Aviator, The

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +2

Content: -3

Directed by Martin Scorsese, The Aviator chronicles the life of Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), one of the pioneers in the history of aviation, from the late 1920s as a young idealist through the late 1940s as an eccentric billionaire. During these years, Howard Hughes pressed the envelope as a cinematographer, producing such controversial movies as Two Arabian Nights, Hells Angels, Scarface and Outlaw. He was also fiercely driven to advance the field of aviation both for military and commercial use. His goal was to make every man, woman and child feel safe on an airplane. Hughes was not satisfied with anything until its outcome was exactly as he envisioned it. This obsession came at a tremendous cost to Hughes personal assets. The Aviator is described as an epoch film and is certainly long at just under three hours. Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Alan Alda and Willem Dafoe play supporting roles.

The Aviator focuses too much on Howard Hughes carnal cravings for young, beautiful, scantily clad women, and the film belabors his various obsessive disorders. According to the movie, Hughes regularly propositioned young women even underage girls for intimate encounters. He was seriously involved with women like Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). As far as obsessive disorders, Hughes locked himself in a room for several weeks, remaining naked and saving his urine in jars, which he carefully aligned along the wall. There is some nudity including two scenes of Hughes as a preteen boy being methodically washed by his mother in a semi-erotic way, which possibly led to his obsession with germs. A particularly graphic crash scene shows Hughes seriously burned after crawling out of a planes fuselage. Please review Previews summary section for objectionable language.

Preview Reviewer: Brian Hughes
Distributor: Miramax Films

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (49) times mild (hell 14, damn 16); moderate (b-stard 4, t-ts 3); strong (-ss 6, b-tch 1, SOB 5)

Obscene Language: Many (19) times mild (breasts 1); moderate (cr-p 2, scr-w 4); strong (f-word 1, s-word 6, BS 1, b-lls 1, pr-ck 2, wh-res 1)

Profanity: Many (49) times moderate (OG 1, my G 2, good L 1, G 1, G-sake 2, holy mother of G 1); strong (GD 29, J 3, C 4, JC 2, C-sake 2)

Violence: Many times mild (fight in a dance club, arguing with gratuitous use of profanity, verbal insults); moderate (hitting between a man and a woman, flight scenes where planes shoot at each other, military scenes, planes collide, plane crashes in a field, plane crashes in a neighborhood); strong (man is burned in a plane crash, man is extremely bloody as a result of injuries)

Sex: Several times mild (kissing, women dancing in provocative clothing, implied activity with at least three women including an interest in teenage girls); moderate (man gropes a womans breasts)

Nudity: Several times mild (focus on womens breasts, women dancing provocatively in night clubs); moderate (boy nude seen from the rear and waist up from the front; man nude seen from the rear and sitting in a chair); strong (brief frontal nudity of a boy with groin shadowed)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Several times mild (calls some women whores); moderate (man propositions a woman to come to his room); strong (the formation of clouds are compared to giant breasts, large pictures of womens breasts, have you ever scr-wed a colored girl?)

Drugs: Several times mild (alcohol use); moderate (drunkenness)

Other: Appropriate use of Thank God

Running Time: 170 minutes
Intended Audience: Adults

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