Titanic
romantic drama / disaster film
Info
and Spoiler
Titanic is a 1997 romantic drama / disaster film
directed, written and co-produced by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS
Titanic. It stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as Rose DeWitt Bukater and
Jack Dawson respectively, members of different social classes who fall in love
aboard the ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage of the ship. Bill Paxton plays Brock Lovett,
the leader of a treasure hunting expedition, while Gloria Stuart has the role
of the elderly Rose (renamed Calvert), who narrates the story in 1996. The film
co stars Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Caledon Hockley, Kathy Bates as Margaret
"Molly" Brown, Frances Fisher as Rose's mother, Ruth, and Danny Nucci
as Jack's best friend, Fabrizio De Rossi.
The special affects were some
of the most adavanced for the era.
Because Titanic was not completed in
mid-1997, problems rose in Hollywood and there was discussion of trimming its
length, but director Cameron fought to release it without additional editing.
It was released to North America in theatres by Paramount Pictures (worldwide
by 20th Century Fox) on December 19, 1997, and while it performed well in its
first weekend, it was not until new year the film would reach its highest ticket
sales. Unadjusted for inflation, it holds a record for the highest grossing film
of all time, generating over US$1.8 billion worldwide. In 1998 it was nominated
for fourteen Academy Awards and won eleven, including the title of 1997's Best
Picture (the second Paramount/Fox co production with that honor in 3 years after
1995's Braveheart). Titanic shares the record for the most Academy Award wins
with Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
It is considered one of the greatest films by many.
Directed by James
Cameron
Produced by Jon Landau
Written by James Cameron
Starring Leonardo
DiCaprio
Kate Winslet
Billy Zane
Frances Fisher
Kathy Bates
Danny
Nucci
Gloria Stuart
Bill Paxton
Music by James Horner
Cinematography
Russell Carpenter
Editing by Conrad Buff IV
James Cameron
Richard A.
Harris
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Paramount Pictures
SPOILER
SPOILER
Plot SPOILER SPOILER
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock
Lovett and his team explore the wreck of the RMS Titanic searching for a necklace
called “The Heart of the Ocean.” Unexpectedly, they discover a drawing
of a young woman reclining nude, wearing the Heart of the Ocean the day the Titanic
sank. News of this drawing on television attracts the interest of an elderly woman
named Rose Dawson Calvert. After seeing the drawing in person, she recalls her
memories as 17-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater aboard the Titanic. In 1912, young
Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother,
Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, Cal (Caledon) Hockley. Meanwhile,
a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win
third-class tickets to the ship in a poker game.
101-year-old Rose
Calvert sees herself in a 1912' drawingDistraught and frustrated with her forced
engagement to Cal and controlled life, Rose attempts to commit suicide but Jack
intervenes. They strike up a tentative friendship as he shares stories of his
adventures traveling and sketching, and their bond deepens when they leave the
first-class formal dinner for a much livelier gathering in third-class. Soon they
fall in love but Cal is informed of her partying in the steerage and forbids Rose
to meet Jack again. Eventually, Jack confronts Rose alone, but she is inclined
to ignore their growing affection because of her engagement and responsibilities.
However, Rose later changes her mind and decides to offer her heart to Jack. As
a sign of her affection, she asks him to sketch her in the nude wearing only the
"Heart of the Ocean." Afterward the two run away from Hockley's manservant,
Spicer Lovejoy. They run away below decks to the cargo hold where they enter a
car and make love. In the midst of Jack and Rose's romance, Captain Edward J.
Smith has seemingly been ignoring many warnings about upcoming ice fields in the
ship's path, and the Titanic maintains high speed. At 11:40 PM, the two lookouts
see an iceberg directly in the Titanic's path. Despite the efforts of the crew
and engineers, the ship strikes the iceberg and water begins to flood the compartments
and causes the ship to begin sinking. When Cal discovers Rose's relationship with
Jack, he plots revenge, deciding to frame Jack for stealing the "Heart of
the Ocean." Hockley orders the master-at-arms to handcuff and trap Jack in
a room. Although Rose is at first indecisive, she later runs away from Cal, risking
her chances of getting on a lifeboat, in order to find and rescue Jack. With the
help of Titanic shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, Rose eventually frees Jack.
