'''''The Aviator''''' is an [[Academy Award]]-winning [[2004]] [[biographical film|biographical]] [[drama film]], [[film director|directed]] by [[Martin Scorsese]]. The film had several distributors worldwide. For example, it was distributed in the [[U.S.]] (theatrical), UK, and Germany by [[Miramax Films]], and in Latin America, Australia, and on U.S. DVD by [[Warner Bros. Pictures]]. Like many of Scorsese's films, it was nominated for numerous [[Academy Awards]], and went on to win 5 [[Academy Awards]] including Best Supporting Actress for [[Cate Blanchett]]. [[Roger Ebert]], a respected American film reviewer, described the film and its subject [[Howard Hughes]] in these terms:
'''''The Aviator''''' is a 2004 American [[epic film|epic]] [[biographical film|biographical]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Martin Scorsese]] and written by [[John Logan (writer)|John Logan]]. It stars [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] as [[Howard Hughes]], [[Cate Blanchett]] as [[Katharine Hepburn]], and [[Kate Beckinsale]] as [[Ava Gardner]]. The supporting cast features [[Ian Holm]], [[John C. Reilly]], [[Alec Baldwin]], [[Jude Law]], [[Gwen Stefani]], [[Kelli Garner]], [[Matt Ross (actor)|Matt Ross]], [[Willem Dafoe]], [[Alan Alda]], and [[Edward Herrmann]].
{{cquote|What a sad man. What brief glory. What an enthralling film, 166 minutes, and it races past. There's a match here between Scorsese and his subject, perhaps because the director's own life journey allows him to see Howard Hughes with insight, sympathy -- and, up to a point, with admiration. This is one of the year's best films.}}
Based on the 1993 non-fiction book ''Howard Hughes: The Secret Life'' by [[Charles Higham (biographer)|Charles Higham]], the film depicts the life of Howard Hughes, an aviation pioneer and director of the film ''[[Hell's Angels (film)|Hell's Angels]]''. The film portrays his life from 1927 to 1947 during which time Hughes became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]] (OCD).
==Synopsis==
{{spoiler}}
Shot in [[Montreal]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/a/Aviator.php|title=Filming Locations for Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, around Los Angeles.|website=The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations}}</ref> ''The Aviator'' was released in the United States on December 25, 2004, to positive reviews with critics praising Scorsese's direction, its cinematography and the performances by DiCaprio and Blanchett. It grossed $214 million on a budget of $110 million, thus emerging as a moderate commercial success at the box-office.
===Summary===
The movie is a [[biopic]] of the aviation pioneer [[Howard Hughes]]. It follows his life from the late [[1920s]] through the [[1940s]], a time when Hughes was directing and producing [[Hollywood]] movies as well as test piloting his own groundbreaking new aircraft.
''The Aviator'' received a leading 11 nominations at the [[77th Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] (for Scorsese), [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] (for DiCaprio), and [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]] (for Alda), and won a leading 5 awards, including [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] (for Blanchett). At the [[58th British Academy Film Awards]], it received a leading 14 nominations, including [[BAFTA Award for Best Direction|Best Director]], [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|Best Actor in a Leading Role]] (for DiCaprio) and [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role|Best Actor in a Supporting Role]] (for Alda), and won a leading 4 awards, including [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]] and [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]] (for Blanchett). It received 6 nominations at the [[62nd Golden Globe Awards]], including [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]] (for Blanchett), and won a leading 3 awards, including [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]] and [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama]] (for DiCaprio). The film also received 3 nominations at the [[11th Screen Actors Guild Awards]], including [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role|Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role]] (for DiCaprio), winning [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role|Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role]] (for Blanchett).
Hughes, orphaned at age 17, was the son of a Texan inventor, who left him most of his multi-million dollar tool company upon his death. At the time, he was a college student at [[Rice University]]. From there, he moved to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] to become a movie producer, helping fledgling actors launch their careers, such as [[Jean Harlow]], whom he cast in ''[[Hell's Angels (movie)|Hell's Angels]]''. He also produced ''[[Scarface (1932 film)|Scarface]]''. Later in his career, he branched out into other industries, such as electronics and most significantly, aviation. His company, [[Hughes Aircraft]] was responsible for the [[Hughes H-4 Hercules|H-4 Hercules]], nicknamed "Spruce Goose" by detractors. Hughes' mental deterioration with his [[obsessive-compulsive]] behavior is a major plot thread through the film.
== Plot ==
The movie also details Hughes' romances with [[Ava Gardner]] and [[Katharine Hepburn]], and his battles with [[Pan Am]]'s [[Juan Trippe]], who allegedly [[bribery|bribed]] [[Maine]] [[United States Senate|senator]] [[Ralph Owen Brewster|Owen Brewster]] into granting Pan Am a [[coercive monopoly]] on international registered air travel. Hughes admits to having [[Congress]]men in his pocket, too, which he did in real life.
In 1913, [[Houston]], eight-year-old [[Howard Hughes]]' mother gives him a bath and teaches him how to spell "quarantine", warning him about the recent [[cholera]] outbreak. Fourteen years later, in 1927, he begins to direct his film ''[[Hell's Angels (film)|Hell's Angels]]'', and hires [[Noah Dietrich]] to manage the day-to-day operations of his business empire.
After the release of ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'', the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, and decides to convert the movie to a sound film. Despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the result and orders it to be recut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress [[Katharine Hepburn]], who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]] (OCD) and [[Mysophobia|germaphobia]].
===Detailed synopsis===
[[Image:John_c_reilly11.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Leonardo DiCaprio (right) as Howard Hughes and John C. Reilly (left) as Noah Dietrich]]
The film begins with nine year old Hughes being bathed by his mother, who warns him of disease: "You are not safe." This shows the root of his obsession with germs. The film next shows him as a 22-year old preparing to direct ''[[Hell's Angels (film)|Hell's Angels]]''. He hires [[Noah Dietrich]] to run Hughes Tool Co, while he oversees the flight sequences for the film. He is two cameras short and unsuccessfully tries to get loaners from [[Louis B. Mayer]], who laughs at him and tells him to go back to Texas. Realizing that the audience will not be able to have a sense of space from the shot dogfight footage, Hughes becomes obsessed with finding "[[clouds]] that look like giant breasts full of milk" to re-shoot against. He hires [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] [[meteorology|meteorologist]] Professor Fitz to determine the perfect formation, and ends up waiting eight months. When the Professor tells him there are clouds in [[Oakland, California]], Hughes moves production there, and re-shoots the dogfight himself.
In 1935, Hughes test flies the [[Hughes H-1 Racer|H-1 Racer]], pushing it to a new speed record, despite having to crash-land into a beet field when the aircraft runs out of fuel. Three years later, he breaks the world record by flying around the world in four days. He subsequently purchases majority interest in [[Trans World Airlines|Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA)]].
By 1929, the film is finally complete, but, while watching ''[[The Jazz Singer (1927 film)|The Jazz Singer]]'', Hughes realizes that "[[Sound film|talkies]]" will become the rage, meaning ''Hell's Angels'' will have to be re-shot for sound, costing another year and $1.7 million. The film is a huge hit, and Hughes is the one laughing now. He makes ''[[Scarface (1932 film)|Scarface]]'' and ''[[The Outlaw]]''. However, there is one goal he relentlessly pursues: [[aviation]]. During this time, he also pursues [[Katharine Hepburn]]. 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]] somewhat.
[[Image:Hepburncfr.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn]]
As Hughes's fame grows, he is seen with more starlets. He 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 [[Hughes H-1 Racer|H-1 Racer]], breaks the speed record of [[Charles Lindbergh]], and 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]], owner of [[Pan American Airlines]], and Senator [[Owen Brewster]] 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."
[[Juan Trippe]], company rival and chairman of [[Pan Am]], gets his crony, Senator [[Ralph Owen Brewster]], to introduce the [[Airline deregulation|Community Airline Bill]], which would give Pan Am exclusivity on international air travel. Hepburn grows tired of Hughes' eccentricity and workaholism, and leaves him for fellow actor [[Spencer Tracy]]. Hughes quickly finds a new love interest with 15-year-old [[Faith Domergue]], and later actress [[Ava Gardner]]. However, he still has feelings for Hepburn, and bribes a reporter to keep reports about her and the married Tracy out of the press.
