifeboats gone, but as they run to one of the remaining lifeboats they run into Cal. Cal gives Rose his coat to keep her warm and says there is a lifeboat waiting for Rose, to which she boards. Cal promises there is a boat on the other side that he and Jack can board. Rose's boat begins to lower into the water but as the boat reaches A-Deck, Rose jumps back to the Titanic. Jack races to meet her at the Grand Staircase and she says she will not leave without him. Above on the Boat Deck, Cal watches in anger when he finally realizes he has lost his trophy wife to a Third Class gutter rat. Cal steals Lovejoy's gun and attempts to kill Jack and Rose, who run for their lives down the Grand Staircase to the flooding middle part of E-Deck. Cal meanwhile has given up the pursuit after his bullets were gone. Cal also realizes he left the Heart of the Ocean in his coat pocket which he gave to Rose and laughs, which Lovejoy does not appreciate.

Jack and Rose run through the Pantry down a staircase and find a young, barefoot 3 year old Slovakian boy standing in the water of the rapidly flooding hallway. They attempt to rescue him but his father has come back for him and he pushes Jack away. Jack, Rose, the boy, and his dad are caught in fast-flowing water as the doors to the next hallway give way from the pressure. As they attempt to escape to the higher decks, they find themselves trapped by a locked gate. A steward passes by and after pleas from Jack and Rose he tries to free them by unlocking the gate but accidentally drops his keys, gives up, and moves on. After picking up the keys and coming close to drowning in the rising water, Jack unlocks the gate and they escape back up to the Boat Deck, but not before making a stop in the First Class Smoking Room where they find Thomas Andrews looking stunned to the painting above of the fireplace. He sees them and gives up his lifejacket to Rose. He apologises for not building a stronger vessel and they say goodbye.

At the forward Boat Deck, the last two Collapsibles are prepared, but with no luck, as they are tied to the Officer's Quarters and getting them off is difficult. Boat B falls upside down on deck and Boat A was attached to the davits and crashes down a provisional slide, made with oars, the right way up. First Officer Murdoch then starts to control the big crowd that is gathered. Cal reminds him of their deal, but he throws Cal's money back at him and pushes him back, looking at all the men, at gunpoint. Some are being pushed, and Tommy gets shot. In shock and loaded with guilt, Murdoch shoots himself through the head and falls in the water which is now only 5 feet below.

Cal then made a plan and he managed to take a seat by carrying a lost, crying, Third Class child he spotted earlier. Hockley gets onboard but there is no time and the water is coming on up the bridge. The musicians play for the last time, the song 'Nearer My God to Thee', and various people preparing to meet their end is shown: a Third Class mother and her children in their cabin, Thomas Andrews in the Smoking Room, the Captain on the bridge, and the Strauss couple, also in their cabin which is flooding.

With the music ending, and all the lifeboats gone, all the passengers panic and most head of in the direction of the stern, or jump off the ship. Titanic's propellors are now visible and they start to rise from the water. Jack grabs Rose to run aft and say that they must stay on board as long as possible. As Titanic sinks further and the stern gets higher, Jack and Rose fight their way to the very back of the ship. As they grab the railing to secure themselves on the steep angle, Rose reminds Jack that this is the place where they first met. At the same this time, the forward funnel collapses, killing Fabrizio and several others, the dome of the Grand Staircase implodes, flooding the staircase rapidly, and the electric lights pop. Water also crashes through the windows.

Around 2:18 A.M, Titanic reaches an angle of over 45 degrees and it's still increasing. All sorts of furniture, plates and other loose objects can be seen and heard falling and crashing through the ship. Many passengers cling on while others fall and slide of the decks. Rose's mother and Molly Brown look in horror at the scene from a distance in lifeboat 6, and Bruce Ismay in Collapsible C cannot bear watching it. The Engineer's in the Electric Rooms are still hanging on, desperately trying to keep the lights on but one gets a massive electric shots and Titanic's lights instantly go out, plunging the ship in darkness. When her structure can no longer hold the weight, the keel starts to crack, and she splits between the third and fourth funnels. As the ship splits, Lovejoy is caught and killed within the gap and the stern falls back into the ocean. The forward section sinks completely, but the keel is still attached to the stern which begins to rise again. With no one knowing what is going to happen, the stern quickly rises into a vertical position as Jack and Rose climb over the railing. The stern reaches 90 degrees, standing vertical above the ocean surface. For a moment it stays like that, but then, Titanic, broken in half and facing the dark ocean floor, begins her final descent into the darkness. Jack tells Rose to hold her breath as the ship of dreams disappears below the water, never to be seen again for 73 years.

Jack is caught in the suction of the Titanic but he makes his way to the surface and reunites with Rose. They manage to swim to a floating panel of the one of the ship's Grand Staircases, which seems to only be able to support one person's weight, so Rose climbs on top. Jack assures Rose that lifeboats will be returning soon to rescue them. But as time passes many people die from the freezing water. Jack makes Rose promise him that she will never give up. As a lifeboat returns to the crowd of the dead, Rose sings 'Oh Josephine in my Flying Machine', remembering when she was at the bow with Jack. As she spots a flashing light from the incoming lifeboat, Rose attempts to wake up Jack but after a few moments, realizes he has died from the cold. Rose almost decides to give up, but then remembers that she promised Jack that she would never give up. Rose uses the last of her energy to swim to a nearby officer and blows the whistle that he had used which alerts the lifeboat and she is rescued.

After the rescue[]

The film returns to 1996, with Old Rose revealing that only 6 of 1500 were rescued from the water. Back in 1912, Rose sees the RMS Carpathia. Aboard the rescuing vessel, Rose spots Cal looking for her but she hides under a hood. Rose reveals to the crew of the Keldysh that Cal eventually remarried, but on October 29th, 1929, he committed suicide by gunshot in a fit of grief after he lost all of his money in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Carpathia arrives in New York and passes the Statue of Liberty in the rain. When a crew member asks for her name, Rose tells him that it's Rose Dawson.