After
Rose manages to successfully free Jack with a fire axe, they reunite with Fabrizio,
but they are soon split up again. Jack never sees Fabrizio again, as he is later
killed by a falling smoke stack. They then break through a gate and make their
way back to the boat deck, where Cal is searching for Rose. Cal and Jack manage
to persuade Rose to board a lifeboat, but after realizing that she cannot leave
Jack, Rose jumps back on the ship and reunites with Jack on the Grand Staircase.
Infuriated beyond belief, Cal takes Lovejoy's pistol and chases Jack and Rose
down the staircase, shooting at them. After running out of ammunition he realizes
that he unentionally gave Rose the diamond.(Originally a there was a scene where
Cal asks his body guard to retreive the diamond but it was later cut) Hockley
returns to the boat deck and gets aboard Collapsible A by pretending to look after
an abandoned child. This is one of only two lifeboats remaining on the ship. Although
Jack and Rose manage to avoid Cal's fury, they find that the lifeboats are gone.
With no other options, they decide to head aft and stay on the ship for as long
as possible before it sinks completely. Eventually, the ship breaks in half and
begins its final descent, washing everyone into the cold, icy waters.
The
Titanic's bow end plunges underwaterJack and Rose are separated under the water,
but eventually reunite, and the camera pulls back, revealing hundreds of people
struggling in the deadly cold water. Meanwhile, in Lifeboat 6, Molly Brown tries
to convince Quarter Master Robert Hitchens to go back and rescue people, stating
that they've "lots more room," and to the other women in the boat, "It's
your men out there!" Molly's pleas go unheeded as Hitchens threatens to throw
her overboard if she doesn't be quiet. So, in twenty boats, the few survivors
wait and listen to the cries of their fellow passengers. In the twenty-eight degree
water, Jack manages to grab hold of a wall paneling, but only one of them can
climb onto the surface. While lying on the wall paneling, Jack makes Rose promise
that, whatever happens, she gets out alive. When Officer Lowe arrives with an
empty Lifeboat 14, Rose tries to wake Jack, but then realizes that he has died.
Upon this realization, she begins to lose hope and wants to stay there to die
with Jack, but remembers her promise. She does her best to call out to Lowe, but
he does not hear her and rows away, seemingly leaving her to die. Remembering
her promise "never to let go," Rose manages to unclasp Jack's frozen
hand from her own, letting his body disappear into the sea. Throwing herself into
the water, Rose swims over to where a dead officer floats on one of the deck chairs.
She blows on his whistle and attracts Lowe's attention. She is pulled to safety,
joining the 5 other survivors from the water. Rose later boards the RMS Carpathia.
On the Carpathia's deck, Rose notices Cal looking for her. When he turns in her
direction, she turns away, not letting him see her face. This was the last time
she ever saw Hockley. Upon arrival in New York City, Rose registers her name as
"Rose Dawson" rather than her maiden name, reflecting her commitment
to Jack as his wife and implying their plans for marriage. She discovers the "Heart
of the Ocean" tucked into Cal's coat pocket.
After completing her story,
the elderly Rose steps onto a railing and quietly throws the necklace into the
dark Atlantic where her last memory of Jack rests. In Rose's room, viewers sees
pictures of her life's achievements, including a photograph of her riding a horse
at the Santa Monica Pier, just as she and Jack had planned to do together. There
is also a roller coaster in the background of this picture, a picture of her next
to a plane, another reference to the plans that she and Jack made. Rose lies in
a bed nearby as the shot pans across her tranquil, sleeping face into darkness.
The film ends with a vision of young Rose reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase,
surrounded by those who perished with Jack on the ship.
Cast and characters
Main
article: List of characters in Titanic (1997)
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater
Billy Zane as Caledon Nathan Hockley
Frances Fisher as Ruth DeWitt Bukater
Kathy Bates as Margaret Tobin "Molly"
Brown
Danny Nucci as Fabrizio De Rossi
Camilla Overbye Roos as Helga Dahl
Gloria Stuart as Rose Dawson Calvert
Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett
Eric
Braeden as Colonel John Jacob Astor IV
David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy
Martin
Jarvis as Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
Rosalind Ayres as Lady Lucille Duff Gordon
Victor Garber as Thomas Andrews, Jr.
Bernard Hill as Captain Edward John
Smith
Jonathan Hyde as J. Bruce Ismay
Bernard Fox as Colonel Archibald
Gracie
Jason Barry as Tommy Ryan
Ewan Stewart as First Officer William
McMaster Murdoch
Jonathan Phillips as Second Officer Charles Lightoller
Ioan
Gruffudd as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe
Michael Ensign as Benjamin Guggenheim
James Lancaster as Father Thomas Byles
Rochelle Rose as Noël Leslie,
Countess of Rothes
Suzy Amis as Lizzy Calvert
Anatoly Sagalevitch as Dr.
