| | | Imagine A Life Without Limits.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, Featurette, Audio Commentary, Documentaries, Photo Gallery, English, French, Spanish Subtitled, 2 Discs
One of the 20th century's most compelling figures, Howard Hughes was a wily industrialist, glamorous movie producer and unstoppable American innovator - but he thought of himself first and foremost as an aviator. In this spectacular epic, director Martin Scorsese focuses on the most prolific period in the life of Hughes (played by Best Actor Golden Globe® Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio): the mid-1920's through the 1940's. It was a time of brilliant aeronautical invention, turbulent love affairs (including one with Katherine Hepburn, played by Cate Blanchett) and savage corporate battles. Prepare yourself for the ride of the lifetime of this billionaire, genius, madman.
"Two BIG thumbs up!" Ebert & Roeper, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper
"Leonardo DiCaprio gives the finest, most complex performance of his career." NBC, Jeffrey Lyons
"The best picture of the year! Filmmaking on a grand and rare scale." TIME, Richard Schickel
"Spectacular!" USA Today, Mike Clark
Editor's Note
Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR is a lavish spectacle of a motion picture that harks back to Hollywood's Golden Era in telling the story of Howard Hughes, one of 20th-century America's most pioneering and influential figures. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the eccentric billionaire, Scorsese's biopic concentrates on Hughes's life between the 1920s and '40s, when he made striking contributions to both the film and aviation industries. At only 25 years of age, Hughes directed the most expensive film ever made up to that point, HELL'S ANGELS (1930), which Scorsese gleefully recreates here in all its sprawling, audacious glory. At the same time, he became known as an unabashed playboy, bedding the likes of Jean Harlow (singer Gwen Stefani), Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), and Katherine Hepburn (a brilliant Cate Blanchett). In the mid-'30s, he turned his attention to the aviation industry, where he quickly became world-renowned for shattering speed and distance records. He also continued to test the limits of flight technology, building bigger, faster, and stronger aircrafts. All the while, he struggled with an obsessive-compulsive disorder that sent him into a full-fledged tailspin after a near-fatal plane crash. The film concludes with Hughes being called before the Senate in 1947 to defend himself against the nefarious Senator Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), who accused Hughes of taking money from the United States government during wartime.Stunningly photographed by Robert Richardson, Scorsese's nearly three-hour drama features an impassioned performance by DiCaprio, who is also credited as an executive producer. Although she appears in less than a third of the film, Blanchett delivers a performance that cements her status as one of the finest actresses ever to appear on the big screen.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Deleted Scenes | | Director Commentary | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | A Life Without Limits: The Making of The Aviator Featurette | | An evening with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda Featurette | | Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes Documentary-A 45 minute Documentary By The History Channel | | The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Featurette | | The Role Of Howard Hughes In Aviation History Featurette | | Audio Commentary by Martin Scorsese | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround, French Dolby Surround Stereo 2.0 | | Behind-the-scenes Featurettes | | Deleted Scene: Howard Tells Ava About His Car Accident | | OCD Panel Discussion With Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, And Howard Hughes' Widow Terry Moore | | Photo gallery | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Widescreen Presentation |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 11/10/2009 |
| Running Time: 170 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 38939 | | UPC: 00085393893927 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (2005) |  | Cate Blanchett, Winner, Best Supporting Actress | | | Leonardo DiCaprio, Nominee, Best Actor | | | Martin Scorsese, Nominee, Best Director | | | Alan Alda, Nominee, Best Supporting Actor |
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| | Professional Reviews | Los Angeles Times
"DiCaprio convincingly conveys the hard shrewdness and the petulance of the man. It's a make-or-break performance for the film, and it pays off." 12/17/2004 p.E1USA Today
"A magnificent DiCaprio fully captures Hughes' drive and intensity..." 12/17/2004 p.1E Entertainment Weekly
"[T]here's a sleek, almost tactile pleasure to be had in getting swept up in the gale force of a man who smashed through limits because he didn't see them." 12/24/2004 p.48-9 Rolling Stone
"DiCaprio gives a turbocharged, ready-to-rock performance....Stunningly shot..." 12/30/2004 p.170 Uncut
"[C]ome fly with Scorsese for a fine, forceful film that's always arresting..." 02/01/2005 p.98 Chicago Sun-Times
"THE AVIATOR celebrates Scorsese's zest for finding excitement in a period setting?.Scorsese has emerged into the full flower of his gifts." 12/24/2004 p.27 Sight and Sound
"[E]ngrossing, witty, elegant and inventive..." 03/01/2005 p.43-4 Uncut
Ranked #29 in Uncut's Best Films Of 2005 -- "[A] lavish, glamorous biopic of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes that doubles as a feverish tribute to the golden age of Hollywood movie-making." 01/01/2006 p.82-83 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 7 of 10
The Aviator is a good, but not great, filmed biography, and continues Scorsese's recent flirt - James Berardinelli
Rolling Stone 8 of 10
The Aviator is very much like the climactic scene of the visionary Hughes battling to get his - Peter Travers
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
What an enthralling film, 166 minutes, and it races past. There's a match here between Scorsese and - Roger Ebert
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