Hepburn takes Hughes to meet her family in [[Connecticut]], which turns into a disaster. When, over lunch, her mother tells him that "we don't care about money," he shoots back, "That's because you've always had it," in effect exposing the [[socialism|socialist]]-minded Hepburns as snobs and hypocrites. Back on the set of her new film, Katharine finds herself confiding about her escalating difficulties with Howard to [[Spencer Tracy]]. She finally tells Hughes she has fallen in love and is leaving him. Howard responds by burning all his clothes that night.
[[Image:Aviator1dd.jpg|thumb|left|175px|Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner]]
He soon has a new interest: 15-year old [[Faith Domergue]]. 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. He secures contracts with the [[United States Army|Army]] on two projects, a spy plane and a troop plane, by throwing a massive dinner party. He is hounded by the press after being caught with [[Ava Gardner]] by an enraged Domergue, who rams her car into theirs. Hughes meets with a shady tabloid editor to purchase the photo negatives taken of Hepburn with Tracy before they become public.
In the mid-1940s, Hughes contracts two projects with the [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces]], one for a [[Surveillance aircraft|spy aircraft]], and another for a [[Military transport aircraft|troop transport unit]] for use in [[World War II]].
By 1946, Hughes has only finished the [[Hughes XF-11|XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft]] and is building the [[Hughes H-4 Hercules|H-4 Hercules]] ("Spruce Goose") flying boat. The budget is increasing, the deadline is looming, and Hughes starts to show signs of alarming behavior, such as worry over dust and germs in the air and repeating phrases over and over. That July, he takes the XF-11 for a test flight. One of the propellers malfunctions, causing severe power and control problems; Hughes attempts to land it on a golf course in [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]], but crashes into a neighborhood. He is rushed to the hospital, where he slowly recuperates. He learns the Spruce Goose is no longer needed by the Army, 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 the plane.
In 1947, with the [[Hughes H-4 Hercules|H-4 Hercules]] [[flying boat]] still in construction, Hughes finishes the [[Hughes XF-11|XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft]] and takes it for a test flight. However, one of the engines fails midflight; he crashes in [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] and is severely injured, but miraculously survives. The army cancels its order for the H-4 Hercules, although Hughes still continues the development with his own money. Dietrich informs Hughes that he must choose between funding the airlines or his flying boat. Hughes orders Dietrich to mortgage the TWA assets so he can continue the development.
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 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] searching his house for incriminating evidence of him embezzling 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.
As his OCD worsens, Hughes becomes increasingly paranoid, planting microphones and tapping Gardner's phone lines to keep track of her, until she kicks him out of her house. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] searches his home for incriminating evidence of [[war profiteering]], searching through his possessions.
During the meeting Brewster carefully and deliberately does things to inflame Hughes's OCD. Hughes defiantly refuses but sinks into a deep depression afterwards, shutting himself in his screening room, terrified of germs, urinating into dozens of empty milk bottles, with his OCD growing exponentially worse. Hepburn visits him, talking to him from outside the door, and thanks him for buying the negatives and apologizes for how wrong things went with them. She begs Hughes to let her help him, to either let her in or open the door and come out, but he does neither. Trippe then pays Hughes a visit, but an enraged Hughes vows he will never sell TWA to Trippe. Trippe warns Dietrich that the world will see what Howard 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 forces him to get cleaned up. When he thanks her, she tells Hughes "You would do it for me".
Brewster privately offers to drop the charges if Hughes sells TWA to Trippe, but Hughes refuses. Hughes' OCD symptoms become extreme, and he retreats into an isolated "[[pathogen|germ]]-free zone" for three months. Trippe has Brewster summon him for a Senate investigation, certain that Hughes will not show up. Gardner visits him and personally grooms and dresses him in preparation for the hearing.
Hughes arrives at the Hearings, and starts off with counter-claiming Brewster's charges. Humiliated and enraged by this turn of events, the Senator formally states that Hughes charged the [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] $56 million [[United States dollar|USD]] for planes that never flew. Then, Hughes states that other companies did not deliver planes either, yet they have not been charged with embezzlement. He also shows that he himself poured millions of dollars into the planes, losing money in the process. In a final blow to Brewster and Trippe's Pan Am monopoly scheme, Hughes exposes their offer to drop the charges, if he sold his stock over to Trippe and Pan Am, and he adds that on their little date, Brewster told him this would never take place, if he would just give up, and also exposes the longstanding ties and bribes between Brewster and Trippe.
[[Image:H-4_Hercules_2.jpg|thumb|right|200px| The "Spruce Goose"]]
Hughes successfuly rebuts the charges, the CAB bill is defeated, Trippe's plan for Pan Am's global expansion is ruined, and TWA starts to expand to Europe and the Far East. Hughes then proves he was right about the Spruce Goose by personally flying it himself. After the flight, as he talks to Noah and Odie about a new jet-liner for TWA and makes a date with Ava at the party to celebrate.
An invigorated Hughes defends himself against Brewster's charges and accuses the Senator of taking bribes from Trippe. He concludes by announcing that he has committed to completing the H-4 aircraft, and that he will leave the country if he cannot get it to fly. Brewster's bill is promptly defeated.
Hughes seems to be free of his inner demons, until he suddenly sees three businessmen in suits and white gloves who seem to be menacing him. Are they figments of his imagination? Dietrich's reaction implies that they are real; after Hughes asks if the businessmen work for him, he responds "Everybody works for you Howard." This suddenly sets him into an obsessive-compulsive fit, constantly repeating "The way of the future" in reference to the jet aircraft the three men had been discussing.
After successfully flying the aircraft, Hughes speaks with Dietrich and his engineer, [[Glenn Odekirk]], about a new jetliner for TWA. However, he begins hallucinating men in germ-resistant suits, and has a [[panic attack]]. As Odekirk hides him in a restroom while Dietrich fetches a doctor, Hughes begins to have flashbacks of his childhood, his love for aviation and his ambition for success, compulsively repeating the phrase "the way of the future".
Dietrich and Odie hide Hughes in a bathroom and keep him there while they can get a doctor. Howard has a flashback of his boyhood self, realizing that he has accomplished all his goals, and already built the grounds for the future. Despite that, and despite everything he does, Hughes cannot stave off the encroaching madness. As the film ends, he keeps muttering "the way of the future." As the darkness closes in around him, Hughes sees himself as the little boy being washed by mother and making the promise to fly the fastest plane ever built, make the biggest movies ever and become the richest man in the world.
==Factversusfiction==
== Cast ==
{{castlist|
In the film, the H-4 Hercules appeared to fly hundreds of feet off the water for miles, flying over boats in its path. In actuality, the Hercules lifted only 70 feet (20 m) off the water at a speed of 80 mph (130 km/h or 70 knots) for just under a mile (1.6 km).
* [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] as [[Howard Hughes]]
** Jacob Davich as 8-year-old Howard Hughes
* [[Cate Blanchett]] as [[Katharine Hepburn]]
* [[Kate Beckinsale]] as [[Ava Gardner]]
* [[John C. Reilly]] as [[Noah Dietrich]]
* [[Alec Baldwin]] as [[Juan Trippe]]
* [[Alan Alda]] as Senator [[Ralph Owen Brewster]]
* [[Ian Holm]] as Professor Fitz
* [[Danny Huston]] as [[Jack Frye]]
* [[Gwen Stefani]] as [[Jean Harlow]]
* [[Jude Law]] as [[Errol Flynn]]
* [[Adam Scott (actor)|Adam Scott]] as Johnny Meyer
* [[Matt Ross (actor)|Matt Ross]] as [[Glenn Odekirk]]
* [[Kelli Garner]] as [[Faith Domergue]]
* [[Frances Conroy]] as [[Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn|Katharine Houghton]]
* [[Brent Spiner]] as [[Robert E. Gross (businessman)|Robert E. Gross]]
* [[Stanley DeSantis]] as [[Louis B. Mayer]]
* [[Edward Herrmann]] as [[Joseph Breen]]
* [[Willem Dafoe]] as Roland Sweet
* [[Kevin O'Rourke (actor)|Kevin O'Rourke]] as [[Spencer Tracy]]
* [[J. C. MacKenzie]] as [[Ludlow Ogden Smith]]
* [[Josie Maran]] as Thelma The Cigarette Girl
* [[Kenneth Welsh]] as Dr. Hepburn
}}
== Production ==
The film takes many historical liberties. Ella Rice is neither seen or mentioned although Hughes was married to her when he made ''Hell's Angels.'' His lover at the time, [[Billie Dove]], is not mentioned. His first two films, which were hits, are not referenced.
