The reviewer was fortunate enough to see this fine film at the Spectrum 6 theater in Albany, which offers nicer accommodations to the big mega theaters at major shopping malls. In a relatively packed but small theater, the reviewer was in for three short hours of action packed adventure and stinging social commentary. Leonardo DeCaprio did a brilliant job of playing Howard Hughes in a way you could easily sympathize with the actions of this aviation and film mogul that would forever change how we saw the flying skies.

Brilliant and Risk Taking

Those words represent the actions of Howard Hughes as portrayed in the movie. A deeply troubled man with personal demons was displayed in this movie. His arrogance was downplayed, making him an idealistic character that the reviewer loved by the end of the movie. He was a man who repeatedly bet all of his money and fortunes on risky ventures, only to see they played out in the long run. He was far from perfect, and some ventures failed getting him into trouble, but this movie portrayed him as knowing how to play the cards right. The movie did not cover the troublesome years of the mid-1960s when Hughes had to sell off his TWA empire to keep from going bankrupt, nor his purchase of Pan American airlines years later.

Many ways you got impression that Howard Hughes was the master businessman, following the model of the great master politicians of his era. He knew how to play the game better then anyone else, and was able to take extreme risks to win. You might think of him as a Nelson Rockefeller of business. Both men bit off more then they could chew at times, and risked getting their empires in serious debt, but both where very successful. These people where true visionaries who could see far more then the mere mortals below them, and often where arrogant to those who dare contradict their winning styles.

Eccentricity and Possible Mental Illness

A big theme in the movie was Howard Hughes eccentricity. He was a man who chose his own ways of living, who defined himself in his own eyes. The reviewer enjoyed the celebration of being different that this movie portrayed. Hughes did not like crowds or the limitations of social convention. He instead preferred to be designing truly great things. Under the stress of fame and the power of crowds that increasingly where surrounding him, his eccentricity started to be revealed and his psychological self started to deteriorate. The crowds were too much for him as an individual.

Obsessive-compulsive behaviors started to show towards the end of the movie. During high stress situations he would find himself running to the bathroom and carefully scrubbing his hands repeatedly with his private soap. He would have to be clean under such stress, to the point where it was being excessive and hurting his relations with others. The movie overdramitized his strange behaviors a bit, suggesting that he was seriously mentally ill by 1947. Histories of Howard Hughes at the seem to see things differently. The routine of urinating in bottles was patently untrue, although there is some evidence that he did that once when the toilet what broken. It certainly was not his normal behavior.

Howard Hughes continued to run his empire until his death. He built the Landmark Hotel in Las Vegas that resembled the Seattle Sky Needle. He sold TWA to prevent bankruptcy of Hughes aircraft, and later bought his former competitor, Pan Am airlines. Hughes made some bad business decisions towards the end of his life, and was truly eccentric, but probably not as mentally ill as the movie portrayed him. Part of the rumors about his weirdness inevitably where created by his vicious competition that sought not only to destroy the Hughes Empire but to destroy the man behind it all.

Interesting Critique of Mental Illness and Eccentricity
and Inaccurate Documentary of Howard Hughes' Life

Nobody expected a Hollywood drama of a man's life to be as accurate as a book or a television documentary. It is a given that some artistic liberties have to be taken to create a good film. Yet, when a man's reputation is on the line, it should not attempt to use historically incorrect facts about him. The commentary on mental illness and eccentricity was interesting, particularly how eccentrics can fit in and keep their eccentricity private. The reviewer enjoyed this show, particularly in the atmosphere of a small theater like the Spectrum.