Take Me To the Movies!!: Titanic

      The last movie that I paid money to see more than once, and subsequently bought the video as soon as it reached the stores was James Cameron’s epic romance and disaster flick “The Titanic”.  I have always been a little fascinated with the disastrous sinking of the Titanic and I was excited to see how well Hollywood would reenact the event.  The movie was well worth the wait and didn’t disappoint!

      Titanic was released to critical acclaim and rave reviews December 19, 1997.  Not surprising,  it was the first motion picture to reach one billion dollars in sales, and held the esteem of being the highest grossing film for twelve years.  Kind of makes the $200 million they invested in production well worth it!!  The fictional love story of Rose and Jack written by James Cameron is what drew me in.  I love how the movie connects the past with the present, involves treasure hunting, romance, history, and terror!!  In the movie Rose and Jack come from completely different worlds.  Jack is the classic starving artist who won his passage with a lucky hand of cards, and Rose is a rich first class debutante desperate to escape the loveless prearranged nuptials that awaits her on her arrival in America.  

         Jack and Rose first meet aboard Titanic when Rose is determined to escape her obligations by jumping overboard.  Jack convinces her to give life another chance and their friendship evolves to lust and love.  Rose realizes that life with Jack is a heck of a lot more fun whether spitting for distance to dancing below decks.  One of my favorite scenes is where Rose says to the gathered men at the below decks party “So, you think your big tough men?  Try this!“ and proceeds to stand on her tiptoes!  A lady watching exclaims “Je$u$, Mary, and Joseph!!“  mirrors my sentiments exactly!!!  To prove that she isn’t just another stuck up princess, Rose pays Jack to draw her in the nude wearing only a huge heart shaped diamond.  The whole posing in the nude scene gets the stars of the movie hot and bothered and they run below decks and do the wild thing in a car being stored for the voyage.

         The excitement is dialed up to full steam ahead as soon as Titanic hits the iceberg.  The passengers go from oblivious merrymaking to unequivocal terror as the realization hits that the ship is sinking and there are not enough lifeboats to go around.  Jack and Rose race for the top decks to board a life boat only to discover the lifeboats are almost all gone.  Rose finds that she can’t leave Jack behind and chooses to stay on board.  In the end they go down with the ship together and cling to the wreckage until Rose is finally rescued by one of the life boats that chose to come back.  Unfortunately, it was to late for Jack.

       Even though “Titanic” recounts one of the most terrible disasters in maritime history, it also brings authenticity  and life to the people who sailed on her and lost their lives so long ago stoking my love of romance, drama, and extraordinary special effects.    The story is engaging and effectively links the event from long ago with the present.    Instead of relinquishing the valuable diamond to treasure hunter Brock Lovett, Rose returns it to the sea.  The movie ends with Rose  presumably dying and  returning to Jack who awaits her on the Titanic where their love was born.
    
     When it comes to “Titanic”, my heart will go on and it will continue to be a favorite for its captivating story and it‘s edge of the seat excitement!! Makes you want to scream “I’m the king of the world!!”   Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.