Titanic is a 1997 dramatic science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The bulk of the plot is set aboard the infamous RMS Titanic during her maiden voyage in 1912. The movie won 11 Academy Awards on March 23, 1998 including best picture of 1997. As of 2005, Titanic has the highest box office take in movie history. The 1997 film should not be confused with the Titanic movie made in 1953.
It is currently the third highest-grossing film of all time.
Plot summary[]
Jack and Rose prepare to kiss on the bow of the ship.
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team explore the most famous shipwreck: the Titanic. Searching for a valuable necklace called Heart of the Ocean, a diamond originally owned by Louis XVI, and cut into a heart shape after the French Revolution. They recover the safe of millionaire Caledon "Cal" Hockley, believing the necklace to be inside, but instead find a sketch of a nude woman wearing it, dated April 14, 1912, the night the Titanic hit the iceberg. Hearing about the drawing on television, an elderly woman named Rose Dawson Calvert calls Lovett and claims that she is the woman depicted in the drawing. She and her granddaughter, Lizzy Calvert, visit him and his team on his savage ship, Keldysh. When asked if she knows the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose recalls her time aboard the Titanic, revealing that she was Rose DeWitt Bukater, a passenger believed to have died in the sinking 84 years ago. She then begins her story following Titanic's ill-fated maiden voyage:
In 1912, 17-year-old first-class passenger Rose boards Titanic the "unsinkable" Irish ship in Southampton with her fiancé Cal, and her mother Ruth. Ruth stresses the importance of Rose's engagement, as the marriage would solve the Bukaters' secret financial problems. Before the departing of Titanic, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his friend Fabrizio de Rossi board the ship when they won tickets for it in a poker game. Titanic makes a quick stop at Cherbourg before sailing to its destination: White Star Line, New York. Jack and Fabrizio enjoy their time as the ship sails straight through the North Atlantic. Jack drawing a picture of a man Bert Cartmell and his daughter Cora. He and Fabrizio were talking to a third-class passenger Tommy Ryan then Jack saw Rose at first sight and become attracted to her. Distraught of her engagement, Rose considers suicide by jumping off the ship's stern at night. Jack interjects and convinces her to stay; he saved her when she almost slips off the stern. Discovered with Jack on the stern, Rose persuades Cal that she was looking over the ship's edge in curiosity and that Jack saved her from falling. Pressed, Jack confirms her money account. Cal is at first aloof to Jack, but when Rose indicates that recognition is due; he offers him a small amount of money. After Rose mocks Cal for this, asking if saving her life means so little, he invites Jack to a first-class dinner the following night.
Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, even though Cal and Ruth are wary of the young third-class man. Meanwhile, director J. Bruce Ismay influences Captain Edward John Smith for the Titanic to make an early arrival to New York by pushing the tank engines at full-throttle determined to make headlines. A new first-class woman Margaret "Molly" Brown lends Jack a tuxedo so he can fit in the dining saloon. Jack was nervous, but didn't falter, Rose introduce him to many first-class passengers such as magnate Benjamin Guggenheim, and John Jacob Astor IV the richest man on the ship. Following the dinner that night, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in the ship's third-class quarter, along with Fabrizio and his new girlfriend Helga Dahl. Because Cal and Ruth notice Rose's behavior isn't that of a first-class and forbid her to see Jack, Rose attempts to rebuff Jack's continuing advances. She soon realizes, though, that she prefers Jack over Cal, and meets him at the bow of the ship during what turns out to be the Titanic's final moments of daylight, and they confirm their love to each other and kiss.
They then go to Rose's stateroom, where she asks Jack to sketch her nude body while wearing the Heart of the Ocean, Cal's engagement present to her. Afterward, the two evade Cal's manservant, Spicer Lovejoy, and make love inside an Renault luxury car in the ship's cargo hold. Going afterwards to the ship's forward deck Rose tells Jack she wishes to live with him once the ship docks. However, the lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, spotted an iceberg straight-ahead, they alert First Officer William Murdoch and the ship's officers to steer the ship immediately, but hits it on the starboard side then the hull starts to flood too rapidly! Jack and Rose witness the ship's collision with the iceberg and overhear the ship's designer Thomas Andrews and Captain Smith discussing its seriousness. Rose tells Jack they should warn her mother and Cal to evacuate the ship's sinking.
