The Aviator (2004)
What if Elon Musk had OCD?
Goooood evening, ILTBTA Passengers, these are your captains speaking! Welcome back to I’d Like to Blank The Academy, where this week we’re covering one of the lesser-discussed Scorsese-DiCaprio collabs: The Aviator. We’re expecting smooth skies as we proceed into dramatized and selective moments from the life and times of Howard Hughes. Cruising time is 170 minutes, so buckle up and enjoy the flight!
Previews
What, if anything, did we know about this coming attraction before we watched it?
Ellen: I’m actually not convinced that I’ve ever heard of this movie. Like if you said “oh, have you seen The Aviator?” I would believe that it existed, but couldn’t tell you anything about it beyond “I bet it’s to do with planes!” I have a vague notion of Howard Hughes being a weird dude, mostly from some offhand Gilmore Girls references, as always.
Tyler: I know this is yet another Scorsese1-DiCaprio joint, but I didn’t realize Leo plays Howard Hughes. I learned a bit about Hughes’ … eccentricity in his later years thanks to a fascinating episode of Revisionist History about Hughes’ autobiography, but I’m eager to see two legends take on another. Alright, time to strap in and take off!
Plots & Feelings
This one’s pretty self-explanatory.
Short Version (courtesy of IMDb): A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
Long Version (modified from Wikipedia and formatted to fit your screen):
Interior: a dark, but richly appointed home in 1913 Houston, Texas. A young boy stands in a wash tub as his mother bathes him and quizzes him on the spelling of “quarantine” and the recent cholera outbreak. She tells him he’s not safe.2 SMASH CUT to a chaotic desert airfield that serves as the base of operations for Hell’s Angels, the Howard Hughes epic. He’s got a giant private air force, 24 cameras (but he wants 26), and a sweeping vision for this film. A walk-and-talk through the set results in Howard hiring Noah Dietrich to represent him back in Houston to Hughes Tools Co and run his business empire. Howard has more important things to do, like collaborate with engineer Odie on an attempt at the world’s fastest plane or lobby Mr. Mayer of MGM for two more cameras at Coconut Grove. He’s laughed out of the circle of Hollywood elites.3
Ellen: There’s a bit at the Coconut Club where Howard gets a gal selling cigarettes to come back to his room. While I think it’s supposed to be a display of his charm, it mostly just tells me that the face of Leo DiCaprio can forgive a lot of disquieting vibes.
Tyler: Ain’t no privilege like rich white man privilege because rich white man privilege don’t stop! But yes that was thoroughly icky.
After waiting 8 months for clouds to get the perfect backdrop for the aerial scenes, Hell’s Angels has finally wrapped shooting! Unfortunately for the budget, Howard just saw The Jazz Singer, and demands the film be re-shot for sound, which will cost an additional $1.7 million (after the $2 million already spent). Everyone is shocked and exasperated, but they hop to it because Howard has the vision and the cash, though to get the latter he has to mortgage Hughes Tool Co. Twenty-five miles of film later4, it’s finally premiere night! Howard escorts starlet Jean Harlow, though he’s blinded by the paparazzi and clearly can’t hear a thing. Thankfully, the film is a hit! Frankly, Hughes seems more concerned with the latest design Odie’s brought him for the hopefully record-breaking plane. Flat rivets, y’all, flat rivets.
Sure feels like there’s a metaphor in here somewhere (Source) Ellen: Hang on, is this how cameras worked??
Tyler: According to this person on Quora, the bulbs (like groups of sexy singles on a Netflix reality show) would become too hot to handle and would be thrown on the ground after use.
A film crew takes a break on the beach when WHHHRRRRR, a seaplane lands and out pops a besuited Howard Hughes! He walks up and invites Katherine Hepburn to golf, and she accepts. She talks a mile-a-minute and he can’t hear, but they seem to have meshing eccentricities! The vibe of their relationship is typified by a perfectly pleasant date of theirs at the Coconut Grove being interrupted by Howard’s press agent and Errol Flynn. The couple has little interest in gossiping with Flynn about the sex in Hughes’ upcoming Western, and they cut the dinner short to make like Kylie Jenner and take a quick flight.5 Planes remain one of Howard’s biggest interests, professionally and personally. He instructs Dietrich to find $15 million to buy Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) and is still working on that plane with Odie. Howard finally gets a proper test, and he must be on top of the world as he breaks the airspeed record! That is, until he crashes (largely unharmed) into a beet field.