=== Development ===
[[Warren Beatty]] planned to direct and star in a [[Howard Hughes]] biopic in the early 1970s. He co-wrote the script with [[Bo Goldman]] after a proposed collaboration with [[Paul Schrader]] fell through. Goldman wrote his own script, ''[[Melvin and Howard]]'', which depicted Hughes' possible relationship with [[Melvin Dummar]]. Beatty's thoughts regularly returned to the project over the years,<ref name=Spiel /> and in 1990 he approached [[Steven Spielberg]] to direct Goldman's script.<ref>{{cite book |author=Joseph McBride |title=Steven Spielberg: A Biography |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |date=1997 |location=New York City |pages=446 |isbn=0-571-19177-0| author-link = Joseph McBride (writer)}}</ref> Beatty's Hughes biopic was eventually released under the title ''[[Rules Don't Apply]]'' in 2016. [[Charles Evans, Jr.]] purchased the [[film rights]] of ''Howard Hughes: The Untold Story'' ({{ISBN|0-525-93785-4}}) in 1993. Evans secured financing from [[New Regency Productions]], but development stalled.<ref name=pilot>Hughes, p.144-147</ref>
''The Aviator'' was a joint production between [[Warner Bros. Pictures]], which handled Latin American and Canadian distribution, and [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]], which released the film internationally under its [[Miramax Films]] banner in the United States and the United Kingdom. Disney previously developed a Hughes biopic with director [[Brian De Palma]] and actor [[Nicolas Cage]] between 1997 and 1998. Titled ''Mr. Hughes'', the film would have starred Cage in the dual roles of both Hughes and [[Clifford Irving]]. It was conceived when De Palma and Cage were working on ''[[Snake Eyes (1998 film)|Snake Eyes]]'' with writer [[David Koepp]].<ref name=Spiel>{{cite book |author=David Hughes |title=Tales From Development Hell |publisher=[[Titan Books]] |date=March 2004 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/talesfromdevelop00davi/page/136 136–140] |isbn=1-84023-691-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/talesfromdevelop00davi/page/136}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/snake-trio-tackles-hughes-lapaglia-in-sam-1117479189/ |title='Snake' trio tackles Hughes; LaPaglia in 'Sam' |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=August 6, 1998 |access-date=January 3, 2009 | url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024115317/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117479189 |archive-date=October 24, 2012}}</ref> [[Universal Pictures]] joined the competition in March 1998 when it purchased the film rights to ''Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes'' ({{ISBN|0-393000-257}}), written by [[Donald Barlett]] and [[James Steele (journalist)|James Steele]].
Dietrich tells Hughes there is alarm back in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] by his spending on ''Hell's Angels''; in reality, he became an [[Emancipation of minors|emancipated minor]] in 1924, and answered to no one.
The [[Hughes brothers]] were going to direct [[Johnny Depp]] as Howard Hughes, based on a script by [[Terry Hayes]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/hughes-team-tags-depp-spider-rumors-fly-1117468688/ |title=Hughes team tags Depp; 'Spider' rumors fly |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=March 2, 1998 |access-date=January 2, 2009 | url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024130041/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117468688 |archive-date=October 24, 2012}}</ref> Universal canceled it when they decided they did not want to fast-track development to compete with Disney. In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, director [[Miloš Forman]] was in talks to direct a film about the early life of Hughes with [[Edward Norton]] as the eccentric young billionaire.<ref>{{cite news |last=McDougal |first=Dennis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/movies/a-movie-story-as-elusive-as-its-main-character.html |title=A Movie Story as Elusive as Its Main Character |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 9, 2005|access-date=September 20, 2023}}</ref> In 2001, another version was announced to be produced and directed by [[William Friedkin]], who intended to make a three-hour film about Hughes based on the book ''Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters'' by [[Richard Hack]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Archerd |first=Army |url=https://variety.com/2001/voices/columns/helmer-friedkin-to-take-on-hack-s-hughes-1117852361/ |title=Helmer Friedkin to take on Hack's Hughes |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=September 6, 2001|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref> Also, in the early 2000s, director [[Christopher Nolan]] had developed a film about Hughes, itself also based on Hack's biography. All other versions were shelved when [[Martin Scorsese]] came aboard to direct ''The Aviator'', though Nolan would later return to his Howard Hughes project after completing ''[[The Dark Knight Rises]]'' in 2012, using the book ''Citizen Hughes: The Power, the Money and the Madness'' by [[Michael Drosnin]] as the source. Nolan wrote the script himself, which followed the darker and final years of Hughes's life. Nolan, once again, shelved the project when Warren Beatty was developing his [[Rules Don't Apply|long-awaited Hughes film]]. It was reported that Nolan's version would have starred [[Jim Carrey]] as the reclusive, elderly billionaire.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2011/02/christopher-nolan-to-make-shelved-howard-hughes-biopic-after-the-dark-knight-rises-120327/ |title=Christopher Nolan To Make Shelved Howard Hughes Biopic After 'The Dark Knight Rises'? |first1=Kevin |last1=Jagernauth |date=February 11, 2011 |access-date=October 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714170204/https://www.indiewire.com/2011/02/christopher-nolan-to-make-shelved-howard-hughes-biopic-after-the-dark-knight-rises-120327/|archive-date=July 14, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
Gardner and [[Linda Darnell]] are referenced before either entered film. Ava tells Hughes she is sleeping with [[Frank Sinatra]]. She met Sinatra while she was married to [[Mickey Rooney]], but they did not become involved until years later. She mentions in the same scene she slept with [[Artie Shaw]] the night before. Ava had actually broken up with Hughes before she married Shaw in 1945.
Disney restarted development on a new Howard Hughes biopic in June 1999, hiring [[Michael Mann]] to direct [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] playing the role of Howard Hughes, based on a script by [[John Logan (writer)|John Logan]].<ref>{{cite news |first1=Chris |last1=Petrikin |first2=Michael |last2=Fleming |url=https://variety.com/1999/film/news/mouse-mann-and-dicaprio-pact-1117503429/ |title=Mouse, Mann and DiCaprio pact |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=June 24, 1999 |access-date=January 24, 2009 | url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024130220/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117503429 |archive-date=October 24, 2012}}</ref> The studio put it in turnaround again following the disappointing box-office performance of Mann's critically acclaimed ''[[The Insider (film)|The Insider]]''. [[New Line Cinema]] picked it up in turnaround almost immediately, with Mann planning to direct after finishing ''[[Ali (film)|Ali]]''.<ref>{{cite news |author=Michael Fleming |url=https://variety.com/2000/film/news/new-line-spruced-up-1117778736/ |title=New Line spruced up |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=February 25, 2000 |access-date=January 4, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121024130339/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117778736 | archive-date = October 24, 2012 | url-status = live}}</ref> Mann was eventually replaced by Scorsese, who had worked with DiCaprio on ''[[Gangs of New York]]''. Scorsese later said that he "grossly misjudged the budget".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a17493/scorsese-overspends-on-the-aviator/ |title=Scorsese overspends on 'The Aviator' |work=[[Digital Spy]] |date=December 8, 2004 |access-date=October 31, 2015}}</ref> [[Angelina Jolie]] was approached by the studios to have a role in the film but she turned it down after learning executive producer [[Harvey Weinstein]] was involved with the film.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-04 |title=Angelina Jolie: 'I just want my family to heal' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/04/angelina-jolie-i-just-want-my-family-to-heal|access-date=2021-09-04 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
In the movie, Gardner helps Hughes pull himself together in time for the Brewster hearings: there is no evidence to support this. Ava and Hughes dating again after his near-fatal crash and her witnessing him flying the ''[[Spruce Goose]]'' are fiction.
Hughes suffered from [[obsessive-compulsive disorder]] (OCD), most notably an obsession with germs and cleanliness. Scorsese and DiCaprio worked closely with Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD of [[UCLA]], to portray the most accurate depiction of OCD. The filmmakers had to focus both on previous accounts of Hughes' behaviors as well as the time period, given that when Hughes was suffering from the disorder, there was no psychiatric definition for what ailed him. Instead of receiving proper treatment, Hughes was forced to hide his stigmatized compulsions; his disorder began to conflict with everyday functioning.
