Titanic (1997)

This is a look at a film, which, for better or worse, became even more well-known than the real-life tragedy it depicts.

Over the course of his career, James Cameron has directed a total of 8 feature films thus far. The most successful of these was his last one, Avatar, which was for a time both the most expensive movie ever made and the highest grossing movie of all time. Ironically, the film which held both these titles before it was Cameron’s previous movie Titanic.

Before it was finally released in December 1997, that film made headlines for months for its huge budget, which kept getting higher and higher. But the film was released in time to get Oscar buzz and before long, it made more than enough to cover its huge cost. It also boosted the careers of its two stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and sadly or not, ensured that the big studios would keep giving the green light to super-expensive productions. It would even make history by tying with Ben-Hur as the film with the most Oscar wins (11), a record that has yet to be broken, although it would be matched just a few years later by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. One of the Oscars that Titanic won was for Best Original Song for “My Heart Will Go On”, which was sung by Celine Dion and which topped the Billboard charts. Hell, the movie even has a movie line that would go down as a classic: Jack’s “I’m the king of the world!”, which Cameron would infamously echo when he won three Oscars for this film (Best Picture, Director, and Editing).

In light of all this extreme buzz, how does the film itself hold up?

First, there’s much to admire about this film. Both DiCaprio and Winslet are appealing in their roles, making it easy to to root for them, although the scene-stealer is Gloria Stuart as the older version of Winslet’s character Rose DeWitt Bukater. The film is bookended by Rose relating her story about the title ship to treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton), who makes headlines when he finds a drawing of Rose wearing a valuable necklace while scavenging the remains of the Titanic. With her granddaughter Lizzy (Suzy Amis, who became Cameron’s fifth and current wife), Rose meets up with Lovett at the site of the sinking.

The bulk of the film gives us an eye-popping recreation of the ship using both models and CGI. This is why one Oscar I’m glad the film won was for the Art Direction by Peter Lamont, who previously did Aliens for Cameron, as well as a number of the James Bond films.

The love story that emerges between the upper-class Rose and carefree lower-class artist Jack Dawson (DiCaprio) is, dramatically speaking, nothing we haven’t seen before. But it’s still pleasant thanks to the two leads.

But sadly, the film starts to become cliché-ridden when we meet Rose’s fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane), who’s basically the same annoying bully that’s been in nearly every teenage comedy/drama that came before this film. Not helping matters is Rose’s mother Ruth (Frances Fisher), who’s just as annoying as Cal, which ends up making us wonder why these two aren’t the ones set to walk down the aisle. There’s even the overused trope of the villainous Cal having a sinister henchman, played by David Warner, an actor who can always be counted on to act sinister (he was Jack the Ripper and tortured Picard, after all). The pressure and abuse (verbal from Ruth, and physical from Cal) are presented as the reasons why Rose tries to commit suicide, which also happens to be when she first meets Jack.

Happily, there’s one passenger who’s a delight to watch and that’s Molly Brown (Kathy Bates), who treats both Rose and Jack with decency when Jack surprises Rose, Cal, and Ruth by dressing impeccably for dinner in the first class section one evening.

Not surprisingly, this leads to Rose’s romance with Jack going further, to the point where he draws the sketch of her, followed by sex in a car in the cargo hold. It’s shortly after that when the ship hits that iceberg.

But clichés set in again when Cal sets out to get rid of Jack, even framing him for stealing Rose’s necklace. Jack is subsequently handcuffed and locked in one of the offices. Yes, even though the ship is starting to sink, the villain of the piece takes the time to engage in mustache-twirling antics.

However, chaos begins to increase and soon everyone on the ship is panicking as it starts to sink. One thing leads to another as our lovebirds are reunited, with Rose even jumping off a lifeboat back onto the doomed ship to be with Jack.

Soon we see the money shot (in a film full of them, I might add) when the Titanic is sticking up high in the air before the pressure causes a huge, horrific snap that breaks the ship in two. Our lovebirds are, of course, at the very edge of the ship as it goes down.

They surface and make their way to floating debris for Rose to climb onto. This is point which is probably the most debated moment in the film, as Jack remains in the ice cold Atlantic water and eventually dies as a result. Many have argued that he could’ve either gotten onto the debris with Rose or they could’ve found something else for him to climb onto. I can certainly understand that stance, but at least thanks to DiCaprio, Jack’s death is a sad moment. Fortunately, Rose informs us that Cal killed himself later on while she got on with her life.

We then get another “oh, come on” moment when we learn that Rose has actually had the necklace that treasure hunter Lovett has been coveting all along, and promptly throws it in the ocean. But the film gets an appropriately bittersweet ending when Rose quietly dies and is reunited with Jack in heaven, to the thunderous applause of their fellow Titanic passengers.

