Hi all--
Let the nitpicking begin, eh!
Saw The Aviator Saturday evening (at a genuine 1930s Art Deco single-screen theatre, no less). Pretty decent overall, I think, from the limited knowledge I have of Mr Hughes' bio. The rivet-counting, of course, is one of the more enjoyable aspects of viewing a piece like this. Compared to something like Pearl Harbor, this one comes off pretty well with just minor niggles:
...would they really have assembled the H-1 completely, with rivets that look like they came off a warship, knowing what HH wanted? I think not...
...The H-1 wasn't really variable geometry, but yeah, as has been pointed out, she taxies out and takes off in her short-wing pylon racer configuration (BTW HH withdrew from the NAR one year because the H-1 would have waxed the field so thoroughly...rather gentlemanly that), then does her flybys with the long transcon-record wings (and a closed cockpit)! I kept thinking what a crying shame it was that they did not have the gorgeous Jim Wright H-1 at their disposal.
...I wondered about the Boeing 100 too; the wings were obvious mockups but the fuse and tail looked genuine. Kermit's hurricane-damaged one partially reassembled, maybe?? (Surely, though, not even the least knowledgeable moviegoer could be hoodwinked into accepting that the H-1 was a converted P-12...!)
...Alda accuses HH of misusing funds paid him by the USAF, which would, in 1947--never mind '44--have been a trick in itself since there was not yet a USAF to defraud!
...Yeah, the H-4 goes way higher than she really did...and what a sight, even in CGI! Hmm. Could she be restored and flown even today? The taxiing scenes of the H-4 were, I think, the most convincing CGI in the film. (Why oh why does the CGI WWI stuff move like RC models would??)
...That model on Trippe's desk does appear to be a Connie: but I wonder if they weren't trying to show us the DC-4E prototype, which had three fins. Would have to watch the scene again.
...Postwar stars-and-bars on the XF-11. Oh well.
...Yeah, the conversation in the S-38 was a bit sotto-voce for something with two big radials either side. But Kath Hepburn does mention that later on...admitting she talks so loud she can always be heard over the engines!
...I still think Leo diC is a mite youthful-looking to play HH, really; even in his earlier, saner playboy days he tended to have a stern look about him. But by the end of the flick he's got that perplexed, faintly angry look down very well. Are a cuiple of the B&W TV-monitor shots during the hearings actually Hughes, or still Leo? I can't tell.
...And yeah, the Brampton SE gets seen, Billy Bishop markings and all, in the first minute of the film; and also very clearly in one of the now-well-known publicity stills that show Leo diC getting in (or out of) the SE in period leather flight jacket--below the coaming can be read "Major William Avery Bishop VC"! BTW that SE is fullsize, and very convincing indeed. GWFM also have one of the 7/10 ones as a trainer.
Sooo...anyone have a few mil to put together a movie about the '49 NAR?
Cheers
S.
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) I noticed in the credits that he was one of the Exec Producers. Suppose he'll do more movies in this vein?
