Twenty-five years after it sailed into theaters, Titanic is still in the hearts of moviegoers around the world. Released on Dec. 19, 1997, James Cameron’s grand period romance forever immortalized Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as swoon-inducing lovers who set sail aboard the doomed ship and learn all about letting go. While no one’s debating its titanic impact on pop culture, the film has inspired some passionate arguments over the years. For the movie's silver anniversary, Yahoo Entertainment dives into three of the biggest debates surrounding Titanic with expert commentary from the people who made it. And just like our hearts, we expect these debates to go on.
Titanic’s final moments never fail to turn on the waterworks. Believe it or not, there’s an alternate version of the ending that might have inspired tears … of laughter. In this deleted sequence, Gloria Stuart’s older Rose is confronted by treasure hunter Brock Lovett (the late Bill Paxton) just as she’s about to throw the long-missing Heart of the Ocean diamond overboard. Cameron and Paxton both discussed the discarded finale in previous Yahoo Entertainment interviews, arguing that it gave Brock’s story some closure. But a clear majority of Titanic fans are glad it was dropped in favor of the ending that we all know and love — to cry about.
Jack and Rose weren’t aboard the actual RMS Titanic when it set sail in 1912, but thanks to DiCaprio and Winslet’s passionate performances, those fictional characters feel true to life. And Cameron tried to heighten the film’s reality by incorporating real passengers and crew members into his fictional story. His approach isn’t popular with some historians and Titanic descendants, though. In 1998, Samuel Scott Murdoch — nephew of the Titanic’s first officer, William McMaster Murdoch — publicly objected to the movie’s suggestion that his uncle killed himself as the ship sank. 20th Century Fox ultimately apologized to both Murdoch’s nephew, who died in 2010, and the residents of his hometown, where he’s still celebrated as a hero. That controversy taught Cameron about the perils that can accompany taking creative liberties with history.
When it comes to immortal love stories, tragedy always trumps happily ever after — just ask Romeo and Juliet. Still, many fans feel that Jack and Rose’s romance could have gone on if only Rose had learned to share. In Titanic’s emotional climax, the lovers are stranded in the icy North Atlantic Ocean with only a wooden panel from the capsized ship keeping them both from a watery grave. At Jack’s insistence, Rose remains on the raft while he quietly succumbs to hypothermia … but it sure looks like there’s space for him on that roomy raft. While Winslet has since come to agree that Rose maybe should have moved over, Cameron remains adamant that Jack was always a dead man floating. And he’s the king of the world, after all.
Here’s one thing that’s not up for debate: A quarter century after its release, Titanic hasn’t lost any of its power to entertain. Like the classic cinematic romances that inspired it, the movie is timeless, defying the elements that age so many of its ’90s contemporaries. We’ll never let go — we promise.