(Credit: www.buy.com)
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio……….Howard Hughes
Cate Blanchett……….Katharine Hepburn
Kate Beckinsale……….Ava Gardner
John C. Reilly……….Noah Dietrich
Alec Baldwin……….Juan Trippe
Alan Alda……….Sen. Brewster
Ian Holm……….Professor Fitz
Danny Huston……….Jack Frye
Gwen Stefani……….Jean Harlow
Jude Law……….Errol Flynn
Warner Bros. Pictures and Miramax Films presents a Martin Scorsese picture. Written by John Logan. Running time: 170 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and a crash sequence).
The movie:
Howard Hughes stands there looking at a bathroom mirror. His hands are unclean so he starts washing them with soap. Howard scrubs and scrubs until the filth is gone. The scouring is so rough he cuts himself. Blood trickles out and he has glazed look on his face. The cleansing is a habitual action.
As a boy, Howard would stand in a watering bucket so his mother could run a sponge up and down his torso. This process was a strange form of mechanical engineering. Each sanitization had an inherent affect on Hughes. In an age where neurological diseases went undetected, Hughes developed a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Later in his life his OCD would consume him to the point that he refused to leave his Las Vegas bungalow or Beverly Hills hotel suite for months at a time.
This is the impression many have of Mr. Hughes. We remember the stories about Hughes’ long fingernails and jars of urine. But we overlook the achievements this recluse had on Hollywood, aviation, and modern technology.
Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator focuses on a particular moment in time. The life of Howard Hughes is played out through three decades – the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s. During the thirty-year span we see the highs and lows of this peculiar individual. As an adolescent from Texas, Howard Hughes, the heir to his father’s drill bit fortune, rose in status through his tenacity. He made movies, bought airliners and airlines, and was quite the ladies man; dating such beauties as Kate Hepburn and Ava Gardner. Hughes was also the type of man who wouldn’t “press the flesh” to get what he wanted. If there was something he desired, Hughes would throw down money with relative ease.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the legendary mogul. Many were miffed that an actor such as DiCaprio played the part of Hughes. Sure, he may not be reminiscent of the young Howard Hughes, but as the decades change, so does DiCaprio’s demeanor. During the U.S. Senate hearings there is a mirror-like quality in watching him perform.
Every now and then there are movies where an actor plays a specific part so well that no other movie star could replace him. Jamie Foxx is Ray Charles. Matthew Broderick is Ferris Bueller. Tom Hanks is Forrest Gump. It’s one thing for an actor to play a character. It’s another thing entirely if the actor does his absolute best to become that person. For such a difficult role Leonardo DiCaprio is a compelling force; some of his best acting are the scenes where he is fighting his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Hughes was a hands-on type of guy. Arriving in Los Angeles, this good-mannered man with heaps of money plunges right into the Hollywood spotlight, producing the World War I aviation-adventure motion picture Hell’s Angels. Hughes spent four million dollars on airplanes – another million covered the film’s production. With the success of Angels, Hughes produced Scarface and The Outlaw, and eventually owned RKO Pictures; a company that financed a little film entitled Citizen Kane.
Movies were a fun extravagance for Hughes; but his true calling was the world of aviation. So he turned his attention from motion pictures to the airplanes in his films. Without a college degree or high school diploma, Hughes had the ingenuity to design and build planes like the XF-11 and the “Hercules,” better known as the “Spruce Goose.” Joining Hughes in his endeavors is his hapless right-hand man Noah Dietrich. Played by John C. Reilly, the great character actor; it is his job to mortgage various assets every time Hughes has an inspired idea.
With his dashing golden boy looks and stylishness he could have had any woman he so desired. But Hughes wouldn’t allow himself to go for any dame. He could not buy Ava Gardner’s love with lavish jewelry. (“You can buy me dinner. How about that?”) Kate Hepburn was a different breed of woman. She played sports and preferred wearing slacks. She also enjoyed Hughes reckless sense of adventure. It was his eccentricities that drove her away. Ava smirks when Howard asks her hand in marriage. “Howard, you’re too crazy for me.” Still, there is a subtle reminder of the love and affection these two women had for Howard.
