I'm jumping on the Titanic bandwagon started above.

One of the biggest money losing movies of its era. Almost $40 million spent, and a lot of it doesn't show on screen. No big ticket actors were hired. The special effects look cheesy in some spots (although the large Titanic model is excellent.) Lord Grade, whose ITC Films produced the picture, quipped "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic."

Dirk Pitt-------Richard Jordan
Adm. Jim Sandecker-------Jason Robards
Gene Seagram----David Selby
Dana------------Anne Archer
Bigelow---------Alec Guinness
Capt. Joe Burke----J.D. Cannon

Also, look for Trek vets Charles Macaulay, Paul Carr, Stewart Moss and Michael Pataki in supporting roles.
John Barry, who did many scores for James Bond movies, composed the music for the film, and he did a first rate job. Echoes of this score can be heard in his music for the 1984 film Mike's Murder.

The plot concerns the search for a radioactive mineral called "byzanium," that's needed for a super secret "Sicilian Project" defense system. Guess where the only known source of byzanium wound up?
If you thought the visual effects shots in Star Trek-The Motion Picture dragged, then you ain't seen nothing. There are many shots of Naval vessels that go on a bit too long. Also, a lot of scenes of submersibles searching the ocean floor for the Titanic that do go on too long. I had read that director Jerry Jameson cut out about 20 minutes of character scenes just prior to release. Some of the search stuff could stand to have been cut as well.

The "Sicilian Project" seems to be similar to President Ronald Reagan's "Strategic Defense Initiative", colloquially known as "Star Wars."

The model painters forgot to paint the name "Titanic" on the bow of the model.
The payoff, when they do bring the Titanic up, is quite spectacular. The shot where the tugboats start to tow the Titanic unfortunately look like miniature boats in a tank.
The film assumes the Titanic sank in one piece, and that it's in excellent shape. In the interests of fairness, I won't nitpick there.
Sandecker said that the 300-foot gash on the ship will be patched. We never see that being done. (We know now that the damage done by the iceberg to the Titanic was far less severe.)
In the scene where Pitt and Dana converse on a Washington street corner, the cars in the background are constantly changing from cut to cut.
The scene between Pitt and Bigelow in the pub is touching, and Sir Alec Guinness gives the film's best performance.
When the Titanic is docked in New York harbor (actually filmed in Greece), the name "Titanic" is painted on the ship's bow. I thought that the model was used for the shot. I recently learned that it's a matte shot, combining a painting, and the bow of the Athinai, the ship that doubled for the Titanic in the film (which did have the name "Titanic" painted on it.)

I own a video for this film (it is on VHS, but not on Region 1 DVD) purchased in December, 1980. It's probably unfair to nitpick the quality of a video that's almost a quarter-century old, but as Robin Lefler's first law states, "Life isn't always fair." As I'm used to watching the crystal clarity of DVD, the quality of this tape is abysmal. It looks like it was videotaped from a print of the film as it is being projected underwater. The print is also full of dirt, breaks and scratches.

I've found an interesting site concerning the novel, comic strip and movie versions of Raise The Titanic. Check it out. He has a lot more information on this than I do.

Obviously this movie was made BEFORE they discovered that the Titanic was broken in two pieces.

I found the movie to be abysmal.

I liked the novel. I found the movie to be one big joke though. The effects where not the gratest and it has been so long since i have seen it that I dont recall what exactly was in the movie and what was in the novel.

"Abysmal," John? Groan... ()

Nitpicking my nitpick: I had said that the modelmakers had forgotten to paint the name "Titanic" on the model used in this film. The ship's name is visible when they bring it up. However, the lettering is raised, and barely visible.
Give credit where credit is due: "Raise The Titanic.com" is where my information about the shots of the ship in its dock, and the matte shot, came from.
When the Titanic is being towed into New York, we see a POV shot, from the ship, of it passing by the Statue of Liberty. The angle of the Statue shown is the same as would be seen from the Staten Island Ferry. If the ship is coming in from the middle of the Atlantic, I doubt it would even pass by the Statue of Liberty, much less go around Staten Island. If it's docked on the East Side of Manhattan, it would pass by Brooklyn. If docked on the West side, it would go around the tip of Manhattan. As we see the ship pass under the Brooklyn Bridge (with the World Trade Center prominently, and a bit sadly now, in view.) I assume they docked it on the East Side. Of course, Sandecker may have taken the ship all around the city, for the completion of its maiden voyage.

One thing I remember from this film is that at one point a helicopter lands on what I assume is the aft end of the vessel. For one thing, is there really space to do so? Another point is that landing pads for helicopters on warships are stressed to take the weight of them landing.

The aft deck may have been large enough to accomodate a small helicopter, if all the deck clutter were remove (bollards, benches, the aft docking bridge). But you're right, it was never built for that purpose, and even if it were, I doubt it would be in condition to withstand the weight after so many decades underwater.

Another note about this movie is that they actually filmed a sinking sequence that was to be used to start the film. This was cut however, and the movie began in modern day.

A few years later, the sinking footage was recycled into the tv series "Voyagers," which was about a pirate and his kid sidekick who travelled through time.

Adam Bomb - I clicked the link for http://www.raisethetitanic.com/ and found a search box, a list of related searches and a link for Wowcher.

Roger, sometime in the last 10 years, the owner of raisethetitanic.com let the domain expire, and it was grabbed by Wowcher.

Another case of Dated History, as the Titanic is shown to be in one piece. This movie came out five years before Robert Ballard found the real wreck.

The character played by Sir Alec Guinness worked on the Titanic, and fought in both World Wars. This character would have to be at least 20 years older than Sir Alec was.

In reality, sir Alec was born in 1914, two years after the Titanic sank, and would have been four years old when the First World War ended. He did serve in World War II though.