Titanic (1997 film)

Titanic is a 1997 dramatic movie released by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The bulk of the plot is set aboard the ill-fated 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.

Plot summary

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It is 1996, and a treasure hunter and his team explore the wreck of the RMS Titanic in their submersible. A safe is brought to the surface and is opened. It contains, not the fabled treasure the adventurers had hoped for, but only papers. One of them is a nude pencil portrait dated April 14, 1912, and signed "JD". It shows a beautiful young woman reclining with casual modesty on a couch. On a necklace around her neck is the diamond they seek: The Heart of the Ocean.

Related Topics:
1996 - RMS ''Titanic'' - April 14 - 1912

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Rose DeWitt Bukater, an ancient but still lively woman of 101 years, watches a CNN report of the treasure hunt and sees the nude portrait. She phones the treasure hunter Brock Lovett and informs him that she knows of the diamond, the Heart of the Ocean, and also the identity of the beautiful young woman in the portrait: "Oh yes. The woman in the picture is me." Rose, accompanied by her granddaughter, flies out to the recovery site and proceeds to tell the treasure hunters of her experiences on the Titanic.

Related Topics:
Rose DeWitt Bukater - CNN

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Rose, just 17 years old in April of 1912, boards the ship with the upper-class passengers with her mother and her fiance, Caledon Hockley. Rose clearly does not feel very much for Caledon, but her mother pushes for the marriage for financial security, to maintain their current lavish lifestyle and bolster their social cachet among the Philadelphia elite. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson wins third-class tickets to the ship in a poker game.

Related Topics:
Caledon Hockley - Jack Dawson

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Rose is so unhappy about her forced engagement, as well as her endlessly shallow life, that she attempts to kill herself by jumping off the back of the ship. Jack sees her and intervenes to prevent her suicide. Rose's company finds the two and Caledon reluctantly invites Jack to dine with their party the following evening in the first-class dining saloon as a thank you. In the meantime, Rose and Jack soon strike up a tentative friendship as he shares tales of his adventures in traveling and she expresses her own hopes, and he shows her his sketchbook of artwork. Their bond deepens when they later ditch the first-class formal dinner party for a much livelier gathering belowdecks in third-class.

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Jack is clearly falling in love with Rose, but Rose is inclined to ignore their growing affection because of her engagement and their different social standings. But eventually she decides to throw caution to the wind and offer her heart to Jack. Rose asks Jack to sketch her wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean diamond, the same portrait the treasure hunters will find 84 years later. They later consummate their relationship in the backseat of a car in one of the ship's cargo holds.

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In the meantime, Captain Edward J. Smith and his crew have been seemingly ignoring many warnings about upcoming ice fields in the ship's path, and the Titanic maintains the high speed suggested by White Star Line managing director J. Bruce Ismay even as the ship heads into the night. On the night of April 14, 1912, the two lookouts see an iceberg directly in the Titanic's path. Despite the many efforts of the crew and engineers, the ship strikes the massive berg, flooding the lower compartments past their "unsinkable" capacity and causing the ship to begin its unstoppable descent to disaster.

Related Topics:
Edward J. Smith - J. Bruce Ismay

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Caledon discovers the relationship between Jack and Rose and gets even by framing Jack for stealing his diamond. Even though she has the chance to escape the sinking ship early on with her mother, Rose runs away from Caledon — and her chance at getting into a lifeboat — to find Jack. She frees Jack and they try desperately to make their way back above decks to escape the rapidly sinking ship. They find many obstacles, including locked gates that are used to keep the third-class passengers from reaching the upper decks to safety, as well as Caledon's violent temper that forces them back to the lower decks. They finally make their way to the top deck, but the lifeboats are gone and they, along with hundreds of terrified passengers, have no choice but to try to stay on the ship for as long as possible before the titan sinks completely into the water. The bow of the ship sinks deeper and deeper until the pressure on the hull causes the ship to split completely in half, before the two halves finally go under at 2:20 AM on April 15.

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Rose and Jack stick together and wait with the hundreds of other passengers thrashing helplessly in the water, shouting desperately for those in lifeboats to row back and rescue them. By the time one of the officers decides to row back and help those in need, almost all of the passengers have died of hypothermia in the freezing Atlantic. Rose is heartbroken to realize that Jack has succumbed, as well. She bids him goodbye, then manages to get the lifeboat's attention to come back and rescue her. The survivors in the lifeboats wait for hours until the RMS Carpathia, the closest ship to answer and heed the Titanic's radio distress signals, arrives to save them. Upon arrival at New York, Rose discovers she still has the Heart of the Ocean tucked into the pocket of Caledon's coat.

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As an old woman in 1996, Rose now goes onto the deck of the salvage ship and throws the Heart of the Ocean into the ocean where Jack died.

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Back in Rose's room, the viewer sees pictures of her life's achievements, including a photograph of her riding a horse at the Santa Monica Pier, just as she and Jack had planned to do together. Rose lies in bed nearby, a scene where some fans have debated whether she is asleep or had passed away. Underwater, the Titanic looms out of the darkness and everything turns new again. A Steward opens the doors from the promenade deck to the Grand Staircase, where all those who died on the ship smile in greeting. At the top of the staircase, Jack turns and smiles at Rose, a young girl of 17 again, smiling back as he helps her up the last few steps. They kiss as the crowd applauds at the couple.

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