# Fact: Titanic is the Best Movie Ever Made or Ever Will Be Made. Discuss. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461 "2013-08-06T01:46:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/101 "2013-08-10T01:44:19Z")
I’ve only seen **Titanic** from beginning to end once. I only saw it then because it was on TV and my wife and one of her friends wanted to watch it and I was pretty much forced to sit through it. That’s something I sincerely hope I never have to suffer through again. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/102 "2013-08-10T09:00:10Z")
When I saw Titanic at the cinema, I thought it was the greatest movie I’d ever seen. I bought it as soon at it was released for the home market, and I never managed to sit through a second viewing. Not really sure what happened there. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/103 "2013-08-10T09:43:14Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > So some moist wench goes down on the hero and then goes down with all hands, and we’re supposed to cheer? This damp tart gets us all hot and bothered and we don’t even get to see her naked, but we’re supposed be all gooey sentimental about her tragic death? And don’t even get me started on the stars who were in the movie. Which movie are you talking about? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/104 "2013-08-10T19:27:29Z")
Favorite movie: Back to the Future Best movie: 2001: ASO I love Titanic, but it might only be in my top 100, let alone top 25 films. For that it’d have to compete against Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Shawshank, even The Color Purple and The Matrix. Titanic has some spectacular moments, and it’s a great film, but not by a long stretch the best movie of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/105 "2013-08-11T19:14:06Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > True. That is a major reason it so great. You get not one but two plot twists at the end of a real historical story that somehow make it even more tragic. Even when the heroine has a chance to make everything right as much as possible 85 years later, she fucks people over again in the same way she always did. You don’t see that type of thing very often. _What_ plot twists? I knew half an hour in that one of them would die and that it would most likely be the pretty one. I also guessed that the jewel would end up at the bottom of the ocean one way or another. :rolleyes: Cliché city. Titanic is basically a chick-flick with a big sinking ship in it. Best film ever made? Either A Matter of Life and Death or A Canterbury Tale. Or maybe something else by Powell & Pressburger Oh and I bet Shagnasty a fiver that I know his imdb name. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/106 "2013-08-11T20:53:59Z")
Battlefield Earth was a much better movie than Titanic. Hands Down. Full Stop. The scope and pacing of Battlefield Earth, the acting, the age old story of oppression has never been told so well. Battlefield Earth! ---
**Author:** ![timcat4843](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b2d939/32.png) [@timcat4843](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timcat4843)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/107 "2013-08-26T17:04:34Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It has been 16 years now and I have seen Titanic possibly over 1,000 times although I lost count at about the 300 mark. This movie is still incredible. You have a compelling character driven drama superimposed on real life events and that is hard to pull off. The number of movies that have the same repeat watch-ability are in the single digits but Titanic does it the best of all. Whether _Titanic_ is the best movie ever made, is open to debate. Because there are so many great movies, IMHO, it’s virtually impossible to single out just one film, for the coveted title. However, I can say that _Titanic_ is my favorite movie. So sad. So beautiful. _Titanic_ is a brilliant movie of epic proportions. Lost track of the number of times I saw it theatrically. Now, I have the limited edition 4-disc Blu-ray, which contains both the 2D and 3D disc. So I can enjoy my favorite movie, whenever the mood strikes me. Wanted to watch the 3D version yesterday, but my active shutter 3D glasses don’t work anymore. So I watched the 2D version instead and enjoyed it like it was first time. ---
**Author:** ![timcat4843](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b2d939/32.png) [@timcat4843](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timcat4843)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/108 "2013-08-26T17:25:09Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > When I saw Titanic at the cinema, I thought it was the greatest movie I’d ever seen. I bought it as soon at it was released for the home market, and I never managed to sit through a second viewing. Not really sure what happened there. Your missing the visual impact, of that mammoth screen at the commercial cinema, where you saw _Titanic._ That’s why most movies seem _“watered down,”_ when you view them at home. Size does matter! ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/109 "2013-08-26T17:25:39Z")
If we’re judging best movie by how many times I’ve seen it and can continue to see it and still enjoy every second, then the hands down winner for Best Movie of All Time has to go to _ **The Princess Bride** _. Brilliant writing, excellent plot, phenomenal acting and comedic timing. It is essentially flawless. Now, if you’re venturing into Best Movie as far as pure cinematic mastery…it becomes a lot harder for me to pick. Those that ping an emotional response in me rank high, therefore _ **Saving Private Ryan** _ rates high on the list, but it’s not perfect. Similarly, _ **Field of Dreams** _ creates that level of emotional response, but it’s also hard to vote up there. _ **The Lord of the Rings** _ trilogy is perhaps the greatest cinematic epic, though some pacing problems and the fact its a trilogy make it hard to single any individual film out as best ever. Hmmmmmm. _ **Inglorious Basterds** _ might deserve a mention here… ---
