The Aviator-Money Buys You A Whole Lotta Eccentric

Howard Hughes.  An enigmatic figure in American history, innovation and entrepreneurship if there ever was one.  If he wanted to, he could have made a living as a modest tycoon making industrial parts in Texas and that would be that.  But the man had a vision and was propelled on by forces he could not resist.  Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio captured this high velocity personality in the film The Aviator.

After getting a glimpse of him as a child and the psychological seed planted by his mother that would grow into a crippling mental monstrosity in his adulthood, we see him in California at the age of 22, combining his interests in cinema and aviation to make the film Hell's Angels.  You see his drive and his willingness to put resources at work to achieve his vision.  The film is a hit and he later goes onto make other films, including  exercising his engineering skills in support and display of a woman's frontal assets, shown at it's puchritudinal peaks upon the prow of one Ms. Jane Russel in The Outlaw.   He also pursues his interest in aviation, designing cutting edge aircraft, and in the process, founding Hughes Aircaft to pursue these designs. 

Being a reckless, maverick personality who marched to his own beat and his commercial interests bumping up against other powerful interests, naturally, they take aim at him, questioning his design work under the accusation of being a war profiteer and also of being a deviant (his showcasing of boobs in some of his films).  But none of this was enough to bring him down.  His own inner demons would be that which laid him low.

This was an amazing film and touches on so many of what makes America great and at the same time an extremely contradictory culture.  We celebrate entrepreneurs and those that take risks.  But those that deviate too far from the approved cultural paths, we then want to take down.  We celebrate the capitalist, but capitalists themselves often play alpha wolf games with each other which aren't good for their businesses or for the culture at large.

And, we are uncomfortable when people in plain public view flout convention, even though we deify individualism.

Howard Hughes was in many ways the inspiration of Tony Stark, Iron Man of Marvel Comics.  He is an American figure worth visiting again and again, whose legacy goes far beyond this film.  But...this film is a great primer to start, for those who want to learn more.