An Associated Press article relating to the phrase “women and children first” that uses current events in the Middle East as a hook references the Titanic disaster. Of course I’m going to have to weigh in — and today happens to be the 26th anniversary of the movie’s release.
“Accounts differ, but testimony from the inquiries afterward indicates that someone or someones — from Capt. Edward Smith to various passengers — prioritized putting women and children into the lifeboats, of which there were not enough to evacuate everyone aboard. … The 1997 movie “Titanic” immortalized the order when actor Leonardo DiCaprio says the words “women and children first” during a key scene.”
That last sentence is wrong. DiCaprio’s character never says that. I say that not just because I can recite the whole movie by heart, but because the script IS AVAILABLE ONLINE. There are multiple differences between the final script and finished product due to last-minute rewrites, scenes left on the cutting room floor, and even improv.
All that had to be done, if the movie was going to be referenced at all, was to cite this scene:
The exchange above is nearly verbatim from Second Officer Lightoller’s testimony. Titanic survivor Col. Archibald Gracie did extensive research in the year following the disaster, and published a book before he died. Lightoller was women-and-children-first (and perhaps only) on the port side while First Officer Murdoch was women-and-children-then-men on the starboard side. See pages 114-118 in this version at the Internet Archive. I HIGHLY recommend the whole thing.
The incorrect DiCaprio reference pops up in a Quora response at the top of a Google search, and I hope that’s not what the AP based it on. Frankly, the amount of times that Quora or Reddit links show up at the top of Google searches is concerning.