Rose walks over to the stern of the Keldysh and concludes by revealing that she had actually been in possession of the Heart of the Ocean all these years after finding it in the coat that Cal gave to her. Having finally returned to where it all happened, Rose drops the diamond into the ocean so it will rest where it belongs. As Rose slept that night, photos reveal she lived the life that she planned with Jack, such as learning to ride a horse. In Heaven (or a dream), the wreck is shown becoming what she had been before the sinking. Rose enters the Grand Staircase once more, and is reunited with Jack at the top of the stairs at the clock in the Grand Staircase, surrounded by passengers that perished in the sinking. The movie ends with the young couple embracing and sharing a kiss as the passengers applaud, followed by the bright light shining through the window covering the entire screen which concludes the movie.

Characters[]

Main article: Titanic (1997 film)/Characters


Televised Edits[]

  • Freeform airs Titanic, which is edited for television. Some scenes like these ones are edited:
    • Rose browsing through Jack's sketches is shortened so as to not show any nudity.
    • When Jack draws Rose in the nude, he draws in a pad to cover some of her breasts.
    • The camera angle is raised so as to askew Rose's breasts and the top of her buttocks.
    • When they are nude in the car while having sex with each other, Jack would then kiss Rose which cuts to commercials.
  • The original NBC broadcast removes the scene where Jack draws Rose.
  • In the TBS, TNT and AMC airings Jack's canvas is digitally raised so Rose's nudity can not be seen. TBS and TNT also have the see through robe Rose wears digitally colored black.

Trivia[]

  • This is the second film version to show Lifeboat 7 as the first to leave the Titanic.
  • This is one of the only movies to show actual footage of the real Titanic wreck, as shown in the dream scene/Heaven.
  • The movie's 3D reissue has certain alterations to it the most notable exception is an editing of the sky as Rose is looking up prior to being rescued. With the help of an astronomer, Neil deGrasse Tyson, James Cameron was able to correctly depict the morning sky.

Historical inaccuracies[]

Factual errors[]

  • When Titanic is about to leave Southampton, all the propellers started to rotate the moment the engines were started. In reality, only 2 out-board propellers started to turn while the central propeller takes a long time to start spinning.
  • When lifeboat 14 is seeing the lights of their rescue ship, Lowe waves with Green Roman candle bonfire. Lowe did not actually do this. Fourth Officer Boxhall, who has very little screen time in this movie, actually lit the Green Roman candles from lifeboat 2 to attract Carpathia's attention.
  • Titanic is shown reaching 45 degrees in the movie. In reality, it reached 25-30 degrees.
  • When the ship breaks, its breakup is between the third and fourth funnels, but neither the sections have the area of the third funnel and the ship broke between the second and third funnels.
  • For some reason, there is no port list.
  • The second funnel is submerged, but is never shown collapsing.
  • Lifeboat 10 was not the third boat to be lowered from the port side. It was lifeboat 16. Lifeboat 10 was the last of the aft port boats, launched at 1:45 A.M.
  • Emergency lifeboat 2 was not launched until 1:50.
  • When we see that they are releasing Collapsible A and B, they hang on the davits where lifeboats 3 and 4 were launched, Collapsible A was placed on the davits where emergency lifeboat 1 and Collapsible C were launched. Collapsible B was not placed on the davits because it was overturned.
  • The cabin occupied by Rose is the same cabin that Bruce Ismay occupied.
  • In the film, the myth that Third Class passengers were locked in the lower decks is depicted. In reality this did not happen: the gates were closed in the days prior to the sinking so that Third Class passengers did not transmit diseases to the second and first class passengers. During the sinking, the doors were opened and the passengers were allowed to escape. The death toll was more likely to be due to the low number of lifeboats.
  • While Lifeboat 7 is correctly depicted as the first lifeboat launched, it is incorrectly depicted as nearly spilling its passengers into the Atlantic, an event that actually occurred in Lifeboat 5.
  • While the Santa Monica pier was opened September 9th, 1909, attractions weren't added to the pier till 1916.

Set inaccuracies[]

  • When Rose is on E-Deck, there is a corridor that leads to the crew area on the right side of the elevators. In reality, this corridor did not exist on the Titanic.
  • Areas such as the Crew zones, The Scotland Road or Third Class Corridors look different to their real life counterparts.
  • The cut-outs for the first class promenade and B-Beck near the bridge seemed to be spaced apart than the real life counterparts

Character errors[]

  • Jack Dawson's hairstyle did not become popular until 1930.
  • The bags that Jack and Fabrizio carry were not created until 1939 during World War II.
  • Murdoch never committed suicide. However, his suicide in the film was based on several witness accounts of an officer shooting himself and two other officers shooting two men during a rush for the lifeboats, the firing of the guns done to enforce a women and children first policy. It is rumored that Murdoch either shot a passenger or was the suicide victim, while others contradicting this, stating that an unnamed officer had done the act, while Murdoch was lowering the lifeboats.
  • Margaret Brown threatened Robert Hichens with throwing him out of the boat in real life, but in the movie the event was exchanged. She is also nicknamed Molly Brown although her nickname was actually Maggie. Margaret Brown did not receive that nickname until later in her life.
  • There is a suggestion that more First Class women lost their lives since in Rose's dream you see women who appear to be First Class.
  • Fifth Officer Lowe is seen firing three warning shots with a Webley revolver that belongs to the ship. The real Lowe actually carried his personal sidearm, a FN Model 1900.

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