The Aviator

Plot synopsis:
The Aviator has no opening credits other than the title. The film begins in 1913 with nine-year-old Hughes being bathed by his mother, who warns him of disease: "You are not safe."The film next shows him in 1927, as a 22-year old preparing to direct Hell's Angels. Hiring Noah Dietrich (John C. Reilly) to run Hughes Tool Co, while he oversees the flight sequences for the film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting the film realistically, even re-shooting the dogfight himself. By 1929, with the film finally complete, when The Jazz Singer is released, Hughes re-shoots the film for sound, costing another year and $1.7 million. Nevertheless, Hell's Angels is a huge hit, and Hughes makes Scarface and The Outlaw. However, there is one goal he relentlessly pursues: aviation. During this time, he also pursues Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). The two go to nightclubs, play golf and fly together, and as they grow closer, move in together as well. During this time Hepburn becomes a major support and confidant to Hughes, and helps alleviate the symptoms of his obsessive-compulsive disorder. As Hughes' fame grows, he is seen with more starlets.Hughes takes an interest in commercial-passenger travel, and purchases majority interest in Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), the predecessor to Trans World Airlines. In 1935, he test flies the H-1 Racer but crashes in a beet field; "Fastest man on the planet," he boasts to Hepburn. Three years later, he flies around the world in four days, shattering the previous record by three days. Meanwhile, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), owner of Pan American Airlines, and Senator Owen Brewster (Alan Alda) worry over the possibility that Hughes might beat them in the quest for commercial expansion. Brewster has just introduced the Commercial Airline Bill, which will give world expansion solely to Pan Am. Trippe advises Brewster to check to the "disquieting rumors about Mr. Hughes."Hepburn and Hughes eventually break up when she announces that she has fallen in love with her movie costar (although he is briefly seen but never clearly stated, the viewers already know that the costar is her would be life-long partner Spencer Tracy).He soon has a new interest: 15-year old Faith Domergue (Kelli Garner) and later, Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). He also fights the Motion Picture Association of America over the steamy scenes in The Outlaw. He learns of Pan Am's efforts to run TWA off the map yet secures contracts with the Army Air Force on two projects, a spy plane and a troop transport. By 1946, Hughes has only finished the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft and is building the H-4 Hercules ("Spruce Goose") flying boat.With the strain of meeting deadlines and budgets, Hughes starts to show signs of alarming behavior, repeating phrases over and over and exhibiting a phobia over dust and germs. That July, he takes the XF-11 for a test flight. One of the propellers malfunctions, causing a crash in a Beverly Hills neighborhood. Rushed to the hospital, he slowly recuperates but learns the H-4 Hercules transport is no longer needed but orders production to continue. When he is discharged, the whole TWA fleet is built and ready to go, but he is in danger of being bankrupted by the airline and his flying boat.Afraid of the media trying to find him, Hughes places microphones and taps Ava's phone lines to keep track of any suspicious activity. After being confronted by Gardner, he returns home to find the FBI searching his house for incriminating evidence that he embezzled government funds. The incident is both a powerful trauma for Hughes and gives his enemies knowledge about his condition. Hughes meets with Brewster, who offers to drop the charges if Hughes supports the CAB Bill and sells the TWA stock to Trippe. Hughes sinks into a deep depression afterwards, shutting himself in his screening room, growing ever more paranoid and detached from reality; terrified of germs, he urinates into dozens of empty milk bottles. Hepburn tries to visit him, but is unable to help. Trippe then pays Hughes a visit, but an enraged Hughes vows he will never sell TWA. Trippe warns Dietrich that the world will see what Hughes has become if he goes to the Hearings. After nearly three months, Hughes finally emerges and prepares to face the Senate, with encouragement from Ava Gardner, who helps him get cleaned up.Hughes arrives at the hearings, and starts off with counter-claiming Brewster's charges: "Why not tell the truth, Senator? Why not tell the truth that this investigation was really born on the day that TWA first decided to fly to Europe?" Humiliated and enraged by this turn of events, Brewster formally states that Hughes charged the Defense Department $56 million for aircraft that never flew. Hughes defends himself and reveals that Trippe essentially bribed Brewster to hold the hearings.