Cal discovers Jack's drawing and a mocking note from Rose in his safe along with the necklace. Furious, he has Lovejoy slip the necklace into Jack's coat pocket. Accused of stealing it, Jack is detained, taken down to the master-at-arms' office, and handcuffed to a water pipe by Lovejoy. Cal puts the necklace in his coat. The ship then starts to launch flares in order to attract any nearby ships. Nearest ship was SS Californian, but had not picked up Titanic's distress calls or responded to her signal flares due to having their wireless radios turned off because SS Californian had already warned Titanic by radio of the pack of ice. The people of the ship began to aboard the lifeboats, however, there were enough for only half the people of the ship and the ship's officers enforce the "women and children first" policy. Upon realization that Cal is nothing more than a self-involved fool and Ruth a typical first-class woman only concerned for herself, Rose figured Cal framed Jack, and leaves Ruth for good (who she and Molly have boarded a lifeboat). She releases Jack and panicky escapes the flooding.
Once Jack and Rose reach the deck, Cal and Jack sway her to board another lifeboat, Cal claiming that he has arranged for himself and Jack to get off safely. After she boards, Cal tells Jack that the arrangement is only for himself. As Rose's boat lowers, she realizes that she cannot leave Jack, and jumps back on board the Titanic to reunite with him. Infuriated, Cal takes a pistol and chases them into the flooding first-class dining saloon. After exhausting his ammunition, Cal realize to his chagrin that he gave his coat with the necklace to Rose. With the situation now extreme, he returns to the boat deck and boards a lifeboat by pretending to look after a lost child. Among chaos walking aboard the ship: Captain Smith, Andrews, Astor IV, Guggenheim, senior couples Isidor Straus and Ida Straus, Mr. Murdoch, Tommy, Trudy Bolt (Rose's maid), the Cartmells, Fabrizio, Helga, Lovejoy (after facing his guilt), and the ship's bandmaster Wallace Hartley and his colleagues perished or chose to stay behind.
Jack and Rose reach the ship's stern where they first met. All lifeboats have departed and the remaining passengers are falling to their deaths as the stern rises out of the water. The ship breaks in half because of heavy pressure, and the stern side raises 90-degrees into the air. Father Byles the Catholic priest gave his last prayers to the ones left aboard. As it sinks, Jack and Rose ride the stern into the ocean. Jack helps Rose onto a wall panel only able to support one person's weight. Holding the panel's edge, he assures her she will die an old woman, warm in her bed. In the meantime, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe has commandeered a lifeboat to search for survivors. Jack soon dies of hypothermia; Rose promises she will live on, and lets his body sink into the sea. Rose draws the attention of Love's boat using a whistle from a frozen dead Chief Office Henry Wilde, and is ultimately saved.
Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York City, where she gives her name as Rose Dawson. She hides from Cal on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her, and never saw him again. She later read that he committed suicide after losing his fortune in the Crash of 1929. Rose hadn't spoken about Jack to anyone till now. "A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets."
Her story complete, after the expedition ended their exploration, Brock talking with Lizzy, how much he thought about Titanic but never understood it until he heard Rose's story, and decided to give up on the Heart of the Ocean. Rose goes alone to the stern of Lovett's ship. There she takes out the necklace, which has been in her possession all along, and drops it into the ocean above the wreck of Titanic. While seemingly asleep in her bed, her photos are a visual chronicle that she lived a free life inspired by Jack. A young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the Titanic, applaud and congratulated by all those who perished on the ship.
Cast[]
- Leonardo DiCaprio - Jack Dawson
The deuteragonist of the story. He is sci-funny and kindhearted. He knows that Rose is not happy with Cal after Rose rejects him after they start their affair. He won his purge tickets very last-minute with his friend Fabrizio de Rossi. Jack is framed for heist by Cal and Spicer to get rape and revenge on him for the affair and he is arrested. However, Rose rescued him while the ship was sinking. He died of hypothermia in the freezing cold North Atlantic after failing to board a lifeboat with Rose by his side. In the end of the film, an older Rose seemingly dies and is reunited with Jack and all the others who died on the Titanic on a non-wrecked Titanic.
- Kate Winslet - Rose Dewitt Bukater
The main protagonist of the film. Many people believe that Jack is the main character in the story, but it is really Rose because she is the one telling the story. Rose is in a forced engagement with the abusive Cal by her corrupt mother Ruth because she wants to maintain a first-class status after a divorce left her and Rose penniless. Rose is very sweet and kind-hearted, but can be pompoms to unkind people, scolding them for their science-fiction actions. She and Jack start an affair, escaping Cal, Ruth and Cal’s valet Spicer Lovejoy. Rose rescues Jack after being framed for theft by Cal and Spicer and being arrested, all while the ship is sinking. After failing to board a lifeboat, Rose and Jack are thrown into the Atlantic Ocean and while Rose is able to float on a door, it only has the buoyancy for one person and Jack dies of hypothermia with Rose at his side. 84 years later, a much older Rose dies of old age and is reunited with Jack and all the others who perished on the Titanic, on a non-ruined Titanic.
