As a young boy, Howard Hughes was tought that cleanliness is everything and to fear African Americans. Young Howard remembered his mother's words untill the very day he died.
Howard (Leonardo DiCaprio) inherited his father's tool company based out of Huston, Texas, when he was 23 years old. Which made him rich overnight. Howard loved airplanes, so the first thing he did was, naturally, make a movie. He had the money to do so.
The 1928 movie, entitled "Hell's Angels," was the most expensive picture ever made a the time. The film cost $4,000,000 and left Hughes nearly bankrupt. The movie was about ariel dog-fights during WW1. It used 26 cameras to film the action, and was a very bold undertaking in that day and age. Many in Hollywood laughed at his, to say the least, ambitious project.
The movie took over a year to make, and when it was finished, had to be completely re-shot with sound. When the movie finally premiered, it was a hit, and made Howard back his $4,000,000 investment... but not a penny more.
Howard then made another movie, "Scarface," which made him money. During the filming of this movie, Howard met a young Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). It was Howard's love of airplanes that got them together. They lived together for many years, untill a nasty fight broke them up.
With the little money he made from his last film, Howard started designing new, advanced types of aircraft. Every step Howard took brought him closer and closer to bankruptcy, but he always seemed to prevail.
The US government gave him a large contract to build a prototype airplane that could carry tanks and jeeps across oceans in war time. Howard called it the "Hercules," and even that was an understatement. The public called it the "Spruce Goose." But while the public laughed at his planes, Howard shrewdly purchased majority control in the TWA airline.
Things don't go well for Howard after that. The government dumped his contract when the war ended. The Hercules would not be built, but the prototype would be finished. And all the passenger planes Howard had ordered for TWA, at a personal cost of $18,000,000 have been grounded by the government.
It seems airline rival Pan Am "bought" Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda) of Maine. Brewster launched a bill in the senate that would allow Pan Am to hold a monopoly on all over-seas air travel. And in a matter of days, Hughes is on trial for misusing taxpayer money on phoney air plane contracts.
But Howard is far from well. Howard recites different phrases over and over and over again "Show me all the blueprints, show me all the blueprints, show me all the blueprints, show me all the blueprints..." Howard has only mormons bring him his food: his food must be brought into his room at a certain time; the person must take only two steps in and must hold the bag containing his food at a 45° angle so his hands won't touch the bag. Howard was so paranoid about germs that he locked himself into a room and did not come out for weeks. Bottles on top of bottles of his own urine pile up. Whole areas of his room are taped off; he can't touch or enter these area. They aren't clean. And he constantly washes himself. Over and over and over again.
But as his legal trouble mounts, Howard spirals downward into madness. He is totally out of control; His phobias have enslaved him. Hughes, with all of his power and wealth, can't even turn a simple doorknob to leave a restroom. It isn't clean. With every step he takes, Hughes sinks even lower into his own private world of obssive/compulsive behaviour, germ paranoia and eventual self-seclusion, a world he will never come out of.
Director Martin Scorsese did an amazing job bringing the life of the recluse Howard Hughes to the big screen. He took the man's incredibly complex life and told the very complex story in an understandable and very enthralling way.
The best thing to happen to the picture was casting Leonardo DiCaprio, who was amazing as Hughes. Though not as good as Jamie Fox in Ray, Leo nails all of Hughes' mannerisms, his cleanliness fetishes and his obsessive/compulsiveness. DiCaprio is completely beliveable as Howard Hughes, and I must say that he has grown up considerably from his roles in Titanic and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.
DiCaprio's counterpart, Cate Blanchett, plays Katherine Hepburn so eerily well that you couldn't tell them apart if they were side by side. Just as DiCapripo nailed Hughes, Blanchett nailed Hepburn right down to her own New England accent. Blancheet not only looks and talks the part but acts like they are one in the same person.
The incomprable Alan Alda, who plays Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, a supporting character, brings a great deal of energy to the part. He is simply amazing as the Maine Senator. His character is evil, and Alda doesn't portray him as the clichéd villian. Rather, Alda plays him as being sly and coy. We are not sure what he wants, or what he's up to, but we know it can't be good. He makes like he wants to be friends with Hughes when in fact the senator has his own agenda. Alda looks very comfortable in the villian role, and he enjoys it very much.
There is an amazing supporting cast to The Aviator which ibncludes Jude Law, Ian Holm, John C. Reily and Brent Spinner, among many. Everyone works well together which is essential in any great film. The better the supporting cast, the better the film will be, and that the very case right here.
However it is Martin Scorsese himself who makes it possible for use to see tha sometimes brilliant, some times violently disturbed man named Howard Hughes.
Plot: 
Martin Scorsese doesn't tell the whole life of Howard Hughes. Rather, The Aviator focuses mainly on the glory days of Hughes life while using the sad parts as a terrific backstory.
Visual Effects:
While some Directors use visual effects in overkill (like some say George Lucas has done in Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones), Martin Scorsese uses them sparingly, and only then to add to the scene.
The cinematography of the film is exceptional; the ariel dog fights near the beginning of the film are very well done, and in fact any time we see aircraft the exceptional camera work is very much evident.
Sound:
The score of the picture is made up of jazzy, 1920's and 30's music combined with later years pop rock. The score is quite memorable and extremely enjoyable.
Character Development: 
We start the picture with Howard as a young man and and then we jump forward several years. We see his transformation from a young Hollywood director into a reclusive, troubled nutcase (for lack of a better term). Leonardo DiCaprio captures Hughes transformation remarkably well. However, we do not find out what actually happened to him at the end of his life.
On the other hand, most of the supporting characters don't change at all. It would have been nice to know what happened to some of those people, but we never do find out. Sure the film is about Howard. But even a passing mention would be nice to see.
Atmosphere: 
Biopics are almost always easy to get into, and this one is no different.
Realism:
The Aviator is a Hollywood biopic filled with a great cast of characters, special effects, and whicked music. Some of the details of Hughes' life are destorted, this is true. For the most part, though, director Martin Scorsese stays true to Hughes' life.
Warren’s Rating:
Movies it was nominated with for Best Picture:
Finding Neverland; *Million Dollar Baby; Ray; Sideways
9.29/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
08-02-05
Age at win: 35
Nominated for: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Katharine Hepburn, The Aviator
Nomination: 2/5 (acting), 2/5 (total); Win: 1st
Cate's turn as the late screen legend is nothing short of exceptional. To play a person so revered as Katharine Hepburn, you have to be very, very good... and Cate was. She nailed all of Kate's manerisms, right down to her own New England accent.
Cate had freckles - hundreds of freckles (not visible in the photo) - painted on her face every single day of filming which only enhanced the authenticity of her look. When playing a famous someone, one should, at least, look like the person they are playing. Jim Carrey looked uncanily like Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon and actually became him for the length of filming. No, Cate Blanchett didn't become Hepburn, but she was so convincing anyone comming into The Aviator late should think it's actually Hepburn herself.
28-02-05
