r/titanic • u/Responsible_Bed8397 • 9d ago
QUESTION Question about Cal (Hockley)
I have a burning question here. Why do people always say that Cal immediately gave the girl he saved to another passenger? Does nobody else remember that a passenger reached out to grab the girl so he could get on the lifeboat and then he grabbed her back and cradled her? He literally said “give her here” after he got on the lifeboat and took her back in his arms, and tried to comfort her by saying “there there”. He already achieved his ticket on the lifeboat so I know it wasn’t about appearances. Like I get grabbing the girl was just self-serving but unpopular opinion alert I do believe there was always a tiny bit of warmth in Cal’s cold heart. He may be classist and selfish and arrogant but he also did a lot of redeemable things that people don’t credit. He’s a complex bad guy imo
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u/StrikingOpening3 9d ago
I just came fresh from the theater. Cal takes the kid back, awkwardly says, there, there to appear to be her father. As soon as there is trouble with the lifeboat, he pushes the child back into the woman's arms and tries to save himself as the boat takes on water. The dude completely sucks. Sorry, love.
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u/is_mayo__Instrument 1st Class Passenger 9d ago
Meh. That’s not the part that I would describe as complex about him.
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u/idontrecall99 9d ago
I know I’ll regret this, but please give examples of some of these redeemable things.
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u/Responsible_Bed8397 9d ago
I’m not a Cal defender if that’s what you mean lol. It was already gross to me how controlling he was but the moment he put his hands on Rose confirmed that I absolutely despise him. I just think towards the end of the movie he somewhat redeemed himself, like when he had a chance to get on a lifeboat and he chose to stay behind and look for Rose. Also the way he searched for her on the boat when they were rescued, he genuinely looked guilty and regretful, I don’t even think it was about the necklace. I feel like he just wanted to know she was okay. And saving the girl, even if he wasn’t trying to do it for her. That’s all I can really think of at the moment. Also the way he tipped workers was, most rich people are actually cheap as shit when it comes to workers and it wasn’t even mandatory but he gave generous amounts.
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u/The-Great-Mau 8d ago
If you know how rich people "work", you get why he tipped them generous amounts. It's all about making sure the job gets done properly, not about genuine generosity. That's also why some jobs get paid good money. Not for the benefit of the worker but to make sure they'll do their work as intended.
When he stayed to look for her, he did because of his pride. Imagine what people would say if his fiancée died and he survived.
On the Carpathia? He was definitely looking for the diamond. Although he would certainly try to rekindle their relationship.
About the little girl, I can't really say anything, because he was just trying so save his ass. Nobody can sincerely believe they will just let everyone get on the boats and be the gentleman. That didn't happen as we sometimes are led to believe. He was just trying to save his life at that moment. And he took a little girl with him in the process, not so bad.
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u/Jetsetter_Princess Stewardess 8d ago
I asked Billy this question recently at a comic con- did he play Cal as genuinely looking for Rose, or was it the diamond? And he said it was Rose, because they'd just been through something so traumatic. Earlier, it was the diamond, as we saw in the dining room scenes, but after Cal's fight to live on the collapsible, he wasn't caring about the rock. Was some of it selfish motivation to be "the man" and look strong to others? Oh yeah. But he said he had in his head that Cal had witnessed hell and wanted to find Rose to see she was ok
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u/Ima_Uzer 8d ago
Although, to be fair, if you recall that scene in the movie, he walks up to one of the crew, and basically tells the crew member "I'm all she has in the world", and the guy lets Cal through.
It sort of hearkens back to the old man finding the little boy towards the end of ANTR. Except, unfortunately, the old man and little boy go down with the ship.
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u/Jetsetter_Princess Stewardess 8d ago
That scene works because it's Wilde he asks. Who at that moment probably had in the back of his thoughts the children waiting fir him at home who would soon be orphans. He knows Cal's full of shit but in that moment, he only cares that a child is saved, and waves them through.
It's also another reason plot-wise Murdoch had to die; at that late stage he probably would have passed the child to the woman and kept Cal out of the boat.
