History Awesome / Titanic1997

** Captain Smith not only goes down with the ship, but his final act is to grab the wheel rather than panic.

-->"You're here there's nothing I fear and I know that my heart will go on..."

* The musicians playing as the ship goes down, sacrificing their lives to keep the passengers calm. Made even more awesome by the fact that [[TruthInTelevision it actually happened in the real sinking]]. And those goes double for the engineers and strokers, who chose to stay in the bowels of the ship, frantically trying to keep the power on while the strokers continued to battle the ocean to keep her afloat. And they do until the strokers are forced to abandon their posts and the engineers just a moment before the ship breaks in two.

** At one point, Cameron gave the effects team a very simple instruction: "Imagine we're making a commercial for the White Star Line." The sweeping shots of the ''Titanic'' are absolutely ''gorgeous''. White Star would’ve literally gone bankrupt to acquire shots like that!

* The musicians playing as the ship goes down, sacrificing their lives to keep the passengers calm. Made even more awesome by the fact that [[TruthInTelevision it actually happened in the real sinking]]. And those goes double for the engineers, who chose to stay in the bowels of the ship, frantically trying to keep the power on. And they do until just a moment before the ship breaks in two.

** At one point, Cameron gave the effects team a very simple instruction: "Imagine we're making a commercial for the White Star Line." The sweeping shots of the ''Titanic'' are absolutely ''gorgeous''.

*** In other words, Rose never giving Cal a long and lengthy [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech "reason I love Jack and not you speech"]] proves that she's above him. In fact, the expression on Cal's face after she spits on him indicated that she told it like it is about him, and he knew exactly what Rose was saying about her.

** Also an excellent example of ThrowItIn; the original script had Rose stick him with a pin, until Cameron realized that making the spitting lesson into a ChekhovsGun would work perfectly.

** Also an excellent example of {{Throw It In}}; the original script had Rose stick him with a pin, until Cameron realized that making the spitting lesson into a {{Chekhovs Gun}} would work perfectly.

* May also count as a {{Tearjerker}}, but Father Thomas Byles, the priest towards the end, continues praying the Rosary with the passengers even as the ship is going vertical, clutching at the hands of a few passengers as he holds onto a piece of the deck for dear life, and even so, ''he keeps talking.'' It somehow seems both sad and inspirational. This also happened on the actual Titanic as all three priests stayed onboard to comfort the doomed.

-->'''Ruth''': [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint Will the lifeboats be seated according to class?]] [[{{Jerkass}} I hope they're not too crowded]].\\
'''Rose''': ''([[DeathGlare glaring at her mother in utter disdain]])'' Oh Mother...[[BigShutUp SHUT UP!]] [[UpperClassTwit Don't you understand]]?! [[KillItWithIce The water is]] ''[[KillItWithIce freezing]]'' and there aren't enough boats, not enough by half. [[ForegoneConclusion Half the people on this ship are going to]] ''[[ForegoneConclusion die]]''.

--->'''Rose''': [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Goodbye, Mother]].

-->'''Ismay:''' [pulling on a lifeboat line] There's no time to waste! Lower away! Lower away!
-->'''Lowe:''' Hey! Get out of the way, you fool! Do you want me to drown the lot of them?!
-->'''Ismay:''' [[StockPhrase Do you know who I am?!]]
-->'''Lowe:''' [[ShutUpHannibal You're a passenger, and I'm a ship's bloody officer!]] Now do as you're told!

** Ida was offered a place in a lifeboat and wouldn’t have been scrutinized for taking it, but she chose to stay with her husband, even shutting him up when he wants her to evacuate at first.
** Guggenheim says a very iconic and badass line before facing his death; “We’ve dressed in our best and are prepared to go down as gentlemen.”. Equally badass is the fact that his valet, Victor Giglio, refuses to abandon him even as the water begins to reach them. That’s some UndyingLoyalty.