The H-4 hercules "Spruce Goose" transportHughes successfully test flies the flying boat himself. After the flight, he talks to Dietrich and his mechanic Odie (Matt Ross) about a new jetliner for TWA (The Convair 880 Coronado) and makes a date with Gardner at a celebration party on the Long Beach shoreline. Hughes seems free of his inner demons until he sees three attendants in business suits and white gloves edging towards him, which triggers an obsessive-compulsive fit as he begins repeating "The way of the future." Dietrich and Odie take Hughes in a bathroom and hide him there, while Dietrich fetches a doctor and Odie stands outside guarding the door. Alone inside, Howard has a flashback to his boyhood, being washed by his mother and resolving he will fly the fastest aircraft ever built, make the biggest movies ever and become the richest man in the world. As the film ends he mutters "the way of the future... the way of the future" into a darkened mirror.

Tags: dramatic, romantic, flashback

Review:
Martin Scorcese has created a seminal work -- one that brings the harrowing, big-studio, adult movie making of the 1970's and totally reinvents and reinvigorates it for today's audience.The story traces the rise and demise of billionaire Howard Hughes as he struggles to find meaning and purpose in a life unfettered by concerns of money, talent or opportunity.
"The Aviator" has an amazing performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, and a mesmerizing performance by Cate Blanchett, who seems to inhabit the role of Katherine Hepburn-- the love of Hughes's life.
Scorsese tipping his hat to old Hollywood is the most fun he has had since "Goodfellas." The costumes, set designs, and pacing of this portion of the film are stunning and suck the viewer in.The rest of the film, despite Scorsese's amazing and vivid attention to detail, is a muddled mess, giving us glimpses into Hughes' obsessive (and compulsive) ways, his womanizing, his ambitious foray into aviation and the early days of commercial flight, his fight against Congress at the end of WWII, and the notorious plight and ultimately single flight of his infamous "Spruce Goose." It's all semi-educational and semi-entertaining, but in the end I think the complicated life of Hughes remains a mystery.As for the performances, they are amazing (thanks in most part to Scorsese, the ultimate actor's director).
Leonardo Dicaprio in the title role gives yet another performance that goes against my natural loathing of him, and although he seems a bit too boyish playing Hughes in the latter years (and the film really suffers for it), he's impeccable for the better part of the film.
The film is lengthy, but this compliments it, for the story is riveting and the production is practically flawless (even the combination of computerized processes and more traditional photography was smooth and effective).The presentation of the film, in an evolving color (from two-tone Technicolor, as Martin explained it to us, to three-tone, to modern by the later sequences) is absolutely stunning, and the cinematography by renowned Robert Richardson, ASC, is some of the best I've seen (and, in my opinion, deserving of an Oscar).Cate Blanchett was impeccable as Katharine Hepburn, though, at times, I felt that the complexity of her character was never really deeper than a surface analysis.She did her role flawlessly, but this is not to say that it really Alec Baldwin portrayed one of the flattest villains I've seen in a major motion picture, but, again, this is about Howard Hughes, and DiCaprio's performance is worthy of an Oscar nod at least, and perhaps an Oscar Win (certainly the best performance I've seen all year).One of my few complaints, though, is the lengthy sequences featuring Howard Hughes as a solo aviator.
Before Howard Hughes was a recluse so reclusive as to out-Salinger J.D. Salinger, he was a big time stud, who made big movies, flew fast planes, and courted gorgeous ladies; so say Martin Scorsese and John Logan, architects of this latest Hollywood biopic.' Leonardo DiCaprio continues his trend of turning in great performances with great directors, playing Howard Hughes between 1927 and 1947, the years where Hughes conquered the worlds of film and aviation, making room for romance with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale).