Ellen: I’m no expert on if this is what Katherine Hepburn really sounded like, but it sounds like a cartoon of a rich person.
Tyler: She won an Oscar for her portrayal, so presumably it was close enough to the real thing? And during the scene where Howard casually buys controlling interest in TWA, he stresses to the TWA President that he wants to fly “above the weather,” which really feels like a perfect encapsulation of Howard’s ambition.
Though the condition is never named in the film, Howard’s OCD is worsening, even as his star continues to rise. He flies around the world in less than four days! Katherine is very supportive, though she’s concerned that with the extra media attention, they’ll be made into freaks. She may also be concerned about her own career, having previously been called “box office poison.” At a film premiere, she schmoozes MGM’s Mayer, to Howard’s complete dismay. She apologizes, so it must be time to meet the parents! It’s a beautiful Connecticut estate, full of members of the Hepburn clan, adorable dogs, and, oh yeah, Katherine’s ex-husband Ludlow! He’s just… there. A weird brand of snobbishness and a complete disinterest in aviation from the family (“We read books.”) makes for a poor meal for Howard. Back home, he’s got big plans for Hercules, a truly gigantic flying cargo boat (seriously, they can’t get aluminum to build it, so they decide to use wood for the interior). He also has big problems with the Motion Picture Association of America, who think the “mammaries” of the lead of his Western are too prominent. In doing press for the Hercules, he constantly squires around starlets, to Kate’s distaste. She eventually announces that she’s met someone, fallen in love, and is moving out.
Meeting the parents, amirite?? (Source) Ellen: Honestly very little of this movie is relatable, but the experience of seeing someone switch into a seemingly different personality around family is pretty accessible. A little gem from the script describes it as such: Welcome to Fenwick where all the blood is blue and all the jaws are clenched.
Tyler: I guess they had to make the Hepburns that exhaustingly snobbish to make anyone sympathize with Howard.
Naturally, Howard burns all of his clothes and adopts a uniform of one of two suits and white sneakers. He holds, erm, auditions (?) for a new girlfriend and settles on fifteen-year-old6 Faith Domergue. At Coconut Grove once more, Howard and Faith are met by Juan Trippe, the head of Pan Am. Howard’s aviation ambitions haven’t slowed one bit, given that he’s also working on a spy plane for the government and bought 40 Constellation aircraft for TWA. Juan and Howard posture to each other about whose airline is better, and Howard ends up giving away TWA’s strategy for the next few years, whoops! He takes a while to wash his hands in the greenest bathroom on earth, and exits on the warpath, shouting that Pan Am does not own the sky! Romantically, he’s also in a bit of a pickle, paying off tabloids to not publish photos of Katherine and her new love interest, Spencer Tracy, and also stepping out with the married Ava Gardner. Howard and Ava are out on a date when an enraged Faith starts ramming their car with hers!
Relearning to wash your hands in 2020 (Source) Howard’s problems are far from over. Juan is working with his crony, Senator Owen Brewster, to introduce a bill that will give Pan Am exclusive rights to international airline travel. The MPAA still won’t allow The Outlaw to move forward, and the Hercules is being held up because Howard insists on making every decision himself and the budget is out of control. He has a slight panic attack in his car, but no matter: time to fly very, very fast again! Unfortunately, this test flight results in a crash landing that’s not quite as whimsical as the first. A doctor informs Odie and Noah that Hughes is now literally hemorrhaging (in addition to hemorrhaging money) and has a whole host of terrifying injuries, including that his HEART MOVED TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF HIS CHEST CAVITY. Howard awakes to learn that the Air Force has canceled the contract for Hercules, and it’ll take 6 months and $7 million to finish. He says build it anyway. Also, a Constellation crashed, and the Civil Aeronautics Board grounded the whole fleet, leaving TWA in deep trouble.
Tyler: The Pan Am logic that only having one option would keep prices low made absolutely zero sense to me (in a capitalist economy) and I wish they got called out on that.
