Hamsel A.

Estenzo
BS PSYCHOLOGY
THE AVIATOR
Movie Review
Summary
It was all about the film maker and aviator, Howard Hughes who was so obsessed about
film making films, filling all of the small details and how much he loved aviation. He was largely
known for being a wealthy man and many more like the success of his epic film, the "Hell's
Angels", which featured expensive airplanes that has an air fight scenes; he's even one of the
producers on that specific movie and the director.
The film also depicts his unusual behavior like how much he wants to be clean all the
time because of his germaphobe condition, we can connect this at the very first scene when his
mother baths him and he tried to spelled out Q-U-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-E or quarantine. It seems that
it was through his mother's influence that he began to worry about disease and germs.
On the next scene, when he was trying to make his one of the biggest project of his life,
the "Hell's Angels" which is the first Mutli-Million dollar talking picture during in his time. He
really did and pursues everything just to make it slightly more perfect, he spend his personal
money. Mr. Hughes, which he wants anybody to call him, becomes obsessed with shooting the
film realistically, he even wants to re-shoot the fight scenes all by himself but before that, he
began sweet-talking other film directors and even to mayor to get them to lend him some more
cameras. As he tried to re-make his movie, he reconstructs all planes to make it 200 mph, and

wait for the clouds just to make it more realistic. He wanted to do things that had never been
done before. The Jazz music has a great influence of his movie too.
At the time when Howard Hughes meets Katherine Hepburn, Mr. Howard really likes her
personality for she's the woman with positive outlook in life, the woman who really care about
Mr. Hughes, with his conditions and who pushes the boundaries of what is normal(The Ice
Cream Scene). She also likes Mr. Hughes for his sense of adventure, she was thrilled when he let
her drive and teaches her how to drive to his plane while drinking milk and roaming around the
sky. Later on, Mr. Hughes find out that Katherine Hepburn's ex-husband lives with her family
and even had a good relationship with them, they got a dinner together and we found out that Mr.
Hughes has a fear of undercooked meats. He's also afraid of dogs, because he knew that dogs had
many germs. He was also out of focus on that certain scene that makes him not comfortable
dining with Ms. Hepburn family. After that, Mr. Hughes. However, Ms. Katherine Hepburn was
so jealous when he found out that Mr. Howard Hughes are linked with the other girls and
actresses. He is also a type who is so defensive because, based on the other scenes, he was so
frightened of being photographed just in case he is being watched and on the scene when he
tries to call his money penny if he's recording there phone calls.
After that, Mr. Hughes re-shoots the film for sound and costing another year and $1.7
million. Nevertheless, Hell's Angels is a huge hit, and Hughes makes Scarface and The Outlaw.
And after that, he's fame grows. However, there is one goal he relentlessly pursues: aviation.
Hughes was also interesting about TWA or Trans World Airlines. He test flies his plane M-1 and
he landed to the plants, a berry fields I guess, that was his 1st major accident but he's actually
fine, just a scratched from his feet, after that, he went home to tell his wife Ms. Kathereen
Hepburn about what happened, Ms. Kathereen was so shock about his feet and he told her that it

was just a scratched, he also boasts to Ms. Kathleen Hepburn that "he was the fastest man on the
planet". After that, few years later, he flies around the world in four days, shattering the records
of the others. Senator Owen Brewster worries over the possibility that Hughes might beat them
in the quest for commercial expansion. Brewster has just introduced the Commercial Airline Bill,
which will give world expansion solely to Pan Am. Trippe advises Brewster to check to the
disquieting rumors about Mr. Hughes.
After that, Ms. Kathreen Hepburn and Mr. Howard Hughes eventually break up when she
announces that she has fallen in love with her movie costar (the one who gave Ms. Hepburn an
apple) after that, he was kind of desperate and he burn all the clothes that Ms. Hepburn touches
it, and he told his money penny to buy some new clothes, late at night.
Soon, Mr. Hughes met another girl, Faith Domergue, she was only 15 years old girl
which is a Sumba dancer, they date together but as Mr. Hughes met Ava Gardner, Mr. Hughes
left Faith Domergue. When Hughes and Ava Gardner were dating, Ava was married, but unlike
Faith Doumergue, Ava wasnt going to be brought (I am not for sale) and in the movie, Hughes
had the FBI tap the house with microphones and had the phone calls monitored. so he could
listen in on her conversations, much to Avas horror and disgust. This culminates in a physical
fight between the pair (You dont own me, Howard. Im not one of your teenage whores and
Im not a damn airplane. I personally believe that Howards behavior (I believe this happened in
real life too.) of bugging the phones and putting microphones everywhere was indeed very
strange, but perhaps from a psychological viewpoint he probably did deep down care about Ava
but the strange behavior was bourne out of him having to keep an eye on what everyone else was
doing around him and if Ava was seen to do anything then it would reflect badly on him.

