Raise the Titanic (1980)

I remember watching the film on TV in the early eighties and was then, as now, fascinated by the thought of raising the Titanic, however fanciful the thought maybe. Sadly, some 30+ years later the film overall has not aged well - compared to my memory as youngster at least.The plot direction is point to point, no subtleties and not much idea other than to go through the motions of the plot clumsily and in staccato fashion.To be brutally honest the acting is awful, woeful. You can sense the cue for actor's to speak or to move, wooden like. Additionally none of the characters in the film are remotely engaging or have any other function than to shuffle the plot along to it's next chapter.Jason Robards typifies the film itself, solid and simple, no frills and just about believable (acting that is, not the plot line).Onto the plot line, there are more plot holes in it than there were port holes in the Titanic; American's allowing Russians to board a USN cruiser…in the eighties….in the midst of a secret mission. Sea water is saline, mix this with steel and it will corrode; the structure of the Titanic (as we latterly found out was crippled in the sinking) would have been paper thin in places and would have literally fallen apart if it were moved an inch. The standard romance storyline, that sadly is all but essential in this type of film, is half-hearted and again seems paper thin and is included for no good reason other than to create an atmosphere between the "nice guy" scientist and the "tough guy" navy seal.All that said, the film is enjoyable and the time passed by swiftly. The modelling of the Titanic did actually stand up well to time, today's CGI can make 70's and 80's action films look sad and dated, not so with Raise the Titanic, which would put some James Bond films of the time to shame. The viewer can see that the Titanic is a model however the modelling and movement are very realistic and well produced.Overall, Raise the Titanic is a recommended watch.Hope this review was helpful to you.

There definitely are some dead spots. Too much time is spent looking for the ship. The three sided romance goes nowhere and could have been deleted. The entire operation of simply pumping foam, attaching gas bags, and exploding the Titanic off the bottom throws credibility out the window. Nevertheless, Richard Jordan and Jason Robards give it their best, despite minimal character development. The real star however is the Titanic model, which of course doesn't appear until past the half way point of the film. If you persevere until then, your imagination will be rewarded. Definitely watchable if you have enough patience. - MERK

It's epic and it's exploitation, and it's also reasonably engaging almost in spite of itself. Richard Jordan plays a salvage expert attempting to literally raise the Titanic from her watery grave in order to recover a rare mineral, the plot concerned with his herculean effort to beat the Russians to the plate, in a Cold War twist to the sunken saga.The "special" effects are sometimes regrettable (the parts of the ship being towed back into harbour look more than just a little dubious), but director Jameson has still managed to craft a half-decent drama that contains a surprise or two, not just confined to the plot, but also the casting. Sir Alec Guinness has just a few minutes, but his presence as a survivor re-telling Jordan of his experience is very moving and a moment that almost redeems the entire picture from its plodding excesses.Aside from the durable Jordan, an unorthodox leading man who died well before his time, David Selby and Anne Archer co-star, while the minor roles go to Jameson's B-movie brigade, Michael Pataki, Stewart Moss, Paul Carr, Michael C.Gwynne, Norman Bartold - the list goes on. Not to be confused with, nor compared to, "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", while unlikely to appeal to the modern audience whose appetite for the Titanic was whet on James Cameron's 1997 epic, it should still suffice for a late afternoon sojourn into fantasy.

I've been a big fan of the Clive Cussler novels over the years, so was excited to check Raise The Titanic out. However, besides fulfilling my desire to see Dirk Pitt on the big screen, the film is an absolute bust. It seems like 75% of the movie are scenes showing submersables underwater searching for the Titanic as the main characters on the ship above monitor them with varying expressions. The movie is just rather flat. There is no substance to it.To make matters worse, Richard Jordan was not a good choice as Dirk Pitt. His portrayal of Pitt makes the character pretty unlikable; perhaps he was attempting to play Clive Cussler himself rather than Pitt (Cussler, a rotten curmodgeon of a man, admittedly has based Pitt on himself or who he wishes he could be--Cussler is not nearly as cool as Pitt). Robards was excellent as Sandecker, but even his strong performance couldn't add much to a pretty lame script. Anne Archer and M. Emmitt Walsh also are in the film, but don't do anything exciting. If you are a fan of the Dirk Pitt novels, go ahead and give this movie a look. If not, avoid it at all costs. I rate this 5 0f 10 stars simply because I'm a fan of the novels. If I were not a fan, I'd rate it a 2 of 10. Sahara starring Matthew McCaugnehey is a better film, but Cussler killed the chance for a sequel with that cast--too bad.