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The film begins in 1996, where treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) and his crew are searching the wreck of the great ship underwater in a research vessel. They excitedly find a safe and bring it up to their ship. Brock opens the safe expecting to find The Heart of the Ocean, a vintage and extremely valuable necklace, but the safe only contains a slew of muddy papers. While cleaning off the papers, it's discovered that one is a sketching of a nude young woman wearing the very necklace Brock is hunting, and it's dated April 14, 1912, the date of the ship's sinking. He is later interviewed on TV and shows off the drawing they found, and this interview is seen on TV by an old woman who is shocked to see it. The woman calls Brock the following day on his boat and gets his attention by saying the name of the necklace, which no one knows about except Brock, his crew and whoever was on the ship. This woman is Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart), and she is the woman in the drawing.
Rose is helicoptered to Brock's boat along with her granddaughter Lizzy (Suzy Amis). Rose checks out items Brock has recovered from the ship, recognizing a hand mirror and a hair clip that were hers. She also watches a computerized re-enactment of how the ship sank and videos of Brock's underwater excursions before everyone sits around to hear her firsthand account of the Titanic's voyage. We flash back to 1912...
The Titanic is preparing to set sail for the first time and the passengers arrive and board, including members of high society up to the first class area. Rose DeWitt (Kate Winslet) is not impressed by the ship at first glance, and Old Rose's voice-over narration tells us how she didn't want to go to the United States at all as she felt trapped into going by her fiancé Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) and her mother Ruth (Frances Fisher), who wants her daughter to marry Cal for his money since their own wealth has dried up. That party boards along with their butler, Lovejoy (David Warner). Also hurriedly and excitedly boarding is Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his friend Fabrizio (Danny Nucci), who won their tickets in a poker game and can't wait to return to the States. The ship disembarks amid much fanfare.
Jack and Fabrizio go to the head of the ship and wonder at the dolphins that the ship seemingly chase. Jack climbs on the railing and proclaims he's the King of the World. Meanwhile, Rose and Cal are having dinner with ship builder Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber) and others in charge, along with passenger Margaret "Molly" Brown (Kathy Bates). Cal orders her dinner and refuses to let her smoke. Jack later sketches numerous scenes around him of people on the ship and makes friends with another passenger in third-class named Tommy Ryan (Jason Barry). Jack also catches a glimpse of Rose up in first-class and is immediately enamored. She seems to notice him as well. Cal comes for her and they return to the dining hall.
That night, a miserable Rose runs to the head of the ship, and she runs right by Jack in the process. She climbs on the railing and prepares to jump into the water, but Jack arrives and tries to talk her out of it, saying if she jumps, he'll have to jump in there too, and that water's pretty cold. He tries to make conversation and eventually convinces her to take his hand and climb back onto the ship safely. In doing so, she slips and nearly falls, but Jack hangs on and pulls her aboard. Her screaming alerts the ship security, however, and they arrive to see Jack lying on top of a disheveled Rose. Jack is handcuffed, and Cal checks on Rose, then begins to chastise Jack. Rose tells Cal and everyone else it was an accident. She slipped, fell overboard and Jack saved her. Jack seconds the story as she told it, and he's freed. Cal tells Lovejoy to give a small reward to Jack, but Rose objects to his attitude of her life being worth so little to him, so Cal instead invites Jack to join them for dinner tomorrow, and Jack accepts. Cal mumbles to Rose as they leave that the dinner should be interesting.
Back in their room, Cal gives his engagement gift to Rose early, and it's the necklace. It was worn by Louis XVI and has 56 karats worth of diamonds. He says he can give her everything if she'll let him.
The next day, Jack and Rose walk around the ship. She thanks him for last night. Jack tells her about his life as a drifter, living day to day and loving the mystery of it. Rose tells him how she feels owned and trapped and overwhelmed. Jack asks her if she loves Cal. She refuses to answer, finds the question rude and starts to leave, but she then checks out his sketchbook and is impressed as she loves artwork. They talk some more and it eventually leads to Jack showing Rose how to spit a huge gob off the ship and into the ocean. As they're doing this, Ruth arrives with her uppity friends, plus the non-uppity Molly. Ruth feels Jack is beneath her and does little to hide that belief. Rose leaves with Ruth, but Molly stays behind and decides to dress up Jack for the dinner tonight. Meanwhile, J. Bruce Ismay (Jonathan Hyde), who is the managing director of the White Star Line which funded the Titanic's building, tells Captain Edward James Smith (Bernard Hill) that he wants the ship to go faster and arrive earlier in New York to garner favorable press attention. Smith is hesitant but heeds Ismay's wish.
