Titanic

 

In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) and his team aboard the research vessel Keldysh search the wreck of RMS Titanic for a necklace with a rare diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. They recover a safe containing a drawing of a young woman wearing only the necklace. It is dated April 14, 1912, the day the ship struck the iceberg. Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart), claiming to be the person in the drawing, visits Lovett and tells of her experiences aboard the ship. In 1912 Southampton, 17-year-old first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), her fiancé Cal Hockley (Billy Zane), and her mother Ruth (Frances Fisher) board the Titanic. Also boarding the ship at Southampton are Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a down-on-his-luck sketch artist, and his Italian friend Fabrizio (Danny Nucci). Young Rose, angry and distraught that her mother has apparently arranged the marriage, considers committing suicide by jumping from the stern; Jack manages to pull her back over the rail after she loses her footing & nearly falls into the propellers. Discovered with Jack, Rose tells Cal that she was peering over the edge and Jack saved her from falling. Cal is indifferent, but when Rose indicates some recognition is due, he offers Jack a small amount of money. After Rose asks whether saving her life meant so little, he invites Jack to dine with them in first class the following night, along with several prominent first-class passengers - including the Countess of Rothes, Archibald Gracie (Bernard Fox), Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber), Molly Brown (Kathy Bates), and John Jacob Astor (Eric Braeden) & his wife. Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, though Cal and Ruth are wary of him. Following dinner, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in third class. During the party Cal's butler, Spicer Lovejoy (David Warner) stealthily sneaks down the third class staircase to spy on her. After a very tense breakfast the following morning, in which Cal shows an inclination towards violence, Rose becomes even more apprehensive about her upcoming marriage. Ruth emphasizes that Rose's marriage will resolve the DeWitt Bukaters' financial problems. After spotting Rose, Cal and Ruth out on the Boat Deck, Jack stealthily sneaks back into First Class and tries to warn Rose about what she may be facing. Rose rebuffs Jack's advances, but later realizes that she prefers him over Cal. After meeting on the bow at sunset, Rose takes Jack to her state room and displays Cal's engagement present: the Heart of the Ocean. At her request, Jack sketches Rose posing nude wearing it. Meanwhile, in the First-Class Smoking Room, Cal's butler informs him that none of the stewards have seen Rose at all that night. Cal orders the butler to find her. Rose & Jack manage to evade Cal's bodyguard and have sex in an automobile inside the cargo hold. They later visit the forward well deck, and while on it, the lookouts spot an iceberg directly in the ship's path. Orders are given to turn the ship hard a-starboard and run the engines full astern, but the ship takes too long to make the turn and the starboard side scrapes along the iceberg, causing substantial damage to the watertight compartments, including the cargo hold where Jack & Rose had been having sex in the automobile. Jack & Rose witness the collision with the iceberg and overhear the officers and designer discussing its seriousness. On the bridge, builder Thomas Andrews, Captain Smith (Bernard Hill), the ship's officers and White Star Line Managing Director Bruce Ismay (Jonathan Hyde) discuss the damage. The water has reached 14 feet above the keel in 10 minutes and has flooded 5 watertight compartments. Mr. Andrews warns that because of a design flaw, the water will spill over the tops of the bulkheads at E Deck, and this will cause the ship to sink. He gives an hour, two at most, for the ship to remain afloat. Cal discovers Jack's sketch of Rose and a mocking note from her in his safe along with the necklace. When Jack and Rose attempt to tell Cal of the collision, he has his butler slip the necklace into Jack's pocket and accuses him of theft. He is arrested, taken to the Master-at-arms' office, and handcuffed to a pipe. Cal puts the necklace in his own coat pocket. With the ship sinking, Rose is desperate to free Jack. She flees Cal and her mother, who has boarded a lifeboat, and rescues him. They return to the boat deck, where Cal and Jack encourage her to board a lifeboat; Cal claims he can get himself and Jack off safely. After Rose boards one, Cal tells Jack the arrangement is only for himself. As her boat lowers, Rose decides that she cannot leave Jack and jumps back on board. Jack confronts her, angrily at first, but his angers soon turns to affection and they share a series of kisses at the bottom of the Grand Staircase. Cal, seeing this, takes his butler's pistol and chases Rose and Jack into the flooding first class dining saloon. After using up his ammunition, Cal realizes he gave his coat and consequently the necklace to Rose. Jack & Rose are forced to flee below decks to escape Cal, and narrowly escape drowning themselves. They become trapped behind a locked gate, but Jack manages to free them just as the rising water reaches their heads. Out on the Boat Deck, Cal decides to make his own escape. He reminds the First Officer of the arrangement made earlier, but the officer angrily turns on Cal and refuses to allow him boarding. When he spots a lost child hiding behind a winch, he takes the child and is subsequently allowed into a collapsible lifeboat by Chief Officer Wilde. As Cal and others board the collapsible, the water surges into the bridge & wheelhouse, drowning Captain E.J. Smith and causing Cal's boat to start floating off the deck. By now the stern is staring to rise out of the water and the remaining passengers are running farther & farther aft. After braving several obstacles, Jack and Rose return to the boat deck. All the lifeboats have departed and passengers are falling to their deaths as the stern rises out of the water. Water now crashes through the huge dome over the Grand Staircase, drowning those passengers trapped inside. Jack & Rose reach the very stern - where they had first met - and take up positions on it by climbing over the rail, next to Chief Baker Charles Joughin. The ship breaks in half, causing the stern to crash down into the water and killing Lovejoy, the butler. As the bow breaks off it pulls the stern back into the air, leaving it sitting there for a minute. Jack and Rose ride it into the ocean as it fills with water and then plunges to the bottom. As Jack & Rose let go of the stern, the Titanic disappears into the darkness below them, and they both swim to the surface to find themselves in a massive mob of passengers and crew. Within minutes, Rose & Jack find a piece of paneling from the Grand Staircase, and he helps her onto the wooden panel only buoyant enough for one person. Holding the edge, he assures her that she will die an old woman, warm in her bed. He dies of hypothermia but she is saved when Fifth Officer Lowe & some crewmen return to try to find survivors. With Rose hiding from Cal en route, the RMS Carpathia takes the survivors to New York. There she gives her name as Rose Dawson. She later learns that Cal committed suicide after losing everything in the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Lovett abandons his search after hearing Rose's story. Alone on the stern of the Keldysh, Rose takes out the Heart of the Ocean - in her possession all along - and drops it into the sea over the wreck site. While she is seemingly asleep in her bed, photos on her dresser depict a life of freedom and adventure, partly inspired by Jack. A young Rose returns to the ship - at first, a gloomy wreck on the bottom - but as Rose reaches the Promenade Deck the ship begins to glow with light. As she enters the Grand Staircase she is greeted by those who perished on the ship - including the Titanic's band, First Officer Murdoch, Thomas Andrews, Jack's friends Fabrizio & Tommy Ryan, and standing at the clock is Jack himself. He extends a hand and they reunite, to the happy cheers of the perished passengers & crew.