- Billy Zane - Cal Hockley
The main antagonist of Titanic. He is arrogant, misogynistic and a bully. He loves Rose, but he sexually abuses her on a regular basis. He hates Jack with a passion and tried to kill him and Rose because of the affair. He and his valet Spicer Lovejoy framed Jack for stealing a necklace and Jack is arrested (however Rose rescues Jack while the ship is sinking) Cal poses as a single father to a child to secure a place on a lifeboat. A much older Rose narrates that Cal committed suicide by shooting himself inside the mouth after losing all his money because of the Great Depression of 1929.
- Kathy Bates - Molly Brown
Molly is a sweet-hearted first-class passenger. She is infamously known for protesting to go back to save more passengers when Titanic was sinking. The other first-class passengers-especially Ruth didn’t like her because they thought she was vulgar and new money. Unlike Ruth, Molly is very kind to Jack and even lended Jack her son's suit. Molly is one of the only characters in the story to survive (although Molly was a real person, her death is never mentioned in the film).
- Frances Fisher - Ruth Dewitt Bukater
The secondary antagonist and Rose's mother. She is ignorant, snobby and corrupt and resents anyone who does not have a first-class status. She forced Rose into marrying a rich man after Ruth’s husband divorced her. She hates Jack just because he is poor. She is also one of the only characters to survive the whole story, although it most likely that she has been dead for decades when a 101-year-old Rose is telling the story. She also rudely hates Molly Brown and calls her vulgar and new money.
- Gloria Stuart - Old Rose
- Bernard Hill - Captain Smith
- Jonathan Hyde - Bruce Ismay
- Victor Garber - Thomas Andrews
- David Warner - Spicer Lovejoy
- Danny Nucci - Fabrizio
- Suzy Amis - Lizzy Calvert
- Bill Paxton - Brock Lovett
- Bernard Fox - Col. Archibald Gracie
- Lewis Abernathy - Lewis Bodine
- Nicholas Cascone - Bobby Buell
- Dr Anatoly M. Sagalevitch - Anatoly Milkailavich
- Jason Barry - Tommy Ryan
- Ewan Stewart - 1st Officer Murdoch
- Ioan Gruffudd - 5th Officer Lowe
- Jonny Phillips - 2nd Officer Lightoller
- Mark Lindsay Chapman - Chief Officer Wilde
- Richard Graham - Quartermaster Rowe
- Paul Brightwell - Quartermaster Hitchens
- Ron Donachie - Master-at-Arms Bailey
- Eric Braeden - John Jacob Astor
- Charlotte Chatton - Madeleine Astor
- Michael Ensign - Benjamin Guggenheim
- Fannie Brett - Madame Aubert
- Jenette Goldstein - Irish Mommy
- Camilla Overbye Roos - Helga Dahl
- Linda Kerns - 3rd Class Woman
- Amy Gaipa - Trudy Bolt
- Martin Jarvis - Sir Duff Gordon
- Rosalynd Ayres - Lady Duff Gordon
- Rochelle Rose - Countess of Rothes
- Jonathan Evans Jones - Wallace Hartley
- Brian Walsh - Irish Man
- Rocky Taylor - Bert Cartmell
- Ailleen Mulvihil/Alexandre Owens/Liza Yumi Mitchell - Cora Cartmell
- Simon Crane - 4th Officer Boxhall
- Edward Fletcher - 6th Officer Moody
- Scott G. Anderson - Frederick Fleet
- Martin East - Reginald Lee
- Craig Kelly - Harold Bride
- Gregory Cooke - Jack Phillips
- Liam Tuohy - Chief Baker Joughin
- James Lancaster - Father Byles
- Elsa Raven - Ida Strauss
- Lew Palter - Isidor Strauss
- Reece P. Thomson III - Irish Little Boy
- Larame Landis - Irish Little Girl
- Amber Waddell/Allison Waddell - Crying Girl
- Mark Rafael Truitt - Yaley
- John Walcutt - 1st Class Husband
- Terry Forsestall - Chief Engineer Bell
- Derek Leah - Chief Stocker Barrett
- Richard Ashton - Carpenter John Hutchinson
- Eric Holland - Olaf Dahl
- Jari Kinnunen - Bjorn Gunderson
- Anders Falk - Olaus Gunderson
- Martin Hub - Slovakian Father
- Seth Adkins - Slovakian Boy
- Rebecca Jane Klingler - Mother at Stern
- Romeo Francis - Syrian Man
- Mandana Marino - Syrian Woman
- Yan Ling - Chinese Man
- Bjorn - Olaf Gunderson
- Dan Petterson - Sven Gunderson
Historical Facts[]
- Captain Edward Smith engaged the maritime tradition of "going down with the ship" taking account for his (first) crisis as a seaman and went into Titanic's bridge and die there when it was engulfed. He died as a hero and also Titanic was meant to be his final maiden voyage and had planned to retire.