I know that the movie is about Howard Hughes (who was an absolute genius, even though he was a mad man), but Leo's performance was amazing.
The film tells about the achievements that Hughes accomplished such as the movies HELL'S ANGELS & THE OUTLAW, the building of an airplane that can fly above 20,000 feet, acquiring TWA and making it a international airline, and the design and building of the largest airplane ever the Hercules (now known as the Spruce Goose).
Mayer (Stanley DeSantis); his romance: Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett), Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsdale); and himself: paranoia, and obsession compulsion disorder.THE AVIATOR discusses all of those elements in rich detail, that after watching the movie, you begin to realize the amazing accomplishments that Hughes did.
And would like to know more about Howard Hughes and see the films that were discussed in the film.This isn't a Scorsese film that people want another TAXI DRIVER, GOODFELLAS, CASINO, or RAGING BULL would expect.
THE AVIATOR shows that DiCaprio is a great actor, giving a realistic portrayal of the eccentric Hughes in some scenes, and a man who cleanses the germs that represent people he dislikes or negative incidents.
While Beckinsdale also does a great job playing the very sexy Ava Gardner who has a love/hate relationship with Hughes, a woman who hates him at times, but will help him when he needs help.The supporting performances by John C.
The editing and special effects might diminish the grittiness that permeates most of this great director's work, but Martin Scorsese is at his peak as a storyteller here; the film is three hours long but I didn't even know it until I looked at a clock after exiting the theatre.
It feels like it plays in half that time--the movie is a very entertaining masterpiece about one of the most influential and complicated industrialists in American history; the man Howard Hughes was a true visionary, and dare I say in the world of aviation...
But like so many artists, this one is troubled, and DiCaprio plays him very, very well.I still liked Gangs of New York better, but this is a great movie and if it nabs Scorsese the key Oscars he has never called his own (Best Picture, Best Director) then he can finally fulfill that tiny blank space on his resume.
This is where Howard Hughes and his paranoia starts to take off.The best part of the film comes in the third act, during a simple and what some may think as a rather uneventful Congressional Hearing.
The story of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), the eccentric billionaire industrialist and Hollywood film mogul, famous for romancing some of the world's most beautiful women.
The drama recounts the years of his life from the late 1920s through the 1940s, an epoch when Hughes was directing and producing Hollywood movies and test flying innovative aircrafts he designed and created.It also follows his descent into madness as his compulsiveness for cleanliness gives way to frequent outbursts and ticks.
As you well know, Scorsese's film tells the story of the infamous Howard Hughes who led a life full of beautiful women and a huge amount of money to do whatever he pleased with.
We progress through the prominent stages of Howard's life and along the way, Scorsese shows us everything about his life from his relationships with beauties like Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) to his battles with severe mental issues ranging from OCD to bipolar disorder and potentially paranoid-schizophrenia; and all of this is portrayed exceptionally while in the background his aviation empire rises, falls and rises back again and his film career is met with constant turmoil.
Taking on someone as complex as Howard Hughes would be an immensely difficult task for any actor, especially one as young as DiCaprio, but Scorsese firmly believed in his abilities (the two previously worked together on Gangs of New York) and his decision pays off in a way that I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams.
Scorsese and DiCaprio are to be congratulated.The gorgeous and extraordinarily well-acted (by DiCaprio) movie moves through the highlights of Hughes' accomplishments in film and especially aviation.
He owes his obsessive compulsive disorder to his mother, who "washed" his penis when he was an adolescent, which is the disturbing and totally unnecessary opening scene.The best parts of the movie were (1) fantastic airplanes and old cars throughout, (2) Hughes' amazing survival of a spectacular crash of an experimental plane into palatial homes in Beverly Hills, (3) the takeoff and flight of the Spruce Goose, (4) the Senate hearings, (4) the night time flight over LA with Hughes romancing Hepburn, (5) dinner with Katharine Hepburn's family in New England, and (5) the crash landing of another experimental plane in a beet field.
