The Aviator

Q-U ...

... A-R ...

... A-N-T ...

... I-N-E.

Quarantine.

Q-U-A-R ...

... A-N-T ...

... I-N-E.

Quarantine.

You know the cholera?

Yes, Mother.

You've seen the signs on the houses where the coloreds live?

Yes, Mother.

You know the typhus?

I do, Mother.

You know what they can do to you?

Yes, Mother.

You are not safe.

You may be directing this movie, but what you're asking, we can't do.

Don't tell me it can't be done.

The gyro forces are too much. You send these planes into barrel rolls ...

... they won't make it. - It's the climax of the picture. Make it work.

Decrease the vertical trajectory if you have to.

A "Le Rhône" rotary won't stall at 60 degrees.

We're still short two cameras. We need to cut that sequence down --

We're not cutting. I'll get those cameras. Set up for rehearsals.

I'm Noah Dietrich. Your office said I'd find you here.

Dietrich. You're a man on the come.

I read your résumé, talked to your references. Know what I'm looking for?

You're looking for a second-in-command at Hughes Tools.

Someone to oversee the financial aspects of the business.

I'm looking for somebody to run it and do a good job.

There's only one thing you've gotta know.

My folks, they're gone now. So it's my money.

What I do with that money may seem crazy to those sons of bitches in Houston.

I'm sure it does, but it all makes good sense to me. You got that?

- Got it. - Good.

Now, you made, what, $5200 a year at your last job?

- I'll pay you $10,000. - I guess I'll be working twice as hard.

You'll be working four times as hard. I just got you at half price.

- Welcome aboard. - Thank you.

You're my voice now. Make them understand that.

Some of those folks still call me Junior. You tell them it's "Mr. Hughes" now.

You bet. So when do we go to Houston?

We don't. Cholera epidemic in 1913. Two thousand dead.

Whole place is nothing but pestilential swamp.

Typhus, malaria, cholera, yellow fever. You name it, they got it.

You see that, Mr. Dietrich?

You are looking at the largest private air force in the entire world.

What do you think of that, now?

It's your money.

Start them up!

I saw the rough cut of the new Tod Browning movie, London After Midnight.

Lon Chaney is incredible.

It's his best performance in a long time.

It's gonna be a big hit. The cards are great.

It's supposed to be --

Hello, Mr. Mayer.

I don't know if you remember me. My name's Howard Hughes.

I was wondering if I could have a moment.

- Oh, Howard Hughes. The airplane picture? - Exactly.

- I remember. - Hell's Angels. You heard of it.

- Good. - Yes.

I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time.

I need a few cameras.

- Yeah? - Yeah, two, to be exact.

I bought every camera I could find. We're shooting our big dogfight sequence.

I need two more. Desperately. You think MGM could help me out?

With what?

- Cameras. - Oh, with the actual cam --

We're not usually in the practice of helping out competition.

- No. No. - So how many cameras do you have now?

Twenty-four.

You ...? Wait a minute.

- You have 24 cameras? - That's right.

- And you need --? You need two more? - Yeah.

- You don't think you got it with 24? - No. No, sir.

You know, I think -- I think we've got them all ...

Don't we have them ...? They're all used, right?

- All 26 of them. - I only need two, sir.

- Jesus Christ, sonny. - Howard.

Howard. Let me give you a little advice, huh?

- Take your oil money -- - Drill bits.

All right, take your drill-bit money and put it in the bank.

If you continue making the movie the way you are ...

... there isn't gonna be a distributor ...

... you won't find anybody who wants to see the movie ...

... and you're not gonna have any more oil money.

So welcome to Hollywood.

Yeah. Well, I'll be sure to remember that, Mr. Mayer.

- Good luck. - All right.

He needs 26 to make it work? He's out of his mind.

I looked down at my pants. It was a strange situation.

Boss. Scram, love boat, let's go.

- Another soda. You know what I mean. - Milk. In the bottle.

- With the cap still on. - Okay, what did His Highness say?

Son of a bitch won't part with a single goddamn camera.

