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Titanic has grossed $600 million worldwide and is still going strong, remaining steadfast atop box office charts week after week. The sinking of the Titanic has endured through the years and has produced some memorable movies in the past, notably 1958's documentary-drama feature A Night To Remember. But few dreamed the story could be transformed into a blockbuster smash. Writer/Director James Cameron did just so, calling the bluff of his critics who claimed audiences would be disinterested, knowing how the movie would end. And yet Titanic is the year's most popular film and seems on course to challenge Jurassic Park for the all-time Box Office record. Much of the film's success may be due to the "frame tale" structure. That is, it is a retrospective told by an elderly survivor of the wreck, a woman named Rose (Gloria Stewart).
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As the ship sails back in 1912, the younger Rose (Kate Winslet) has a sudden seafaring romance with a freewheeling kid from steerage named Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio). His charisma is surely a giant factor in repeat viewings by audiences. Intercut with the love story is natural exposition, as we are told in clear terms how the ship faces trouble and why it may be lethal. Titanic's screenplay is model of clarity unusual for a film of this scope. It pays attention to detail, not just the larger-than-life historical ideas. This is what produces an emotional final hour. We're not gawking at spectacular effects, but a process that involves human error, human greed, and the lives of well-written characters.
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One reason audiences have been so engaged with this film is that Titanic does not insult the viewer's intelligence or shock them with violence and gore. It's a vast, historical epic, but on a human scale like Lawrence of Arabia (And like Peter O'Toole then, audiences today go nuts for DiCaprio). Everything is done is at the service of the characters, and so it produces a tale gripping enough for theatergoers to return despite knowing how it all ends. Perhaps they seek to remind themselves of the craftsmanship of classic, epic filmmaking back when the word "epic" referred to the story and not just the budget or special effects.
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[Article from the January/February 1998 Issue of PPM]
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