The Aviator (2004)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writer (WGA):

John Logan (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

For some men, the sky was the limit. For him, it was just the beginning.

Plot:

A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career, from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.

Plot Keywords:

Billionaire | Film Making | Obsessive Compulsive Disorder | Paparazzi | Rise And Fall

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 45 wins & 64 nominations

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Howard Hughes
Cate Blanchett	...	Katharine Hepburn
Kate Beckinsale	...	Ava Gardner
John C. Reilly	...	Noah Dietrich
Alec Baldwin	...	Juan Trippe
Alan Alda	...	Senator Ralph Owen Brewster
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	...	Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn
Brent Spiner	...	Robert Gross

Also Known As:

Aviator (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and a crash sequence.

Runtime:

170 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Portugal:M/12 | Malaysia:U | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | France:U | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:15 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:12 | Ireland:12 (video rating) | Ireland:15 (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2005) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41156) | Indonesia:Dewasa | Sweden:11 | South Korea:15 | Denmark:11

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Forward Pass

Trivia:

During the crash of the XF-11 aircraft over Los Angeles, Hughes (DeCaprio) radios that he will put down on the Wilshire Country Club. Hughes actually lived in a Spanish Villa at Wilshire Country Club (near the 8th hole), the crash of the XF-11 was into Beverly Hills at the Los Angeles Country Club.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the filming of "Hell's Angels", as one of the SE5a scout biplanes taxis past, the fact that it is a reduced-scale replica is obvious due to the oversize pilot's head. Also, same shot, you can see his modern microphone attached to the helmet.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Allene Hughes: Q-u-a-r-a-n-t-i-n-e.
Young Howard Hughes: Quarantine. Q-u-a-r-a-n-t-i-n-e. Quarantine.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 77th Annual Academy Awards (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise

A Striking and Ambitious Saga

This film is about the world famous multi-millionaire Howard Hughes. However, if the only thing you know about Hughes was that he was a recluse who secreted himself inside his hotel in Las Vegas and was obsessed with cleanliness, you may be in for a surprise. The film deals with Hughes' life before all that.

After a brief prologue showing Hughes as a child with his mother advising him on cleanliness, we move forward to 1927 with an adult Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) directing his hugely risky film "Hell's Angels". "The Aviator" takes in Hughes' film-making achievements, his romances with some of the most beautiful women of the day (including Katherine Hepburn (a superb Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale)) and his passion for aviation. The picture of Howard Hughes that emerges from the film is of a brilliant man who was a ruthless perfectionist, constantly risking ruin and even death for his goals. This all makes his eventual fate all the more sad.

The film is brilliantly made, the cast are all very good in their roles (especially, as mentioned earlier, Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn) and despite lasting almost three hours, it is never dull. The main flaw, however, is that you never learn much about Hughes. Some more on his background would certainly have been welcome.

Any film by Scorsese, however, is worth seeing and this is no exception.