Aviator

The Aviator flies right off the screen and into history as a movie that at once tells the tale of obsession and daring while entertaining and delighting the fans of Leonardo DiCaprio in this role of Howard Hughes, one of the most complex figures to emerge in American aviation and filmdom's history.


I do have to state that sometimes having read a book before seeing a movie of that subject can be a bit detrimental in so much as you go to the theater expecting more than can possibly be put into a film, even a film that is nearly 3 hours long as is The Aviator. I had read the biography, Howard Hughes, The Untold Story just this past month so I was really into the history of this giant of a character, an icon who was every inch a hero as he was tormented by the demons that ruled so much of his life.


Martin Scorsese, the director and DiCaprio, one of the films producers as well as the star, chose to focus on the aviation aspect of Hughes's life during the early years of flying and of film-making, as well his early years as a daredevil moviemaker and aviator, therefore, the title.


When the movie opens it just touches on the complex relationship Howard had with his mother, who instills in him the very first seeds of many of the compulsions that effected his entire life. Though apparently the fear of flying and heights were not included in those obsessive compulsive behaviors.


Soon we see Howard as he directs his first major film, Hell's Angels. Not satisfied with the run of the mill film making of that time, he experiments with many of the aspects of that film to the degree of moving the entire production from the California desert to another location so there would be clouds in the scenes giving the impression of movement in the skies. Finally, he gets into the plane himself with cameras attached to the wings and soars through the air while the shooting continued to his satisfaction. This scene was spectacular as it is filmed today by Scorsese and was in its day as well. To accomplish this, Hughes spent millions of his inherited money from his fathers Texas Tool Company. Then, on the verge of the films being released, Hughes decided that sound in movies will be the wave of the future and began the filming again. This movie alone will tell the tale of how far he would go to produce the films he felt the audience would want to see and be willing to pay for.


Soon he became the legend of Hollywood film-makers, a ladies man of the highest caliber, romancing the stars and starlets of that era. From Katharine Hepburn, an icon in her own right and one of the true loves of his life, played magnificently by Kate Blanchett to Ava Gardner, seductively played by Kate Beckinsale. In between he romanced so many stars of that day, only hinted at in the movie. He had a womanizing compulsion that got him into many tough spots during his lifetime that the movie really doesn't dwell on, so I won't go into it here. It does mention though the many starlets he had nestled away in various bungalows on the property of the Beverly Hills Hotel.


Another legendary film, The Outlaw, is mentioned as one he paid particularly careful attention to when the censors decided too much of Jane Russell's cleavage was in evidence and he literally took boob control when he invented a bra that would placate the censors objections. I'm sure he had fun with this one especially when he devilishly pointed out the other actresses "daring scenes" in previous movies which had no censorship at all.


One of the highlights of the movie for me was the cinematography, not only of the flying sequences, which were incredible, but the Art Deco sets of the Coconut Grove Nightclub where most the Hollywood big shots frequented to see and be seen. The music, costumes and characters introduced, from Errol Flynn played by Jude Law, to many budding starlets were fantastic and reminiscent of what Hollywood must have been like during the time of the 1930's to the mid forties, what some have called the Golden era of filmmaking. He had it all, the glamour, the ladies and the fortune to do what he wanted most, make movies and invent the latest in aerodynamics even if it meant he would fly those planes himself.


He went on to buy RKO Pictures where he produced many of legendary films still highly regarded today.


Of course, along the way he had his failures and that is when his mental conditions deteriorated, so much so, that he had a complete meltdown in one scene of the film during which Leonardo played Hughes to the hilt of near insanity. The legendary long nails and toenails, his long unkempt hair and beard that we have all read or heard about, though I think they took license with the time frame of that period. Some of the scenes leading up to that point, his obsessive need of cleanliness, washing his hands raw, then not being able to touch the door handle of the men's room he was in, clearly showed how his early compulsions forced on him by his mother and, only hinted at in the film, were so in evidence, eventually ruining his life.


He had 3 plane accidents during his flying career one of which was depicted in a harrowing scene as he crashed his plane into the community of Beverly Hills, destroying homes along this path of destruction, while he was test piloting one of his new aircrafts. This accident left him burned on 80% of his body and caused him acute physical pain for the rest of his life. This was also just hinted at in the movie, though in reality, this pain is what caused him to be on the extreme heavy doses of medication, which was another of his downfalls. These crashes caused brain damage, which also contributed to his deteriorating mental condition in later years.


But, along the way, he was a genius in aviation history and eventually went on to own TWA Airlines, though not without a fight. His protagonist, in this particular journey, was Alex Baldwin playing the owner of Pan American Airlines who didn't want the competition from another airline to share in international air travel when it first began. There was also Alan Alda who played the part of a Senator Brewster who was in the pocket, so to speak, of Baldwin though I wasn't too clear about this and felt that too much time was spent on the senate hearings that took place in reference to that ordeal of Hughes and the money he supposedly took from the government to produce aircraft for the war years. Though he clearly came out the winner in the debates on the Senate floor that transpired about that issue.


When that was over he went on to build the infamous Blue Spruce a massive project which, though it wasn't completed in time for the war effort, went on to become his pet project until the day he flew this giant of an water/aircraft himself, an undertaking that was another highlight in the movie, another testament to the extraordinary filmmaking expertise of Scorcese and crew.


Side note: Having seen the Blue Spruce myself on a visit to Long Beach, California where it sits today, a tourist attraction, I was in awe of the fact that Hughes actually was able to get this colossal aircraft into the air.


All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every minute of this nearly 3 hour movie but I have to say, if I were the producer I would have put in a little more about the final years of Howard Hughes. These were the years many of us remember or have read about. The years he was a recluse, though, during that period, he went on to buy up most of the hotels on the strip in Las Vegas in the 50's and 60's. The years he spent as drug dependant, living in darkened rooms, germ phobic, and mostly bed ridden at the mercy of the people he hired to take care of him though, according to the book, didn't do such a swell job of it. But, this is a review of the movie The Aviator and the years he was at his height of glory, flying the planes he loved so much and making love to the many women in his life. For that this movie gets an A in my book and an A to DiCaprio and to Scorcese as well as the other actors who did such a notable job depicting many of the leading men and women in his lifetime. My hope is that Leonardo receives the Academy Award that has deluded him in his other performances. It also would be nice to see Scorcese finally win a well deserved Oscar as well.