Anatoly Milkailavich
Lewis Abernathy as Lewis Bodine
Elsa Raven as Ida
Straus
Lew Palter as Isidor Straus 
Production
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A brand-new studio was built for the making of this film, at Popotla,
near Rosarito Beach in Mexico, just 40km south of the international border. A
giant tower crane was used for aerial tracking shots of the 90% scale model of
Titanic that was built in the ocean. When this epic disaster film was not finished
in time for its scheduled July 1997 release, shockwaves were sent through Hollywood;
executives started wondering if a situation similar to that of Heaven's Gate would
occur. The releasing studios 20th Century Fox (which handled the film's distribution
outside the US) and Paramount Pictures (which handled the US distribution) panicked.
With a budget of $200 million, Titanic became the costliest film of all time by
mid-1997 (now the fifth most expensive movie ever). When director James Cameron
delivered the film to Paramount, it ran over three hours and speculation arose
whether he would work in Hollywood again. Cameron defended his production and
threatened most executives that they were not going to shorten the film's length.
Cameron admitted that he felt as though Titanic would be unsuccessful.
Titanic
was released across North America on December 19, 1997. In its first weekend it
grossed $28 million in ticket sales, but it was not until the new year that the
film had reached $100 million. Titanic was number-one at the box office for four
months and became the top grossing film of all time. It generated $1.8 billion
in worldwide ticket sales. In 1998 Cameron was awarded the Academy Award for Best
Picture.
Filming occurred from 16 September 1996 to 23 March 1997.
Reception
Critical Reception
The film garnered mostly positive reviews
from critics. It has been a Certified Fresh film on Rotten Tomatoes with 82% overall
approval from critics and 81% from users. The film also received a 74 out 100
metascore on Metacritic, classified as a generally favorable reviewed film. The
metacritic users also awarded it with a 7.4/10 average rating.
Roger Ebert
said "It is flawlessly crafted, intelligently constructed, strongly acted
and spellbinding... Movies like this are not merely difficult to make at all,
but almost impossible to make well. The technical difficulties are so daunting
that it's a wonder when the filmmakers are also able to bring the drama and history
into proportion. I found myself convinced by both the story and the saga."
It was one of his top ten films of 1997.
James Berardinelli gave the film
four stars out of four, placing it 2 of the year 1997 (behind The Sweet Hereafter).
In his review he mentioned:
Cameron's flawless re creation of the legendary
ship has blurred the line between reality and illusion to such a degree that we
can't be sure what's real and what isn't. To make this movie, it's as if Cameron
built an all-new Titanic, let it sail, then sunk it... Titanic represents Cameron's
most accomplished work to date. It's important not to let the running time hold
you back -- those three-plus hours pass very quickly. Although this telling of
the Titanic story is far from the first, it is the most memorable, and is deserving
of Oscar nominations not only in the technical categories, but in the more substantive
ones of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
Some
reviewers felt that the story and dialogue were weak while the visuals were spectacular.
Kenneth Turan's review in the LA Times was particularly scathing. Dismissing the
emotive elements, he says "what really brings on the tears is Cameron's insistence
that writing this kind of movie is within his abilities. Not only isn't it, it
isn't even close." Barbara Shulgasser of San Francisco Examiner gave Titanic
one star out of four, citing a friend as saying "the number of times in this
unbelievably badly written script that the tworefer to each other by name was
an indication of just how dramatically the script lacked anything more interesting
for the actors to say."
Box office
The film received steady
attendance after opening in North America on December 19, 1997. By Sunday that
same weekend, theaters were beginning to sell out. The film debuted with $28,638,131.
By the new year Titanic had increased in popularity and theaters continued selling
out; unusually, it took fifteen weeks for its weekly gross to decline 50%, the
most for any film in the 1990s. By March 1998 it was the first film to earn more
than $1 billion worldwide. The movie stayed in theatres for over 6 months. Some
theatres in South Africa ran it for longer than a year, bringing in approximately
R40 Million ($5,490,671)
Titanic holds the record for the highest-grossing
film of all time in the North American market with $600,788,188. The previous
North American record of $460,998,000 was held by Star Wars (another 20th Century
Fox film). Unadjusted for the effect of inflation, Titanic also holds the record
for the highest-grossing movie of all time in the worldwide box office with $1,835,300,000.