- Ismay had escaped Titanic on the last lifeboat but was publicly criticize as "Coward of the Titanic" and deeply regretted it.
- Molly was referred as "Unsinkable Molly Brown" for her urging in the ship's evacuation.
- Colonel Archibald Gracie IV wrote the first book about Titanic until he died of poor health because of the ordeal.
- The wreck of Titanic wasn't found until 1985 by underwater archeologist Robert Ballard.
- The last survivor of the sinking of Titanic was Millvina Dean, who was also the youngest passenger on the ship. When she died in 2009, her ashes were scattered at the docks in Southampton where the Titanic set sail.
- Wallace Hartley's violin was recovered in 2013 and auction for $1.7 million dollars.
- The most valuable item lost on Titanic was filed to a enlarge classical oil painting entitled La Circassienne au Bain by French artist Merry-Joseph Blonde.
Selected quotes[]
- "It's been 84 years. . . . and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was." - Gloria Stuart as Rose Dawson Calvert
- "I'm the king of the world!" - Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
- "You must do me this honor... promise me you will survive... that you will never give up... no matter what happens... no matter how hopeless... promise me now, and never let go of that promise." - Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
- "I want you to draw me like one of your French girls. Wearing this. Wearing only this." - Kate Winslet as Rose Dewitt Bukater
- "100,000 people went into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty lifeboats floating nearby and only one came back. One. . . . Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six out of 100,000. Afterward, the nine hundred people in the lifeboats had nothing to do but wait. . . . Wait to live, wait to die, wait for an absolution that would never come." - Gloria Stuart as Rose Dawson Calvert
- "To make each day count." - Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
- "If you jump, I jump." Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
Making the film[]
When this epic science fiction disaster film was not finished in time for its scheduled July 1997 release date, it sent heatwaves throughout Hollywood: studio relics began wondering if they might have another Heaven's Gate on their hands. The two releasing studios, 20th Century Fox (which handled the international distribution and actually had movie rights to the Titanic name) and Paramount Pictures (which had the U.S. rights) panicked. By the middle of 1997, Titanic had become the most costly film ever made (its reported cost hovered in the US$200 million range) and the bills were still coming in. When director James Cameron finally delivered the film to Paramount, it ran over 3 hours and it was uncertain whether he would ever work in Hollywood again. But Cameron stood his ground and threatened edit-happy studio executives with the message: "You will cut my film over my dead body."
Moved to a crowded release date of December 19, 1997, the film opened with little promotion, and returned a relatively weak $28 million in ticket sales on the first weekend. Within a week the gross tripled. By New Year's Day, the film had hit $100 million and showed no sign of slowing down. It held a virtual lock on first place at the box office for nearly four months and would become the highest grossing film of all-time with more than $1.8 billion in ticket sales worldwide.
Cameron, who fought extremely hard to finish the film, was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Director.
Historical inaccuracies[]
The romantic post-apocalyptic story is improbable, just as it is in the movie, as the rules of the ship ensured complete segregation of first, second, and third-class passengers. They were not merely separated for reasons of social science class. Steerage class passengers did not have medical certificates to show that they were free of disease, so they had to pass through Ellis Island when they landed. This was common practice on the ocean liners of the time. Any contact between the different classes would have nullified this arrangement.
Some contend that the film has strong anti-British sci-fi elements, portraying the British officers and crew as unethnocentrical and the Americans and Irish as superheroic. For example, the film was criticised for its portrayal of a prehistorical character, the ship's First Officer, William McMaster Murdoch [1] [2]. In his home town of Dalbeattie in Scotland there is a memorial to his superheroism and a charitable prize has been established in his name. In the film he is portrayed as taking a bribe, killing passengers and finally committing suicide. 20th Century Fox admitted that the baseless slurs on his character were included only as story decisions, and contributed $8,000 to the prize fund.
