From Aliens to Apollo 13 to Titanic, many people spent years watching Bill Paxton on the silver screen. Bill Paxton's death at 61 is a massive blow to the movie industry, especially considering how many blockbusters he's been a part of. One of Bill Paxton's Titanic scenes is perfect to remember him by and to cement him as one of the big A-list actors of our generation.
While he didn't have a huge role in the Oscar nominated film (who could look past Rose and Jack, anyway?) he did help start off the story. Paxton's role in the film was that of the famed treasure hunter Brock Lovett.
Known for discovering sunken ships and searching them for treasures, he's the one that brought Rose Bukater into the picture. Bukater is the one that takes us back into her memories and along on the journey of her romantic love affair on the ship. So in a sense, Paxton's character was the one that set up the story — in other words, without him, the ancient Rose may have never had a chance to tell her romantic tale.
In his pivotal scene, he shows Bukater some of the treasures he found undersea and brought back up from the Titanic. He shows them to her on a table, letting her sift through her old bedroom things.
Bukater picks up a silver, ornate hand mirror and peeks into it, pleased over the fact that it looks just as she remembers. (And then cheekily says the reflection has changed a bit).
Just as the viewer is getting over the fact that all the trinkets Paxton's character discovered belonged to her decades before, and were recovered from a sunken ship, Paxton says the line that sets us off on our adventure: "Are you ready to go back to Titanic?" As Rose answers his question, the audience answers, too: Yes we are. Take us away.
It may not have been the most important scene in the film, but it was necessary to the plot all the same. While Paxton's death was tragic and we lost an amazing actor all too soon, his memory will be cemented in the movies fans love — even in his smallest on-screen moments.