Why don't you try and make do with what you have.

What I have isn't enough, John, not for how I see it.

Look.

My name depends on this picture. If it doesn't work, I'm back to Houston ...

... making goddamn drill bits for the rest of my life.

Can't you do it with the cameras you have?

You ought to hear about what's going on with DeMille.

He's shooting his Bible picture. He's gotta do a crucifixion in Fresno.

Johnny.

- A bunch of tractors -- - Johnny.

- You're a press agent, are you not? - Yeah.

You're supposed to know the ins and outs?

- Absolutely. - Do you?

Yeah, absolutely.

Then you leave the big ideas ...

... to me. - Oh, yeah. Of course, boss.

Cigar, cigarettes, Sen-Sen?

I thought you were at the Brown Derby ...

... with Trixie. No, Theresa.

- Margaret. - Margaret. Exactly.

What happened to Margaret? She lost her --

Thank God that's settled.

Oh, I'm sorry. Thelma, this is Howard Hughes.

Howard and I were discussing how he wants me to pull a camera out of my ass.

- Cigarette? - Oh, no, thanks. I don't smoke.

Boy, you are just hitting on all six cylinders, aren't you?

My God.

Would you do me a favor and just ...?

Would you just smile for me one time? Just once?

Yeah. Yeah. You see, you got a short upper lip.

Makes for a much nicer smile.

See, I wonder what gives a beautiful woman like you pleasure.

I mean, say you're just standing there, right? And I just touch you.

Just -- Just like this.

With my fingertips.

Do you --? Do you like that?

Do you?

You see, I wanna learn what pleases you.

I wanna learn everything about you.

Would you let me do that?

Would you give me that job?

I'm off in a half an hour.

- Well, I'm in room -- - 217.

217.

See you there.

Johnny, get on the horn to Universal and Warners.

I need two more cameras by Saturday.

Rent them if you can. Steal them if you have to.

Absotively, boss.

Absotively.

Rumors coming from a lonely airstrip out in Van Nuys.

Sources whisper that young Texas industrialist Howard Hughes ...

... won't stop pouring money into his war epic.

And do we mean epic!

One hundred and thirty-seven pilots, 87 airplanes ...

... 35 cameramen, 2000 extras. How long will it be before this picture ...

... ends up costing as much as the real war?

Damn it. Why the hell do they look so slow?

This isn't what it was like up there. They look like goddamn models!

Son of a bitch.

Howard?

Without something standing still behind the planes ...

... we've got no idea of how fast we're moving.

We got no sense of relative motion.

Call UCLA. Get me the best meteorologist they got.

You get him here in an hour, all right?

Hey. You want the good news or the bad news?

- Bad news, always. - All right.

We installed the 450 radial. Struts won't take the vibration.

Minute we fire her up, the struts start cracking at the attach points.

- Well, what's the good news? - There isn't any.

Goddamn it, Odie. If the 450's too big, we figure something else out.

We've done everything. We've rebuilt her from top to toe.

If we drain the fuel tank ...

... she might make 180 miles per hour. - I want minimum 200, all right?

I want a date with Theda Bara. That ain't gonna happen.

Oh, don't be so sure.

If the struts won't sustain the engine we need, we gotta get rid of the struts.

No, then the top wing falls off.

Then let it.

What?

Who says we need a top wing?

I mean, who says we need anything?

- A monoplane. - A cantilevered monoplane, right?

They're doing it in France. To hell with the top wing and struts.

- A 550 Wasp engine. - One-hundred-octane fuel.

- That would give us a horsepower of what? - Seven hundred.

We squeeze that to a thousand, we got the fastest plane ever built.

You know, I've gotta say ...

... we've already spent over $200,000 rebuilding this plane.

To hell with it.

Tear it up, Odie.

Go on.

Well ...

The cumulonimbus formations about which you speak ...

... that look like ...

Giant breasts full of milk.

I want clouds, damn it.

Yes, clouds ...

... that look like giant breasts full of milk ...

... cannot exactly be guaranteed for any particular occasion.

So you might have to ...

To wait.