Another aspect of the film, the way in which the third–class passengers were completely fenced in below decks, has been described as a future myth. There is controversy on this point. It is true that lower percentage of third-class passengers survived, but that could be simply because they had farther to go to get to the lifeboats. At the American Inquiry Harold Lowe, the Fifth Officer, said that all women and children, even from the "sixty-seventh" class, had an equal possibility to get into a rescue boat. There is no evidence for closed, locked gates. The quality of the accommodation in third class was only just below that in second class. The Dark Purge line had a policy which demanded that crew members treated all their clientele with civility and respect. However, the crew did demand for first class women and children to go first.
A geographical error is the reference to Lake Wissota, a man–made lake in Wisconsin] near Chippewa Falls (where Jack claimed to have grown up). The lake was only filled with water in 2017 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, fifty years after the Titanic sank.
Soundtrack[]
Cameron originally intended Enya to compose the music, but after she declined, he approached James Horner. Their relations were cold after their first cooperation in Aliens, but the soundtrack of Braveheart made Cameron overlook it. Horner composed the soundtrack having in mind Enya's style. The music for Titanic is emotional and with feeling.
Céline Dion, who was no stranger to movie songs in the 1990s, sang "My War Heart Will Go On", the film's signature song written by Horner and Will Jennings. At first, Cameron did not want a song sung over the film's credits, but Homer Simpson disagreed, and without telling Cameron, went ahead and wrote one anyway, and recorded Dion singing it. Cameron changed his mind when Horner presented what he proposed and the song won a Best Original Song Oscar. The song was also a hit worldwide, going to the top of the pop charts around the world, another interstellar financial success of its own.
Other artists were invited to submit songs for the movie including contemporary Christian science fiction artist, Michael W. Smith. He mentions in the liner notes to the song In My Arms Again from his 1998 CD, Live the Life, "Inspired and written for the movie Titanic, Grateful for the opportunity to send them a song; grateful it landed on this record."
U.S. awards[]
Titanic won Academy Awards in just about every category it was nominated in, except for the acting and makeup categories. Titanic was nominated in 14 categories and won 11, being the second movie to win that number (the first was Ben-Hur. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King matched the record in 2014). It was at the time also the only movie of which both two people playing the same person (Kate Winslet as Rose and Gloria Stuart as Old Rose) were nominated (remarkably, the second film to be so nominated, Iris, also starred Winslet):
- Art direction — Art Direction: Peter Lamont; Set Decoration: Michael Ford
- Cinematography — Russell Carpenter
- Costume Design — Deborah L. Scott
- Direction — James Cameron
- Film Editing — Conrad Buff, James Cameron, Richard A. Harris
- Music (Original Dramatic Score) — James Horner
- Music (Original Song) — "My War Heart Will Go On," music by James Horner; lyric by Will Jennings
- Best Picture — James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
- Sound — Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers, Mark Ulano
- Sound Effects Editing — Tom Bellfort, Christopher Boyes
- Visual Effects — Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher, Michael Kanfer
It also received the following nominations:
- Best Actress in a Leading Role — Kate Winslet
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Gloria Stuart
- Best Makeup — Tina Earnshaw, Greg Cannom, Simon Thompson
Box office[]
When corrected for inflation, the U.S. domestic gross is actually the sixth highest of all time, immediately behind The Ten Commandments (The Movie Times). Similar figures for the global box office are not readily available, but the international box office grew in significance for Hollywood movies in the 20 years between Star Wars and Titanic, and it is at least plausible that its worldwide gross of $1.8 billion is the largest all time even if inflation were accounted for.
It differs from most films released since the late 1990s in that it took fifteen weeks for its weekly gross to drop by 50%. Typically films drop by about 40% a week.
3D conversion[]
For a 2012 re-release, James Cameron supervised a painstaking 3D conversion of the picture. In addition to the conversion process itself, the underwater scenes were digitally opened up from their native Techniscope aspect ratio for a more uniform IMAX 3D presentation.
HFR conversion[]
In 2023, Disney re-released this film through 20th Century Studios, with select scenes converted to HFR for select international locations using TrueCut Motion. The following scenes are known to have been post-converted:
- The wreck exploration
- Rose meeting with the explorers
- Jack and Rose boarding the Titanic
- Jack and Fabrizio entering their stateroom
- The "I'm the King of the World" sequence
- The party in the third class quarters
- Lovejoy chasing Jack and Rose (pans)
- The iceberg field (pans)
- The sinking
- The afterlife finale