Let’s make things even worse, shall we? Howard’s paranoia increases, leading him to leave microphones and bugs all over Ava’s house (for which she kicks him out). He comes home to discover that Senator Brewster tipped the FBI off to potential war profiteering, and they’re searching for evidence and tracking dirt everywhere. A meeting between Hughes and Brewster, where the latter offers to drop the charges in exchange for selling TWA to Juan, is deeply unproductive. Howard retreats into his private screening room for months, becoming more and more disheveled and distressed7, and repeating sentences over and over is a common occurrence. Katherine and Juan are both visitors at different times, but the only thing that makes him leave is a summons for a Senate hearing over his spy plane and Hercules aka “Spruce Goose” contracts. Ava comes over to groom and dress him, and she’s quite sweet about the whole thing, though she rejects a marriage proposal saying he’s “too crazy” for her.
Ellen: I know we’re not supposed to be on Senator Brewster’s side, but “spruce goose” is a solid burn.
Tyler: As was putting a fingerprint on Howard’s glass before their lunch, knowing it would upset him. It’s strange seeing Alan Alda this mischievous, but dang is he good at it because he does it with a smile.
At the hearings, Brewster is prepared to ream Hughes out for never delivering on his government contracts. Howard looks a little rough to start, but he defends himself quite well and manages to turn the tables and cross-examine Brewster about the fact that he’s fully in Pan Am’s pocket! He points out that he paid for a lot of the development of these planes himself because he just loves aviation, damn it! Later, Hercules is finally out on the water, full of Howard, Odie, and the press. They emphasize several times that this is simply a taxi test, so of course Howard guns it and lifts into the air! Back on the ground and basking in his success, Howard makes grand plans to take Ava on a date to Paris and discusses moving on to jet planes with Odie and Noah. He says they’re the way of the future. The way of the future. The way of the future. They usher him into a bathroom while they find a doctor, and he hallucinates and quietly repeats the phrase.
Ellen: There’s a flashback hallucination at the end where child Howard Hughes is like “I’m going to be the best aviator ever and a huge movie maker and blah blah blah,” and it felt unbearably heavy-handed.
Intermission
Even though ILTBTA is free, please indulge us further and enjoy this quick “advertisement.”
This installment of ILTBTA is brought to you by … Trans World Airlines!
Whether you’re taking a business trip to Kansas City, or surprising the Mrs. with a trip to Paris, TWA offers unbeatable comfort and luxury at affordable prices. Make sure to sign up for our frequent flyer program and become an Aviator8 today!
Tell your travel agent to use promo code ILTBTA when booking your next TWA flight to receive a chance at a free seat upgrade! And keep an eye out for some more exciting international routes from your favorite transcontinental airline! No, not Pan Am, us.
TWA: The Way of the Future!
Wiki-Wiki-Whaaat?
Love a good Wikipedia rabbit hole in search of some fun facts? Us too.
The Aviator’s Wikipedia page has some interesting facts and anecdotes that we recommend you read through, but here are a few of our favorites:
The Aviator is based on the 1993 biography Howard Hughes: The Secret Life by Charles Higham. In addition to Hughes, Higham wrote biographies of several celebrities, including Katharine Hepburn, Errol Flynn (both of whom we met in The Aviator), Orson Welles, Bette Davis, and Cary Grant (amongst others). His biographies, however, were often filled with what amounts to unproven gossip, inconsistencies, and exaggerations. The Daily Telegraph called him “a much-feared and notoriously bitchy celebrity biographer whose works fell squarely in the 'unauthorised' category.”
As depicted in The Aviator, Hughes chose to convert his wildly expensive Hell’s Angels to sound after originally being shot as a silent film. While definitely a shrewd business decision, it was unfortunate for the film’s original star, Norwegian silent film star Greta Nissen, whose accent then became too noticeable for someone portraying a British character. Hughes paid Nissen for her work, then hired up-and-coming star Jean Harlow for the role, catapulting her to stardom.
Tyler: Another fun fact: Hughes also produced previous ILTBTA movie The Racket.