The scenes of Hughes and Hepburn at her parents' are fiction (as per her autobiography) as is his "audition" of Domergue (as per her book). Katharine left Hughes before she met [[Spencer Tracy]], not after. The scene where he burns all his clothes is believed to have been the result of [[syphilis]], which he contracted as a young man [http://www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/GravesOutofLA/howardhughes.htm]; there is no hint in the movie of this.
DiCaprio dedicated hundreds of hours of work to portray Hughes' unique case of OCD on screen. Apart from doing his research on Hughes, DiCaprio met with people suffering from OCD. In particular, he focused on the way some individuals would compulsively and repeatedly wash their hands, later inspiring the scene in which his hand starts to bleed as he scrubs it in the bathroom. The character arc of Howard Hughes was a drastic one: from the height of his career to the appearance of his compulsions, and eventually, to him sitting naked in a screening room, refusing to leave, and later repeating the phrase "the way of the future."<ref>Kinsey, Beck. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xNxpkjTnXQ "The Affliction of Howard Hughes: OCD – Aviator – Martin Scorsese – Leonardo DiCaprio"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020234055/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xNxpkjTnXQ |date=October 20, 2014}} January 2014 via ''youtube.com''. Retrieved October 22, 2014.</ref>
The Brewster hearings were chaired by [[Homer Ferguson]]. Brewster testified at the actual hearings, and was questioned by Hughes himself.
=== Cinematography ===
His well-documented [[racism]] and [[anti-Semitism]] and rumored [[bisexuality]] are ignored. In his review, [[Rex Reed]] wrote that the people who knew Hughes told him the movie bore little resemblance to him.
[[File:TheAviator2004Colours.jpg|thumb|upright=1.13|right|Hughes crashes in a field; screenshot showing the simulated [[bipack color]] film used in scenes depicting events before 1935]]
In an article for the ''[[American Cinematographer]]'', John Pavlus wrote: "The film boasts an ambitious fusion of period lighting techniques, extensive effects sequences and a digital re-creation of two extinct cinema color processes: two-color and three-strip Technicolor."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theasc.com/magazine/jan05/aviator/page1.html |title=Robert Richardson, ASC exploits modern methods to craft a classic look for The Aviator, an epic that details the ambitions that drove Howard Hughes |access-date=February 20, 2015 |date=January 2005 |work=American Cinematographer |first=John |last=Pavlus|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318045447/http://www.theasc.com/magazine/jan05/aviator/page1.html|archive-date=March 18, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> For the first 52 minutes of the film, scenes appear in shades of only red and [[cyan]] blue; green objects are rendered as blue. This was done, according to Scorsese, to emulate the look of early [[bipack color]] films, in particular the [[Multicolor]] process, which Hughes himself owned, emulating the available technology of the era. Similarly, many of the scenes depicting events occurring after 1935 are treated to emulate the saturated appearance of [[Technicolor#Three-strip Technicolor|three-strip]] [[Technicolor]]. Other scenes were stock footage [[Film colorization|colorized]] and are incorporated into the film. The color effects were created by [[Legend Films]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aviatorvfx.com/?cmd=frontendOverview&id=color |title=The Aviator: Visual Effects – Behind the Scenes |publisher=AviatorVFX.com |access-date=September 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128060446/http://www.aviatorvfx.com/?cmd=frontendOverview&id=color|archive-date=January 28, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
Hughes had brown eyes, but DiCaprio does not wear brown [[contact lens]]es. Hughes was a lanky 6 foot 3, while DiCaprio appears to be average or below-average in height. Rather than the sentimental few and serial girlfriends portrayed in the film, Hughes in real life had hundreds of lovers including movie stars, starlets and anonymous teenagers.
=== Production design ===
Hughes's goals were to become the world's best [[golfer]], the world's most famous director and the world's foremost [[aviator]] {{fact}}. Not what is said in the film during the flashback scene in which he wants to be the richest man in the world, fly the fastest [[airplanes]] and direct the biggest [[movies]].
Scale models were used to duplicate many of the flying scenes in the film. When Martin Scorsese began planning his aviation epic, a decision was made to film flying sequences with [[scale model]]s rather than [[computer-generated image|CGI]] special effects. The critical reaction to the CGI models in ''[[Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor]]'' (2001) had been a crucial factor in Scorsese's decision to use full-scale static and scale models in this case. The building and filming of the flying models proved both cost-effective and timely.<ref name="MovieModels">{{cite web |last=Cobb |first=Jerry |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7025938 |title=Movie Models are the real stars of 'The Aviator' |work=NBC News |date=February 25, 2005 |access-date=March 1, 2008}}</ref>
The primary scale models were the ''Spruce Goose'' and the XF-11; both flyable scale models were designed and fabricated over a period of several months by Aero Telemetry, an aerospace company that specializes in building unmanned air vehicles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=CNBC |first=Jerry Cobb Reporter |date=2005-02-25 |title=Model airplanes are the real stars of 'The Aviator' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7025938|access-date=2020-07-28 |website=msnbc.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Model Aviation |url=https://library.modelaviation.com/edition/model-aviation-200507|access-date=2020-07-28 |website=library.modelaviation.com}}</ref>
In one scene, he is shown ordering "[[chocolate chip cookies]]" — which were not yet invented in the 1920s.
The {{convert|375|lb|kg|abbr=on}} ''Spruce Goose'' model had a wingspan of {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=flip}} while the {{convert|750|lb|kg|abbr=on}} XF-11 had a {{convert|25|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=flip}} wingspan. Another set of miniatures was built as a [[motion control]] [[Miniature effect|miniature]] used for "beauty shots" of the model taking off and in flight as well as in dry dock and under construction at the miniature Hughes Hangar built by New Deal Studios.{{clarify|date=October 2015}} The XF-11 was [[Reverse engineering|reverse engineered]] from photographs and some rare drawings and then modeled in [[Rhinoceros 3D]] by the Aero Telemetry engineering department and New Deal art department. These 3D models of the ''Spruce Goose'' as well as the XF-11 were then used for patterns and construction drawings for the model makers. In addition to the aircraft, the homes that the XF-11 crashes into were fabricated at 1:4 scale to match the 1:4 scale XF-11. The model was rigged to be crashed and break up several times for different shots.
==Style==
[[Image:Aviator colours.jpg|thumb|290px|right|Hughes crashes in a field; screenshot showing the two-color film emulation used in scenes depicting events before 1935.]]
For the first fifty minutes of the film, scenes appear in shades of only red and [[cyan]] blue; green objects are rendered as blue. This was done, according to Scorsese, to emulate the look of early two-color movies, in particular the [[Multicolor]] process, which Hughes himself owned. Many of the scenes depicting events occurring after 1935 are treated to emulate the saturated appearance of three-strip [[Technicolor]]. Other scenes were stock footage [[colorized]] and incorporated into the film. The color effects were created by [[Legend Films]].
The Aero Telemetry team was given only three months to complete the three models including the 450 lb H-1 Racer, with an {{convert|18|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=flip}} wingspan, that had to stand-in for the full-scale replica that was destroyed in a crash, shortly before principal photography began.<ref>Baker, Mark. [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cottage+Grove+pilot+dies+in+replica+of+historic+plane.-a0106434889 "Cottage Grove pilot dies in replica of historic plane."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222153645/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cottage+Grove+pilot+dies+in+replica+of+historic+plane.-a0106434889 |date=February 22, 2015 }} ''The Register-Guard,'' August 6, 2003 via ''ArticleArchives.com''. Retrieved February 22, 2015.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Press: Design News: Airplanes of The Aviator {{!}} Aero Telemetry|url=https://www.aerotelemetry.com/post/press-design-news-airplanes-aviator|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.aerotelemetry.com}}</ref>
==Critical Reception==
The film recived highly positive reviews with the review tallying website [[rottentomatoes.com]] reporting that 180 out of the 203 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 89% and certification of fresh.<ref>rottentomatoes.com, [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aviator/ The Aviator entry], accessed January 24, 2007 </ref>
The models were shot on location at [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]] and other California sites from helicopter or raft platforms. The short but much heralded flight of Hughes' [[Hughes H-4 Hercules|HK-1 Hercules]] on November 2, 1947, was realistically recreated in the [[Port of Long Beach]]. The motion control ''Spruce Goose'' and Hughes Hangar miniatures built by New Deal Studios are on display at the [[Evergreen Aviation Museum]] in [[McMinnville, Oregon]], with the original Hughes H-1 ''Spruce Goose''.
