Raise the Titanic!
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Raise the Titanic is the name of a 1976 novel by Clive Cussler, and a film directed by Jerry Jameson released in 1980
The film's tagline is Once they said God Himself couldn't sink her. Then they said no man on earth could reach her. Now, you will be there when we... RAISE THE TITANIC!
The film was a poorly received financial flop. Lew Grade, one of its major backers, is said to have remarked that it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic. The film, along with other contempory failures, is credited with ending Grade's involvement with cinema.
For his part, Clive Cussler was reportedly so disgusted by the film that for years he refused to allow a Hollywood adaptation of one of his works, until the 2005 adaptation of his novel Sahara.
Main cast
- Jason Robards - Admiral James Sandecker
- Richard Jordan - Dirk Pitt
- David Selby - Dr. Gene Seagram
- Anne Archer - Dana Archibald
- Alec Guinness - John Bigalow
Awards and nominations
- Golden Raspberry Awards
- Nominated: Worst Picture
- Nominated: Worst Screenplay
- Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor (David Selby)
Plot summary
United States scientist Dr. Gene Seagram is secretly developing an anti-ballistic missile defense system, but the only suitable power source is a rare mineral named Byzanium.The only known supply of Byzanium was mined in 1912 by US government agents, but they were shipping it to the United States on board the ocean liner Titanic, when the ship sank during its maiden voyage.
With the wreck of the Titanic too deep to allow the Byzanium to be removed from the ship, the way to obtain it is to bring the ship to the surface, and Seagram's patron, Admiral James Sandecker, recruits his protégé, Dirk Pitt, to head up the salvage operation.
As the US Navy being to search for the wreck, they are dogged by equipment failures, and members of the salvage team are killed. Latterly, Soviet spies, determined to prevent the defense system from being built, try to sabotage the operation.
Once the ship is raised, the Soviets lure away its escorts, but an attempt to take control of the Titanic is prevented by the American military, and the ship is towed into New York.
Differences between film and book
The plot of the film generally followed that of the book, but changed a number of key features. In both, the relationship between Dirk Pitt and Dr. Gene Seagram is coloured by the latter's previous relationship with Seagram's wife, but whilst in the book this leads to an affair between Pitt and Dana Archibald, and eventually to Seagram's near suicide, the film has Pitt and Seagram finally reaching a grudging friendship.The ending of the film also differs markedly from that of the book; in the book, the plot's Macguffin, the Byzanium, is not on board the Titanic, but in a false grave in England, however it is discovered thanks to Dirk Pitt and is used to power the defense system - pre-figuring the Strategic Defense Initiative, and completely changing the balance of power. In the film, the Byzanium was never on the ship to start with as well, a fact only discovered once it has been safely docked in New York. Instead, the mineral had been left in a fake grave in Cornwall, where it is found by Pitt and Seagram, however, they decide to leave it there, fearing it will otherwise be used to build a "Byzanium Bomb".
Trivia
- The title sequence of Sahara (based on another of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt books) features a momentary appearance of a newspaper cutting which appears to report the raising of the Titanic.
- The book and film pre-date (by nine and five years respectively) the finding of the wreck of the Titanic by an expedition led by Robert Ballard, and whilst it was thought at the time the ship sank intact, it was subsequently discovered that it broke in two as it sank.
- In one Pinky and the Brain cartoon, they actually manage to raise the Titanic up from the sea.
External links
- [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
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