MovieReal: The Aviator

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Q-U...

...A- R...

...A- N-T...

...l- N-E.

Quarantine.

Q-U-A-R...

...A- N-T...

...l- 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 Rhne 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 rsum, 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 b*tches 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 b*tch 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.

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 b*tch.

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.

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