Jack is dressed and all fancied up as he enters the first-class dining area. Cal and Ruth arrive and walk right by him, but when Rose arrives she stops and smiles at him. He kisses her hand, and she takes his arm and points out who everyone else is in the hall. Jack plays everything coolly despite the veiled insults that come his way from Cal and Ruth at the dinner table. Jack answers everything with a smile and impresses everyone else at the table (save for Cal and Ruth) with his attitude and outlook on life. Eventually the men leave for brandy and cigars. Jack decides not to join them, saying he has to head back to his cabin, but he first slips a note to Rose telling her to meet him at the clock. Rose does so, and Jack invites her to a "real" party in third-class. Rose joins him and has a blast dancing and drinking beer with the revelers. She doesn't notice Lovejoy has come down to spy on them.
The next morning, Cal asks Rose how she's feeling. Rose says she's a bit tired. Cal says it's no wonder with her partying last night. Rose is angry that Cal had her tracked, and Cal angrily upturns the table and tells her to never do that again. She will honor him as his wife. Ruth later tells Rose she is to never see Jack again. This decree apparently gets passed along to the rest of first-class as Jack tries to see Rose during a church service but is turned away by security, and then rudely rebuffed by Lovejoy.
Captain Smith gets a telegram warning of some ice amongst their travel route. He gets handed this while he and Andrews are in the presence of several of the first-class women on board who are checking out the engine room, and this includes Rose, so he simply tells them it's nothing to worry about as to keep them calm. However, in reality he is concerned, especially given the ship's going speed. Rose then, while walking on deck, asks Andrews why the ship doesn't have enough lifeboats for the 2,200+ on board, and again the answer is meant to keep everyone calm. Jack is undercover and summons Rose to hide with him in a room, which she does, but she tells Jack she can't see him anymore and that she's fine with her life and upcoming marriage. Jack is not convinced she's being truthful to either of them.
Sure enough, after sitting through another stuffy first-class dinner where she hated everyone and everything around her, she finds Jack and tells her she changed her mind. They hang out at the nose of the ship where Jack had climbed the railing on the first day. This time he has Rose climb up and feel the freedom of being the "nose" of the Titanic, and they then kiss.
The movie briefly returns to the present with Old Rose speaking to an absolutely mesmerized crew of Brock's. She says to them that was the last time the Titanic saw daylight. In 6 hours from that moment, the ship would be gone. One of Brock's assistants actually gets angry that Captain Smith had the ice warning right in his hand, yet the ship still traveled at high speed.
Rose brings Jack to the first-class sitting room and shows him the necklace. Jack also sees Rose's art collection and recognizes one of them. Turns out unlike Cal, Jack loves and knows art as Rose does. Rose then asks Jack to draw her for wearing the necklace...and nothing else. He does so, and the finished product is the sketch we saw at the start of the film found by Brock. Afterward, Jack puts the necklace back into the safe as Rose requests. Meanwhile, Lovejoy is searching all over the ship for Rose at Cal's request, and eventually Lovejoy makes his way to the sitting room. Rose and Jack escape (with Rose flipping Lovejoy the bird) and a chase ensues through the kitchen area and down to the boiler room. They get into a car downstairs in the storage area and get freaky, while back in the sitting room Cal opens the safe and finds the drawing with a note from Rose saying that now he can keep them both locked in his safe.
They eventually leave the car and head back to the deck. Rose tells Jack that when they reach New York, she's leaving the ship with Jack. The next thing they hear is a warning bell as the crew has spotted an iceberg coming, and unfortunately the ship isn't able to avoid it in time. Impact is made, the ship rocks and pieces of ice fall onto the third-class deck area. The boiler room floods almost immediately and all the watertight doors are activated closed. Several third-class rooms have some water on the floor. The first-class area is dry, but many of them wake up and ask the stewards what happened and why the engines are now stopped. The stewards simply say everything is fine. However, Jack and Rose overhear Captain Smith and Andrews discussing the situation, and they realize things are not at all fine. They decide they have to tell Cal and Ruth what's going on. As they enter the sitting room, Cal sees them coming and has Lovejoy put something into Jack's coat pocket. Cal says that two things have disappeared from the room. One (Rose) has returned, and with Jack here he's sure he knows where the second item is. Cal has Jack searched, and the necklace is found in his pocket. Jack insists he didn't steal it. Cal has Jack handcuffed and brought away. He then slaps Rose just before a steward tells him to dress warmly and bring everyone to the deck in preparation for evacuation.
