MovieChat Forums > Raise the Titanic (1980) Discussion > If only the real wreck looked this good!

If only the real wreck looked this good!

posted 13 years ago by Mccadoo
6 replies | jump to latest

I understand that the condition of the Titanic in this movie is totally unrealistic and that raising it could never have been a real possibility.

But the actual wreck just looks like such a mangled piece of junk that it's grim just looking at photos of it. I get depressed everytime I see it on TV and think of what it once was.

What it does do though is demonstrate beyond any doubt that the sinking was an incredibly violent event that cost a lot of people their lives, and totally destroyed the ship in the process.

[–] strntz 12 years ago

Not sure of your message here. At the time this was filmed, the location of Titanic was not even known, much less it's condition. It's possible researchers may have known from eyewitness accounts that it split, but it was not generally known. If the wreck and it's condition was discovered prior to 1980, this film wouldn't have been made.

I saw this on TV, and thought the effects were pretty damned good (haven't seen it since).

Just once, I'd like someone to call me sir without adding 'you're making a scene' ~H Simpson

[–] LuluMcAfee 11 years ago

the only real gripe I had with it was the fact they honestly didn't think any of the WOOD would be rotted and walked on it like it had sunk just yesterday? Even in 1980 the ship had been under water for 68 YEARS!!!

Don't you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can't be exactly who you are. Lady Gaga

[–] DenimChicken 12 years ago

At the time of filming they thought it was in once piece (despite several survivors claiming it broke in half) and they also felt that due to the cold water and pressure at the bottom of the sea where they though it was located, that there stood a good chance that it would have been essentially 'frozen' in it's original condition. Of course due to being mangled on it's original sinking there was no way this could have been the case, but they didn't know for sure at this time.

[–] persen1 11 years ago

Even though broken in half in the real life, the Titanic was in a rather good state when Bob Ballard found her.
Its all the trips and thefts from the Titanic by others over the years, who has brought her to the sad state she was in the final time Ballard visited her to bring the memorial plaque there.

That is also why he is fighting to get the Titanic site off-limits for all.
Strange it has not happened yet, considering its a grave site. There are tons of other sunken ships who are listed as grave sites, where its stricktly forbidden to dive.

[–] boatlandmore 11 years ago

It was a little silly for the movie to show the ship's hull in solid condition. Even if it did sink in one piece, it was moving like a rocket ship when it made it all the way down to the bottom & it would have slammed into the sea floor at incredible speed, breaking the keel & shooting debris & ship parts everywhere. The most ridiculous thing they showed was the ship blasting up to the surface with the smoke stacks still in place. Those would have been the first things to fall apart when it sank & at the crazy speed of the assent shown in the film, well, there's just no way, they're not structural, hell, one wasn't even functional. They're practically sheet metal tubes tied down by cables. Just plain Hollywood garbage here.

[–] TheGuyWithTheFeet 11 years ago

Let's remember that when the novel was written, there was a theory that at the depth that the wreck lay that there would be no oxygen and that the wreck would be in pristine condition. Look at some of the books that came out around the time of the finding of the wreck. There's one (and I don't remember the author but it's a burgundy cover and is printed letter size only horizontal) that contains a drawing of how the wreck might be explored. And it shows stuffed chairs and pictures still hanging on the wall.

The belief was the wreck would be in pristine condition, which is what heightened the romance of the story. A huge ocean liner in perfect condition sitting on the bottom of the ocean waiting to be raised. That's what made Cussler write the novel in the first place.

I mean, really no one had explored the ocean at that depth. People didn't know how the depth would react. In many ways, finding the Titanic taught people about the deep ocean.

As far as the ship breaking up, it was always a possibility that the ship had broken up when sinking. About half the witnesses testified that it did. The only reason that it was a shock to the general public is that in movies, the ship had been shown sinking intact forever. My theory on that is that it was a special effects consideration and no one wanted to spend money on showing a ship breaking in half. It was far cheaper to just sink the thing intact. And FAR more romantic and poetic so see a majestic liner slip peacefully beneath the waves. Look at the early movies, there aren't even people clinging to the models as they sink. They just go under silently, save for some rumbling. Seeing the ship break up would have ruined some of that.

Therefore, the testimony of those that saw the ship break up was forgotten over the years in favor of Hollywood romance.

So, yes. People thought that it was in perfect condition. And I think a lot of people thought that it was in one piece. Cussler probably suspected that it wasn't. But it made for a better story to depict it was being in one piece.