The Aviator Details

The Aviator

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 some of his most 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 a world-renowned celebrity 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 mental disorder that sent him into a full-fledged tailspin after a near-fatal plane crash. The film concludes with Hughes being called to the Senate in '47 to defend himself against 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.

Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Gwen Stefani, Ian Holm, Alan Alda, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, John C. Reilly, Matt Ross, Adam Scott, Kelli Garner
Director	Martin Scorsese
Studio	WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time	DVD: 2 hrs 49 mins Blu-ray: 2 hrs 43 mins
Certificate
Genres	Audio Descriptive, Drama
Language	English, English Audio Description
Dubbed	German
Hearing-impaired	English
Subtitles	English, German
Released	DVD: 13 Jun 2005 Blu-ray: unknown Production year: 2004
Format	DVD