Many of the characters in the film are fictitious, with Bates’s Molly Brown, Capt. Smith (Bernard Hill), and Titanic builder Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber) being exceptions. Perhaps inevitably some people noted inaccuracies with how some of these characters were depicted in the film. One important inaccuracy was the depiction of the ship’s first officer William Murdoch (Ewan Stewart), who in the film kills himself in a fit of panic as the ship is being evacuated. Murdoch’s nephew took Cameron to task for this, because his uncle died helping people escape from the ship. Scott Neeson, the vice president of 20th Century Fox (which released the film) later made an apology to the town of Dalbeattie, Scotland, where Murdoch lived. Cameron himself apologized as well, although he insisted he meant no disrespect with his depiction of Murdoch.

Historical inaccuracies aside, Titanic itself is certainly impressive to look at and Cameron stated from the beginning that this was a fictional story. But I can’t help but wonder how the drama would’ve played out if the character of Cal was either removed altogether or actually a nice guy, which would’ve put Rose in a dramatically intriguing conundrum as she found herself suddenly falling for another man. DiCaprio and Winslet would both go on to win Oscars, but Zane ended up being forever known as someone who plays a jerk to a generation of young girls who fell in love with DiCaprio thanks to this film.

If I had to pick my favorite Cameron movie, it would probably be a tie between The Terminator and Aliens. The former was a nerve-jolting thriller which managed to avoid many of the plot holes that time travel stories often fall into, while the latter (like the original Alien) worked beautifully as both a horror movie and a sci-fi movie. Like Titanic, both films had protagonists that are easy to root for, but unlike Titanic, they had tight screenplays.

Ironically, Cameron’s next film Avatar, which came out 12 years after Titanic, would also suffer from many of the same issues even though it also had great production values along with a great cast.

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)

This article looks at Quentin Tarantino's latest film.

The Oscars are almost here again, which is why I’m looking at Quentin Tarantino’s latest opus, which is nominated for a few Academy Awards this year and has already gotten Golden Globes for his screenplay and Brad Pitt’s performance. For the few that may not be familiar with the premise of this movie, it takes place in 1969 Hollywood, specifically just before Charles Manson’s killing spree shook up Los Angeles, and subsequently the world.

But the main characters are fictitious actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio, who previously worked with Tarantino in Django Unchained) and his BFF/stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt, who was previously in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds). The movie basically follows them around as they contend with how Hollywood is changing as the ’60s draw to a close. At the same time, like Forrest Gump, they encounter real-life figures, such as Sharon Tate (here played by Margot Robbie), who in the film is Dalton’s neighbor and would tragically become one of Manson’s victims, as well as Manson himself (here played by Damon Herriman), and even Bruce Lee (played by Mike Moh).

Tate’s sister Debra, who’s dedicated her life to ensuring that the perpetrators of the horrific events of that August remain behind bars, initially took issue with Tarantino making a film revolving around this subject, but the director assured her that his work would not glorify Manson and his murderous followers. Debra would go on to praise Robbie’s performance, even loaning her perfume and jewelry that belonged to her sister. More critical though, was Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon. The Manson killings occurred basically as Lee himself was beginning his rise as a movie/martial arts legend. Lee and Tate even met shortly before her death, and on a more sad note, Lee was briefly considered a suspect in her murder by Tate’s widower Roman Polanski.

But Shannon’s issue with Tarantino’s film centers on a moment where Booth meets Lee on the set of the TV show The Green Hornet, which Lee starred in, and the two proceed to kick each other’s asses before Booth is thrown out. Shannon stated:

"[Lee] was continuously marginalized and treated like kind of a nuisance of a human being by white Hollywood, which is how he’s treated in the film by [Tarantino]."

This sequence also drew criticism from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whom Lee worked with in Game of Death.

"Of course, Tarantino has the artistic right to portray Bruce any way he wants. But to do so in such a sloppy and somewhat racist way is a failure both as an artist and as a human being."

Moh, a fan of Lee’s, would state that while Lee didn’t always go easy on stuntmen, Tarantino sought to respect his legacy with the film.

Now as to my view of the movie itself, it’s certainly as watchable and as flamboyant as Tarantino’s other works, and pays homage to numerous other movies. Indeed, this film begins with the Columbia logo as it was presented in the ’60s, and the film’s title is inspired by the Sergio Leone masterworks Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America.

DiCaprio, Pitt, and Robbie are all great, as is the rest of the cast. I especially got a kick out of Dakota Fanning playing Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who herself would make headlines just a few years after Manson was convicted when she attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford.