Captain Smith has a distress call put out over the radio. Rose finds Andrews a short time later and says she can see in his eyes that things are bad, and she asks for the truth. Andrews tells her the ship will be underwater in an hour or so, but please not say anything to the others for fear of panicking the crowd. They're evacuating everyone and trying to keep it orderly, and even the musicians are playing on deck while this happens to keep everyone relaxed. Meanwhile, Jack is handcuffed to a pole in the Master-at-Arms office and being guarded by a gun-wielding Lovejoy, who revels in getting in a cheap shot now and then.
The women and children are being boarded onto lifeboats. Right now it's just the first-class being allowed to do so. Third-class is fenced off. Cal tries his best to get onto a boat as well but is repeatedly refused. Ruth is worried about the classes mixing and the boats being overcrowded, and Rose tells her to put a sock in it. Cal also says the right people will be able to evacuate, inferring Jack won't be one of them. Rose refuses to board and Ruth can do nothing about it as Rose walks away while Ruth's lifeboat lowers into the ocean. Cal tries to stop Rose but she spits in his face and runs off. Rose asks Andrews where Jack is likely being kept, and he tells her. Rose eventually finds Jack, knowing he didn't actually steal the necklace, and busts through the handcuffs with an axe to free him. However, the water level is rising so they have to get back upstairs now. This is a problem as the elevators are not going down there and the gates are locked. Jack and others eventually bust through one of the gates. Elsewhere, Cal retrieves items from the safe and tells Lovejoy he makes his own luck, inferring he'll get onto a lifeboat one way or another. Lovejoy, still with his gun, agrees.
Things are starting to get chaotic now as the third-classers storm the deck. Security guards begin firing weapons in the air to stave off the mob. Cal bribes one of the guards for a spot on the next boat. Lovejoy then comes to Cal and says Rose and Jack have been spotted near a lifeboat on the other side, but the guard is waving to Cal to get onto the lifeboat since it's ready to deploy. Cal goes after Rose and Jack, finding them on the other side and putting his coat around Rose's shoulders. Cal and Jack both talk Rose into getting onto a boat. She won't leave without Jack. Cal assures her he's made an arrangement for another boat that both he and Jack can leave on. Rose boards the boat and it lowers. Jack is well aware there's no arrangement for him, and Cal verifies that. Rose didn't hear that conversation but she still refuses to leave without Jack anyway, jumping back onto the Titanic, telling Jack if one jumps, the other does too, just like when they first met. Cal has had enough. He grabs the gun from Lovejoy's pocket and starts shooting at Jack, who runs off with Rose. They escape back down through the nearly-submerged lower area. Cal then realizes he had the necklace in his coat pocket, and he put the coat on Rose.
The boat is continuing to sink. Jack and Rose have another harrowing escape back to higher ground. Cal returns to the area where he was going to escape, but the guard has changed his mind and throws the money back at Cal. Things continue to go badly. One guard shoots Tommy Ryan dead and is so distraught that he did so, he immediately then shoots himself in the head. Cal finds an abandoned child, picks it up and pretends it's his, so his cowardly ass is allowed to board a lifeboat. The boats are all full now. Many people still remain aboard the ship, however. Some are resigned to their fate. Some are even ready for it, with one first-class magnate refusing to even put on a lifejacket since if he's going to go under, he wants to do so dressed well and drinking a brandy.
In time, the ship sinks further along and eventually, the underwater pressure causes the boat to snap in two, with half the boat being sucked underwater and the second half tipping completely vertical before sinking as well. Jack and Rose are perched on the railing at the very top, and as the ship goes underwater Jack alerts Rose what to do, when to hold her breath, and to not stop kicking to the surface nor letting go of his hand. She's ready. He's ready. They go under. A few seconds later, they along with many others are above the surface in the icy water, screaming for help and clinging to debris to float on. Jack puts Rose onto a large plank that will fit one person on top. The lifeboats can hear the passengers in the water, but despite Molly's cheerleading, they won't go back to help them since they're afraid of the lifeboats being mobbed and destroyed.