The second place Return of the King is about $700 million short of Titanic's record.
However, it will only place sixth, if the ticket price is adjusted for inflation
worldwide. Gone with the Wind would be the number one movie on this ranking.
Awards
Titanic began its awards sweep starting with the Golden Globes, winning
four including Best Film (Drama), Best Director, Best Original Score and Best
Song.[14] Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Gloria Stuart and James Cameron's screenplay
were also nominated but lost. It won the ACE "Eddie" Award, ASC Award,
Art Directors Guild Award, Cinema Audio Society Award, Screen Actors Guild Awards,
(Best Supporting Actress Gloria Stuart), The Directors Guild of America Award
and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (Best Director James Cameron), and
The Producer Guild of America Awards, It was also nominated for ten BAFTA awards
including Best Film and Director.
It tied All About Eve for having the most
Oscar nominations in history with 14. It won Best Picture and Best Director. It
also picked up best costume design, visual effects, sound, sound effects, original
dramatic score, film editing, song, art direction and cinematography. Kate Winslet,
Gloria Stuart and the Make-up artists were the only other nominees that failed
to win. James Cameron's original screenplay and Leonardo DiCaprio were not nominated
It was the second movie to win eleven Academy Awards after Ben-Hur. The Lord of
the Rings: The Return of the King would also match the record in 2004.
The
love theme song also won the Grammy Awards for Best Song Written Specifically
for a Motion Picture or for Television. It also won Best Movie and Best Male Performance
for Leonardo DiCaprio at the MTV Movie Awards. The film was voted as Best Film
at the People's Choice Awards. It won various awards outside the United States,
including the Awards of the Japanese Academy as the Best Foreign Film of the year.
Titanic eventually won 87 awards and had additional 47 nominations from various
award giving bodies around the world.
American Film Institute
Since
its release, Titanic has been constantly appearing on the AFI's award winning
100 Years... series. It is ranked #25 in the most thrilling movies of all time
and 37 in the most romantic movies of all time. The song "My Heart Will Go
On" is at #14 in the best movie songs of all time, and the line uttered by
Jack Dawson played by Leonardo DiCaprio, "I'm the king of the world!"
is at #100 as one of the best movie quotes in history. Titanic is also one of
the 44 new eligible films in contention to the updated version of AFI's 100 Years...
100 Movies, since it wasn't eligible when the first list was revealed. This will
count down the best films in American cinema. The list will be unveiled in June
2007.
Controversy
In one scene, First Officer William Murdoch is
shown to shoot and kill some passengers during the frenzy to get to the lifeboats.
Ashamed, he commits suicide. When his nephew Scott Murdoch saw this, he objected
since Murdoch neither shot any passengers nor commited suicide (although Fifth
Officer Lowe did fire warning shots during the course of the evening). A few months
later, Fox Vice-president Scott Neeson went to Dalbeattie, where Murdoch lived,
to deliver a personal apology, and also presented a £5000 donation to Dalbeattie
High School to boost the school's William Murdoch Memorial Prize.
Soundtrack
Main article: Titanic (soundtrack)
"My Heart Will Go On"
(performed by Céline Dion) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
Written
by James Horner and Will Jennings, this ballad won four Grammy Awards and became
known for its powerful vocal range. It reached number-one in more than twenty-five
countries.
Problems playing the files? See media help.
The soundtrack
CD for Titanic was composed by James Horner and sold more than twenty-seven million
copies, notable because it included only one pop song with lyrics. The soundtrack
includes performances from the Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø, and the
famous Canadian diva Céline Dion. It became a worldwide success, and led
to the release of a second volume that contained a mixture of previously unreleased
soundtrack recordings with newly-recorded performances of some of the songs in
the film, including one track recorded by Enya's sister, Máire Brennan
of the Irish band Clannad. "Hymn to the Sea" features Bad Haggis's Eric
Rigler on the uilleann pipes and whistles.
James Horner wrote the song "My
Heart Will Go On" in secret with Will Jennings because Cameron did not want
any songs with singing in the film. Dion agreed to record a demo with the persuasion
of her husband René Angélil. Horner waited until Cameron was in
an appropriate mood before presenting him with the song. After playing it several
times, Cameron declared its approval, although worried that he would have been
criticized for "going commercial at the end of the movie". It eventually
won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Original Song.
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