Product Details

• Actors: Howard R. Hughes
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Shout Factory
• DVD Release Date: November 16, 2004
• Run Time: 170 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00064AF64
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,072 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator is powerful, razor-sharp storytelling, an unsettling documentary built around Hughes's own recollections written during his final years of bizarre reclusiveness. Using newsreel footage, smart visual effects, and interviews with wife Terry Moore, close friend Jack Real, and key aides and executives from Hughes's sundry enterprises, The Real Aviator tells the almost improbable tale of the strapping Texan who transformed, at age 19, his late father's successful Hughes Tool Company into a colossal enterprise for cutting-edge aircraft and Hollywood film production. A daring pilot and driven captain of industry, Hughes built the planes that allowed him to break every speed record imaginable, created Trans-World Airlines (TWA), and moved heaven and earth to invent his fantastic "flying boat" while under government contract--the latter, dubious achievement (along with a near-lethal plane crash) triggering his long descent into mental illness and horrifying isolation. An essential film about a mythic American figure. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

An award-winning new film exploring his extraordinary life on a DVD packed with special features!

Winner: "Grand Festival Award" for Best Documentary at the 2004 Berkeley Video & Film Festival.

In Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator, Howard Hughes tells his own story for the first time. Through his own words, taken from his actual memos, conversations and interviews, the man who broke aviation records, survived three plane crashes, built RKO Studios and TWA and changed the face of Las Vegas forever comes to life in this thoroughly engrossing film. This film digs deeper into his life and his impact on modern aviation than any other and it’s loaded with fantastic extras!

DVD EXTRAS!

• HUGHES CONQUERS HOLLYWOOD: From Playboy to Producer

The premiere of Hells Angels (the world’s largest film premiere)

Original trailers for Hells Angels, Conqueror and Jet Fighter

• HUGHES TAKES ON THE U.S. GOVERNMENT: Rare and dramatic testimony directly from Hughes

• THE FLYING BOAT: WORLD’S LARGEST PLANE — Hughes’ grandest achievement

• THE CONSTELLATION: The plane that changed passenger aviation

• HUGHES IN FLIGHT: Redigitized and spectacular aviation footage of Howard Hughes, "The Real Aviator"

• HUGHES AIRCRAFT HEADQUARTERS: Newly filmed footage of the famous headquarters in Culver City, California

• PHOTO GALLERY: Rare collection including Hughes’ only known color photo

PLUS!! Never-before-disclosed revelations from those who knew him best

• TERRY MOORE: Hughes’ wife and keeper of his legacy

• GEORGE FRANCOM: Member of the often referred to "Mormon Mafia" and Hughes’ personal aide and link to the outside world until the day he died

• ROBERT MAHEU: Spearheaded Hughes’ Vegas takeover; though they were in contact every day, they never met face-to-face

• JACK REAL: Hughes’ lifelong, closest friend and only outside confidante

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Distracting Format, December 30, 2004

By	John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

You'll want to see this movie if you've seen the new Scorcese film. This one delivers great interviews with people close to Hughes, and fills your need for more background of this unusual life.

However, the producers have adopted some really hard-to-take conceits in presenting their material:

1. A really bogus "first person narration" device by some guy with a fake Texas accent. The writing of this narrative line is stilted, hackneyed and takes away from good content.

2. Overuse of a musical track. I used to like the song they used until they ran it into the ground.

3. "Dancing stills." The producers watched way too many Ken Burns documentaries.

The material itself is strong; Hughes' life story is dramatic enough. The excesses and melodrama used here take away from a real underlying story...

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FASCINATING!, December 8, 2004

By	R. Catherine (Westport, CT) - See all my reviews

Howard Hughes was definitely one of the most fascinating and eccentric Americans from the last century. This film does an excellent job of telling his story. What's really great about this documentary are the interviews with some of the people who were really close to Hughes, like his best friend. It's great to hear their first hand accounts of the man and his life. There's a ton of cool footage as well.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Job, February 2, 2005

By	Anthony Czombos (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

The Scorcese film was great. But there is nothing like the real thing, the real footage, the real McCoy. Hughes was an incredibly interesting man and this film covers a lot more of his life than the Hollywood Blockbuster does. It's amazing that after all these years, those who were close to him are still brought to tears when recalling Mr. Hughes. I thought the actor did a great job expressing Hughes' feelings throughout his adventures. The interviews were moving and the editing seamless and concise. A must for biography collectors!
I highly recommend this DVD.