History Film / Titanic1997

** Robert Hitchens is portrayed as one. While his arguments for not saving anymore people are logical, his body language(and the script and commentary) heavily imply that he refused to go back out of fear for his own safety rather than anyone else’s. The fact that he becomes increasingly stubborn and paranoid as the film goes on only confirms this.

'''Rose:''' ''(beat)'' I am THROUGH being polite, goddamnit!! (shoves the man into the elevator) Now, take me down!!

The film, after a well-publicized production cycle that overran its budget and schedule with the film ending up costing $200 million to produce, casting doubts on its box office chances, was released in theaters on December 19, 1997. Its original theatrical run lasted more than nine months, not ending until October 1, 1998. It was number-one at the American box office for a still-standing record of fifteen consecutive weeks[[note]]''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' is the record holder for cumulative weeks at number one with 16[[/note]], finally knocked off by ''Film/LostInSpace'' on the first weekend of April 1998. Many of its longevity weekend records still stand today even with over two decades of inflation. It was the first film in history to gross over $1 billion; in the quarter-century since, it has been joined in that lofty club by over 50 other films, it's still one of only a handful of billion-dollar grossers to be stand-alone, as opposed to being part of a series, franchise or cinematic universe.[[note]]The only others being ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013''.[[/note]]

It's one of the few films of such significant length (195 minutes) that when it was released on VHS, it needed ''two cassettes'' to contain the entire film, and several passes on the disc format to get it on one disc at high quality (see VisualCompression below). As of 2020, it is the 3rd highest-grossing movie of all time, both in raw numbers[[note]]passed only by ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and Cameron's own ''Film/{{Avatar}}''[[/note]] and adjusted for inflation.[[note]]''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' takes the top spot while ''Avengers: Endgame'' drops to fourth[[/note]]

* WhamShot: Downplayed example, but [[spoiler: Cal leaving his stateroom for the last time during the sinking -- and removing the Heart of the Ocean from the safe before locking it. This explicitly confirms the Diamond ''wasn't'' in the safe during the sinking and ''when'' specifically it was removed. Cameron also intentionally stages it so that your attention's on the safe itself rather than on the more important action (i.e. Cal pocketing the Diamond in his coat).]]

* ExpyCoexistence: The Heart of the Ocean shares an identical backstory to the Hope Diamond, which was cut from a diamond belonging to the King of France that was known as the Blue Diamond of the Crown or French Blue and disappeared in 1792 during the revolution before getting recut. Brock refers to the Hope Diamond by name as well, saying that the Heart of the Ocean would be far more valuable if it was found.

* MacGuffin: The Heart of the Ocean.

** And let's not forget when Rose and Jack attempt to save a stranded boy in third class as the water is rushing in, soon to be retrieved by his father -- only to head right to where the water's pouring in...

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: When Rose asks Thomas Andrews where she may find Jack, he tells her to take the ''elevator'' to the bottom, despite being an Irishman who would say ''lift''. In the following scene, a crewman does indeed correctly say "lifts." Then again, Andrews may have said it for Rose's benefit, since she's American.

* ExpyCoexistence: The Heart of the Ocean shares an identical backstory to the Hope Diamond, which was cut from a diamond belonging to the King of France that was known as the Blue Diamond of the Crown or French Blue and disappeared in 1792 during the revolution. Brock refers to the Hope Diamond by name as well, saying that the Heart of the Ocean would be worth more than it if it was found.

* EpicMovie: The film is truly grand in scale as it aims to create the RMS ''Titanic'' and the sinking.

* EpicMovie

** Near the end, Brock throws his celebratory cigar (which he was saving for when he found the diamond) into the ocean after accepting that he'll never find the diamond. [[spoiler:Rose similarly throws the diamond into the ocean a few minutes later.]]

* OutOfFocus: As is the case with most ''Titanic'' stories, Third Officer Pitman is not given any lines or characterization. This is due to Pitman being one of the first people to evacuate, therefor not being present for many important moments.

* POVCam: We briefly see Rose's eye view as she runs down the hall on E deck.
** Again when she sees the life boat when she's on the door.

** Rose and Jack arguably bear some culpability for the sinking. Their giggling and making out on the deck catches the eyes and amusement of the lookouts (and Murdoch too). If they hadn't been watching the young lovers' antics, they might have sighted the iceberg about sooner and avoided it in time.

*** Debatble. [[spoiler: Cal was going to leave Jack to die on the ship (or even alternately have had Lovejoy quietly kill /knock Jack out just to be sure). There's no garuntee Jack would have taken refugee on the stern during the final sinking, that he'd had survived long enough to make it into the water, or if he'd have been able to find the floating door or another piece of debris.]]

** Rose and Jack arguably bear some culpability for the sinking. Their giggling and making out on the deck catches the eyes and amusement of the lookouts (and Murdoch too). If they hadn't been watching the young lovers' antics, they might have sighted the iceberg about a minute sooner and avoided it in time.

** Debatble. [[spoiler: Cal was going to leave Jack to die on the ship (or even alternately have had Lovejoy quietly kill /knock Jack out just to be sure). There's no garuntee Jack would have taken refugee on the stern during the final sinking, that he'd had survived long enough to make it into the water, or if he'd have been able to find the floating door or another piece of debris.]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: Brock and company were so (justifiably from their research) convinced the Heart of the Ocean sank with ''Titanic'' that they never foresaw the possibility that it ''hadn't'' gone down with the ship and thus ''wouldn''t be in Hockley's safe.]]