==Cast==
[[Image:Hugheswse.jpg|thumb|right|200px| DiCaprio as Howard Hughes]]
{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="CCCCCC"
! Actor !! Role
|-
| [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] || [[Howard Hughes]]
|-
| [[Cate Blanchett]] || [[Katharine Hepburn]]
|-
| [[Kate Beckinsale]] || [[Ava Gardner]]
|-
| [[John C. Reilly]] || [[Noah Dietrich]]
|-
| [[Danny Huston]] || [[Jack Frye]]
|-
| [[Adam Scott (actor)|Adam Scott]] || Johnny Meyer
|-
| [[Alec Baldwin]] || [[Juan Trippe]]
|-
| [[Alan Alda]] || [[Owen Brewster|Senator Ralph Owen Brewster]]
|-
| [[Ian Holm]] || Professor Fitz
|-
| [[Gwen Stefani]] || [[Jean Harlow]]
|-
| [[Willem Dafoe]] || Roland Sweet
|-
| [[Kelli Garner]] || [[Faith Domergue]]
|-
| [[Jude Law]] || [[Errol Flynn]]
|-
| [[Brent Spiner]] || [[Robert E. Gross|Robert Gross]]
[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] originally bought North American distribution rights to ''The Aviator'' shortly before production on the film began. However, a heavy release schedule for Warner Bros. Pictures during the fourth quarter of 2004 prompted the company to start discussions to sell distribution rights in the United States to [[Miramax Films]]. The talks were successful, with Warner Bros. Pictures and Miramax Films splitting costs and revenues 50/50 on the film's domestic release.<ref name="var">{{cite web |title='Aviator' skies to Miramax |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=21 April 2004|access-date=13 January 2022 |url=https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/aviator-skies-to-miramax-1117903647/}}</ref> Miramax Films distributed the film in the United States, the United Kingdom as well as Italy, France and Germany. [[Trifecta Entertainment & Media]] (via Miramax) also held the rights to the US television distribution, while Warner Bros. Pictures retained the rights for home video distribution in North America (though the North American home video releases feature the Miramax Films logo at the beginning of the film instead) and theatrical release in Canada and Latin America. [[GK Films|Initial Entertainment Group]] released the film in the remaining territories around the world.<ref name="about">[http://movies.about.com/cs/theaviator/a/aviator042104.htm "Miramax Gets Distribution Rights to ''The Aviator''."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111052219/http://movies.about.com/cs/theaviator/a/aviator042104.htm |date=January 11, 2013}} ''Miramax Films'' via ''About.com: Hollywood Movies''. Retrieved: February 20, 2015.</ref>
=== Box office performance ===
==External links==
''The Aviator'' was given a limited release on December 17, 2004, in 40 theaters where it grossed $858,021 on its opening weekend.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2004W51/ |title=Weekend Box Office Results for December 17–19, 2004 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=September 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827134027/http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2004&wknd=51&p=.htm|archive-date=August 27, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> It was given a wide release on December 25, 2004, and opened in 1,796 theaters in the United States, grossing $4.2 million on its opening day and $8.6 million in its opening weekend, ranking No. 4 with a per theater average of $4,805.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2004W52/ |title=Weekend Box Office Results for December 24–26, 2004 |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=September 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923052016/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2004&wknd=52&p=.htm|archive-date=September 23, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/date/2004-12-25/weekly/ |title=Daily Box Office Results for December 25, 2004 |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=September 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217165433/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?sortdate=2004-12-25&track=aviator.htm|archive-date=February 17, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> On its second weekend, it moved up to No. 3 and grossed $11.4 million – $6,327 per theater.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2004W53/ |title=Weekend Box Office Results for December 31 – January 2, 2005 |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=September 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827134319/http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2004&wknd=53&p=.htm|archive-date=August 27, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The film grossed $102.6 million in the United States and Canada and $111.1 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $213.7 million, against an estimated production cost of $110 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl742753793/ |title=The Aviator (2004) |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=November 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221112126/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=aviator.htm|archive-date=December 21, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [http://www.theasc.com/magazine/jan05/aviator/page1.html High Life] by Robert Richardson, [[American Society of Cinematographers|ASC]].
==References==
=== Home media ===
The film was released on DVD in a two-disc-set in widescreen and fullscreen versions on May 24, 2005 by [[Warner Home Video]].<ref name="a2004">{{cite web |title=The Aviator (2004) |url=https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/2291/The-Aviator-(2004).html |website=www.dvdreleasedates.com |access-date=February 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221155426/http://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/2291/The-Aviator-(2004).html|archive-date=February 21, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The first disc includes commentary with director [[Martin Scorsese]], editor [[Thelma Schoonmaker]] and producer [[Michael Mann (director)|Michael Mann]]. The second disc includes "The Making of 'The Aviator' ", "Deleted Scenes", "Behind the Scenes", "Scoring ''The Aviator''", "Visual Effects", [[featurettes]] on [[Howard Hughes]] as well as other special features. The DVD was nominated for Best Audio Commentary (New to DVD) at the DVD Exclusive Awards in 2006.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
<references/>
The film was later released in [[High-definition video|high definition]] on [[Blu-ray Disc]] and [[HD DVD]] on November 6, 2007.<ref name="a2004" />
{{Martin Scorsese}}
== Reception ==
{{start box}}
=== Critical response ===
{{succession box |
{{expand section|date=October 2015}}
| before = ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]
{{Multiple image
| after = ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]
| align = right
| title = [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama|Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama]]
| before = ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]
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| after = ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]
| width1 = 380
| title = [[BAFTA Award for Best Film]]
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| height1 = 500
|}}
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{{end box}}
| footer = The performances of [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] and [[Cate Blanchett]] garnered widespread critical acclaim, earning them [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nominations for [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] and [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] respectively, with Blanchett winning her category.
}}
On the review aggregator website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''The Aviator'' has an approval rating of 86% based on 230 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With a rich sense of period detail, ''The Aviator'' succeeds thanks to typically assured direction from Martin Scorsese and a strong performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who charts Howard Hughes' descent from eccentric billionaire to reclusive madman."<!--Update the access date when updating the Rotten Tomatoes numbers.--><ref name="Rotten Tomatoes">{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aviator |title=The Aviator (2004) |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=2024-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031080937/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aviator/|archive-date=October 31, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film received a [[weighted average]] score of 77 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-aviator |title=The Aviator |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=November 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031144305/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-aviator|archive-date=October 31, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cinemascore.com |title=Find CinemaScore |format=Type "Aviator" in the search box |publisher=[[CinemaScore]] |access-date=July 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102130540/https://www.cinemascore.com/|archive-date=January 2, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
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[[Roger Ebert]] of ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film four stars out of four and described the film and its subject, Howard Hughes, in these terms: "What a sad man. What brief glory. What an enthralling film...There's a match here between Scorsese and his subject, perhaps because the director's own life journey allows him to see Howard Hughes with insight, sympathy – and, up to a point, with admiration. This is one of the year's best films."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-aviator-2004 |title=The Aviator Movie Review |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=December 23, 2004 |access-date=January 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129155408/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-aviator-2004|archive-date=January 29, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
<!-- Martin Scorsese -->
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<!-- Cate Blanchett -->
In his review for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', Sukhdev Sandhu praised Scorsese's direction, DiCaprio and the supporting cast but considered Beckinsale "miscast". Of the film, he said it is "a gorgeous tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood" even though it "tips the balance of spectacle versus substance in favour of the former."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3633956/Thrillingly-bumpy-ride-towards-madness.html |title=Thrillingly bumpy ride towards madness |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=December 24, 2004 |access-date=November 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301095947/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3633956/Thrillingly-bumpy-ride-towards-madness.html|archive-date=March 1, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> David T. Courtwright in ''[[The Journal of American History]]'' characterized ''The Aviator'' as a technically brilliant and emotionally disturbing film. According to him, the main achievement for Scorsese is that he managed to restore the name of Howard Hughes as a pioneer aviator.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Courtwright |first=David T |journal=The Journal of American History |jstor=3660141 |title=The Aviator |volume=92 |issue=3 |pages=1092–1094 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005 |doi=10.2307/3660141}}</ref>
[[Category:2004 films|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Aviation films|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Best Drama Picture Golden Globe|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Films whose director was nominated for the Best Director Golden Globe|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance]]
[[Category:Biographical films|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Drama films|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:English-language films|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Films directed by Martin Scorsese|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Films shot in Montreal|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Films shot in Super 35|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Howard Hughes|Aviator]]
[[Category:Miramax films|Aviator]]
[[Category:Period films|Aviator, The]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films|Aviator]]
=== Accolades ===
[[bs:Avijatičar]]
{{Main|List of accolades received by The Aviator (2004 film)}}
[[de:Aviator]]
The film was nominated for eleven [[Academy Awards]], winning five for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]], [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]], [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]], [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]] and [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] for Blanchett. It was also nominated for fourteen [[British Academy Film Awards|BAFTAs]], winning four for [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]], [[BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair|Best Makeup and Hair]], [[BAFTA Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]] and [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]], six [[Golden Globe Award]]s, winning three for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]], [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]] and [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama]] for DiCaprio and three [[Screen Actors Guild Award]]s, winning one for [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role|Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role]].
