The only thing interesting about Howard Hughes was his Germ Obsession
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Aviator
lonnieanixt — 9 years ago(June 05, 2016 02:58 AM)
He was a pretty boring person. He had no personality. He only had obsessions. he never talks to anyone, he has no ability for small talk, or to understand any other human being. It's as though he belongs to another species altogether, like a King, he can't relate to the Serfs around him. He could build no relationships, He seemed to have no male friends. The Women he chased tired of him, they tired of him because he was not fun to be around, he was a drag, only interested in aeronautics and aviation, there are a lot of people, engineering types, who are very similar. Without his Germ obsession there is no movie, except for gambling everything on "The Hells Angels" movie project and chasing every Starlet in Hollywood, there isn't too much there thats very interesting. the whole battle with Juan Trippe is exaggerated, Hughes was a good businessman , he was just trying to get the best price for his Airline, he never did anything heroic, never fought for any cause but his own, showed no empathy or sympathy, went through World War 2 without lifting a Rifle or showing any enthusiasm for patriotism. The Starlets he chased were even more self-obsessed then he was, his only Male companions were people who worked for him. He isolated himself from the World obsessing on anything involving a skirt or Wings. there are millions of American who lived in that same time period, who survived the depression went to War, and came home and started families that are ten time more interesting than this Man. Without him hiding in his room, trapped in bathrooms, slowly drowning in a sea of phobias, there isn't one thing Movie worthy of this man's life.
i grew up in the 70s, the only thing we knew about Howard Hughes back then was that he was this very rich recluse, an eccentric that became a synonym for being weird or Hermit like. He was a punchline in a Johny Carson monologue, and thats about it. -
ragusa11 — 9 years ago(June 19, 2016 11:29 AM)
From what I have read about him he seems to show signs of autism to go with the OCD. From a person to person perspective he looks very wooden. He seemed to be a very eclectic genius that somehow changed the world while failing interacting with it.
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Jayroo — 9 years ago(September 10, 2016 06:23 PM)
Only sheep interact with other sheep, Hughes was no sheep. You sound very young and inexperienced actually. Pretty much most of the men that have changed or have had a solid impact on the world, typically have had some major flaws in their social interactions.
Jesus
Albert Einstein
Mozart
Alan Turing
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
Stephen Hawking
Julian Assange
And the list goes on.
Remember sheep just follow the one in front. -
lvpilot1278 — 9 years ago(July 12, 2016 11:53 AM)
You bring up some very good points. I love this movie and I appreciate the man, mainly because I am a pilot and also interested in engineering and filmmaking, although I am phobia-less, and I have a family.
I think that in the overall realm of history, he did make some good contributions. If I were to believe the story about the CAB bill, that would have killed the modern airline industry as we know it. He did help further aircraft design overall, no matter how slight. Even though at the time, it was to further his own interests, he did end up making some headway into modern air travel.
But, at the end of the day, the man himself was pretty unimpressive save for his phobias and OCD. It would be interesting (to me at least) to see how he managed to overcome them during times of stress, like during his aircraft building, shooting movies, and senate hearing, only to fall back into the ocean of OCD and phobias once again after each success.
It's funny how there are so many movies dedicated to people of similar nature. Steve Jobs comes to mind. He was also someone who, while he had a vision and capital, was a person of no interesting qualities, and he has several movies about him. -
jjpiccio — 9 years ago(August 13, 2016 03:27 PM)
Never watched it but i would assume its another hate the white man film. Hey the 20s was a progressive era, they called it the roaring twentys but if time travel existed especially by Hollywood bigets, it probally be the hippie twentys. Very poor picture, slander. Canoli bashing rico law beep
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lonnieanixt — 9 years ago(October 17, 2016 02:01 PM)
The point is, that by the 1970s nobody really associated Hughes with anything else but being rich and being crazy. A kid growing up in the 1970s had no idea how Hughes got rich, it was just assumed he was born that way. Back then there was no internet, no youtube or Wikipedia. By 1970 he was forgotten, because he made no direct impact on humanity. It was fitting-he didn't care about other people and other people refused to give a damn about him. Once in a while an article in magazine would pop up about Hughes, but it was usually pure sensationalism, reporting on him and his germ obsession, how he refused to trim his toenails or cut his hair, stuff like that. By the 1970s he was no more that a side show, an oddity.