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Most people know something of the legend of Howard Robard Hughes, the aviator, industrialist and billionaire that earned fame and reputation for daring flying in his early years, and infamy for drug use and obsessive-compulsive disorder in his final years.

Scorsese's The Aviator is the tale of Hughes' early life, career as a filmmaker, aviation exploits, and battles for position in the airline industry, up until about 1947.

Unfortunately, there are a great many things wrong with this film that earn it a C- on my highly opinionated ranking scale.

First, and stop now if you plan on seeing this movie, the casting was entirely wrong. Just like in Gangs of New York, Scorsese has taken a basically credible plot premise and cast it with actors who are entirely incapable of provoking the "willing suspension of disbelief" that's necessary to convincingly portray the subject. Or put another way, Leo DiCaprio does not have the age, the facial appearance, or the screen presence to credibly portray Howard Hughes. His "Houston" accent is the worst on-screen since Kevin Costner's Robin Hood Prince of Thieves pseudo-nasal-anglo-speak. Nor does Cate Blanchett portray Katherine Hepburn with any real credibility: she looks nothing like her, and similarly accomplishes a butchery of Hepburn's accent.

It goes downhill from there. Alec Baldwin's portrayal of Juan Trippe, the president of Pan Am, is similarly wooden. One can't help thinking about Baldwin's outspoken liberalism the entire time he's onscreen portraying a ruthless capitalist. And he's a lot chubbier than Trippe ever was. To make matters worse on the burned-out-liberal-actor scale, Alan Alda plays Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, but he's been typecast as Hawkeye Pierce for so long, and reverts back into his old character from MASH so readily, that you can't take the portrayal seriously.

Why is Scorsese using these guys, are there no other actors in Hollywood?

Apart from the casting problems, the screenplay is also flawed. It's as though someone said, "Hmm. . . everyone knows Hughes as the drug-addicted, skinny, hairy freak from the late 1970's. Since that's the context in which Hughes is viewed, let's have the ENTIRE MOVIE foreshadow that outcome." As such, from the very first scene, the movie is focused on trying too hard to highlight the milestones of Hughes' insanity. Much license is taken with historical accuracy, as well: the piles of Kleenex, urination in bottles, and seclusion that were characteristic of Hughes' life in the 1970's are introduced some 30 years earlier, to more easily dovetail, one assumes, with the viewer's knowledge of his final days. Then again, historical accuracy was never Scorsese's strong suit: if it were up to him, Union Gunboats would have shelled Lower Manhattan during the Draft Riots in Gangs.

If there are any stars in this film, they are the airplanes. After a rough beginning, in which a German fighter that is obviously powered by a flat-four Lycoming rolls onscreen, viewers are treated to some impressive mockups of the H-1 racer.

I don't think the REAL H-1 (Serial No.2) was used in this film, maybe someone knows? The original is in the Smithsonian. Serial No. 2, which was in my opinion the most beautiful airplane, both in lines and craftsmanship, that I have ever seen, was destroyed on its way home from Oshkosh last year, and the Builder and Pilot, Jim Wright, tragically killed.

Also, there are some very cool scenes with a Sikorsky flying boat, I think it's an S-38? The movie is worth seeing for these alone. Dispensing yet again with any semblance of accuracy, Scorsese has DiCaprio and Blanchett having a romantic conversation in the cockpit, WITHOUT HEADSETS, in which DiCaprio WHISPERS into her ears! All the while about four feet away from a PAIR of radial engines with OPEN STACKS! Ha ha ha! In reality, he couldn't even SHOUT to be heard, he would have to hold up a SIGN to get fresh with her! But after all, it's only a movie, right?

The shots of the HK-1 Hercules (don't call it the "Spruce Goose") are somewhat interesting, but rely too heavily on the use of CGI. For a while, it looks like someone is holding a watercolor in front of the camera. Presumably they had access to the original HK-1 for filming, although I don't know whether it's the real deal or a mockup.

Hughes was a brilliant aviation pioneer who did more to advance the cause of aviation than anyone since the Wrights. His designs were way ahead of their time, and he deserves to be remembered for his personal heroism as a pilot and as a man. The Aviator comes up way short as a portrayal of that person, while making the most of his vices and shortcomings. Hughes' was always a bit of an outsider in Hollywood, insofar as he was not associated with a studio (until he later bought RKO). And it would seem that Hollywood has a long memory.