* At one point, Second Officer Lightoller is trying to load a boat ''and'' keep a crowd of desperate passengers at bay; he brandishes his gun and tells them to keep back, "or I'll shoot you all like ''dogs!"'' Not the most heroic action, but when he turns around and orders Lowe to man the boat he's quickly loading the gun, meaning he pulled an incredibly effective bluff ''with an empty weapon.'' You've got to admire his sheer nerve. Johnny Philips, the actor playing Lightoller, ad-libbed this part, and when Cameron was impressed and told him to do it again he was hardly aware he'd done it, he'd been so caught up in the moment. [[note]]According to a greaser, Fred Scott, the real Fifth Officer Lowe did threaten a crowd with "If any man jumps into that boat, I will shoot him down like a dog."[[/note]]

** This quote is on 100th place in AFI's 100 Movie Quotes, and for a very good reason.

** Immediately prior to that scene, when Cal demonstrates absolutely no regard for those doomed to die on the ship, and callously remarks that Jack's drawing "will be worth a lot more by morning", Rose hits him back with this:

* Cal unfortunately survives the sinking. Rose does, however, make an offhanded comment about him shooting himself in the head on the crash of '29. She specifically states, in quite nasty tone, that "the crash of '29 hit his interests hard, and he put a pistol in his mouth that year. Or so I read," indicating that she hardly kept up with him at all - she just got some satisfaction that she made it and he didn't.

* May also count as a {{Tearjerker}}, but Father Thomas Byles, the priest towards the end, who continues praying the Rosary with the passengers even as the ship is going vertical, clutching at the hands of a few passengers as he holds onto a piece of the deck for dear life, and even so, ''he keeps talking.'' It somehow seems both sad and inspirational. This also happened on the actual Titanic as all three priests stayed onboard to comfort the doomed.

** Sadly they missed (or dropped for the sake of time) an even better RealLife moment of awesome: The morning after, the ''Carpathia'' was spotted by the boat, and the guy at the tiller wasn't going to steer the boat over to it, saying it was to collect the bodies. What does Mrs. Brown do? Threaten to toss him overboard. The story may be apocryphal, but it would be in keeping with Molly's personality.

* Rose punching the guy that was trying to take her away from Jack, as well as how she searches for Jack instead of getting into a lifeboat in the rapidly flooding ship.
* Rose telling her overbearing and selfish mother what we all were thinking when she makes some haughty remark about whether the lifeboats will be seated according to class... "SHUT UP!" She then follows up by telling Ruth that this isn't a joke, and that people are ''going'' to die tonight.

** Made even more awesome by the fact that it actually happened, as shown in the records of the inquest after the sinking. Lowe didn't know who Ismay was at the time, and saw only an arrogant and hysterical passenger.

* At one point, Second Officer Lightoller is trying to load a boat ''and'' keep a crowd of desperate passengers at bay; he brandishes his gun and tells them to keep back, "or I'll shoot you all like ''dogs!"'' Not the most heroic action, but when he turns around and orders Lowe to man the boat he's quickly loading the gun, meaning he pulled an incredibly effective bluff ''with an empty weapon.'' You've got to admire his sheer nerve. Johnny Philips, the actor playing Lightoller, ad-libbed this part, and when Cameron was impressed and told him to do it again he was hardly aware he'd done it, he'd been so caught up in the the moment. [[note]]According to a greaser, Fred Scott, the real Fifth Officer Lowe did threaten a crowd with "If any man jumps into that boat, I will shoot him down like a dog."[[/note]]

* The fact that Rose made it through life, on her own, in the 1920s, The Depression, 1930s, ''TWO WORLD WARS'' and God knows what else; eighty four years and no matter the hardships, she never sold the diamond that Cal gave her. Not once. She managed ''eighty four years'' on her own (and with her husband)... without any help from the asshole she loathed.

** He also survived about two to three hours in the water before making it to a life boat and the overturned collapsible lifeboat... and only got swollen feet. When an elderly Rose mentioned that only six out of fifteen hundred people were saved, Charles Joughin was ''very likely'' one of the people of which Rose spoke of.