Director Martin Scorsese has a unique ability in recreating different time periods. In The Aviator he uses multiple sets and color temperatures to get that special “look” of Hollywood. For this film his production designer, Dante Ferretti, rebuilt the exterior of the renowned Mann’s Chinese Theater in a Montreal shooting location. No wonder the film’s budget escalated past the hundred-million-dollar mark. The special effects also add to the majesty of The Aviator.
Scorsese uses them effectively in recreating the process Hughes went through in producing Hell’s Angels. The effects also create the breathtaking sequence where Hughes crash-lands in Beverly Hills. The man behind the visual effects is so good there are some scenes where it is impossible to distinguish between what is real and what is a CGI.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance is the driving force of the film, but the supporting cast does its job to great effect – especially the women. Cate Blanchett plays Katharine Hepburn as a caricature. It may be over the top in some regards, but, for my money, Blanchett succeeds in the well-mannered yet tomboyish role. Kate Beckinsale is Ava Gardner, the crème colored beauty who is confident and not easily swayed by Hughes flirtations. Gwen Stefani (from the rock band No Doubt) has a small role as Jean Harlow, the platinum-blond bombshell whose star quality outshines that of the industrialist.
Having already mentioned John C. Reilly, let us not forget Alan Alda. He, along with Alec Baldwin, is the quintessential villain of this picture. The two are like that piece of gum that gets stuck on the bottom of your shoe. Alda’s character is as crooked as a politician…strike that, he is a politician. Jude Law, a man who is undeserving of the butt of jokes he receives, has a nice cameo appearance as the legendary screen icon Errol Flynn. Law has the mannerisms down pat, but he is lacking in appearance.
For 170 minutes we see a man who seemingly has everything and whose demons get the best of him. Hughes repeats phrases like a broken record. His phobias about germs consume him to the point that he insists his employees hand him items while holding a tissue. If he’s in the men’s room and he doesn’t have a Kleenex, he must wait until somebody walks in before he can leave. Both Scorsese and DiCaprio share the recognition in creating an interesting motion picture about this sad man. It may have not been the best film of 2004, but it is definitely the best produced. With The Aviator, DiCaprio, like Hughes, can finally rise to the substratosphere of Hollywood.
Score: 9.5/10
THE DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
You can’t have a lavish spectacle like this and expect an inferior video transfer, can you? Well, if Miramax Films released this DVD, maybe so. Thankfully, Warner Bros. has the video rights to The Aviator. In not so many words I must say this DVD is “astounding.” Notice the color schemes when the film moves through the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s; the scenes inside The Coconut Grove nightclub change dramatically with each decade. At times there is a little oversaturation in color, but it seems to be a matter of the lighting technique used in production. While watching the film no digital spots were present. The Aviator has its original widescreen presentation (2.35:1) and it is enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions.
Score: 9/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
I’m surprised that this DVD release didn’t come with a DTS soundtrack, since sound is a major component in the film. There are scenes where DTS could have amplified the speed plane crash landing or Hughes’ life-altering crash in Beverly Hills. The vocal talents of Loudon, Rufus, and Martha Wainwright could have used a DTS audio boost. It probably came down to disc space. A 170-minute film plus a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track and a commentary track by Martin Scorsese pretty much wipes out any chance of DTS soundtrack. Oh well, the 5.1 surround sound will do. In addition to the Dolby 5.1 mix, the DVD has a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack in French.
Score: 9/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Martin Scorsese on the mike, documentaries, and many more featurettes!!!!
The back of the DVD’s packaging is misleading. On Disc 1 it says it includes commentary by Martin Scorsese. Ah, but it fails to mention that his editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and producer Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) also participate. By listening to the commentary you can tell that each participant was recorded separately; Scorsese speaks for the longest time. His commentary proves that he is a walking dictionary when it comes to movies.
Martin Scorsese is exemplary in delivery, discussing the process it took to make The Aviator. He is not bashful about the praise he heaps on both Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett. He even mentions Blanchett’s performance in Sam Raimi’s The Gift. So I guess I’m not the only one who’s seen that film. One amusing anecdote is the Howard Hawks Scarface screening he held. Guests included Steven Spielberg and Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist).
