History Film / Titanic1997

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: In order to maintain the panicking masses on deck, Murdoch pulls out a gun and shoots at anyone who tries to jump forward. A stumbling passenger knocks Tommy towards Murdoch, who fatally shoots him by reflex. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Immediately realising his mistake]], Murdoch surcumbs to a brief HeroicBSOD, [[DrivenToSuicide before shooting himself]].

** (from a Deleted Scene) Lewis: "Wait a minute. You were going to jump off the ''Titanic''? All you had to do was wait two days!"

** First Officer William Murdoch goes from an upstanding officer [[HeroicSacrifice who was still trying to launch a lifeboat (a job for twelve men) by himself when he died]] to accepting bribes, shooting two men trying to rush the lifeboats, and then shooting himself in remorse. During the initial aftermath of the collision, Murdoch organized the boat parties and sent boats on their way on the starboard side of the ship, saving directly or indirectly the lives of three-quarters of the night's survivors. His family were not amused. James Cameron made a (begrudged) formal apology to them and donated £5,000 to a memorial in Murdoch's hometown in Scotland.

->''"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.''"
-->--'''Rose Calvert, 1996'''

** Fabrizio curses quite a bit in Italian, especially when [[spoiler:Tommy]] dies. After he and Jack win the ''Titanic'' tickets in the Southampton pub, Fabrizio randomly shouts "Figlio di puttana!" which translates roughly into English as "son of a bitch!"* {{Foreshadowing}}:

In 1996, a group of deep-sea treasure hunters led by Brock Lovett search for a valuable diamond that supposedly went down with the RMS ''Titanic''. They recover the safe belonging to the passenger who owned it, only to discover an exquisite drawing of a beautiful woman wearing the diamond on the night ''Titanic'' sank. An elderly woman, Rose Dawson Calvert, calls the team after seeing the drawing on a television news report, claiming to be the woman in the drawing. The team brings her out to the middle of the North Atlantic, where she begins to tell her story about the ship of dreams...

* ArtImitatesArt: Almost every long shot of the ''Titanic'' is a recreation of Ken Marschall's paintings, even the shot of ''Carpathia'' arriving to rescue the survivors and the shot of the bow section of the wreck at the end.

* BadassLongcoat: Rose's pink jacket, once the ship starts sinking, looks like one of these. She even [[TheCoatsAreOff takes it off just as she is about to wade into the water with the ax to free Jack]] in typical action-heroine fashion. Later, Cal's jacket, which looks merely okay on him, looks badass on her once she starts wearing it, perhaps because it is a few sizes too big for her and thus looks longer and thicker on her. The ship's officers and Thomas Andrews also look pretty badass in their full-length overcoats.

* EpicLaunchSequence: The eponymous ship leaving Southampton, with an enormous crowd cheering on. The film also omits the RealLife near-collision with another ship, so the launch proceeds without a hitch.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** You could make a drinking game out of how many times the cast mentions that it would be very, very bad if the ''Titanic'' sinks.
** It is also made very clear several times before the actual collision that the problem for the passengers if the boat ''were'' to sink is not drowning, but the freezing cold temperatures in said water. More specifically: Jack dissuades Rose from committing suicide by pointing out how agonizing it would be to fall into the freezing cold water. [[spoiler:Jack dies of hypothermia after falling into the water.]]

** Fabrizio curses quite a bit in Italian, especially when [[spoiler:Tommy]] dies. After he and Jack win the ''Titanic'' tickets in the Southampton pub, Fabrizio randomly shouts "Figlio di puttana!" which translates roughly into English as "son of a bitch!"

* ItsAllAboutMe: While it is clear that Ruth, in some way or another, cares for Rose, she prioritizes her own desires for Rose over what Rose actually wants, and is more than willing to allow Cal to abuse Rose as long as it means Ruth gets her riches. As soon as she is in the lifeboat, it is safe to assume that she sees the error of her ways.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Cal.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer portrays Molly as an extra who watches the ''Titanic'' sink.

* OscarBait

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: TakeThat, Cal!

* ShooOutTheClowns: Old Rose makes her last narration to Brock and the ''Keldysh'' crew when she describes the drawing scene. They do not appear again until Rose finishes her story with her rescue.

-->'''Bruce Ismay:''' Don't you know who I am?\\
'''Harold Lowe:''' [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech You're a passenger, and I'm a ship bloody officer, now stand back and do as you're told!]]\\

Directed by Creator/JamesCameron, this movie won a record-tying[[note]]the record having been set by ''Film/BenHur1959'' and later matched by ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing''[[/note]] 11 UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, including Best Picture, and [[StarMakingRole launched the A-list careers]] of Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and Creator/KateWinslet. Its 14 nominations are also in a three-way tie for the record (and it's the only one of the three films to not be about Hollywood[[note]]the others being ''Film/AllAboutEve'' and ''Film/LaLaLand''[[/note]]).

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 a nonconsecutive 16 weeks[[/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]]

''Titanic'' tells Rose's story in {{flashback}}, recounting her time in a StarCrossedLovers dynamic with artist Jack Dawson. Unfortunately, they both happen to be aboard the [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic ill-fated eponymous ocean liner]], which struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in [[TheEdwardianEra 1912]]. Interlaced with this story are various other subplots, both historical and fictional, canvassing passenger life and the decisions and mistakes made by the authoritative figures aboard that culminated in one of the most infamous tragedies of the [=20th=] century.

* KillThePoor: When told that half the people on the ship are going to die, which will primarily consist of third-class passengers, Cal says that it won't be the better half that perishes. In fact, keeping the third class passengers waiting behind locked doors to drown while the wealthy ones are placed on lightly-occupied rescue boats is even more reminiscent of this. A case of ArtisticLicenseHistory, as in fact more women and children from Third Class survived than men from First Class. Contrary to what is portrayed in the film, Third Class passengers were not locked below decks as a matter of policy, although some survivors reported being prevented from leaving steerage. It did work against them that many were not English speakers, and they were located lower down in the ship, meaning the water reached them first.

-->'''Rose:''': It's been 84 years...\\
'''Lovett:''': Just tell us what you can --\\
'''Rose:''': Are you going to let me tell the story or not, Mr. Lovett? ''(Beat)'' 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.

'''Rose:''': Are you going to let me tell the story or not, Mr. Lovett? '''(Beat)''' 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.

'''Rose:''': (holds up her hand for silence) 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.

** Benjamin Guggenheim famously said, "No, thank you, we are dressed in our best and are prepared to go down as gentlemen. But we would like a brandy!". [[OhCrap However...]]

* ExtremelyColdCase: The kickstarter premise sees Brock Lovett tries to find the "Heart of the Ocean" diamond 84 years after it was lost in the sinking. As part of this quest, he interviews main character Rose Dewitt Bukater, the only remaining survivor of the 1912 scenes who is one month shy of 101 years old.

%%** Rose is not an example, she acted out of the spur of the moment

** The ship sinks.

** That safe itself is full to bursting with Chekhov's guns.

* SignificantSketchbook: Rose first sees Jack as he is sketching on the deck, and he shows her some of the drawings. Later, there is the famous scene where she requests that Jack sketch her in the nude (her, not Jack).

* DeathGlare: When Rose's mother puts Jack's lifestyle down in front of everyone at the table, Molly Brown gives her one of these, as her lifestyle was similar to his only a short time ago.