During this scene, Ms. Ava Gardner wears red which is a strong color and shows a
variety of emotions: fury, passion and desire. She stands up to Howard and is no shrinking
violet when she accuses him. The prolific flowers in the scene represent a massive contrast
between the hate and evil and ugliness in the room. During the argument it is also revealed that
Ava was warned that Howard was a paranoid obsessive compulsive but she didnt listen to
them out of what emotion is not explained. I think that she maybe loved him too much to listen
to people who were warning her what she was getting herself into.
When his massive flying boat is being completed, Hughess fear of being watched
culminates again, and he is unsettled by a janitor who is looking at him and mr. Hughes fired that
man. Another side of his OCD was him repeating words. Show me all the blue-printsthe way
of the future, etc. He is aware of it and finds it humiliating but is powerless to stop it. We also
find out that despite his seemingly insurmountable power, Howard is still very minor compared
to America and their war with Japan and Germany.
When Hughes flies his 2nd built plane, he ends up getting seriously injured, I think that it
is one of the best scenes in the film. Not only is it slightly unsettling (touching the flaming hot
glass) but it also shows how far you can push an ambition to do something. There is a limit.
However, for most people it doesnt entail flying a plane. When he is badly injured, the press
photograph him in his helpless state. Later on, in the scene where hi lock himself to the movie
room, he seems to suffer a form of PTSD when during a bout of insanity, the film from Hells
Angels is projected across his body. During his long recuperation, it seems that he begins to lock
himself away in his screening room. This is how most people know of Hughes I thinkas the
unhinged former director sitting in his movie room naked with a tissue covering his crotch. His
obsession with germs reached fever pitch (no pun intended) and he spoke to nobody, instead he

gave orders to his employees via telephone. However, it seems that Katherine Hepburn (in this
film) was the only one he would talk to. It is a somewhat tender scene "I can hear you, Katie. I
can always hear you. Even in the cockpit with the engines on." But Howard has become
childlike, curled up like a child in a locked room where nobody can reach him. He was unshaved
at that point, lying naked, and the empty bottle of milk filled with his urine. He is now powerless
when before he seemed to be the boss.
However, despite him being physically abusive to Ava Gardner, she turns up and cleans
him up in preparation for his court appearance, despite seeing that the room is scattered with
used tissues. At the hearing, he seems to regain use of his reputation by turning the blame on the
senator who is questioning him Bet they eat a lot of lobster there, do they?"
In the court scene, he seems to be so genius despite of what he have been through, he
defended himself from the accusations of Senator Owen Brewster that called him a liar, etc. I
can't barely recall that part but I guess Mr. Howard Hughes won back his reputation.
At the end, he flies the boat-plane but sinks back down into the low that he was in before
while sitting naked in his screening-room. He repeats the way of the future over and over and
has to be locked in a room. His staff and lackeys were keen for everyone to remember Hughes
for what he was. instead of being remembered as the obsessive compulsive madman, they
wanted him to be remembered by everyone as a great playboy, a great director. And king of the
skies.

Do the disorders in the film appear to be exaggerated in a "Hollwoodized" portrayal? Why or

why not?
I've read one of the interviews of Mr. Leonardo Di Caprio getting the role of being Mr.
Howard Hughes; he said that "as an actor, youre constantly searching for that great character.
And, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that theyve
done, I came across a book of Howard Hughes and he was set up basically as like the most multidimensional character I could ever come across." Well most of the people tried to define him as
he was on the biography, well, Leonardo didn't fail us as he accept the role a Mr. Hughes, Mr.
Hughes was one of the most complicated person in the history, "no one seems to be able to
categorized him" Leonardo said, due to his conditions, but Leo really did great in portraying his
character, no doubt, Leo was one of the prominent actor. About the OCD, it is characterized by a
chronic preoccupation with rules, orderliness, and control. So as we can see at the scene where
Mr. Hughes(Leonardo DiCaprio) washes his hand till it bleed, we can see and notice some of the
symptoms of OCD, he was so obsessive of washing his hands and so afraid of touching the door
knobs, and also the scene when Leonardo tried to fired a janitor who watches at him, he always
say this repeatedly " show me all the blue prints", on this case, we can see at this scene that
Leonardo really did portray the role of a person suffered from OCD. Aside from OCD, mr
Hughes also suffered a form of PTSD when during a bout of insanity, the film from Hells
Angels is projected across his body (movie room scene).

What is your opinion of the movie?

As I watched this movie, I started to have an interest of Mr. Howard Hughes' life, I made
a research about his life, the biography, and what I've read about him was so accurate to the
movie, I also learned a lot from this movie, like, life is a big challenge and I learned that there
are a lot of risk and decisions that everyone should take. This is a great movie which lets us have
a closer look into a man's life, very much underrated. it depicts a man's life, his achievements, his
ambitions, his dedication, his hardships and his mental combat with Leo DiCaprio performing
the lead role with sheer brilliance.
Is the movie respectful of people with mental disorders? Why or why not?
I would say it is respectful because it does not make fun of the particular person with the
disability (Hughes) nor degrade him. It's just depicted how his life was and I would call it a great
homage to the Howard Hughes. He was a perfectionist because of his OCD- but mostly because
he was a creative genius. He was a visionary- and that kind of genius can unfortunately cause the
mental disorders that he suffered from- not to mention his questionable upbringing. He knew he
could give perfection and he expected it from everyone who worked for him- and he knew how
to bring out the best in them. So we can say that, the success of Howard Hughes was maybe
because of his condition.

Word Count: 2,265

References:
II. Abnormal Psychology - An Integrative Appr. 6th ed. (intro txt) - D. Barlow, V. Durand
(Cengage, 2012) BBS
II. Abnormal Psychology, 7th Edition Ronald J. Comer
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/discoverpsychiatry/mindsonfilmblog/theaviator.aspx
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/review/films/the-aviator/796
http://wheretofindfreemovies.blogspot.com/2013/08/watch-aviator-2004-full-movie-online.html
http://movies.about.com/od/theaviator/a/aviatorld121004.htm