Themes: Scandals and Cover-Ups, Tortured Genius, Mental Illness
Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 166 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Martin Scorsese directed this fast-moving, epic-scale biopic documenting the life and loves one of the most colorful Americans of the 20th century, Howard Hughes. The Aviator follows Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. It doesn't take long for Hughes, with his passion for airplanes, to jump from producer to director of his first major film project, a World War I air epic called Hell's Angels, which took three years to complete thanks to the shift from silent to sound filming and Hughes' relentless perfectionism. However, the film was a massive hit, and the eccentric inventor became a mogul in Hollywood, making Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani) a star and enjoying a romance with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). But Hollywood's old-boy network never fully accepted Hughes, and in time his passion for flying began to reclaim his attentions as he began designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing aircraft. Hughes also found time to romance Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) and founded his own airline, Trans-World Airlines, though as his ideas became bolder, his approach became more eccentric, and he gained many powerful enemies, including the head of Pan-American Airlines, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), and Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), who attempted to prove that Hughes' radical design ideas were actually part of an effort to bilk taxpayers for millions of dollars through government contracts. The Aviator's star-studded cast also includes John C. Reilly, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Ian Holm, and Frances Conroy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The Aviator is a rousing entertainment that does not shy away from the darkest aspects of Howard Hughes' life. The first hour of The Aviator feels like the most fun Martin Scorsese has had behind a camera in over a decade. The extended sequence of Hughes attempting to get Hell's Angels completed to his detailed ideal is the closest Scorsese himself has ever come to an onscreen biography of his own work habits. A notorious obsessive, Scorsese recognizes those traits in Hughes and with the assistance of a never-better Leonardo DiCaprio creates an affectionate but realistic look at Hughes' successes and demons. Though the film feels a bit overlong, it never loses the audience's interest, thanks in large part to DiCaprio's determined blue eyes. Those eyes are always able to communicate the intensity of Hughes' feelings -- be it his passion for women and aviation, or his fear of losing control. He is matched in the early part of the film by an as always first-rate Cate Blanchett, who manages to embody Katharine Hepburn without turning her into a caricature, showcasing her intelligence and humor without shying away from her own faults. They make arguably the most sympathetic couple in a Scorsese film since Kris Kristofferson and Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. From his decision to replicate the look of the old two-strip Technicolor process (hence the blue peas and the blue golf course), to his first ever use of CGI effects, Scorsese utilizes every tool at a filmmaker's disposal. But for all of the filmmaking pyrotechnics, it is the clear-eyed empathy Scorsese brings to The Aviator that makes it one of the most emotionally rewarding films of his career. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Ian Holm - Professor Fitz; Danny Huston - Jack Frye; Gwen Stefani - Jean Harlow; Jude Law - Errol Flynn; Adam Scott - Johnny Meyer; Matt Ross - Glenn Odekirk; Kelli Garner - Faith Domergue; Frances Conroy - Mrs. Hepburn; Brent Spiner - Robert Gross; Stanley de Santis - Louis B. Mayer; Edward Herrmann - Joseph Breen; Willem Dafoe - Roland Sweet; Kenneth Walsh - Dr. Hepburn; J.C. MacKenzie - Ludlow; Sam Hennings; Vincent Laresca - Jorge; Rufus Wainwright; Justin Shilton; Chris Ufland; Josie Maran; Nellie Sciutto - Nadine Henley
Credit
Réal Proulx - Art Director, Martin Gendron - Art Director, Michele Laliberte - Art Director, Luca Tranchino - Art Director, Robert Guerra - Supervising Art Director, Claude Pare - Supervising Art Director, Lucie Robitaille - Casting, Sandy Powell - Costume Designer, Joseph P. Reidy - First Assistant Director, Martin Scorsese - Director, Rob Legato - Second Unit Director, Thelma Schoonmaker - Editor, Chris Brigham - Executive Producer, Howard Shore - Composer (Music Score), Dante Ferretti - Production Designer, Robert Richardson - Cinematographer, Leonardo DiCaprio - Producer, Michael Mann - Producer, Graham King - Producer, Charles Evans, Jr. - Producer, Sandy Climan - Producer, William J. Law III - Set Designer, Petur Hliddal - Sound/Sound Designer, Jean Frenette - Stunts Coordinator, Doug Coleman - Stunts Coordinator, R. Bruce Steinheimer - Special Effects Supervisor, John Logan - Screenwriter, Philip Pfeiffer - Second Unit Camera, Tom Fleischman - Re-Recording Mixer, Eugene Gearty - Supervising Sound Editor, Philip Stockton - Supervising Sound Editor, Francesca Lo Schiavo - Set Decorator