The Aviator had a long and winding road to production. At various points starting in the 70s, stars like Warren Beatty, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, and Christopher Nolan were attached to direct, with Beatty, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, and Edward Norton all at one point attached to star as Hughes.
Tyler: It’s a shame this movie wasn’t made more recently, because based on the photo on Hughes’ Wikipedia page I think Andrew Garfield could have nailed it.
If you’re anything like Tyler and were disappointed by the lack of a “Historical Accuracy” section on the Wikipedia page, we’ve got you covered. Though it’s lighter on sourcing than Wikipedia, this Screen Rant article does a good job of summarizing the liberties taken and accuracies made by Scorsese.
Oscar NomNomNomz
Since we all know a movie is nothing without the food and drink it incorporates.
It’s now time to award the Oscar for Best Snacktor in a Supporting Role9. And the nomnomnominees are:
Ten chocolate chip cookies, medium sized chips with none too close to the outside
Clementine soup with roast wild duck with currant glaze and poached pears in rose sauce
New York cut steak, 12 peas, and a bottle of milk with the cap on
And the Oscar goes to … the ten chocolate chip cookies! Unfortunately, Tyler stole the cookies and disappeared without a trace, so Ellen will accept this award on their behalf.
Fill In The Blank
How did we really feel about The Academy nominating this?
Ellen: I’d like to take the Academy flying in my plane to escape an awkward dinner with Errol Flynn. I think I enjoyed myself, but I’ve got mixed feelings about this one. It’s the latest in a string of ILTBTA selections that have been just a bit too long. It sort of washed over me in a way that doesn’t usually happen to me. Maybe I was too intimidated by the prospect of taking accurate notes on such a long movie that I didn’t take time to let it sink in. I watched it, I reacted to it, I retained most of it. There were parts I found interesting, performances that were good, but I’m still not sure. I wouldn’t mind a steak, some cookies, and a pilot’s license, though!
Tyler: I’d like to compliment the Academy on making our nearly three-hour flight relatively smooth with exemplary customer service. As far as long “epic” movies go, I thought The Aviator did a nice job of keeping things moving while also giving the viewer a sufficient amount of plot in each time period. And given that shows twenty years worth of an extremely interesting and narratively dense life, I’d say that’s quite the accomplishment. (Disclaimer: we included our own intermission half-way through the movie, which really helped in this respect.)
Also, I applaud Leo DiCaprio’s acting in what must’ve been an intense role to play. Across a single movie, he combined the arrogant confidence of his characters in Catch Me If You Can and The Wolf of Wall Street, the emotional intensity of his roles in Shutter Island and The Revenant, and the magnetism that makes you want to root for him that you see in Titanic and The Great Gatsby. Simply put, his range met the scale of the person he was portraying, which was no small feat given how complex of a person Howard Hughes was. And while I know that the Academy loves itself some Hollywood navel gazing, I think the blind squirrel found itself a nut.
Let The Credits Roll
Thanks for reading! Some quick housekeeping as you exit the theatre:
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Post-Credits Scene
Get a sneak peek at the next ILTBTA installment.
In honor of NASA’s upcoming Artemis I launch, the launch window for which is scheduled (as of this release) to begin at 8:33 AM Eastern on Monday August 29th, our next ILTBTA movie will be The Right Stuff. A 1983 historical drama film about the Mercury Seven, the seven astronauts selected for the first human spaceflight program in the U.S., The Right Stuff is available to rent in all the usual places. And while it is another looong movie, think about the bang-for-your-buck value of renting it!
Until then, protect your dinner from Errol Flynn!
Each of us initially spelled “Scorsese” wrong in this post’s first draft. It’s a tricky name!
Sounds like my ex-wife!
Tyler: They also call Hughes’ hometown of Houston "nothing but a pestilential swamp," which still holds true.
Ellen: A rigorous 45 seconds on Quora didn’t tell me what length of film was normal, so take it as you will!
Tyler: Howard’s teasing of Katharine Hepburn for saying “golly” sure reminded me of you and all of your modestly folksy exclamations (e.g., “Oh my stars!”).
NOPE
Looking like a bearded Bo Burnham during “Inside”
This was the actual name!
Results tabulated and certified by the accountants at Ernst & Yum™.