Psst - This section will contain some inside trivia about the film.
Quotes - Good one liners from the movie.
Oops - Goofs From the movie.
Director ? Martin Scorsese
Screenplay ? John Logan
Epic like movie based on the life of famous Hollywood Producer, inherited billionaire and pioneering aviator of the 30?s and 40?s in USA, Howard Hughes (Superbly played by Leonardo Di Caprio).
*Movie starts on the set of the then most expensive movie ever made, Hell?s Angel. Howard wants to have no cost left and takes nearly 3 years to make the movie and then re-edits it so that sound can be incorporated. He has affairs with the top most actresses of that era starting with Katherine Hepburn(Cate Blanchett), Ava Gardner(Kate Beckinsale), Bette Davis and Jean Harlow amongst the prominent ones.
*As time went on, he went out of his way to ’’discover’’ attractive young starlets just so he could sleep with them. But his biggest dream was to fly higher and faster. He buys a large stake in the TWA airlines and gets a contract from the US Air Force to make the world?s largest and biggest aircraft which he names it as ?Hercules?. He is seen as a big competition to Rival Airline Pan Am whose president Juan Trippe(Alec Baldwin) tries to Jeopardize Hughe?s business by making aviation laws to suit his company and get monopoly over flying overseas along with the help of Senator Ralph Brewster(Alan Alda in a role which got him nominated for the best supporting actor oscar but I didn?t think it was exceptional).
*Due to his constant womanizing, eccentric behavior and ultra lavish expenditures his women start leaving him and he is almost on verge of bankruptcy and unstable mental health. But he fights all of it to achieve his dream of being the master aviator. Movie making at its best. This is Scorsese?s best film since Raging Bull(Another biographical movie).
*Superb acting by Leonardo Di Caprio (The Oscar Committee are going to have a very tough time in choosing between Jamie Foxx and him for the best actor oscar). Excellent Cinematography by Rober Richardson(You will see lots of influence of Raging Bull here). Superb Music Score by Howard Shore(Again influenced by Raging Bull) but the standing ovation goes to Michael Mann for producing such a movie and Martin Scorcsese for directing the movie. A must watch for all movie buffs. Please make it a point to watch the movie ONLY in a theatre.
Psst ?
1) Originally Michael Mann was supposed to direct this film but decided to produce it instead as he had already directed 2 back to back bio pics earlier and didn?t want to direct another one. He offered the script to Martin Scorsese.
2) Leonardo Di Caprio was an Executive Producer of this movie. This was the first time his personal company ?Appian Way? was involved in a film production.
3) Jim Carrey and Barry Pepper were considered for the role of Howard Hughes earlier. Gwyneth Paltrow was considered for the role of Ava Gardner and Nicole Kidman was considered for the role of Katharine Hepburn.
4) Warren Beatty, John Malkovich, Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes, Brian De Palma and Jim Carrey had plans at one point in their career to make a movie on Howard Hughes.
5) To prepare for the role of Katharine Hepburn, Cate Blanchett had to watch her first 15 movies to learn her mannerism and also learn how to play Golf, Tennis and to take Cold Showers.
6) Kate Beckinsale had to put nearly 10 KG in weight and had to pur freckles on her face to prepare for the role of Ava Gardner.
7) At the time of writing this review, The Aviator has already been nominated for 11 oscars including Best Film, Director, Actor and Screenplay.
8) The Hercules has flown a distance of only 1 mile till date.
9) The Movie Hell?s Angel was made a budget of nearly 4 million dollars at that time. It made no profit at that time during first release. Howard Hughes didn?t give himself any screen credit for the movie.
10) Howard Hughe?s crazy behavior and obsessive compulsive disorder was said to caused by brain damage from a series of air craft accidents and Schizophrenia.
11) He died due to a kidney failure and was just about 50 KG in weight (Which is very low for a person who was 6 feet 4 inches in height)
12) He was a recluse and suffered from Agoraphobia, Hypochondria and insomnia.
13) Howard Hughes was a huge fan of James Bond Films.
14) The Hercules is now a part of the famous Evergreen Avaiation Musseum in Oregon, USA.
15) He bought several Casinos and Hotels in Las Vegas from the Mafia and had a big hand in its modernization. Most of them have been demolished.
16) Author Clifford Irving wrote an biography on Howard Hughes. Hughes was so furious that he denounced the biography as he was a recluse and Irving had to spend 14 months in jail for fraud.
17) In 1953 he founded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute which is worth over $11 billion today and is fully in to medical research.
18) In 1966 Howard Hughes was forced to sell his share in TWA for 500 million dollars over a law suit filed on him.
Quotes ?
1) ?Come in with the milk.?
2) ?Show me all the blueprints.?
3) ?The Way of the future.?
4) ?You want to go to war with me?; It’s not me, Howard. It’s the United States Government. We just beat Germany and Japan. Who the hell are you??
5) ?He owns Pan-Am. He owns Congress. He owns the Civil Aeronautics Board. But he does not own the sky.?
6) ?I’m in a street fight, and I’m not going to lose.?
7) ?I don’t want them bribed, Jack. I want this done legal. I want them bought.? 8) ?Hughes will be dismissed of all charges. Our bill will be defeated in the Senate, allowing Hughes and TWA to start commercial flights to Paris then Rome then Berlin then on to Moscow and The Soviet Union and finally the Far East. F.?
Oops ? I didn?t notice any goofs but if any one of you have, please let me know.
I would like to thank the websites of IMDB and Wikipedia Encyclopedia for providing the trivia and quotes of the movie. Its very difficult to write good movie reviews without sources.