After Scorsese and DiCaprio made the worthwhile "Aviator" it is with regret that this elaborate TV masterpiece is almost forgotten: It dares to portrait almost the whole life of Howard Hughes with far greater detail than Aviator, which certainly is more challenging for the viewer and at the cost of story telling, however after that you have a far better impression about the illustrious and manic personality of the first billionaire of the new age. The early dead of his parents, the apocalyptic end of Hughes, isolated and alone in various Hotels spread over the world, suffering from manias and letting hair and nails grow to the floor levels only surrounded by his Mormon servants is authentic and reported in biographies such as the Barlett/Steele standard and I cannot understand why DiCaprio/Scorsese thought they could tell the story about Hughes without several decades of his life. The bookkeeper character Noah Dietrich is at least given the importance he deserved and I assume the lack of flamboyance was the reason of cutting him out the Scorsese movie (not Rileys fault). Tommy Lee Jones delivers the best performance I have seen from him, hopefully the movie will be available online or on DVD somewhere soon.
Review of The Amazing Howard Hughes
The Amazing Howard Hughes
(1977 TV Movie)
By far more revealing than "Aviator"
12 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers