The Aviator Review
by Susan Granger (ssg722 AT aol DOT com)December 18th, 2004
Susan Granger's review of "The Aviator" (Miramax Films)
Without doubt, Howard Hughes was one of Hollywood's most enigmatic, fascinating and eccentric movie moguls but he was also a legendary aviation tycoon. And that's pivotal to this masterpiece of a mythic bio-pic which will be a strong Oscar contender in several top categories.
It begins with a prophetic prologue as Hughes' mother is giving her young son a bath, along with cautionary hygiene lessons during a flu epidemic. Then, in 1927, the brash, now-22 year-old Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) invests a fortune from his family's oil-well drill-bits business in his first movie, "Hell's Angels," resulting in ridicule from other studio executives. But when it's a hit, Hughes not only has wealth but power and begins seducing a bevy of screen beauties like Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani), Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) and Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). Meanwhile, at Hughes Aircraft, he creates the sleek H-1 Racer, breaking the record for round-the-world flight, along with the XF-11, the Constellation passenger plane that made TWA a top-notch airline, and the Spruce Goose, the world's biggest flying machine. Written by John Logan and directed by Martin Scorsese, it's episodic yet riveting cinema - from the spectacular airborne sequences to the bizarre bathroom scene at the Coconut Grove as Hughes was overwhelmed by obsessive-compulsive hand-washing. Although he has no physical resemblance to the daredevil Hughes, Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant, matched by Cate Blanchett, who captures the quintessential essence of Hepburn, along with Alan Alda as abusive Sen. Ralph Owen and Alec Baldwin as Pan Am's CEO Juan Trippe. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Aviator" is a stylish, engrossing, compelling 10. It's one of my 10 Best Pictures of 2004.
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