Titanic (1997)

Gloria Stuart: Old Rose

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lewis Bodine : We never found anything on Jack... there's no record of him at all.

  Old Rose : No, there wouldn't be, would there? And I've never spoken of him until now... Not to anyone... Not even your grandfather... A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you know there was a man named Jack Dawson and that he saved me... in every way that a person can be saved. I don't even have a picture of him. He exists now... only in my memory.

• Old Rose : [about Jack drawing her naked]  My heart was pounding the whole time. It was the most erotic moment of my life. Up until then, at least.

  Lewis Bodine : So what happened next?

  Old Rose : You mean, did we "do it"? Sorry to disappoint you Mr. Bodine, but Jack was very professional.

• Old Rose : [to Brock, Lizzy, and Brock's staff]  It's been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It *really* was...

• Lewis Bodine : [narrating an animated sequence of the Titanic's sinking on a TV monitor]  Okay, here we go. She hits the berg on the starboard side, right? She kind of bumps along, punching holes like Morse code, dit dit dit, along the side, below the water line. Then the forward compartments start to flood. Now as the water level rises, it spills over the watertight bulkheads, which unfortunately don't go any higher then E deck. So now as the bow goes down, the stern rises up. Slow at first, then faster and faster until finally she's got her whole ass sticking up in the air - And that's a big ass, we're talking 20 - 30,000 tons. Okay? And the hull's not designed to deal with that pressure, so what happens? "KRRRRRRKKK!" She splits. Right down to the keel. And the stern falls back level. Then as the bow sinks it pulls the stern vertical and then finally detaches. Now the stern section just kind of bobs there like a cork for a couple of minutes, floods and finally goes under about 2:20am, two hours and forty minutes after the collision. The bow section planes away, landing about half a mile away going about 20 - 30 knots when it hits the ocean floor. "BOOM, PLCCCCCGGG!"... Pretty cool, huh?

  Old Rose : Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine. Of course, the experience of it was... somewhat different.

• Old Rose : [to Brock, Lizzy, and Brock's staff]  I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it. An endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches. Always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared... or even noticed...

• [Looking at a salvaged hand mirror] 

  Old Rose : This was mine. How extraordinary! And it looks the same as it did last time I saw it. The reflection's changed a bit...

• [Talking about Caledon Hockley] 

  Old Rose : That's the last time I ever saw him. He married, of course. And inherited his millions. But the crash of '29 hit his interests hard, and he put a pistol in his mouth that year. Or so I read.

• Bobby Buell : Brock! Brock! There's a satellite call for you.

  Brock Lovett : Bobby, we're launching now. See these submersibles going into the water?

  [motions to the subs] 

  Bobby Buell : Trust me, buddy, you wanna take this call.

  [nods seriously as Bobby walks towards the satelitte phone] 

  Brock Lovett : This better be good.

  [follows Bobby to the satellite phone] 

  Bobby Buell : Now, ya gotta speak up, she's kinda old.

  Brock Lovett : Great.

  [picks up phone] 

  Brock Lovett : This is Brock Lovett. How can I help you, Mrs...?

  [turns to Bobby] 

  Bobby Buell : Calvert. Rose Calvert.

  Brock Lovett : ...Mrs. Calvert?

  Old Rose : I was just wondering if you had found the "Heart of the Ocean" yet, Mr. Lovett.

  Brock Lovett : [turns to Bobby, completely shocked] 

  Bobby Buell : Told ya ya wanted to take the call.

  Brock Lovett : All right, you have my attention, Rose. Can you tell us who the woman in the picture is?

  Old Rose : Oh yes, the woman in the picture is me!

• [Jack is teaching Rose how to spit] 

  Rose : Mother! May I introduce Jack Dawson?

  Ruth : Charmed, I'm sure.

  [Old Rose, voice in off] 

  Old Rose : The others were gracious and curious about the man who had saved my life. But my mother looked at him like an insect. A dangerous insect, which must be squashed quickly.

• [Old Rose is telling Lovett and his crew about the Titanic] 

  Old Rose : It was the ship of dreams to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. Outwardly, I was everything a well brought up girl should be. Inside, I was screaming.

• Old Rose : 1500 people went into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were 20 boats floating nearby and only one came back, one. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six out of 1500. Afterward, the 700 people in the boats had nothing to, but wait, wait to die, wait to live, wait for an absolution that would never come.

  [the 700 survivors in the boats are shown, looking mentally and emotionally beaten, as they make their way to the Carpathia; On the Carpathia, Cal comes down to the steerage deck, looking for Rose] 

  Carpathia Steward : Sir, I don't think you'll find any of your people down here. It's all steerage.

  [He walks on by ignoring him] 

  Old Rose : That was the last time I ever saw him. He married, of course, and inherited his millions. But the crash of '29 hit his interest hard and he put a pistol in his mouth that year, or so I read.

  Carpathia Steward : [the Carpathia rides by the Statue of Liberty, with Rose looking up at her]  Can I take your name, please, love.

  Rose : [Turning to him, but keeping herself concealed from Cal and Ruth]  Dawson. Rose Dawson.

  Carpathia Steward : [after writing it down]  Thank you.

  Lewis Bodine : We never found anything on Jack. There's no record of him at all.

  Old Rose : No, there wouldn't be, would there and I've never spoken of him before, not to anyone...

  [to Lizzie] 

  Old Rose : ... Not even your Grandfather.

  [to the whole group] 

  Old Rose : A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you know there was a man named Jack Dawson and that he saved me in every way a person can be saved. I don't even have a picture of him. He exists now... only in my memory.

• Old Rose : [from a deleted scene]  Can you exchange one life for another? A caterpillar turns into a butterfly. If a mindless insect can do it, why couldn't I? Was it any more unimaginable than the sinking of the Titanic?

• Old Rose : Fifteen hundred people went into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating nearby, but only one came back. One. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six out of fifteen hundred. Afterward, the 700 people in the boats had nothing to do but wait. Wait to die, wait to live, wait for an absolution that would never come.