**Author:** ![timcat4843](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b2d939/32.png) [@timcat4843](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timcat4843)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/110 "2013-08-26T17:32:44Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > Brilliant writing, excellent plot, phenomenal acting and comedic timing. It is essentially flawless. You just described _Titanic._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/111 "2013-08-26T17:38:05Z")
> [@timcat4843](#): > > You just described _Titanic._ 🙂 No, no I didn’t. Titanic is a very good film. I’ve always enjoyed it, but while I think DiCaprio is an outstanding actor, this was one of his worst performances (it’s still good, but nothing compared to some of his other roles). Winslet was very good, but a lot of her dialogue was very clunky. Not her fault, but Cameron’s. I’d put Titanic up as a very good film, but certainly not at best of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/112 "2013-08-27T02:01:28Z")
Is there some kind of _Titanic_ cult that I don’t know about? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/113 "2013-08-27T03:02:35Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Is there some kind of _Titanic_ cult that I don’t know about? There is unlike any other movie or story that I know of. What other movie still incites large exhibits in many large cities around the world 17 years after it came out? Sure, the Titanic was an interesting historical curiosity starting immediately after it occurred and even more after it was rediscovered but the really detailed and expensive exhibits didn’t get built until after the movie was made. I have been to the exhibits in Chicago and Las Vegas personally and they were the highlight of both trips. I have not yet been to the movie set complete with a 3/4 scale (one-sided) replica of the ship used in the movie in California but other family members have and I want to as well someday. There were (are?) lavish Titanic themed cruises that recreate the voyage minus the sinking plus exhibits in the shipyard where it was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There is a whole industry built around that ship’s sinking and it really caught on after the movie was made in 1997. In contrast, Pearl Harbor has a very impressive and moving memorial in Oahu, HI that I have been to as well but there is only one of those and the disappointing movie had nothing to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/114 "2013-08-27T03:40:52Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There is unlike any other movie or story that I know of. . . . 2001: A Space Odyssey. The 2001 cult is huge, and ferociously determined. It will outlast the Titanic cult, mark my words. (Er, yes, I am a member of the 2001 cult… Best damn movie ever made… Grumble grumble… Kids these days… When I was young, we had to hand draw our computer graphics! And walk uphill both ways to get out of the gravity well! But at least our AI worked, and worked well. Except when it broke down and went on a murderous rampage. But that kept us sharp! Sharp, I tell you!) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/115 "2013-08-27T04:16:53Z")
I think the Titanic film I most liked was _A Night to Remember_. Titanic was an ok film, but there were a few things I didn’t like about it. The first was the song. The second was Leonardo DiCaprio, who I like an an actor, but didn’t really like in that. The third is Kate Winslet, who I don’t really care for as an actor. The fourth is the whole romantic plot. I mean, you’ve got a movie about the Titanic, and you have to force in a romance? I just want to see the ship sink. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/116 "2013-08-27T13:11:11Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There is unlike any other movie or story that I know of. What other movie still incites large exhibits in many large cities around the world 17 years after it came out? Sure, the Titanic was an interesting historical curiosity starting immediately after it occurred and even more after it was rediscovered but the really detailed and expensive exhibits didn’t get built until after the movie was made. I have been to the exhibits in Chicago and Las Vegas personally and they were the highlight of both trips. I cannot express how wrong you are. That’s like saying the people weren’t really interested in the Holocaust until “Schindler’s List” came out. Yes, there might be a temporary peak in interest after a movie, but the reason that the exhibits, and movies about these things, remain popular so many years later is because the REAL stories are so compelling. I’ve been to Titanic exhibits and not once did I think about Jack and Rose. Instead, I thought about the real people, the real survivors of that real event. Don’t get me wrong. I think that Cameron deserved the Oscar, and