Titanic (1997)

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Director:

James Cameron

Writer:

James Cameron

Stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane

Won 11 Oscars. Another 115 wins & 80 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Jack Dawson
Kate Winslet	...	Rose Dewitt Bukater
Billy Zane	...	Cal Hockley
Kathy Bates	...	Molly Brown
Frances Fisher	...	Ruth Dewitt Bukater
Gloria Stuart	...	Old Rose
Bill Paxton	...	Brock Lovett
Bernard Hill	...	Captain Smith
David Warner	...	Spicer Lovejoy
Victor Garber	...	Thomas Andrews
Jonathan Hyde	...	Bruce Ismay
Suzy Amis	...	Lizzy Calvert
Lewis Abernathy	...	Lewis Bodine
Nicholas Cascone	...	Bobby Buell
Anatoly M. Sagalevitch	...	Anatoly Milkailavich (as Dr. Anatoly M. Sagalevitch)

Storyline

84 years later, a 100 year-old woman named Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story to her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert, Brock Lovett, Lewis Bodine, Bobby Buell and Anatoly Mikailavich on the Keldysh about her life set in April 10th 1912, on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, 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 game. And she explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning.

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Plot Keywords:

iceberg | told in flashback | titanic | ship | shipwreck | 

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Taglines:

Collide With Destiny.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Swedish Italian

Release Date:

19 December 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Planet Ice

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$28,638,131, 21 December 1997

Gross USA:

$659,363,944

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,187,463,944

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Lightstorm Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

194 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby Digital 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) DTS (DTS HD Master Audio 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) DTS 70 mm (70 mm prints) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) SDDS (8 channels) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 (D-Cinema prints) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Danny Nucci (Fabrizio) stated that one of the hardest scenes to film was, ironically, the cheerful "King of the world" scene. The bow section on which the scene takes place was a separate setpiece; the rest of the ship wasn't there, it would be animated in by computer later. This meant that he and Leonardo DiCaprio had to be hoisted up on top of the bow, and were pretty much stuck up there for a long time. They didn't dare to ask to be taken off for lunch or a bathroom break, out of fear of drawing the ire of director James Cameron, so the hard part was acting euphorically all the time while they were feeling hungry and desperately had to urinate between takes.

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Goofs

Just after the ship's stern tilts vertically before the final plunge, in a shot of Jack, Rose, and others on the stern, we can plainly see the superimposed division between the actors and ship, and the background. This has been corrected in subsequent video releases.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Brock Lovett: Thirteen meters; you should see it.
Brock Lovett: [seeing the shipwreck come into view for the first time] OK; take her up and over the bow rail.

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Crazy Credits

Although a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, either one of the logos appears at the beginning: Paramount in the US version and Fox in the international version. Yet ironically, Paramount is mentioned first in the international credits while Fox is mentioned first in the US credits.

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Alternate Versions

The full screen version shown on VHS and LaserDisc reveals all of Rose's backside after dropping the robe. In the widescreen version, just the top of her bottom is seen.

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Connections

Referenced in South Park: Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus (1998)

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Soundtracks

Nearer My God To Thee
Written by Lowell Mason and Sarah F. Adams (as Sarah Adams)
Performed by Salonisti (as I Salonisti)
Arranged by Jonathan Evans-Jones
Produced by Lorenz Hasler

User Reviews

Despite some glaring faults,Cameron's mixing of romance with real life disaster is still impressive and occasionally brilliant

It's really quite odd. When Titanic first came out,the reviews were mixed but the public generally loved it,those who disliked the film were definitely in the minority. Over the years,it has became somewhat fashionable to slag Titanic off,even if a great many of those people who did so were probably amongst those who made it such an enormous hit in the cinemas. Titanic is flawed,definitely,sometimes greatly so. However,it's also a tremendous achievement for it's director James Cameron. Mixing a real disaster with romance is harder to do than some might think. Maybe he did have a right to say "I'm king of the world" when the film won Best Picture at the Oscars. Just once.

The modern day opening is excellent,making effective use of some of Cameron's real footage he took of the sunken Titanic. There is a real sense of mystery. Than we flash back to the Titanic being boarded,and the film stalls just a little for around two hours. The attention to detail is amazing {even all the cutlery matched,you know} and there is nothing wrong with an extremely slow build up to action-think of The Seven Samourai. However,the central romance between Leo and Kate is often badly written and unconvincing. For a start Kate's Rose would certainly not have done two things she does in the film as quickly as she did {Obviously thousands of teenage girls seeing the film in 1997 would disagree with my views}. We also have to suffer Cameron constantly labouring the point that the poor people on the ship are better than the rich people.

However,the final 80 or so minutes,detailing the sinking,is simply brilliant film making. The suspense is built expertly,even though we know what will happen,and climaxes with some technical shots which are still impressive. Perhaps there is a little two much emphasis on the central couple,but there are some truly moving moments,and it really feels true,although of course Cameron did play with the facts a little here and there,as at least one descendant of one of the survivors has pointed out. The following sequence involving the boats is extremely haunting,with some especially good use of sound. As for the final scene,it does manage to be pretty moving,it's schmaltzy but it works {though hardly original,think of Somewhere In Time and various 40s romantic fantasies}.

Titanic has some excellent use of CGI {watch out for the transitions from present to the past on the sunken ship} and one glaringly bad special effect-the iceberg which looks like polystyrene. James Horner's best selling score is really quite poor and only occasionally brings the emotion it should do. Performances are generally excellent and sometimes succeed in overcoming some thin characterisation {such as Billy Zane as Rose's fiancée,who even has to suffer with far too much eye make up!}

Overall Titanic is still worth seeing,and sometimes it really does hit the heights that it should. It succeeds more than it fails,which is impressive in a film as ambitious as this.