[[es:El Aviador]]
[[fa:هوانورد (فیلم)]]
== Aircraft depicted and used ==
[[fr:Aviator]]
[[File:Hughes H-1 Racer Replica Oshkosh 2003.jpg|thumb|right|Jim Wright's replica of the Hughes H-1 Racer]]
[[hr:Avijator]]
[[it:The Aviator]]
Numerous aircraft were depicted and/or actually used in the film, and were organic to the story. These included aircraft that Hughes had built, airliners that his airline ([[Trans World Airlines|TWA]]) used, and other aircraft. Among these were:
[[nl:The Aviator]]
[[ja:アビエイター]]
* [[Hughes H-1 Racer|Hughes H-1]] Racer, a pioneering single-engine race plane that set speed records, including the 1935 international speed record of {{convert|352|mph|km/h}}, and the 1937 U.S. transcontinental record of seven hours, 28 minutes. It featured many relatively new innovations in aircraft design, and was the "state of the art" aircraft of its time, briefly. The original is in the Smithsonian's [[National Air and Space Museum]]. A replica planned for the movie crashed, and a model was used instead.<ref name="top_10">Lerner, Preston, [https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/howard-hughes-top-ten-5206422/ "Howard Hughes' Top Ten,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024152059/http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/howard-hughes-top-ten-5206422/ |date=October 24, 2016 }}, November 2004, [[Air & Space magazine]], retrieved February 2, 2017 (NOTE: This link is to the first web page of a four-page article.)</ref><ref name="hughes_co">Rumerman, Judy, [https://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Aerospace/Hughes/Aero44.htm "The Hughes Companies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607012944/http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Aerospace/Hughes/Aero44.htm|date=June 7, 2017}}, 2003, [[U.S. Centennial of Flight]] website, as restored and reposted by [[American Aviation Historical Society]], retrieved February 2, 2017</ref>
[[no:The Aviator]]
* [[File:Xf11 usaf.jpg|thumb|right|The second XF-11, which was equipped with conventional propellers]] [[Hughes XF-11]], a [[photographic reconnaissance]] plane—a twin-engine, [[twin-boom]], fast, high-flying aircraft designed during [[World War II]] (WWII) to fly faster and higher than enemy fighters. It was originally commissioned by the U.S. government in a contract with [[Hughes Aircraft]], but the war ended while the aircraft was still in development. The first prototype was equipped with troublesome [[contra-rotating propellers|contra-rotating]] propellers which failed while Hughes was piloting it on its maiden flight; he did not react properly to the propeller failure and was critically injured in the ensuing crash in [[Beverly Hills]], as depicted in the film. A second prototype equipped with conventional single propellers later flew successfully, but the military had chosen other aircraft for its purpose, and it was [[scrapped]]. As the movie shows, Hughes was subsequently accused of duping the military and failing to deliver, leading to a congressional investigation. Models replicated the plane for the movie.<ref name="top_10" /><ref name="hughes_co" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Francillon |first=René J. |date=1990 |title=McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920 |volume=II |location=Annapolis, Maryland |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=1-55750-550-0 |pages=74–77}}</ref>
[[pl:Aviator]]
* [[File:H-4 Hercules 2.jpg|thumb|right|Hughes H-4/HK-1 Hercules]] [[Hughes H-4 Hercules|Hughes HK-1 / H-4 Hercules]] (nicknamed the ''Spruce Goose'' for its all-wood construction), a giant [[flying boat]] transport—one of the [[List of large aircraft|largest]] and most famous aircraft ever built. As with the XF-11, its development was originally commissioned by the U.S. government during WWII in a contract with Hughes Aircraft, the war ended while the aircraft was still in development, the contract was canceled, and it became a topic in the resulting congressional investigation. Hughes responded that he would prove the Hercules could fly—and subsequently did so in a short hop in [[Long Beach Harbor]] (though historians note that the aircraft never escaped [[ground effect (aerodynamics)|ground effect]], near the surface, to fly completely free and at altitude). The airplane never flew again, and became a floating museum display, dockside in the harbor—eventually moved to the [[Evergreen Aviation Museum]] in Oregon. The real aircraft was used sparingly in the movie, but only models of it actually move in the film.<ref name="top_10" /><ref name="hughes_co" /><ref name="this_day">[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/spruce-goose-flies "This Day in History: NOV 02: 1947: Spruce Goose flies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205133339/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/spruce-goose-flies |date=February 5, 2017 }} on '''History.com''' (website of the [[History Channel]] network, retrieved February 2, 2017</ref>
[[pt:The Aviator]]
* [[File:Sikorsky S-38.jpg|thumb|right|Replica Sikorsky S-38]] [[Sikorsky S-38]] amphibian—a "flying yacht" for the wealthy. This medium-sized, twin-engined flying boat, with retractable wheels, was among Hughes' personal aircraft. Though several were built for wealthy fliers in the 1930s (including Hughes), none survive, today—except for two replicas that were built in recent years at a cost of well over $1,000,000 apiece (these were used in the film).<ref name="top_10" /><ref name="hughes_co" /><ref name="yacht_forbes">Farnham, Alan, [https://www.forbes.com/2005/03/08/cz_af_0308conn.html "The Aviator's Air Yacht,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812144930/https://www.forbes.com/2005/03/08/cz_af_0308conn.html |date=August 12, 2017 }} March 8, 2005, ''[[Forbes]],'' retrieved February 2, 2017</ref>
[[ru:Авиатор (фильм)]]
* [[File:Lockheed L749A N6022C TWA Connie final.jpg|thumb|right|Lockheed An L749A Constellation of TWA]] L-049 [[Lockheed Constellation]] airliner, one of the first pressurized-cabin, ocean-spanning airliners, largely developed for Hughes' airline, [[Trans-World Airlines|TWA]]. The airplane was conspicuous for its triple-tail vertical stabilizers and shapely curving fuselage. The Constellation was powered by four of the largest piston engines ever built by 1941, the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone (bested by the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major in 1944), it became the most advanced airliner in the world at its inception—capable of transcontinental flights in half the normal time (as little as seven hours). It was used by the military in [[World War II]], and became one of the world's principal airliners of the 1950s, instrumental in making TWA the world's largest airline. The film used a [[Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation]] in TWA livery, C/N 4830 ''Star of America,'' a Constellation restored to airworthiness, flown to and from the Burbank airport for filming from Kansas City MO, and stored at the [[National Airline History Museum]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] (TWA's former home base).<ref name="top_10" /><ref name="hughes_co" /><ref name="natl_connie">[https://web.archive.org/web/20160514070446/http://www.airlinehistory.org/the-aircraft/constellation/ "Constellation,"] exhibit notes, [[National Airline History Museum]], retrieved February 2, 2017</ref>
* Higham, Charles. ''Howard Hughes: The Secret Life''. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-312-32997-6}}.
* Maguglin, Robert O. ''Howard Hughes, His Achievements & Legacy: the Authorized Pictorial Biography''. Long Beach, California: Wrather Port Properties, 1984. {{ISBN|0-86679-014-4}}.
* Marrett, George J. ''Howard Hughes: Aviator''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004. {{ISBN|1-59114-510-4}}.
* Wegg, John. ''General Dynamic Aircraft and their Predecessors''. London: Putnam, 1990. {{ISBN|0-85177-833-X}}.
