The Aviator: A Tribute To American Capitalism

The Aviator, while very well made, offers a very one-sided view of the life of Howard Hughes in an effort to glorify ruthless, American capitalism.

The film most obviously demonstrates this underlying theme when Hughes meets Katherine Hepburn's family, who proudly claim to be socialists. The film portrays them in the worst possible light. They never listen to each other while they are speaking, and there are always at least three conversations going on at once. They speak with a sort of lazy intonation, revealing their nature as lazy and out-of-touch. It is implied that they have never worked a day in their lives, and, ironically, survive only off of inherited wealth. When asked a question, Hughes is interrupted, and after a few minutes, he has had enough. In true American fashion, he loudly demands that everyone listen while he is speaking. He denounces socialism by saying that he works for a living, and storms off.

The film also glosses over some of the most ruthless acts of Hughes. During the filming of Hell's Angels, mechanic Phil Jones was strapped to a spinning plane and instructed to operate smoke pots to give the impression of a burning plane. The pilots working on the film warned Hughes that this was too dangerous, but he didn't listen. Jones was killed when he failed to eject on cue and the plane crashed. The film fails to dramatize the tragedy, and only mentions very briefly that people were killed in the making of the film, when a journalist confronts Hughes. The information is intended to be quickly dismissed as simply the unwarranted criticisms of a few nay-sayers who are standing in the way of the great visionary [link].

The film also portrays as fact the bribing of Senator Owen Brewster by Juan Trippe, the president of Pan Am. In reality, the evidence of the bribes consists entirely of information leaked to journalists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson by Hughes himself. There was nothing factual to support his claims [link].

Hughes did, in fact, waste 40 million dollars of government funds. That fact is not in dispute by the film. It is shown, however, not to be war profiteering because Hughes did not make a profit from the money. Wether this is true or not, Hughes still used the government essentially to finance his reckless and childish adventures. While this may not fit the technical definition of profiteering, it is still exploitation.

The worst aspects of his life were completely absent from the film. In the late 1950's, Hughes' chief of staff, Robert Maheu, working with two heads of organized crime, orchestrated an attempt to assasinate Fidel Castro. The attacks on Cuba were carried out on several islands leased to Hughes from Zapata Off-Shore, an oil company owned at the time by former president George Bush [link].

Hughes was also a strong supporter of Richard Nixon. According to a handwritten memo from Hughes during the 1968 presidential campaign:

"I am determined to elect a president of our choosing this year and one who will be deeply indebted, and who will recognize his indebtedness. Since I am willing to go beyond all limitations on this, I think we should be able to select a candidate and a party who knows the facts of political life...If we select Nixon, then he, I know for sure knows the facts of life." [link]

According to a 60 Minutes story, there is evidence to suggest that the break-in to the office of Larry O'Brien at the Watergate by five men working for President Nixon was an effort by Nixon and Hughes to cover up a $100,000 bribe paid to Nixon by Hughes [link].

The film certainly did not portray Hughes as a saint, but his shortcomings were always in his personal life. Professionally, he was always shown to be a visionary. He was the personification of American ideals. Througout his life, he risked all he had to pursue his goals, and he always came out on top. In fact, however, this great entrepreneur was really a ruthless, greedy man. He believed himself to be above the law, and there was nothing he wouldn't do to further his interests.