AllMovie

Few Americans of the 20th century were as celebrated and the subject of as much speculation as Howard Hughes, who earned his first fortune as a designer of drill bits for oil exploration and became a multi-billionaire film producer, aircraft designer, airline mogul, hotelier, pilot, and ladies' man. The Great Aviator Howard Hughes is a documentary on Hughes which explores the highs and lows of his public and private lives, from his first brushes with fame and his years in Hollywood to his strange and lonely death in 1976. The film includes a roll call of Hughes' many love affairs, footage of the sole flight of his infamous flying boat the Spruce Goose, and an interview with Raymond D. Fowler, a psychologist who profiled Hughes on behalf of his estate. The Great Aviator Howard Hughes is available in a DVD edition which also includes two films Hughes produced, the "bosom Western" The Outlaw and Harold Lloyd's ill-fated comeback The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (aka Mad Wednesday).