On Disc 2, there is a deleted scene where Howard tells Ava about his car accident. This scene would have occurred in the scene where Howard is trying to woo Ava with a blue diamond encrusted necklace. There is no director’s commentary option so we have to come up with our own conclusions. In the scene Howard tells Ava he killed a man with his car and he paid off the man’s family with $20,000. The scene was rightfully cut. If included in the final cut it would have changed the audience’s perception of Howard Hughes.
A Life Without Limits: The Making of The Aviator (11:32) proves – for this movie, at least – that Leonardo DiCaprio is the hardest working man in show business. He was committed to this Howard Hughes biopic project since day one. He is the only person who read every draft screenwriter John Logan had written. The featurette also reveals something I’ve known for years: John Reilly is “one of the great character actors of our time.” Absolutely.
The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History began when he bought 80-or-so airplanes for his Hell’s Angels picture. This 14-minute featurette chronicles Hughes’ rise to aviation glory – 1937 transcontinental flight in 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds – and his downfall – the flight of the XF-11. It should be noted that without Howard Hughes’ initiative we might have never known that a plane can fly faster and conserve fuel if it flies at a high enough altitude.
Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes, A History Channel Documentary is the longest feature on Disc 2 (at 43 minutes) and also the best. By watching this documentary you will understand why Howard Hughes was dedicated to the art and science of innovation. This feature points out important dates in Hughes’ history. On July 10, 1938, Hughes began his around-the-world flight. It took him 3 days, 19 hours, and 17 minutes. Humph…Jules Verne just thought he had it narrowed down to 80 days.
The documentary also points out that the engineers Hughes employed helped shape the weapons our Armed Forces use today; they influenced meteorological readings; and they were the innovators of what would become DirecTV. How’s that for a “did you know”?
Howard Hughes’ obsessive-compulsive disorder are examined in the next two featurettes. In The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, an OCD consultant for The Aviator, and few individuals diagnosed with OCD explain the concept of the disease. It’s amazing the number of people who go undetected for this disease. Zong, an Asian American female, went 30 years without being diagnosed. Leonardo and the doctor show up again – with Martin Scorsese and Hughes’ widow Terry Moore – in an OCD Panel Discussion. During the feature, scenes from the film are intercut with the panel discussion. They serve as examples and help illustrate what the panel participants are talking about.
In An Evening with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda, the two talk to a class about what it is to be an actor. Leonardo’s great two cents is a quote in which he tells the class, “an actor’s job is to portray an experience that the actor may not have been a part of.”
Sharing stories from the set, Alda tells a funny anecdote about him being cast to play Senator Brewster. For years Alda played characters who walked the straight and narrow. As Sen. Brewster he encompasses a slimy, loathsome character. Alda enjoyed the change. That is until he saw what the real Brewster looked like. Let’s just say he didn’t win any beauty pageants in his lifetime.
The next five featurettes explore action behind-the-scenes. This includes the visual effects, production design, costumes, musical score, and the musical talents of the Wainwrights. Robert Legato, the visual effects supervisor and second unit director, is your tour guide for The Visual Effects of The Aviator. For 12 minutes, Legato shows how miniatures and computers played a major role in various special effect sequences. Constructing The Aviator: The Work of Dante Ferretti shows that his collaboration with Martin Scorsese is like a marriage without divorce. They have worked on six films together. Sandy Powell shows off the dress styles she created for Hughes, Hepburn, and Gardner. In scoring The Aviator, Howard Shore wrote thematic pieces based on Hughes’ life, his obsession, and his ambition. A symphony orchestra was used to emulate the sound recordings of the 1930’s. The last featurette has Loudon Wainwright talking about his children, Rufus and Martha. Funny to note that Loudon is known as “the Charlie Chaplin of Rock”; “the Woody Allen of folk.”
The last two extras is a promo for The Aviator soundtrack and a still photo gallery. Man, how could they neglect to include the theatrical trailers?
A commentary by Marty is enough to merit a decent rating. But then you have documentaries and featurettes to consider. The History Channel documentary and the OCD featurettes are interesting because they explore topics outside typical behind-the-scenes features. My only disappointment are the last five featurettes. They would have been better served as a single feature.
Score: 9/10