However, the image this movie constructs of the great modern eccentric Howard Hughes is fascinating.The film is also emotionally powerful.
Its director, Martin Scorsese, is no doubt one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, but he has stumbled again with this film (following Gangs of New York).The film's begins by showing one puzzling scene of Howard Hughes' as a child being bathed by his mother and then it jumps to a scene showing Hughes as a young man directing a movie, Hell's Angels.
However, none of the plots are explained with any interest and the story skims only the plots' surface with no effort to grab the attention of the audience (at least not mine).If an audience is not familiar with the life and times of Howard Hughes, Katherine Hepburn, Eva Gardner, and the evolution of commercial airlines in the U.S., then it is almost impossible to see any depth in this movie.Sure, the set designs and acting of Leo and Blanchet are above-par in the film, but most others aspects of this film are in such a mess!
It seems as if Martin Scorsese (and the writer) assumed every audience coming to theaters to watch The Aviator would already be fascinated by Howard Hughes' eccentric life.
It starts abruptly and ends abruptly.Although the film spends nearly three hours concentrated solely on Howard Hughes' success and his inner demons of life, I walked out of the theater with a feeling that I've just watched an expensively designed movie with no real content.
Howard Hughes is an admittedly difficult subject matter for a film (perhaps this is why so many announced film projects about the eccentric billionaire have gone by the way side) -- Peculiar to a fault, Scorsese fails to make Hughes sympathetic or understandable to audiences he expect to go on a three hour journey into Hughes madness (which is pretty much the same in the third scene in the film as it is in the last.) DiCaprio does his best, but the character of Hughes has nowhere to go.
And we are really excepted to believe his life long phobias are the result of a single conversation with his creepy mother during a bath?The lone bright spot in this film is Cate Blanchett who manages to turn in a richly textured performance of Katherine Hepburn.
If the site of naked, half mad Howard Hughes lining up rows upon rows of milk bottles filled with urine is your idea of a good time, THE AVIATOR is the film for you..
Good.To me that means these actors delivered the lines well, nothing the director recommended or framed them in got in the way and I enjoyed watching the film.Audiences and Critics (even armchair) are a bit too quick to throw recent movies into the "Great!" category.
Although there is no reason to think there was anything psychologically wrong with him at that time, the movie makers made him appear as some kind of nut who mumbled to himself and behaved in crazy ways, something that is unsubstantiated and offensive since he was the head of large corporations and did (his company still does) a lot of business with the government, unlikely for a crazy person as he is depicted in this film.The producers (which include Leonard DiCaprio) apparently took what few bits and pieces of his personal life are known to the public, rearranged them to suit this mostly fictional film, and came up with another trashy Hollywood film.The acting left much to be desired as well..
Blame it on the slow moving script by John Logan which just skims over Hughes life.Sorry to disappoint you, but, Marty Scorsese strikes out again, with a lackluster script and terrible performances by Leo and Gwen Stafani.This movie putters along like a tortoise, with an occasional brief appearance from some of Hollywood's greatest early actresses.However, one of the main problems, is that Leo DiCaprio just is not believable at all as Howard Hughes in the least.
Every time he spoke I thought he was the drifter from Titanic trying unsuccessfully to imitate Howard Hughes, as well as Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.There are great performances from Jude Law as Errol Flynn, and Cate Blanchett as Kathrin Heppern.However, my advice to No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stafani is to keep your day job, because you seriously need acting lessons.
One of his dreams was to make a motion picture, which he did with HELL'S ANGELS, a film that not only introduced Hughes to Hollywood, but introduced him to such movie starlets as Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale).
Not only did Martin Scorsese capture the true essence of Howard Hughes and what he meant to this country, he allowed Leonardo DiCaprio to run with the character which ultimately left no stone unturned..
I never felt that I was being brought into his mind, heart, drive, life.I don't know if this was the fault of the script, or DiCaprio's performance, or Scorcese's direction.I left this lengthy movie, though, without new insight into Howard Hughes..
