Excellent except for the Freudian bits

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2005)

An entertaining and intriguing introduction to Hughes' life, and another triumph for Scorsese. Very convincing sets and special effects, especially the plane crash in Beverly Hills. Before seeing this movie, I was pretty ignorant about the extent of Hughes' achievements, and this film made me curious to learn more about Hughes.
Only major flaw was the recurring flashbacks to Hughes' boyhood, being washed by his mother, as if to suggest that his mental problems were due to some Oedipal condition. Freud's theory is lame to begin with, and this portion of the movie came across as heavy-handed, goofy armchair psychology. Movie would have been better overall without this unnecessary psychological speculation.
The movie did succeed in demonizing Brewster & the government, and in making Hughes seem like a hero who was standing up for the free market and the good of the consumer. Was it really this black and white in real life? Did Hughes really so eloquently and thoroughly humiliate Brewster during the final hearing, as depicted in the movie? This scene made me curious to learn more about these events.