- "A real man makes his own luck."
- ―Cal Hockley
- "I always win, Jack, one way or another."
- ―Cal Hockley to Jack Dawson.
- "I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR TIME TOGETHER!"
- ―Carl Hockley after Jack and Rose escape
Caledon "Cal" Hockley III is the main antagonist in James Cameron's hit 1997 film Titanic. He is Rose's extremely arrogant fiancé who wants to marry her at all costs for her fortune.
He is portrayed by Billy Zane, who also portrays Hughie Warriner.
Cal was so ruthless that he had his rival chained to the sinking ship in a desperate attempt to keep Rose for himself, though his efforts were to no avail as his violent temper and general contempt for others simply served to alienate him further from the woman he claimed to love.
He only was able to survive the ship's sinking by cheating his way onto a lifeboat by stealing a child and pretending to be the father of the child just to save himself.
History[]
Cal was the proud son of a Pittsburgh steel industry tycoon that boarded the RMS Titanic with the First Class in 1912, appointed as a possible fiancé for Rose DeWitt Bukater (the film's protagonist) by her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, both from the First Class as well, in an attempt to inherit his fortune, which Cal also wanted in Rose.
Throughout the movie, Cal attempts to convince Rose into marrying him without success, as Rose is in love with Third Class passenger Jack Dawson.
This is quickly noticed by Hockley and gets him into acting more aggressively towards her, but also more kind towards the end, when he gives her a necklace with the Heart of the Ocean, a valuable, heart-shaped, blue diamond.
Rose then used the diamond when Jack proposed to draw her while only using the necklace. Cal discovered the drawing and decided to separate Rose and Jack once and for all. However, the Titanic hits an iceberg while halfway to New York, at first looking like minor damage.
Meanwhile, Cal creates a minor commotion in Rose's bedroom and gets Jack blamed for theft of the diamond, sending him to the ship's lower rooms to be strapped to a pipe with Lovejoy as a guard, but he is freed by Rose.
When the ship's damage are proven as fatal, Cal tricks Rose into boarding a lifeboat while promising he and Jack will board another one. Although Rose jumps back into the sinking Titanic and reunites with Jack in the Grand Staircase.
Cal became enraged by this, took Lovejoy's gun and chased the two throughout the ship in an effort to shoot them crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
The gun quickly ran out of bullets, however he realized that he gave his coat and consequently the heart of the ocean to Rose he then chuckles evilly about this and he gave up his pursuit.
He tried to get back on a lifeboat after making a deal with William Murdoch, however Murdoch won't let him on. When he reminded him of the deal, Murdoch replied, "Your money can't save you any more than it could save me."
He then threw the money back at Cal. He was then pushed back by Murdoch which made him angry. Murdoch unintentionally ended up shooting Thomas Ryan and an unknown passenger much to Cal's shock. Murdoch then killed himself with the gun.
Cal then stole a child and was allowed to board a lifeboat after passing the child off as his own.
The boat he was on became trapped, but was freed when Jack's friend, Fabrizio De Rossi, cut it loose. A few minutes later Cal witnessed Fabrizio get crushed under a steam stack.
After the event of trying to survive the sinking and getting on the lifeboat, while waiting for the RMS Carpathia to arrive he accepts a sip of whiskey from another passenger.
He never saw Rose again after the sinking. Even though he survived the Titanic, Rose (in present time) states that he got married to another woman and inherited his millions.
But Rose also said, from what she's read, that Cal committed suicide sometime during the 1929 Wall Street Crash via a pistol in his mouth.
Similar Villains[]
- Jafar (Disney's Aladdin)
- Hades (Disney's Hercules)
- Steele (Balto)
- Gaston (Disney's Beauty and the Beast)
- Doctor Doom (Fantastic 4)
Trivia[]
- in an old script of the film Cal beats Jack's friend Fabrizio De Rossi with an oar when he attempts to board a lifeboat he is in when Fabrizio tells him he has to get to America he hits him with an oar cutting open his scalp and sarcastically telling him to swim to his destination Fabrizio would later die of his if this was left in the final film Cal would definitely cross the Moral Event Horizon for that action being in a serious setting such as a ship sinking killing someone would considerably cruel.
- In another old script, he actually finds Rose aboard the Carpathia and expresses remorse for his actions, but she rebuffs him and tells him to leave; he sadly complies, though not before asking Rose what he should tell her mother. The reason for this scene's removal is possibly because the writers didn't want to make Cal look sympathetic.
- Cal had some similar from Jafar like both only want to marry the heroines for money, both had a sidekick (Cal to Lovejoy, Jafar to Iago), both want revenge on the poor protagonist (Cal to Jack, Jafar to Aladdin) and both died in the movie except Jafar doesn't died until the second movie when Iago stop him by destroying his lamp.