United States

'Amazing' is too mild a word to describe the life and career of Howard Hughes, millionaire, flyer, playboy, and film maker, whose story was far too strange ever to have been invented by even the most imaginative script writer. This movie, originally shown in two parts on American television, manages the near impossible: it covers the highlights of his life and exploits in totally fascinating way, skillfully directed by William A. Graham from an excellent screenplay by John Gray. The result is a first-rate biopic which, as far as one can tell, gets closer to the man and what makes him tick than one could legitimely hope for. The movie follows Hughes from his early days when, at the age of nineteen, his inventor father died and Hughes inherited a fortune. Using his new-found wealth, Hughes went to Hollywood, where, fascinated by the film industry, he became a film producer. Eventually, his second obsession, aviation, was combined with movie-making, and Hughes produced and then took over direction of the classic W.W.1. flying movie Hell's Angels in 1929. He set up world records as a pilot, formed the Hughes Aircraft Company, and later was to gain control of TWA - and still he found time to launch Jane Russell in The Outlaw. But in 1946, Hughes was to crash while test-flying one of his own planes; a crash that led to his becoming a recluse, protected by his faithful retainers from the world and living a life of total isolation in hotel suites guarded from all outside contact. Tommy Lee Jones, in a very difficult role, scores heavily as Hughes, showing all the facets of his incredible character. The scenes of Hollywood film-making are some of the most impressive put on film, and the film deals discreetly with his movieland affairs, including one with Katharine Hepburn (a great performance from Tovah Feldshuh). Director Graham very effectively shows Hughes' deterioration into an eccentric more in need of protection from himself than from the world. The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) is American biographical film-making at its peak. ALAN FRANK