Jack holds onto the plank while in the water. He tells Rose to never let go of his hand. He also tells her she will survive this. She will live to be an old, old lady and she will die comfortably in her bed. Hours later, one lifeboat, which is now empty again, returns to the scene. The stewards call out for anyone that is still alive, but all they find are frozen corpses. Rose is awakened by the spotlight and tries to wake up Jack as well, but even though he still has her hand tightly gripped, he has frozen to death as well. Rose releases the grip to let him sink to the bottom, but promises to him she'll never let go, referring to living her life as he wanted her to. Rose can't scream loud enough for the lifeboat to hear her so she jumps into the water, finds a whistle and starts blowing on it. The lifeboat turns and saves her.
We return to 1996 aboard Brock's ship. Old Rose says 700 people got onto lifeboats. 1,500 people went into the water with the ship. Of those 1,500, only her and 5 others survived and were saved. The survivors all boarded the ship The Carpathia and were brought to New York. When she arrived, Rose DeWitt was asked her name. She said her name is Rose Dawson. This is the first time Rose has ever told anyone about Jack. She never even told her granddaughter or the man she herself eventually married.
That evening, Old Rose walks to the edge of Brock's boat in her nightgown. She climbs up on the railing and opens her hand. The Heart of the Ocean necklace is there. She drops it into the ocean and smiles, then returns to bed, where she sleeps comfortably. Next to the bed are many photos of her adventurous life, and we focus in on one of them of Rose aboard the Titanic. The scene dissolves into entering the great hall aboard the Titanic, where Rose is welcomed by everyone and walks up the staircase, where a smiling Jack awaits and offers his arm. They embrace as all others who perished in the Titanic sinking cheer and applaud. Rose and Jack have reunited at last.
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Casting provided little difficulty for Cameron except when it came to the role of Old Rose. Cameron wanted a name from the past who was now in her 80's or 90's but could still handle the demands of acting. Plus, no matter who would play the part, she would need to be made up to look even older as the character is supposed to be about 100 years of age. Fay Wray was considered along with Stuart. Stuart was long-retired from acting and even in her heyday, while successful, was never considered a megastar screen idol. Cameron had never even heard of her. However, when he and Stuart first met, he was bowled over by her spirit and her desire, as well as her keen mind even at the age of 87, and Stuart got the role. It wound up introducing her to a whole new generation and giving her career an unforeseen rebirth. Stuart died in 2010 at the age of 100.
The success of the film we've already talked about. I honestly don't know anyone who hasn't seen it at least once, and I don't care who you are, whether you liked Titanic or not, if this film doesn't grip you emotionally and make you shed a tear somewhere in its 180+-minute running time, you can't be human. This film packs a wallop. The story can be debated as to its believability and impact, but the special effects and the sights of how it all plays out are just breathtaking.
Titanic was the biggest sure thing in history when it came to the Oscars, as far as I'm concerned. There was zero doubt the film was going to receive a boatload (pardon the pun) of nominations, probably a record number of them. There was also zero doubt the film was going to win most if not all of those nominations. For many of the categories, nothing else ever stood a chance against it. Sure enough, the film garnered 14 nominations, tying the all-time record with 1950's All About Eve, and it scored a massive 11 Oscar victories, which also tied the all-time record with 1959's Ben-Hur. (This has since been tied also by 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.) The three categories that saw awards go elsewhere were Best Lead Actress (Winslet lost out to Helen Hunt for As Good as it Gets), Best Supporting Actress (Stuart was defeated by Kim Basinger for L.A. Confidential, which in hindsight I think is a travesty) and Best Makeup (Men in Black won). Oscar wins came for Visual Effects, Film Editing (winners included Cameron), Costume Design, Art/Set Direction, Cinematography, Sound, Sound Editing, Original Score (James Horner), Original Song, Director (Cameron) and Best Picture (Cameron and Jon Landau...Cameron is one of the few in history to win three Oscars in one ceremony). The top prize was won over As Good as it Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential. What was most surprising through all of this was that Leonardo DiCaprio did not score a nomination, nor did the screenplay.
Titanic was the biggest moneymaker of all time until Cameron broke his own record with 2009's Avatar, but I don't see the latter having the same staying power 10, 20, 50 years from now. There will never be another phenomenon like Titanic, a true cinematic achievement on every level.
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