Classic Films

Any time somebody mentions movie cults, those are the first two I always think about.

But earlier in the day, "A Night to Remember" is the BEST Titanic movie ever made. They're all good -- it would be impossible to make a bad movie about that epic disaster -- but "A Night to Remember" truly is, well, a movie to remember. I have it on DVD and watch it a couple times a year. I'll never get tired of it.

One unforgettable quote from that movie: When the second mate Lightoller, who is what amounts to the central character in the film, is standing on the hull of the capsized lifeboat with a couple dozen or so other survivors, looking across the desolate seascape just after the ship has gone down and people are screaming and whimpering and crying in the lifeboats, and others are splashing around in their death throes, and he is talking to one of the other survivors about the awful experience they have just had, and he is telling the other fellow about other maritime events he has experienced.

"I've even been shipwrecked before," he says. "But this is different."

"How is it different? " the other fellow asks.

The second mate's answer is a quote I'll never forget: "Because this time, we were so SURE. (about the unsinkability of the Titanic, he means.) And even though now it's actually happened, I STILL can't believe it. I don't think I can ever be sure about anything, ever again."

Wow, what a great movie.

-- Ron