{{Refend}}
== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0338751}}
* {{TCMDb title|535468}}
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{{Golden Eagle Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}
{{Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture}}
{{St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Picture}}
}}
{{Howard Hughes}}
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Based on the 1993 non-fiction book Howard Hughes: The Secret Life by Charles Higham, the film depicts the life of Howard Hughes, an aviation pioneer and director of the film Hell's Angels. The film portrays his life from 1927 to 1947 during which time Hughes became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).
Shot in Montreal,[5]The Aviator was released in the United States on December 25, 2004, to positive reviews with critics praising Scorsese's direction, its cinematography and the performances by DiCaprio and Blanchett. It grossed $214 million on a budget of $110 million, thus emerging as a moderate commercial success at the box-office.
In 1913, Houston, eight-year-old Howard Hughes' mother gives him a bath and teaches him how to spell "quarantine", warning him about the recent cholera outbreak. Fourteen years later, in 1927, he begins to direct his film Hell's Angels, and hires Noah Dietrich to manage the day-to-day operations of his business empire.
After the release of The Jazz Singer, the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, and decides to convert the movie to a sound film. Despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the result and orders it to be recut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress Katharine Hepburn, who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and germaphobia.
In 1935, Hughes test flies the H-1 Racer, pushing it to a new speed record, despite having to crash-land into a beet field when the aircraft runs out of fuel. Three years later, he breaks the world record by flying around the world in four days. He subsequently purchases majority interest in Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA).
Juan Trippe, company rival and chairman of Pan Am, gets his crony, Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, to introduce the Community Airline Bill, which would give Pan Am exclusivity on international air travel. Hepburn grows tired of Hughes' eccentricity and workaholism, and leaves him for fellow actor Spencer Tracy. Hughes quickly finds a new love interest with 15-year-old Faith Domergue, and later actress Ava Gardner. However, he still has feelings for Hepburn, and bribes a reporter to keep reports about her and the married Tracy out of the press.
In 1947, with the H-4 Herculesflying boat still in construction, Hughes finishes the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft and takes it for a test flight. However, one of the engines fails midflight; he crashes in Beverly Hills and is severely injured, but miraculously survives. The army cancels its order for the H-4 Hercules, although Hughes still continues the development with his own money. Dietrich informs Hughes that he must choose between funding the airlines or his flying boat. Hughes orders Dietrich to mortgage the TWA assets so he can continue the development.
As his OCD worsens, Hughes becomes increasingly paranoid, planting microphones and tapping Gardner's phone lines to keep track of her, until she kicks him out of her house. The FBI searches his home for incriminating evidence of war profiteering, searching through his possessions.
Brewster privately offers to drop the charges if Hughes sells TWA to Trippe, but Hughes refuses. Hughes' OCD symptoms become extreme, and he retreats into an isolated "germ-free zone" for three months. Trippe has Brewster summon him for a Senate investigation, certain that Hughes will not show up. Gardner visits him and personally grooms and dresses him in preparation for the hearing.
An invigorated Hughes defends himself against Brewster's charges and accuses the Senator of taking bribes from Trippe. He concludes by announcing that he has committed to completing the H-4 aircraft, and that he will leave the country if he cannot get it to fly. Brewster's bill is promptly defeated.
After successfully flying the aircraft, Hughes speaks with Dietrich and his engineer, Glenn Odekirk, about a new jetliner for TWA. However, he begins hallucinating men in germ-resistant suits, and has a panic attack. As Odekirk hides him in a restroom while Dietrich fetches a doctor, Hughes begins to have flashbacks of his childhood, his love for aviation and his ambition for success, compulsively repeating the phrase "the way of the future".
The Aviator was a joint production between Warner Bros. Pictures, which handled Latin American and Canadian distribution, and Disney, which released the film internationally under its Miramax Films banner in the United States and the United Kingdom. Disney previously developed a Hughes biopic with director Brian De Palma and actor Nicolas Cage between 1997 and 1998. Titled Mr. Hughes, the film would have starred Cage in the dual roles of both Hughes and Clifford Irving. It was conceived when De Palma and Cage were working on Snake Eyes with writer David Koepp.[6][9]Universal Pictures joined the competition in March 1998 when it purchased the film rights to Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes (ISBN0-393000-257), written by Donald Barlett and James Steele.
The Hughes brothers were going to direct Johnny Depp as Howard Hughes, based on a script by Terry Hayes.[10] Universal canceled it when they decided they did not want to fast-track development to compete with Disney. In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, director Miloš Forman was in talks to direct a film about the early life of Hughes with Edward Norton as the eccentric young billionaire.[11] In 2001, another version was announced to be produced and directed by William Friedkin, who intended to make a three-hour film about Hughes based on the book Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters by Richard Hack.[12] Also, in the early 2000s, director Christopher Nolan had developed a film about Hughes, itself also based on Hack's biography. All other versions were shelved when Martin Scorsese came aboard to direct The Aviator, though Nolan would later return to his Howard Hughes project after completing The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, using the book Citizen Hughes: The Power, the Money and the Madness by Michael Drosnin as the source. Nolan wrote the script himself, which followed the darker and final years of Hughes's life. Nolan, once again, shelved the project when Warren Beatty was developing his long-awaited Hughes film. It was reported that Nolan's version would have starred Jim Carrey as the reclusive, elderly billionaire.[13]
Disney restarted development on a new Howard Hughes biopic in June 1999, hiring Michael Mann to direct Leonardo DiCaprio playing the role of Howard Hughes, based on a script by John Logan.[14] The studio put it in turnaround again following the disappointing box-office performance of Mann's critically acclaimed The Insider. New Line Cinema picked it up in turnaround almost immediately, with Mann planning to direct after finishing Ali.[15] Mann was eventually replaced by Scorsese, who had worked with DiCaprio on Gangs of New York. Scorsese later said that he "grossly misjudged the budget".[16]Angelina Jolie was approached by the studios to have a role in the film but she turned it down after learning executive producer Harvey Weinstein was involved with the film.[17]
Hughes suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), most notably an obsession with germs and cleanliness. Scorsese and DiCaprio worked closely with Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD of UCLA, to portray the most accurate depiction of OCD. The filmmakers had to focus both on previous accounts of Hughes' behaviors as well as the time period, given that when Hughes was suffering from the disorder, there was no psychiatric definition for what ailed him. Instead of receiving proper treatment, Hughes was forced to hide his stigmatized compulsions; his disorder began to conflict with everyday functioning.
DiCaprio dedicated hundreds of hours of work to portray Hughes' unique case of OCD on screen. Apart from doing his research on Hughes, DiCaprio met with people suffering from OCD. In particular, he focused on the way some individuals would compulsively and repeatedly wash their hands, later inspiring the scene in which his hand starts to bleed as he scrubs it in the bathroom. The character arc of Howard Hughes was a drastic one: from the height of his career to the appearance of his compulsions, and eventually, to him sitting naked in a screening room, refusing to leave, and later repeating the phrase "the way of the future."[18]
Hughes crashes in a field; screenshot showing the simulated bipack color film used in scenes depicting events before 1935
In an article for the American Cinematographer, John Pavlus wrote: "The film boasts an ambitious fusion of period lighting techniques, extensive effects sequences and a digital re-creation of two extinct cinema color processes: two-color and three-strip Technicolor."[19] For the first 52 minutes of the film, scenes appear in shades of only red and cyan blue; green objects are rendered as blue. This was done, according to Scorsese, to emulate the look of early bipack color films, in particular the Multicolor process, which Hughes himself owned, emulating the available technology of the era. Similarly, many of the scenes depicting events occurring after 1935 are treated to emulate the saturated appearance of three-stripTechnicolor. Other scenes were stock footage colorized and are incorporated into the film. The color effects were created by Legend Films.[20]
Scale models were used to duplicate many of the flying scenes in the film. When Martin Scorsese began planning his aviation epic, a decision was made to film flying sequences with scale models rather than CGI special effects. The critical reaction to the CGI models in Pearl Harbor (2001) had been a crucial factor in Scorsese's decision to use full-scale static and scale models in this case. The building and filming of the flying models proved both cost-effective and timely.[21]
The primary scale models were the Spruce Goose and the XF-11; both flyable scale models were designed and fabricated over a period of several months by Aero Telemetry, an aerospace company that specializes in building unmanned air vehicles.[22][23]
The 375 lb (170 kg) Spruce Goose model had a wingspan of 6.1 m (20 ft) while the 750 lb (340 kg) XF-11 had a 7.6 m (25 ft) wingspan. Another set of miniatures was built as a motion controlminiature used for "beauty shots" of the model taking off and in flight as well as in dry dock and under construction at the miniature Hughes Hangar built by New Deal Studios.[clarification needed] The XF-11 was reverse engineered from photographs and some rare drawings and then modeled in Rhinoceros 3D by the Aero Telemetry engineering department and New Deal art department. These 3D models of the Spruce Goose as well as the XF-11 were then used for patterns and construction drawings for the model makers. In addition to the aircraft, the homes that the XF-11 crashes into were fabricated at 1:4 scale to match the 1:4 scale XF-11. The model was rigged to be crashed and break up several times for different shots.
