Release Date: December 25, 2004

As the old saying goes, if you're poor, you're crazy, but if you're rich, you're eccentric. Few lived this maxim quite like Howard Hughes, who was a business tycoon, film producer, aviation pioneer, and germophobic loon. Scorsese?s handsome, sprawling biopic brings Hughes ? or at least the idea of the man ? to modern audiences. As history, The Aviator is often dubious (and it downplays some of Hughes' less amusing idiosyncrasies -- his enthusiastic, lifelong racism, for instance). However, Like Casino, The Aviator charts a historic moment before American business became more corporatized ? when go-for-broke dreamers could change the status quo.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hughes as a cocksure, free-spending optimist; when we first meet him, he?s ignoring all sensible budgetary concerns to make Hell?s Angels the most spectacular picture possible. He also has a passion for fast airplanes and beautiful women, heedlessly breaking speed records, spearheading grand designs for flying machines, and courting Hollywood stars like Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). And as the owner of TWA, he?s locked in battle with Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) and Pan-Am for control of the airline industry. However, Hughes? paranoia and obsessive-compulsive behavior contribute to his eroding social stature ? by the end of the film, he?s sequestered himself in his private movie theater, terrified of germs and antagonists. Scorsese captures the glamour and ambitious spirit of Hughes? era, and DiCaprio is outstanding at projecting a boyish recklessness that hardens into madness.

If The Aviator whitewashes certain aspects of Hughes? life, it?s never less than watchable and breezily compelling. And though it didn?t win Best Picture, The Aviator took home five awards on 11 nominations.