The Aviator (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)

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The Aviator (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)

An epic biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career, from the late 1920's to the mid-1940's.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary: Commentary by Scorsese
Deleted Scenes:Deleted scene: Howard Tells Ava About His Car Accident
Documentaries:Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes-- a 45 minute Documentary By The History Channel
Documentary:2 Music Featurettes: Scoring The Aviator: The Work Of Howard Shore The Wainwright Family - Loudon, Rufus And Martha
Featurette:A Life Without Limits: The Making of The Aviator The Role Of Howard Hughes In Aviation History An evening with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD Panel Discussion With Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, And Howard Hughes' Widow Terry Moore
Other:2 Behind-the-scenes featurettes: The Age Of Glamour: The Hair And Makeup Of The The Visual Effects Of The Aviator
Photo gallery

From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction and costume design suggests an impassioned pursuit of craftsmanship from a bygone era; every frame seems to glow with gilded detail. And while DiCaprio bears little physical resemblance to Hughes during the film's 20-year span (late 1920s to late '40s), he efficiently captures the eccentric millionaire's golden-boy essence, and his tragic descent into obsessive-compulsive seclusion. Bolstered by Cate Blanchett's uncannily accurate portrayal of Katharine Hepburn as Hughes' most beloved lover, The Aviator is easily Scorsese's most accessible film, inviting mainstream popularity without compromising Scorsese's artistic reputation. As compelling crowd-pleasers go, it's a class act from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Features
In his commentary track, director Martin Scorsese offers his own impressions of Howard Hughes and rattles off his memories of experiencing Hughes's films. He mentions how he made Cate Blanchett watch every Katharine Hepburn film from the '30s on the big screen, and observes that Kate Beckinsale had "a real sense of the stature of a Hollywood goddess." But in general he doesn't talk much about the craft of making the film. That area is covered better by editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who also appears on the commentary track, and producer Michael Mann makes a few appearances (all were recorded separately). The picture is brilliant, but the 5.1 sound is not as aggressive in the rear speakers and subwoofer as one might expect, other than some nice surround effects in the Hell's Angels flying sequence.

The second disc collects almost three hours of features. There's one unnecessary deleted scene, and an 11-minute making-of featurette that's basically the cast and director heaping praise on each other. More interesting are the short featurettes on visual effects (including the XF-11 scene, of course), production design, costumes, hair and makeup, and score, and Loudon Wainwright discusses his and his children's musical performances. Historical perspective is provided by spotlights on Hughes's role in aviation and his obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a 43-minute Hughes documentary from the History Channel (part of the Modern Marvels series, it focuses on his mechanical innovations and spends less than a minute on his movies). More unusual are DiCaprio and Scorsese's appearance on an OCD panel, and a half-hour interview segment DiCaprio did with Alan Alda. --David Horiuchi

The Personalities of The Aviator

Click the links to explore more movies by these stars.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes "Sometimes I truly fear that I... am losing my mind. And if I did it... it would be like flying blind."

Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn Howard Hughes: "You're the tallest woman I have ever met." Katharine Hepburn: "And all sharp elbows and knees. Beware."

	Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner Howard Hughes: "Does that look clean to you?" Ava Gardner: "Nothing's clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?"

Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow Jean Harlow in Hell's Angels: "Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?"

Jude Law as Errol Flynn Errol Flynn in Captain Blood: "Up the riggings, you monkeys! Break out those sails and watch them fill with the wind that's carrying us all to freedom!"

Director Martin Scorsese "You get a sense of Howard Hughes being Icarus with the wax wings. Those wings were great for a while, but he flies too close to the sun." --Martin Scorsese

Other Movies by The Aviator's Oscar® Winners

Production Designer Dante Ferretti
Film Editor Thelma Schoonmaker
Costume Designer Sandy Powell
Cinematographer Robert Richardson
See all the Oscar® winners at Oscar Central

The Aviator at Amazon.com

The Aviator soundtrack

The Screenplay

Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator

Howard Hughes movies

Great movies of the 1930s

The films of Martin Scorsese

The Aviator (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) Accessories

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The Shining
Untouchables-Dvd
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]
Million Dollar Baby (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
A Clockwork Orange (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Catch Me If You Can (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)
Batman Begins (Widescreen Edition)
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The Aviator (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) Reviews

Some directors should quit while they are still in shape. DiCaprio looks like a soap-opera-teen-actor, and just don't fit in the part. It's very hard for me to watch a Scorsese's movie without a real lead actor.

Scorsesse had made a movie very tipical from Holywood standards, not as original or intense as Goodfellas. Very good effects. However Mr. I enjoy the movie, but this not catch me as other works from this director. May be the best years of Scorsesse had gone. Good performance of Dicaprio and the other actors.

The Bottom Line:. The Aviator looks great and features good performances, but it is painfully long, has middling special effects, and doesn't seem to notice that it spans 30 years without many of its characters aging.

Leonardo DiCaprio took time researching it and really gets the audience to understand how horrible the diease can be and how Howard Hughes struggled with it. An absolute must-see and must-own.

It is one of Leonardo DiCaprio's best works. This is a captivating movie and the special features are great.

Especially people who enjoy movies that are a biography of sorts. The plot keeps moving and it never gets boring.

This movie is about Howard Hughes who was an amazing man who suffered from a severe case of OCD. I loved this movie because it didn't show the disease comically.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. Back in those times, it was not as known and studied so treatment was not really there.

*************************************************************. DD AC3 5.1 640Kbps English / Spanish French. Average video bit rate: 23~30 Mbps. Subtitles: English SDH / French / Spanish / Portuguese. Running time: 2:50:05.

#Behind the Scenes (PAL - 22 min). Disc size: 29,47 GB. #The Visual Effects of The Aviator (SD - 12 minutes). VC-1 BD-50. Average video bit rate: 14.90 Mbps. #A Life Without Limits: The Making of The Aviator (SD - 12 minutes). Version: U.S.A / Region A, B, C.

#Audio Commentary. #OCD Panel Discussion (SD - 15 minutes). VC-1 BD-50. Subtitles: None. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1. #The Mysterious Howard Hughes (PAL - 44 min). #Stills Gallery (HD). Movie size: 22,63 GB.

DTS-HD MA 48Khz/16-bit English. #The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (SD - 14 minutes). DD AC3 5.1 640Kbps English. #An Evening with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda (SD - 28 minutes). #Trailers #Costuming The Aviator: The Work of Sandy Powell (SD - 4 minutes). #Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes (SD - 42 minutes).

Version: Dutch FilmWorks / Region A, B, C. #The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History (SD - 15 minutes). #The Wainwright Family: Loudon, Rufus, and Martha (SD - 5 minutes). #The Age of Glamour: The Hair and Makeup of The Aviator (SD - 8 minutes). #Scoring The Aviator: The Work of Howard Shore (SD - 7 minutes).

#Deleted Scenes (SD - 2 minutes). #Max Factor: Age of Glamour (PAL - 7 min). #Theatrical Trailer (HD). #Trailer (3 min). #Interviews (PAL - 13 min).

#Constructing The Aviator: The Work of Dante Ferretti (SD - 6 minutes).