The Aero Telemetry team was given only three months to complete the three models including the 450 lb H-1 Racer, with an 5.5 m (18 ft) wingspan, that had to stand-in for the full-scale replica that was destroyed in a crash, shortly before principal photography began.[24][25]
The models were shot on location at Long Beach and other California sites from helicopter or raft platforms. The short but much heralded flight of Hughes' HK-1 Hercules on November 2, 1947, was realistically recreated in the Port of Long Beach. The motion control Spruce Goose and Hughes Hangar miniatures built by New Deal Studios are on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, with the original Hughes H-1 Spruce Goose.
Warner Bros. Pictures originally bought North American distribution rights to The Aviator shortly before production on the film began. However, a heavy release schedule for Warner Bros. Pictures during the fourth quarter of 2004 prompted the company to start discussions to sell distribution rights in the United States to Miramax Films. The talks were successful, with Warner Bros. Pictures and Miramax Films splitting costs and revenues 50/50 on the film's domestic release.[2] Miramax Films distributed the film in the United States, the United Kingdom as well as Italy, France and Germany. Trifecta Entertainment & Media (via Miramax) also held the rights to the US television distribution, while Warner Bros. Pictures retained the rights for home video distribution in North America (though the North American home video releases feature the Miramax Films logo at the beginning of the film instead) and theatrical release in Canada and Latin America. Initial Entertainment Group released the film in the remaining territories around the world.[3]
The Aviator was given a limited release on December 17, 2004, in 40 theaters where it grossed $858,021 on its opening weekend.[26] It was given a wide release on December 25, 2004, and opened in 1,796 theaters in the United States, grossing $4.2 million on its opening day and $8.6 million in its opening weekend, ranking No. 4 with a per theater average of $4,805.[27][28] On its second weekend, it moved up to No. 3 and grossed $11.4 million – $6,327 per theater.[29] The film grossed $102.6 million in the United States and Canada and $111.1 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $213.7 million, against an estimated production cost of $110 million.[30]
The film was released on DVD in a two-disc-set in widescreen and fullscreen versions on May 24, 2005 by Warner Home Video.[31] The first disc includes commentary with director Martin Scorsese, editor Thelma Schoonmaker and producer Michael Mann. The second disc includes "The Making of 'The Aviator' ", "Deleted Scenes", "Behind the Scenes", "Scoring The Aviator", "Visual Effects", featurettes on Howard Hughes as well as other special features. The DVD was nominated for Best Audio Commentary (New to DVD) at the DVD Exclusive Awards in 2006.[citation needed]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Aviator has an approval rating of 86% based on 230 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With a rich sense of period detail, The Aviator succeeds thanks to typically assured direction from Martin Scorsese and a strong performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who charts Howard Hughes' descent from eccentric billionaire to reclusive madman."[32] On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[34]
Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and described the film and its subject, Howard Hughes, in these terms: "What a sad man. What brief glory. What an enthralling film...There's a match here between Scorsese and his subject, perhaps because the director's own life journey allows him to see Howard Hughes with insight, sympathy – and, up to a point, with admiration. This is one of the year's best films."[35]
In his review for The Daily Telegraph, Sukhdev Sandhu praised Scorsese's direction, DiCaprio and the supporting cast but considered Beckinsale "miscast". Of the film, he said it is "a gorgeous tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood" even though it "tips the balance of spectacle versus substance in favour of the former."[36] David T. Courtwright in The Journal of American History characterized The Aviator as a technically brilliant and emotionally disturbing film. According to him, the main achievement for Scorsese is that he managed to restore the name of Howard Hughes as a pioneer aviator.[37]
Numerous aircraft were depicted and/or actually used in the film, and were organic to the story. These included aircraft that Hughes had built, airliners that his airline (TWA) used, and other aircraft. Among these were:
Hughes H-1 Racer, a pioneering single-engine race plane that set speed records, including the 1935 international speed record of 352 miles per hour (566 km/h), and the 1937 U.S. transcontinental record of seven hours, 28 minutes. It featured many relatively new innovations in aircraft design, and was the "state of the art" aircraft of its time, briefly. The original is in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. A replica planned for the movie crashed, and a model was used instead.[38][39]
The second XF-11, which was equipped with conventional propellersHughes XF-11, a photographic reconnaissance plane—a twin-engine, twin-boom, fast, high-flying aircraft designed during World War II (WWII) to fly faster and higher than enemy fighters. It was originally commissioned by the U.S. government in a contract with Hughes Aircraft, but the war ended while the aircraft was still in development. The first prototype was equipped with troublesome contra-rotating propellers which failed while Hughes was piloting it on its maiden flight; he did not react properly to the propeller failure and was critically injured in the ensuing crash in Beverly Hills, as depicted in the film. A second prototype equipped with conventional single propellers later flew successfully, but the military had chosen other aircraft for its purpose, and it was scrapped. As the movie shows, Hughes was subsequently accused of duping the military and failing to deliver, leading to a congressional investigation. Models replicated the plane for the movie.[38][39][40]
Hughes H-4/HK-1 HerculesHughes HK-1 / H-4 Hercules (nicknamed the Spruce Goose for its all-wood construction), a giant flying boat transport—one of the largest and most famous aircraft ever built. As with the XF-11, its development was originally commissioned by the U.S. government during WWII in a contract with Hughes Aircraft, the war ended while the aircraft was still in development, the contract was canceled, and it became a topic in the resulting congressional investigation. Hughes responded that he would prove the Hercules could fly—and subsequently did so in a short hop in Long Beach Harbor (though historians note that the aircraft never escaped ground effect, near the surface, to fly completely free and at altitude). The airplane never flew again, and became a floating museum display, dockside in the harbor—eventually moved to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in Oregon. The real aircraft was used sparingly in the movie, but only models of it actually move in the film.[38][39][41]
Replica Sikorsky S-38Sikorsky S-38 amphibian—a "flying yacht" for the wealthy. This medium-sized, twin-engined flying boat, with retractable wheels, was among Hughes' personal aircraft. Though several were built for wealthy fliers in the 1930s (including Hughes), none survive, today—except for two replicas that were built in recent years at a cost of well over $1,000,000 apiece (these were used in the film).[38][39][42]
Lockheed An L749A Constellation of TWA L-049 Lockheed Constellation airliner, one of the first pressurized-cabin, ocean-spanning airliners, largely developed for Hughes' airline, TWA. The airplane was conspicuous for its triple-tail vertical stabilizers and shapely curving fuselage. The Constellation was powered by four of the largest piston engines ever built by 1941, the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone (bested by the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major in 1944), it became the most advanced airliner in the world at its inception—capable of transcontinental flights in half the normal time (as little as seven hours). It was used by the military in World War II, and became one of the world's principal airliners of the 1950s, instrumental in making TWA the world's largest airline. The film used a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation in TWA livery, C/N 4830 Star of America, a Constellation restored to airworthiness, flown to and from the Burbank airport for filming from Kansas City MO, and stored at the National Airline History Museum in Kansas City, Missouri (TWA's former home base).[38][39][43]
^Ebert, Roger (December 23, 2004). "The Aviator Movie Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
Floyd, Jim. The Avro Canada C102 Jetliner. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1986. ISBN0-919783-66-X.
Higham, Charles. Howard Hughes: The Secret Life. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2004. ISBN978-0-312-32997-6.
Maguglin, Robert O. Howard Hughes, His Achievements & Legacy: the Authorized Pictorial Biography. Long Beach, California: Wrather Port Properties, 1984. ISBN0-86679-014-4.
Marrett, George J. Howard Hughes: Aviator. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004. ISBN1-59114-510-4.
Wegg, John. General Dynamic Aircraft and their Predecessors. London: Putnam, 1990. ISBN0-85177-833-X.
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