It took a lot of courage for Scorsese to not just structure the film around someone as familiar as Hepburn but to have her character played in a manner where she was recognizable to her fans.Alan Alda does great as a slimy senator, Adam Baldwin is slick as thestrangely likable Pan Am President, Kelli Garner and the other Kate (Beckinsale) are dazzling decoration, and Ian Holm provides comic relief.
The life of the late Howard Hughes is realized by director Martin Scorsese and his star, Leonardo DiCaprio, in this biopic that shows the millionaire's eccentric ventures into Hollywood film-making and breakthrough feats of aviation by breaking speed records.
Movie Review: "The Aviator" (2004)As director Martin Scorsese earns another "Best Director" Academy-award nomination and leading actor Leonardo DiCaprio plays his heart out with less then 30-years of age, when the perfectly-pitched screenplay by John Logan exceeds any expectations on a usually one-sided, up-high-in-the-sky Howard Hughes (1905-1976) story as several airplane action scenes amaze, when dramatic turning points as including accompanied supporting actresses Cate Blanchett, playing legendary actress Katherine Hepburn, and Kate Beckinsale as Greta Garbo, when director Scorsese and acrto DiCaprio collaborate to ultimate cinematic splendor.
The first time I saw this film I thought, "It's pretty good," but the second time I watched it I came away with a much different perspective.Most of us knew about Howard Hughes' obsession with germs and about the Spruce Goose but not a lot about his early years or the extent of his involvement with airplanes.
"The Aviator", but virtue of its very title, lets us know that flying was Hughes' magnificent obsession and everything else came second.Watching the film the second time I was stuck by the importance of color.
Thus, I can't say more about Hollywood movie, however I am very impressed by this work."Imagine life without limits", I think Mr. Martin Scorsese have shown their one of his best imagination and creativeness through this film, which will be proved as a great film in future.
It is remarkable that Howard Hughes is not more of a cultural icon having run a booming company, produced and directed acclaimed movies, designed planes, broken speed and distance records, and battled a senate committee (which was filmed in a fashion that is comparable to any of the great boxing ring bouts).DiCaprio just gets better with each movie superbly playing a character that can mix it with the best business minds of the time yet has trouble finding his way out of a toilet.
After working with Martin Scoresse on Gangs Of New York I was a little skeptical on whether this would be the same fare, Leo being out acted and not really achieving much of a sensible story, but here it all comes together and why Leo never got that Oscar is beyond me, the boy is marvelous!Playing Howard Hughes, an aviator and film director/producer and rampant womanizer with a passion and obsession leo pulls it off and truly shows he is not just a pretty face!Direction is what truly makes this film and Scoresse shows his love of the old days and their films, its like watching a fan of golden oldies talk about the old films and industry.
Martin Scorsese directs this biopic that peaks at the life/career of eccentric billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes(Leonardo DiCaprio).
Hughes became increasingly eccentric and insane as time went on and by the end of the film I think Scorsese does something rather brilliant in terms of narrative effect -- I won't give it away but suffice to say it's a nice little conclusion to the movie.The movie itself is quite good but tries a bit too hard.
There were only about 5 very interesting scenes all having do to with the actual aviation like the speed test, the crash (the best scene of the movie), the filming of hell angels, and the mental breakdown towards the end, which was even a little under acted and under played.
No matter how interested you are in Howard Hughes don't I repeat Do Not waste your money or the 3 hours of your life you'll never get back watching this movie.
It is an epic that has everything that makes an epic film extraordinary with its story of a person who are bigger than life itself, combined with great visual effects, wonderfully colorful performances, and exposing the utter genius of Hughes, "The Aviator" proves not only be entertaining, but enlightening.
This comment on THE AVIATOR deals with the motion picture itself, not with its biographical aspects, since I know too little of the facts concerning Howard Hughes' life.I can say right away that this movie kept my interest, even with its 170 minutes running time.
The film is as amazing and dark as the man who called himself with pride, "Howard Hughes, the Aviator".