Went for the effects and fell in love

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 1998)

I was one of the hold outs that only saw this on video. Decided to buy the widescreen even though it wasn't a director's cut. I loved it. The first time I saw it I was stunned by the portrayal of all those people dying. The love story left me a little cold. The second time I started getting over Leo looking 16 (forget Leo - what about Jonathan Phillips -- 2nd officer Lightoller?) and Kate looking 22 and started watching the love story. It is a beautiful love story/triangle. I was touched by the scene where Rose could have "opened her heart" but chose the path to stay closed. (A portrayal of a critical juncture in many relationships.)
After I read a lot on the Titanic I realized that many of the situations and lines (probably that others say are cheesy) are exact quotes or similar situations that happened on the real Titanic - albeit to other people. Such as a steward telling someone who broke a door that he would have to pay for that. And many, many others. I was also impressed on how accurate Cameron portrayed what we know about the shipwreck. Although I am disappointed on a few glaring errors - i.e. Murdock closing the watertight doors after the ship struck instead of before, Andrews being aware of the ship hitting something. Or don't agree with a few of the portrayals - Bruce Ismay was too evil and there is a lot of dispute on which, if any, officer shot himself.
Overall, this film has been one of the best I have seen. A joy to watch and one I will probably watch over and over. I hope a director's cut is released with more of "A Night to Remember" details. Cameron is one of my favorite directors - Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator and he didn't let me down here.
Although, I tried to talk my father into seeing it and he said, "why would I want to see a bunch of people drown?" I should have said, "they don't drown, mostly they freeze to death." But that probably wouldn't have swayed him.