Insightful and well done

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2005)

Scorsese does it again with this period piece detailing the life of the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio). The film opens with Howard directing his 1930 war epic, "Hell's Angels." Which took 3 years and 4 million dollars to make (not a small chunk of change back then, not even that small now). The movie moves to his meeting and subsequent courting of Katharine Hepburn, played exceptionally well by Cate Blanchett. It also depicts him moving on to the likes of Ava Gardner and Faith Domergue. "The Aviator" shows us the many aspects of Hughes' being, both good and bad. He is a dreamer, sparing no expense to make his movies or build his aviation empire, despite the financial trouble it causes the company which he inherited from his family that is based in Houston (the name of the company escapes me. We also see his obsessive compulsive nature, afraid of contracting germs and constantly trying to stay as clean as possible. When Errol Flynn grabs a pea off of Hughes' plat with a nice cut of meat on it, Hughes pushes it aside with only one bite gone. Also, Hughes is contracted by the government to make fighter planes and an "air-boat," a giant airplane that can transport the troops, their equipment, and transportation across the Atlantic so that German u-boats will stop taking down U.S. submarines and ships. He call's it "The Hercules." The project takes too long, and it isn't completed in time to help in the war. Well, Hughes' new airline TWA doesn't amuse the big wigs at Pan Am Airlines, so their owner uses his personnel senator (Leon Brewster of Maine) to get a bill before Congress to put a monopoly on international aviation travel. Hughes takes on Brewster and his hearing and wins, then he takes the maiden voyage of his "Spruce Goose," as Brewster called it, and retires the vessel forever. If you didn't know who Hughes was before this movie, then it will give you a great foundation on which to build knowledge of this quite intelligent, quite intriguing man. DeCaprio turns in a superb performance, further distancing himself from his teeny-bopper early years. He has definitely changed my opinion of him with his last three movies (Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, and The Aviator). I realize he might have been good in earlier movies (though don't you dare say "Basketball Diaries," which sucked), but I haven't seen them all.