Considering that the main characters are fictitious, it was pretty much inevitable that some dramatic license would be taken with the drama in this film. Not that Tarantino was the first director to do such a thing, of course. Heck, I’ve actually become more lenient about this sort of thing in recent years because some films, such as Steven Spielberg’s thrilling Bridge of Spies, begin with the words “Inspired by True Events” rather than “Based on a True Story”. However, for all of Once Upon a Time‘s good points, I honestly don’t know what to make of this film.

This is because of the ending, where we expect a recreation of the murders themselves, or at least Dalton and Booth’s reactions to them. Instead, we find Manson followers Tex Watson (Austin Butler), Susan Atkins (Mikey Madison), and Patricia Krenwinkel (Madisen Beaty) cutting phone lines before coming, not to Tate’s home, but to Dalton’s. Watson gives Booth his infamous “I’m the devil and I’m here to do the devil’s work” line, but Booth sics his dog on them and ends up killing Watson and Krenwinkel before the noise wakes up Dalton, who finishes off Atkins thanks to a flamethrower that he got as a souvenir on one of his films, which makes me wonder if any of the crew on Return of the Jedi got to keep one of those cool speeder bikes.

This ending sequence is both hilariously thrilling (you gotta love the site of the dog literally having Watson by the balls) as well as a bit sad, as it’s such a tragic shame that the real-life victims were unable to get this kind of help.

I’m all for a film that ends on a completely unexpected note than what the audience was anticipating, so I don’t condemn the movie for such a turnaround. But the ending, which has Booth taken to a hospital for his injuries while Dalton accepts an invitation for drinks at Sharon’s house after the commotion, actually took me aback. This is probably because we know that real-life events didn’t end on such a nice note for her or the guests that were in her house that night.

By 1969, Sharon herself was known for being Mrs. Polanski as well as making her way up the Hollywood ladder. She had memorable roles in Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers and The Wrecking Crew, while her heartbreaking performance in Valley of the Dolls is the only reason that movie is worth watching. In his biography on the actress, Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Greg King notes that she could have potentially gone on to become an acclaimed actress had she been allowed to continue with her career.

But the ending of this film basically says that these horrific events never occurred at all, and that makes me uncomfortable. Plus the fact that, while those who actually committed the killings end up as worm food in the movie (in real life, both Watson and Krenwinkel are still rotting in prison, while Atkins died in 2009), the film ends with Manson himself and the rest of his clan still at large. Tarantino has stated that he plans to make just one more film (which would be his 10th, or 11th if you count Death Proof) before taking a hiatus. Maybe his next film will be a sequel concerning the wrath of Manson.

Call that last comment sarcastic or even stupid if you like, but I can’t help but think of it considering that there are still reports stating that Tarantino may direct a Star Trek movie. The director is a lifelong Trekker and I’m open to him helming a Trek production as long as there’s no Neelix. So I can’t help but wonder if Trek was an influence on Tarantino’s ending to this film, as alternate realities were a Trek staple that became annoying once Voyager decided to regurgitate it in basically every other episode. Hence, if Tarantino plans a follow-up to this film, Manson could come back like Khan to avenge the deaths of his followers and begin his reign of terror anew with presumably Dalton and Booth playing the Kirk role.

Yes, I’m aware that Tarantino did something similar in Inglourious Basterds, but the fact that this film ends with Sharon and her guests happily resuming their restful evening prompts me to call this movie out on it. Imagine if Sir Richard Attenborough’s classic epic Gandhi had the title character surviving his assassination in 1948 and having him reminisce about the experiences that the movie chronicles. Somehow, I doubt that that film would be as acclaimed as it is with such a twist.

The Hollywood system itself began changing as the ’60s ended for numerous reasons and films that were coming out in the latter part of the decade such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, In the Heat of the Night, and Easy Rider were reflecting those changes. Manson’s killing spree sent both the industry and Los Angeles itself into a panic, and many say that it was also the beginning of the end to the idea that hippies were a peaceful sort. Sharon herself was a tragic victim of circumstance because Manson was acquainted with the previous owner of her home, where her murder took place. Hence, I came to this film expecting a study of how people like Dalton and Booth were adjusting to an industry that was slowly but surely demanding different expectations of them while contending with a series of murders which put others in their line of work on edge for a while. Instead, the film depicts these two actually becoming bona fide heroes, with their careers certain to keep thriving as a result.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood convincingly recreates the time and place, and it’s certainly entertaining. But while dramatic license is one thing, saying “oh, these people didn’t really die” is something different. I’m still anxious to see what Tarantino plans to do next, but his latest film is a double-edged sword for me.