Day 63: The Aviator

"They should remember him for what he was."

I've previously described all of Scorsese's crime films by calling them tales the mirror the mythological story of Icarus, writing, "They always push until the bricks come piling down and there isn’t anything else to push. It’s a constant game of gradual suicide." Remarkably, I'm surprised at how narrow I put that into focus. All crime films pretty much follow that with the exception of a few. But all of Scorsese's films pretty much fit that description as well. From Raging Bull to Shutter Island. Howard Hughes however is even more remarkable. Few metaphors can be more poetic that the image of flight. We've all dreamed of flying and we all wish to fly. So what better character is there than the aviation visionary, Howard Hughes?

The Aviator is the first Scorsese film I ever saw. It's also the film that I think establishes DiCaprio as a serious adult actor. In Gangs of New York he begins to make that transformation but he's still struggling too as Daniel Day-Lewis—who is not the main character in the story—upstages him almost entirely. Who the hell cares about DiCaprio's Victorian thirst for revenge when Daniel Day-Lewis is there butchering people! Literally...

So this is certainly a pivotal step in the career of DiCaprio. A few films at this point had propelled him into critical success though in all those films, his characters never experience a peak of unparalleled control only to see it crumble and break. DiCaprio in The Aviator completely breaks down and towards the end he really starts to look like Hughes. Howard Hughes completely broke down, so it's only fitting that the performance portray that. Leonardo would have been an Oscar winner by now if it weren't for that goddamn Jaime Foxx!

The Aviator begins with Hughes' production of the now classic film, Hell's Angels. A whole movie could have been made just detailing how they made Hell's Angels (wouldn't be surprised if they already did but I'm too lazy to go check...) It was the type of film that was unheard of at that time and would later inspire Stephen Spielberg to create Saving Private Ryan. The production of Hell's Angels portrayed here in The Aviator marks the beginning of the first of what would be three separate parts of the film's story. Hollywood. Next stop? Katherine Hepburn!

It's well known that Hughes had an intense affair with Hepburn but it's almost certain that it's never been portrayed on film, and if it has, probably not like this. Cate Blanchett gives a performance that almost upstages Howard but she's no butcher. She's beautiful, full of spunk, witty, funny, and nails that voice of Katherine—which is quite shrill and naggy—down perfectly. In reality Blanchett is much more graceful but here she sounds as if Sarah Palin's voice were attached to the sound of a nail scraping and screeching a chalkboard. (Actually Sarah Palin's voice is more irritating than that.)

Leonardo holds his own and I think Scorsese manages to pull of a delicate management act of keeping the story on DiCaprio. With Howard Hughes in Hollywood there is style. It's Hollywood in the 1930s! Live a little! Even as a filmmaker Howard's quite mad and from the early scenes with Louis B. Mayer we can see that he's a visionary, striving for perfection and it would be an insult to his character if he were to accept anything less which takes us to the second part of the story: Aviation. Here's where we get the real Howard Hughes. The title character. The aviator.

Howard takes an interest in commercial air travel, buys a majority stake in TWA, becomes the fastest man on the planet, and then a defense contractor for the military. He begins to work on his behemoth, the Hercules or what we would all call it, the Spruce Goose. As Howard begins to thrust himself into the world of aviation he begins to also lose his mind. Often creating a world entirely for himself to occupy while simultaneously hold contradicting and conflicting neuroses and compulsive disorders, Howard begins to spiral out of control. Howard, being Howard, starts to see other women but none of it pans out like Hepburn. Now it's time for him to lock himself in a hotel room (he owns the hotel by the way), for a few years and just watch movies all day. Then there's the final part of the film: Breakdown.

Here is where DiCaprio gets really good (so far he's just been nailing down the accent, the subtle anxious gestures, and the scope of Hughes, not anything special really). Scorsese is at the top of his game. The cinematography becomes claustrophobic. In the room of darkness that Hughes engrosses himself into, Hughes displays a whole set of weird and bizarre behavioral practices. He finds himself repeating thoughts, unable to focus on others, and completely out of sync with the world around him. It's these films that make The Aviator, the first film of Scorsese I ever saw, my favorite. My any metric his older films and maybe even The Departed are superior but I have some of emotional attachment to The Aviator. He's a man who wants to do something larger than life and does while overcoming a natural obstacle, the standing of his successful father. (It's not really surfaced in this film. I think that's a good move.)

Howard's descent into the rabbit hole only ceases to continue when he's rescued, as the film portrays, by the lovely Ava Gardner who's played fantastically by Kate Beckinsale who...give me a minute (wow she is B-A-U-tiful)...descends upon him like a spirit of recovery. As she comes from the very town Howard seems to by flying from I guess we could call her an angel from hell.

So Howard begins to recover. PanAm, the main competitor with TWA, seeks domination of the international airways by essentially buying the pocket of Senator Owen Brewster who's played wonderfully by Alan Alda. (Alda's showed up in a few Woody Allen films, he's really an underrated actor.) Brewster, expecting Hughes to arrive in his chaotic state of insanity, thinks the hearings are going to be a slam dunk. PanAm, in his mind, will win control of the sky and the only left is the bill in the Senate.

In reality, these hearings electrified the nation and in the film the back and forth that occurs between Hughes and Brewster are almost verbatim to what was said in the actual hearings. There were legitimate concerns for the government to have pertaining to the activity of Hughes (basically using defense contracts to finance his pet projects), but in fairness he wasn't cheating the government. He simply took a little more time to develop a specific aircraft. Hughes clearly comes out on top with these hearings and the quest for domination by PanAm is thwarted. Even Juan Trippe (played by Alec Baldwin, yes Liz Lemon's best friend) begins to admire Howard Hughes. I won't give away the rest of the ending because it's too much of a joy to watch.

The Aviator is fortunate to have all the three essentials: a great script, a great cast, and a great director. It's got a FANTASTIC! soundtrack but those are essentially chotchkies to a broader masterpiece of art. The Aviator is the type of film you'll watch numerous times. I know I have, and it will deliver every time.

But with so much a recovery, why not include another split in the story after breakdown? Well, because Hughes never reaches that peak on the summit like he once did. Recovering is good but he never returns. The damage had already been done. Even with the vibrant youth and energy that's portrayed in this story, if you were to ask anyone about Hughes, the instant image is that of a mad man in a locked room with a long beard. We've placed him on a far lower plateau than he deserves when in fact this was a man who's entire life should read, "sky's the limit? Are you fucking kidding me?" But instead we don't remember the glory, only the petty. Great men fall hard. It's a shame but it's the truth. Quite frankly that's saddening, but what can you do? After all, that's the Hughes legacy.

[The influence of Howard Hughes can't be understated. His Hercules paved the way for a whole new era of flight for the military. His lifestyle would even lead to the creation of another character, Tony Stark, who is a military genius, who's good looking, builds from his father's wealth, is a womanizer, and tries to give the world something bigger than himself. Nahhhh, doesn't sound like anyone we know. My mistake.]