* Even though they fail to evade the iceberg, you have to give props to First Officer William Murdoch and the crew of the ''Titanic'' for remaining completely professional when they find out an iceberg is ahead, and doing everything they can to try and steer the ship past it. Murdoch does ''everything'' right, and it ''almost'' works.

* Passengers and crew like Thomas Andrews, Captain Smith, the Straus couple and Benjamin Guggenheim and his valet willingly going down with the ship can be considered this.
** Ida was offered a place in a lifeboat and wouldn’t have been scrutinized for taking it, but chose to stay with her husband, even shutting him up when he wants her to evacuate at first.
** Guggenheim says a very iconic and badass line before facing his death; “We’ve dressed in our best, and are prepared to go down as gentlemen.”. Equally badass is the fact that his valet, Victor Giglio, refuses to abandon him even as the water begins to reach them. That’s some UndyingLoyalty.
** Captain Smith not only goes down with the ship, but his final act is to grab the wheel rather then panic.

* Jack, Fabrizio and Tommy rip a bench from the floor and, with Rose ushering people out of their way, use it to batter down a locked gate in steerage. Immediately after that, Tommy [[TalkToTheFist knocks down a crew member with one punch]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/37eef75c_f63a_46d4_bcf3_4d037a747955.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"''Titanic'' was called the 'ship of dreams,' and it was. It really was."]]

* Jack Phillip and Harold Bride are unsung heroes as the Marconi went down shortly after the Titanic left port and they spent most of the trip fixing it and the only reason they were still up at the time of the disaster was that they were dealing with the backlog of passenger telegrams!

* Even though they fail to evade the iceberg, you have to give props to the crew of the ''Titanic'' for remaining completely professional when they find out an iceberg is ahead, and doing everything they can to try and steer the ship past it. And it ALMOST works.

* The musicians playing as the ship goes down, sacrificing their lives to keep the passengers calm. Made even more awesome by the fact that [[TruthInTelevision it actually happened in the real sinking]]. And those goes double for the engineers, who chose to stay in the bowels of the ship, frantically trying to keep the power on.

* Jack, Fabrizio and Tommy rip a bench from the floor and, with Rose ushering people out of their way, use it to batter down a locked gate in steerage. Tommy [[TalkToTheFist knocking down a crew member with one punch]] immediately after that.

!!Meta

* The simple fact that they filmed on the actual ship despite the wreck being two and a half ''miles'' under the North Atlantic.
* The fact that this film is the third highest-grossing film in history when adjusted for inflation. Think about that. The only two movies that have ever beaten it are ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''.
** Even after 20+ years, this film third highest-grossing film unadjusted, beaten only by ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''.
* The film was nominated for ''fourteen'' UsefulNotes/AcademyAward categories, and won ''eleven'' Oscars, including Best Picture, tying ''[[Film/BenHur1959 Ben-Hur]]'''s record from way back in 1959.
* The 3D re-release in 2012. It's remarkable enough that the release came in time for the 100th anniversary of the disaster. But the awesome moment comes from the time and effort that was spent on the release. What could've easily been a quick and dirty 3D conversion was instead a 60-week, $18 million effort. The aspect ratio was increased, the soundtrack was remastered, and the entire film was converted to 4K resolution. The end result was perhaps the ultimate depiction of the disaster that has ever been made, or might ever be made. You're no longer just watching a movie about the sinking of the ''Titanic''. '''''You. Are. There.'''''

--->'''William Hartley:''' (''[[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner as the water rushes up the deck toward them]]'') [[ItHasBeenAnHonor Gentlemen, it has been a privilege playing with you tonight]].

* Cal unfortunately survives the sinking. Rose does, however, make an offhanded comment about him shooting himself in the head on the crash of '29. She specifically states, in quite nasty tone, that he "put a bullet in his mouth that year. Or so I read" indicating that she hardly kept up with him at all - she just got some satisfaction that she made it and he didn't.