I think “Titanic” was a great movie, because he did so many things right. For instance, he was able to capture in glorious detail how huge, how magnificent, how awe-inspiring that ship must have been. It was so beautifully filmed. And he was able to retell, in ways that directors hadn’t before, how violent it must have been when that ship breached water and then split into two. Just watching those people falling hundreds of feet to their death was worth the price of admission, because I hadn’t ever thought about that before. Add in those awful dramatic moments after the ship sank, in pitch black, when the survivors in lifeboats, had to endure the moans and desperate calls for help from their doomed shipmates, who were slowly freezing to death in the water… Brrr! So, while movies reenacting events might have help spur the imagination, it isn’t the movie at all that brings people into exhibits. It’s the story itself. It’s knowing that this tragedy actually happened to real people. And it’s imagining ourselves on that ship, or in that concentration camp, and imagining how we would have felt in that situation, that makes these stories truly timeless. To prove my point that it wasn’t the movie, but the event itself, that is so intriguing, ask yourself this: If Cameron had made a movie about a fictional ship sinking, would it have been as compelling? Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/117 "2013-08-27T13:47:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Rose was just wild like that. She couldn’t do anything without some extra drama or flair. > > I have this personal addendum to the ending that I choose to believe. Rose became pregnant with Jack’s baby during that encounter and went on to have the child. She covered for it by hooking up with some guy named Mr. Calvert shortly after she arrived in New York and forced him to marry her claiming that she was pregnant with his child. They moved to the Midwest and had a few other kids but Rose was never much of a mother and spent much of her time touring around the country claiming to do acting gigs but she really just used that as an excuse to fly planes and ride roller coasters like Jack told her about (look closely at the pictures at the very end of the movie to see documentation for that). Her poor husband was a dutiful father however and always picked up her slack. > > Rose’s oldest child was a son she named Jack as well and he went on to father her granddaughter Lizzy who we meet escorting Rose to exploratory vessel. Even though Rose never admits it directly, she is really telling Lizzie about the story of her romance with her true grandfather that she had never mentioned to anyone else before. > > Also, through a huge stroke of luck, the Heart of the Ocean happens to plop down at the bottom of the ocean right where they send the remote sub the next morning and the crew retrieves it easily. Brock Lovett becomes very wealthy and eventually marries Lizzie to complete the circle. Back at home, the grandchildren of her original fiancee Caledon (Cal) Hockley see news reports about the Heart of the Ocean find and have Rose murdered just out of spite. > The End. Actually this is what happens next: [Titanic 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLiG7Fm9Ad0). And I’m gonna go with **Singin’ In The Rain** as the bestest movie ever. A fast-paced riot of catchy tunes, spectacular dancing and hilarious jokes if ever there was one. Never mind Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds; Donald O’Connor and Jean Hagen are the Jack and Karen to their Will and Grace, only actually funny. “I caaaaahn’t stannem!”. If I’m channel-flipping and catch this on somewhere, I have to watch to the end. And of course I have it on DVD. Even my five year old daughter loves it and asks for it to be put on. By comparison, waiting through an endlessly tedious story of moony-eyed adultery amongst a couple of soppy idiots while waiting for the boat to sink is my idea of hell. Or at least Limbo. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/118 "2013-08-27T13:48:14Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > That part where Jack and Rose are gettin’ it on (in the rich guy’s car) was kind of silly-why not just bang Jack when the fiancee is at one of those brand and cigars sessions? Amd the sex was terrible, demonstrably so. My proof? They had sex on a cloth car seat, and afterward the seat remained unstained. Clearly they were not enjoying themselves. ---
**Author:** ![timcat4843](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b2d939/32.png) [@timcat4843](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timcat4843)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/119 "2013-08-29T13:12:12Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > 2001: A Space Odyssey. The 2001 cult is huge, and ferociously determined. That movie put me to sleep. Dull, boring film. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461/120 "2013-08-29T13:59:53Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > So some moist wench goes down on the hero and then goes down with all hands, and we’re supposed to cheer? This damp tart gets us all hot and bothered and we don’t even get to see her naked, but we’re supposed be all gooey sentimental about her tragic death? And don’t even get me started on the stars who were in the movie. You talkin’ about **Spamalot**? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-titanic-is-the-best-movie-ever-made-or-ever-will-be-made-discuss/665461.md?page=7)