Titanic Tropes: Molly Brown's Lifeboat Rebellions (1953-2012) 

Molly Brown was a legend

we can all agree that Molly Brown is the best part of every titanic movie

I notice Cameron is the only one to have Hitchens threaten to throw Molly overboard. All the rest to even include that exchange have the opposite thing happen, and she threatens him with it. And Maude is awfully tame next to the rest of these.

It's indeed a surprise that Cameron's film showed Hitchens threatening to throw Molly overboard rather than the other way around. Now even with that said, Molly's threat in real life did not happen until much later when the Carpathia was first spotted. Hitchens said that the Carpathia was not there for rescue but rather to pick up dead bodies. Given that Molly and Hitchens were certainly at each other's throats throughout the night, this was the last straw for Molly, and what she said next was history that has yet to be portrayed accurately.

Molly Brown has more balls than Quartermaster Hitchens!

One error in the 1953 movie is that the Captain didn't sound the alarm to abandon ship.

Molly Brown is such an icon.

Ty for this i was waiting 1958 was my favourite molly brown

The BEST Molly? The one from "A Night To Remember!" The worst? Kathy Bates from "Titanic." Not Kathy's fault, she had to play the role as written but jeez, as my wife put it "What a wimpy Molly Brown!" Legend has it Molly pulled a pistol on QM Hitchens to get him to turn around but of course it's just a legend. Damn it. Thelma Ritter in the 1953 "Titanic" is an interesting Molly. A Colorado woman with a Brooklyn accent! 🤣

If I recall correctly, A Night to Remember producer William MacQuitty said he got along well with almost all the stars, except one. Tucker McGuire, who played Molly Brown was "ornery" in his own words. I don't know exactly what transpired between them on set, and frankly, it's more fun just not knowing what happened between these two. MacQuitty also had a bit of a complicated relationship with Titanic survivor Edith Russell. Apparently she wanted to design the costumes for the film. She was a rather eccentric woman, to say the least.

In all the versions where Molly got her way, I wonder if her boat managed to not get turned over.

They did her dirty in the 1953 Verison 💀 and also the 1964 Verison sounds edited and high pitched

You can really tell how much of a mess Julian Fellows' _Titanic_ was with its weird Lifeboat 4/6/8 hybrid. I find it interesting that many of these productions got a different thing right about what transpired in Lifeboat 6: _ANTR_ had another occupant asking Hichens, "Don't you know you're speaking to a lady?" (This was actually spoken by a stoker transferred from Lifeboat 16, not Major Peuchen) _1996_ had "Maggie" threatening to throw Hichens overboard when the _Carpathia_ was in sight. (He had expressed doubts that she would pick them up rather than objecting to Brown keeping the others warm) and _1997/GOTA_ had Hichens rejecting Captain Smith's orders to pick up more people. (Which was intended for all the lifeboats) Margaret Brown has been described by her descendants as someone who tried to fit in with the other passengers, and I believe that you can still derive humor from her trying and failing to conceal her Midwest accent. Both sides in Lifeboat 6 had a point: They certainly would be at risk of being sucked under by the _Titanic_ or capsized by desperate swimmers that would inadvertently kill those already safe, but they could have still tried to make an effort. By my understanding, the reason #6 did not rescue swimmers was because they lost their bearings when the lights failed and were too far away to locate the site. Hichens was right that they had little chance of being found, but he was still lowering morale by openly expressing this pessimism, and I get the impression that Brown was getting increasingly frustrated with him, but also was trying to act properly despite the dire circumstances, only for her to reach her breaking point and threaten to throw Hichens overboard when he was still cynical about rescue despite it literally being within sight.

Captain J: How about making a trope of Titanic putting to sea?

1:12 - I grew up in the south, and I swear I knew this exact lady at the church we went to at that time. I’m sure any southern child did. 😂

Is this just me but I think Tucker McGuire as Molly Brown in A Night to Remember really looks like Kathy Bates from the 1997 Movie

I wish on the 1997 and 2003 version that she checked his ass

1:07 where can i watch the full movie?

I get the impression you don’t like the 1997 version