The Amazing Howard Hughes

that just about sums up this compelling portrayal of Howard Hughes. William Graham's direction presents a ruthless, cold and single-minded world of Hughes the entrepreneur. However, for all Hughes' shortcomings when relating to others, Graham allows Tommy Lee Jones to reveal the multi-billionaire had a heart of gold. Whereas people surrounding Hughes saw the coldness he projected, often to their own personal cost, Hughes would repay kindness in ways they never dreamt of.

Such was the enigmatic nature of Hughes and his story has been told countless times by book or film the exact truth is never likely to be known as to the reasoning behind his complex and often contradictory actions. In his lifetime Hughes made fortunes in many ways, although the fact that his massive wealth was initially inherited is not glossed over. Nor are some of the more bizarre practises Hughes utilised - such as hiring people to sit by a telephone that would never ring; or the highly imaginative pointed sacking of a film director by sending the unfortunate man on a location hunt only to remove the entire film set, cast, crew, props, the lot, during the director's absence!!

This work is well acted by Jones and the supporting cast. If you are looking to find out for the first time about one of the world's richest ever men then this is a good place to start as any. Effectively, this turns into a celluloid biography. You'll be fascinated by Hughes' pragmatic working methods but after seeing this its doubtful you'll come away liking the man. Graham's careful direction shows its not hard to see why once someone has accrued such vast wealth (to the point where money almost has no meaning) it becomes harder and harder to trust the people around you. On that basis its possible to see where Hughes' personal life fell apart, how he failed in love, and even to feel a tad of sympathy for him!

This film has been and will continue to be compared to "The Aviator" - a film that frankly bored me. "The Amazing Howard Hughes" looked and felt real because it focused upon Hughes as a real life flesh and blood man and used few if any cinematic tricks. Tommy Lee Jones made a very credible Howard Hughes from his physique down to his accent.

I am interested by the actual business dealings of Hughes and those around him rather than his marriages and affairs. Afterall, there have been many playboy millionaires in America's history but only one Howard Hughes. It wasn't the romances that made Hughes particularly interesting and this film didn't focus on them in the way "The Aviator" did. For me, this was a positive.

There's just no comparison between this excellent made-for-TV movie and the awful soap opera Aviator. And talk about casting... HRH was a long, tall (over 6') Texan with a southern drawl. So who does Scorsese pick? A short, blond, blue-eyed kid - di Caprio. On the other hand, Tommy Lee Jones was right on. Looked like Hughes, sounded like Hughes, etc, etc. Oh, and Ed Flanders was MUCH more believable in the role of Noah Dietrich than John Reilly.

Both NetFlix and Blockbuster.com have it. If you prefer a chic flick with lots of romance and stories that focus about the women in his life, then Aviator wins. But if you really want to know about HRH, the Las Vegas acquisitions, the Glomar Explorer, etc, then The Amazing Howard Hughes is a far better choice.

Found this movie again - buried in my Dvd collection.

Tommy Lee was just superb. As much as any bio drama can, this movie portrays the man, H. R. Hughes pretty well. I won't even compare the other bio-drama so many here mention because they're simply two completely different movies movies made in two completely different eras.

Why must people's opinions be so rooted in comparing same-subject movies?

This is a strong and unique movie.

The character is in fact developed enough psychologically that we fully understand his drive; a common enough story; never able to please his father, Howard drives himself to utter perfection in everything. Sets the highest goals, and achieves them. Unfortunately, the cost of that is one's sanity.

As Albert Einstein said, 'the only difference between genius and insanity is that genius has its limits.' I believe his OCD behaviours were with him all his life, easier to dismiss or call 'ecentric' and somewhat more controllable in his youth, but obviously, culminated into total loss of control because the mind (& body following along) can only control just so much. It is utterly overwhelming to realize one is losing control, or even if they are in denial of that, the fallout exists - either way they will suffer the collateral damage - and then the mind turns on itself - to control what it thinks is controllable. The same paradoxical idea, for example bulemics exhibit - controlling their weight in destructive ways - is about feeling in control, yet it's out of control behaviour.

For Howard, it was germs. It was trying to grasp at anything he thought he had left in the realm of control, like the care of his own body.

Yet, the controller is denying the obvious out of control results, obsessively repeating the steps to give himself the illusion of control.

Hughes exhibited quite paradoxical behaviour throughout his life. This, combined with his genius, and as portrayed here, rather inappropriate social behaviours, leads me to strongly believe he was on the spectrum for Aspergers.

Just a fascinating & brilliant man. Regardless of his tragic end.

While "The Amazing Howard Hughes" lacks the great CGI and beautiful polish of the later Hughes biopic "The Aviator", it is a terrific film--and better in some ways. Unlike "The Aviator", "The Amazing Howard Hughes" gives a much more complete account of the billionaire's life. While it fails to did in as much psychological depth as the later film and doesn't build the same sense of sadness, it is a very full portrait. While both films skip most of his childhood (and this is a shame), this made for TV movie goes from his early career through his final years--living as an insane recluse. In the process, Tommy Lee Jones did a wonderful job--looking and sounding much like the man he was portraying. Overall, a great look at the life of Hughes and one of the best made for TV films of the 1970s. And, not surprisingly, it helped to launch Jones' career to much greater heights. Well worth seeing.