Has any one else ever thought that Robert Wagner's character (a poorer passenger who falls in love with a wealthier female passenger) is the model for Leo DiCaprio's character (and story line) in 1997's Titanic? Has anyone ever read an article about this?
- Steve
I can see your point. Robert Wagner's character didn't have as much money as the Sturgess family, but he couldn't have been as poor as Leo's character. Robert Wagner was traveling in first class too.
I'm sure he was a drawing card for young women just as Leo was in Titanic. I can see several similarities. Audrey Dalton was almost too aloof and snobby, but Giff broke into her warm human side.
I read or heard somewhere that Robert Wagner had an affair with Barbara Stanwyck around the time this film was made. That was kinda shocking to hear. She was a good bit older than him. Oh well, it's not like that is the first or last "May-December" romance.
Thanks for the good post.
I'll have to watch the movie again some time. I don't remember Robert Wagner's character also travelling in first class. But I'll take your word for it. Of course, that movie didn't revolve around his romance with Audrey Dalton. But I'd like to read some review of it written when it first came out, to see what people were saying about the "young lovers". (Gee...I can't remember which of their characters lived or died either...although I think they both lived.)
An affair between him and Barbara Stanwyck? Really? Wow!
Thanks for the interesting reply!
Hey trimtab,
May I suggest that you purchase the DVD of this? It is available and realtively inexpensive. The DVD has a documentary about that making of the film that lasts longer than the movie. It was really interesting. Robert and Audrey's characters both survived. He was a college student from Purdue University travelling with a sports team in first class.
Robert Wagner was very handsome in those days and Barbara Stanwyck was beautiful despite the difference in their ages. I gues she was just trying to teach him a thing or two. :-)
Barbra Stanwyck was in "The Thorn Birds" as an aging women who lusted after her priest played by Richard Chamberlin. She had a scene trying to seduce a wet nude Chamberlin. Those two could ACT. She was one of the great Hollywood actresses.
Thanks for the suggestion...and the additonal info about the characters.
You must have read my mind. I saw how little the DVD cost on Amazon (used)...and order it over the weekend! :)
As for Stanwyck and Chamberlin...sounds like "art immitating life"! LOL!
Have a great day!
Steve
Hi Steve,
Very good comment about "art imitates life". :-)
Ironic thing is that Richard Chamberlin recently came out as gay. All I can say is that he is one heck of an actor. When his character gave in to Racheal Ward and they made love, that is one of the hottest love scenes I ever saw on TV. How a gay man could show such passion for a woman just proved what an incredible actor he is.
As for Barbara Stanwyck, she had several emn in her life--but it was her husband Robert Taylor that was her true love. Even though they were divorced at the time of his death, she reportedly wept uncontrollably at his funeral.
Kudos for the observation. :-)
Mac
Thanks very much for the compliment, Mac. Hey, I get lucky every once in a while!
I had heard Chamberlin is gay too. Yes...some people are very good actors!
Did you know that Valerie Harper (Rhoda on TV) is Catholic, not Jewish? I heard her tell Larry King this once. He was amazed. Her response: "It's called acting, Larry." Cracked me up!
And now, she's touring in a play about the life of Golda Meir. Her Rhoda image paying off.
Nice chatting with you,
Steve
WOW. Rhoda is Catholic. I would have never guessed. She plays Jewish really good. It is very funny to watch Jewish people who have a sense of humor about their own culture. One episode of Frasier when Jewish mother and daughter argue about cultural issues, it was a scream.
Enjoyed the visit. Pop by any time.
Mac
Robert Wagner talks about his affair with Barbara Stanwyck in his book "Pieces of My Heart".
shareNo he survived, although he was injured. After he freed the pulley of the lifeboat that was stuck, he fell into the water and hit his head on a piece of ice. People in the life boat pulled him in. They showed him rowing with a bandage around his head toward the end.
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that's not the only thing. You may also notice that Clifton Webbs line about the British anouncing dinner like a cavalry charge was reused in the 1997 film with Molly Brown speaking it.
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A few more similarities:
- Annette (played by Audrey Dalton), her dress in the scene with Gif (played by Robert Wagner) when he teaches her to dance and she tells him to ask her to dance again the future. Her dress and the shawl are extremely similiar (I'd say almost identical) to Rose's dress in the scene in which she's at the bow of the boat and says ,"I'm flying". The dresses are very much alike
- Also in the same scene, Gif tosses his cap into the ocean. I believe Jack Dawson also does that in the new Titanic.
- Toward the end when the ship is sinking, Gif says to Annette something to the effect of, "I wouldn't have missed this ship for anything"....Jack Dawson says something very similiar to Rose in the new Titanic
- Jack Dawson is from the Midwest, just like Gif (Purdue is in Indiana)
Personally I think the old Titanic is a much superior film
I discovered this thread about 3 years after the last post! Does anyone know if any reviews mentioned the similarities between the two TITANICS when the '97 film was released?
shareI just have to reply to Evabindas post.
Jack never wears a cap and therefore never throws one into the ocean.
Jack says "winning that ticket rose was the best thing that ever happened to me, it brought me to you. And I'm thankful" So yeah that's kinda similar
Jack is from Wisconsin and I would'n say that's midwest.
Personally i think the 97 Titanic is a much superior film ;)
But I like this one alot too! Gif was gorgeous (and it was such a cute
story between him and anette), but
Jack Dawson is just to perfect haha.
"If I could change one thing in life, I'd make time for us"
James Cameron makes an entertaining romp by recycling tried and true (albeit hokey) formulas from previous films. It's just what he does. I adore the 1997 film, and anything having to do with the Titanic. But I have to wonder if Cameron didn't buy the rights to all the older Titanic scripts just to recycle characters, plot points, dialogue, etc. that he thought worked in them. It is undeniable that certain lines have been directly recycled with only moderate editing. The calvary charge one that I mentioned before mainly comes to mind. Most abundant, however, is not a reuse of dialogue, but of narrative devices not just from the 1953 film, but also from 1958's "A Night to Remember" and even from the 1943 Nazi Propaganda film. Specifically, the 1943 German film has a scene in which a locked up third class criminal is rescued from the hold with an axe by his lover whilst the hallways flood. I also recall a plot with a rare stolen diamond in that one (though the details escape me). I have only a cursory familiarity with the many television versions, and the rare silent and foreign versions of the story, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if elements from those come up as well.
shareThere's a big dufference between Leo DiCaprio and Robert Wagner. Wagner lived in the movie!
He kills without a thought he murders all that's good I know I can't refuse and yet I wish I could
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