The Aviator (2004)

Alan Alda: Senator Ralph Owen Brewster

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Quotes 

• Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : All right, let's get down to business. Let's talk turkey. My investigation...

  [He nearly bursts into laughter] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : My investigation has turned up a lot of dirt. It could be really embarassing if this stuff got out. I'd like to save you from that embarassment.

  Howard Hughes : That's very kind of you, Owen.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : My committee has the power to hold public hearings. I'd like to spare you from that.

  Howard Hughes : [smirks]  Would you, now?

  [Brewster abruptly drops his silverware] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Look, do you wanna go down in history as a war profiteer, Howard? Is that what you want?

  Howard Hughes : [gravely]  What do you want, Owen?

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : You agree to support my C.A.B. bill, and I won't hold public hearings.

  Howard Hughes : I can't do that, Owen. Can't do that. The C.A.B. bill would kill TWA.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Sell T.W.A. to Pan Am. You'll get a good price. You'll get a fair price, I'm telling you.

  Howard Hughes : And then...? Then you won't go public?

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Right. That's right. The investigation's closed. Nobody knows a thing. It's better for everybody.

  [pause] 

  Howard Hughes : You know, Owen, I'm still wondering one thing. The picture of the llama you got last year. Where'd you sail from?

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [disinterested]  We didn't sail. We flew.

  Howard Hughes : You flew?

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Yeah.

  Howard Hughes : Ah.

  [Brewster stops chewing abruptly, realizing what Howard's implying] 

  Howard Hughes : [leans in]  Are you sure you want to do this, Owen? You want to go to war with me?

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : It isn't me, Howard. It's the United States government. We just beat Germany and Japan. Who the hell are you?

  Howard Hughes : [getting up from the table]  You tell Juan Trippe something for me, all right? Tell him thanks for the flowers. And he can kiss both sides of my ass.

  [leaves] 

• [Last day of the Senate Committee hearings] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Mr. Hughes, did you receive $43 million to manufacture 100 XF-11 spy planes for the United States Air Force?

  Howard Hughes : I did.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : How many functional planes did you deliver to the United States Air Force?

  Howard Hughes : None.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Would you lean a little closer to the microphone, sir?

  Howard Hughes : [annoyed, Howard does so]  None!

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Did you receive $13 million to manufacture a prototype of a flying boat known as The Hercules?

  Howard Hughes : [clears throat]  I did.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : And did you deliver that plane?

  Howard Hughes : I did not.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [stunned]  So, by your admission in this chamber, Mr. Hughes, you have received *$56 million*... for the United States government... for planes you never delivered.

  Howard Hughes : That is correct.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [Brewster can't believe his own luck, begins chuckling]  Well, excuse me for asking, Mr. Hughes, but... where did all that money go?

  Howard Hughes : Well, it went into the planes, Senator. And a lot more.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : More?

  [still darkly chuckling] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Do tell, Mr. Hughes? What other larcenies did you commit?

  Howard Hughes : I mean, I put *my* money into these planes, Senator. My money. See, the thing is...

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [attempting to stop Howard from speaking]  Mr. Hughes, your personal finances are n -- are not...

  Another Senator : [sitting next to Brewster]  Let him speak.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [wary]  Alright, proceed, Mr. Hughes.

  Howard Hughes : See, the thing is, I care very much about aviation. It has been the great joy of my life. That's why I put my own money into these planes and I've lost millions, Senator Brewster, and I'll go on losing millions. It's just... what I do. Now, if I've lost a lot of the government's money during the war, well, I hope folks will put that into perspective. You see, more than 60 other airplanes ordered from such firms as Lockheed, Douglas, Northrup and Boeing never saw action either. In all, more than $800 million was spent during the war on planes that never flew. Over 6 *billion* on other weapons that were never delivered. Yet, Hughes Aircraft, with her 56 million... is the only firm under investigation here today. Now I cannot help but think that has a little more to do with TWA than planes that did not fly!

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [now worried]  I think you've made your point, Mr. Hughes...

  Howard Hughes : One second, Senator Brewster! I have one more thing to say here to this committee... and that has to do with The Hercules. Now, I am supposed to be... many things that are not complimentary. I am supposed to be capricious. I have been called a playboy. I've even been called an eccentric, but I do not believe I have the reputation of being a liar. Now, needless to say, The Hercules was a monumental undertaking. It is the largest plane ever built. It is over five stories tall with a wingspan longer than a football field. That's more than a city block! Now, I put the sweat of my life into this thing, I got my reputation all rolled up in it. And I have stated several times that if The Hercules fails to fly, I will leave this country and never come back! And I mean it! Now, Senator Brewster, you can subpoena me, you can arrest me, you can claim I've folded up and taken a run-out powder, But, well... I've just about had enough of this nonsense. Good afternoon.

  [leaves] 

• Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : All right this has gon on long enough. Juan Tripp is a great American. His airline has advanced the cause of commercial aviation in this country for decades. Juan Tripp is a patriot. Juan Tripp is not a man who's interested in making money.

  Howard Hughes : Well, I'm sure his stockholders would be happy to hear that.

  [Everybody starts laughing] 

• Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : ...we would like him to reappear. Would you ask him to return?

  Howard Hughes : No, I don't think I will.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Will you try to have him return?

  Howard Hughes : No, I don't think I'll try.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : You don't think you'll try?

  Howard Hughes : No, I don't think so.

• Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [talking of Howard Hughes]  I'll have him dragged here to Washington. I want to see the whites of his lies.

• Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [about Hughes]  Well, we have a long list of particulars. Chief among them is that he defrauded the American government of $56 million while we were at war, when we could least afford it. While brave men were dying on the beaches of Normandy, Mr. Hughes was picking the pocket of the American taxpayer.

• [First day of Senate Committee hearings] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Mr. Hughes, it is the intention of this committee...

  Noah Dietrich : Mr. Hughes has a statement.

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : All right. All right. You may-- you may proceed With this, uh, statement, Mr. Hughes.

  [beat as Howard is still silent] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : Mr. Hughes, do you have a statement?

  Howard Hughes : I'm gonna... I'm gonna attempt to be honest here. I mean, my reputation's being destroyed, so I might as well lay all the cards on the table. Senator Brewster, if you hadn't gone too far overboard, if you hadn't have put the red-hot iron in my side, I might have been willing to take a shellacking in this publicity spree of yours. I might have been willing to sit back and take a certain amount of abuse, simply because, well...

  [chuckles] 

  Howard Hughes : Well, I am only a private citizen. Whereas you are a Senator, with all sorts of powers. But I think this goddamn circus has gone on long enough!

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [cracks his gavel]  That's quite sufficient, Mr. Hughes.

  Howard Hughes : You have called me a liar, sir, in the press!

  [begins pounding on a stack of newspapers on the table] 

  Howard Hughes : You have called me a liar, and a thief, and a war profiteer!

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : The witness will restrain his...

  [Howard suddenly stands and everything goes quiet] 

  Howard Hughes : Why not tell the truth for once, Senator? Why not tell the truth that this investigation was really born on the day that TWA first decided to fly to Europe? On the day that TWA first invaded *Juan Trippe's* territory?

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [sternly]  Sit down, Mr. Hughes?

  Howard Hughes : [still standing]  On the day that TWA first challenged the generally accepted theory that only Juan Trippe's great Pan-American Airways had the sacred right to fly the Atlantic!

  [the crowd goes crazy; cameras are flashing] 

  Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster : [cracking gavel again]  I asked for silence! I asked for quiet in this room and we are going to have quiet!