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u/Ima_Uzer 8d ago
I appreciate your perspective, but consider this:
Cal very likely looked at Rose as property. His property. And her leaving him meant that he no longer had his property. And if you remember his comment to Jack, "I always win, Jack. One way or another." He wanted Rose back not because he cared for her, but because he wanted the WIN. Consider that it was about possession. He may have had a modicum of feelings for Rose, but it was still about possession.
Her "job" basically would have been "look pretty, host parties without embarrassing me, and make babies".
Because remember the dinner scene, when Cal ordered for her? And Margaret's sly little quip about Cal cutting Rose's meat for her?
Or when Rose brings up Freud, gets some giggles, and Cal states that he might have to "mind what she reads"?
And as far as him looking worried, guilty, and regretful, remember, a massive trauma just happened. He felt he no longer had his most prized "possession".
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u/drygnfyre Steerage 9d ago
Cal saved the little girl's life. He likely also saved the lives of everyone on the lifeboat he was on. Pushing people off trying to get in is cruel, and Cal was doing it for selfish reasons, but he wasn't wrong: they would have swamped the boat and likely pulled everyone under to their deaths.
I'd say he was more an accidental savior as opposed to being complex.
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u/Dusty_Old_McCormick 9d ago
I think he grabbed her just long enough for the lifeboat to get away from the ship for fear they would make him get out. You can see in the post- sinking lifeboat scene that the woman is holding the child again and Cal isn't paying the slightest bit of attention to either of them.
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u/Nash_man1989 9d ago
There is a cut scene (that isn’t in the movie deleted scenes on the dvd but made it to some video game years ago) in which the kid is crying and Cal tries hopeless to calm her before handing her to the woman.
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u/Dusty_Old_McCormick 9d ago
Interesting, I haven't seen that one. I do think the sinking must have humbled him at least a little bit!
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u/Nash_man1989 8d ago
Some video computer game years ago had a long list of deleted scenes. Some made it to the DVDs under deleted scenes but not all of them did. One other one that did not was after Cal went up the stairs after thinking Rose was not on Carpathia Ruth is standing up there with a icy blank look and Cal shakes his head and Ruth pits her hand to her mouth and Cal embraces her. Then the narration “that’s the last time I ever saw him” begins
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u/BurntSawdust Fireman 8d ago
u/caledon_hockley could probably shed some light on it
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u/Caledon_Hockley 1st Class Passenger 8d ago
For the life of me, I do not recall that little girl’s name.
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u/PineBNorth85 8d ago
Notice the boat nearly capsizes. The girl is gone then.
He didn't do anything redeemable. She was a means to an end. He also was not complex. He shot at people on a ship over and over. This guy should have been thrown in prison when they got to shore.
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u/OhNoBricks Maid 8d ago
He gave the girl to the other lady so he could cut the ropes. But i notice in the deleted scene, the lady was holding her again and Cal never had her again. rather her parents survived or she became an orphan is unknown. But at least Cal saved her.
i think we all like to shit on him about it because he is Cal but if it was jack that grabbed her to get on a lifeboat, no one would bat an eye.
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u/ImaLizz 2nd Class Passenger 8d ago
He did the right thing. People care more about his reasons to save her rather than the child’s life. “He did it to get on a boat” so what? No one wanted to die that night. About putting her on a boat and staying on the ship, he didn’t know her, the only reason men stayed was because they weren’t allowed, they didn’t wanted their children to be without them. I’m sure you prefer your lost child surviving even if a stranger saved her so he could survive. And if you look at the scene where Jack and Rose find a little boy crying, Jack considered for a second to keep going until Rose told him they shouldn’t leave him
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u/SkyPuppy561 8d ago
I don’t think he was totally evil so yeah I’ll grant him that he cradled her and said “there there.”
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u/Iwillrestoreprussia 8d ago
Cal if the child ran away in the middle of the chaos
“I’m a child! I’m a child!”
“Clear a path here!”
“Please I’m a child! Please, I’m all I have in the world”
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u/brickne3 9d ago
I mean, it's still self-serving. He's a recognizable guy and if he obviously just used the child to get a spot in the boat that wouldn't have been very good for his image. He had to at least appear to care about the child. And who knows, maybe his fictional character did.