The Amazing Howard Hughes

TV Movie
1977
3h 35m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

684

YOUR RATING

Biography Drama

Howard Hughes is a driven man who amassed wealth and recognition as a Hollywood mover and shaker, aviation giant and man of mystery.Howard Hughes is a driven man who amassed wealth and recognition as a Hollywood mover and shaker, aviation giant and man of mystery.Howard Hughes is a driven man who amassed wealth and recognition as a Hollywood mover and shaker, aviation giant and man of mystery.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

684

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Trivia
Tommy Lee Jones bagged the lead role playing Howard Hughes for US $25,000 when Warren Beatty turned down a US $1 million offer. Beatty later produced and starred in his own Howard Hughes biopic picture which was Rules Don't Apply (2016).

Goofs
What is supposed to be the Hughes XF-11 aircraft is actually a WWII P-38 fighter (however, this is understandable since the real XF-11 would have been unavailable for the movie).

Quotes
Howard Hughes: I'll tell you the truth, Cruickshank, most people just bore me and I don't want to get involved with them.

Crazy credits
After the closing credits there is a short News Of The Day newsreel about the Spruce Goose including footage of the real Howard Hughes

Alternate versions
This production, according to 'The Biopic Story' website, '' . . . was originally a mini-series, screening over two nights with a running time of three hours and fifteen minutes. The version more readily available nowadays has a running time of less than two hours . . . with over 75 mins cut''.

Connections
Features The Blue Max (1966)

User reviews12

Review

Featured review

8/10

Excellent Biopic

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.