Aviator

Theatrical Release Date: 2004 12 17 (USA - Limited) / 2004 12 25 (USA)

UPC: 085393894023

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Martin Scorsese directed this fast-moving, epic-scale biopic documenting the life and loves one of the most colorful Americans of the 20th century, Howard Hughes. The Aviator follows Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. It doesn't take long for Hughes, with his passion for airplanes, to jump from producer to director of his first major film project, a World War I air epic called Hell's Angels, which took three years to complete thanks to the shift from silent to sound filming and Hughes' relentless perfectionism. However, the film was a massive hit, and the eccentric inventor became a mogul in Hollywood, making Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani) a star and enjoying a romance with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). But Hollywood's old-boy network never fully accepted Hughes, and in time his passion for flying began to reclaim his attentions as he began designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing aircraft. Hughes also found time to romance Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) and founded his own airline, Trans-World Airlines, though as his ideas became bolder, his approach became more eccentric, and he gained many powerful enemies, including the head of Pan-American Airlines, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), and Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), who attempted to prove that Hughes' radical design ideas were actually part of an effort to bilk taxpayers for millions of dollars through government contracts. The Aviator's star-studded cast also includes John C. Reilly, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Ian Holm, and Frances Conroy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Director [Runner-up] – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress [Runner-up] – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Production Design – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress [Runner-up] – Boston Society of Film Critics Best Picture – American Film Institute Best Picture - Drama – null Best Director – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Supporting Actress – null Best Screenplay – null Best Score – null Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Director – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Score – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Original Score – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Picture – Producers Guild of America Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Supporting Actress (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble Acting – Screen Actors Guild Best Original Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Original Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film Music – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Cinematography – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Production Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Costume Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Sound – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Special Visual Effects – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Makeup and Hair – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Makeup and Hair – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound Mixing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound Mixing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Original Score – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: ccCommentary by Martin Scorsese
Languages: English & Fran?ais (dubbed in Quebec)
Subtitles: English, Fran?ais & Espa?ol
Additional scene
Get into the cockpit with fabulous documentaries on Howard Hughes and the filmmakers at work: Making The Aviator; The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History; Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes, a History Channel Documentary; The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; The Visual Effects of The Aviator; Constructing The Aviator; Costuming and Scoring The Aviator; The Aviator and the Age of Glamour; An Evening With Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda

Aviator

Format: DVD

Release Date: 05/24/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 170 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 -- The Movie - Full Screen
1. Young Howard [2:18]
2. "Welcome to Hollywood," Hell's Angels Year One [8:15]
3. Hell's Angels Year Two [6:58]
4. Hell's Angels Year Three [4:04]
5. "Howard Hughes' $4 Million Epic" [5:04]
6. "Follow-Through Is Everything in Golf, Just Like Life" [3:38]
7. TWA... "Tiger by the Tail" [2:18]
8. "I'm Sure You Know Errol" [4:31]
9. Teaching Kate to Fly [4:55]
10. H-1 Racer, Breaking the World Speed Record [5:20]
11. Letting Kate In [5:12]
12. Around the World in Four Days [1:31]
13. "Don't Worry About It Howard, She's Just Working the Room" [3:43]
14. Visiting the Hepburn Estate [5:30]
15. MPAA Outlaws Mammaries [4:43]
16. Selling The Hercules [1:07]
17. "There's Too Much Howard Hughes in Howard Hughes" [3:18]
18. The Constellation [3:21]
19. "We're Too Alike, You and I" [5:13]
20. Faith Domergue [1:44]
21. "Kill the Story," Burying the Hepburn-Tracy Scandal [6:45]
22. Ava Gardner [3:02]
23. "Show Me All the Blueprints, Show Me All the Blueprints" [2:57]
24. XP-11, Inaugural Flight and Crash [5:32]
25. Flowers From Juan Trippe [6:27]
26. Government Investigation [4:24]
27. Q-U-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-E [11:10]
28. The Germ-Free Zone [13:57]
29. Brewster Senate Hearings [4:36]
30. The Flying Boat [7:54]
31. "The Way of the Future, the Way of the Future" [9:41]
32. End Credits [4:02]

Perry Seibert

The Aviator is a rousing entertainment that does not shy away from the darkest aspects of Howard Hughes' life. The first hour of The Aviator feels like the most fun Martin Scorsese has had behind a camera in over a decade. The extended sequence of Hughes attempting to get Hell's Angels completed to his detailed ideal is the closest Scorsese himself has ever come to an onscreen biography of his own work habits. A notorious obsessive, Scorsese recognizes those traits in Hughes and with the assistance of a never-better Leonardo DiCaprio creates an affectionate but realistic look at Hughes' successes and demons. Though the film feels a bit overlong, it never loses the audience's interest, thanks in large part to DiCaprio's determined blue eyes. Those eyes are always able to communicate the intensity of Hughes' feelings -- be it his passion for women and aviation, or his fear of losing control. He is matched in the early part of the film by an as always first-rate Cate Blanchett, who manages to embody Katharine Hepburn without turning her into a caricature, showcasing her intelligence and humor without shying away from her own faults. They make arguably the most sympathetic couple in a Scorsese film since Kris Kristofferson and Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. From his decision to replicate the look of the old two-strip Technicolor process (hence the blue peas and the blue golf course), to his first ever use of CGI effects, Scorsese utilizes every tool at a filmmaker's disposal. But for all of the filmmaking pyrotechnics, it is the clear-eyed empathy Scorsese brings to The Aviator that makes it one of the most emotionally rewarding films of his career. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Josie Maran  Actor 
Sam Hennings  Actor 
Chris Ufland  Actor 
Justin Shilton  Actor 
Rufus Wainwright  Actor 
Vincent Laresca  Actor 
Nellie Sciutto  Actor 
Leonardo DiCaprio  Producer 
Michael Mann  Producer 
Martin Scorsese  Director 
Howard Shore  Composer (Music Score) 
Chris Brigham  Executive Producer 
Graham King  Producer 
Charles Evans, Jr.  Producer 
John Logan  Screenwriter 
Sandy Climan  Producer 
Leonardo DiCaprio  Actor 
Cate Blanchett  Actor 
Kate Beckinsale  Actor 
John C. Reilly  Actor 
Alec Baldwin  Actor 
Alan Alda  Actor 
Ian Holm  Actor 
Danny Huston  Actor 
Gwen Stefani  Actor 
Jude Law  Actor 
Adam Scott  Actor 
Matt Ross  Actor 
Kelli Garner  Actor 
Frances Conroy  Actor 
Brent Spiner  Actor 
Stanley de Santis  Actor 
Edward Herrmann  Actor 
Willem Dafoe  Actor 
Kenneth Walsh  Actor 
J.C. MacKenzie  Actor 

Country: USA