The Aviator DVD

Product Description

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 & influential figures Starring Leonardo Di Caprio as the eccentric billionaire Scorsese's biopic concentrates on Hughes's life between the 1920s & '40s when he made some of his most striking contributions to both the film & 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) & 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 & distance records He also continued to test the limits of flight technology building bigger faster & 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 Di Caprio 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