MovieReal: The Aviator Page #5

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Right over here. Come on.

Give us a smile. It won't kill you.

- Howard, this way.

- Beautiful.

Over here, over here, Mr. Hughes.

When are you gonna fly

around the world again?

You gonna fly with Kate next time?

Did you get Ionely without her?

- Talk to Lindbergh about your flight yet?

- Where's Linda Darnell tonight?

- Please, Mr. Hughes.

- Right here. Right here, Mr. Hughes.

Are you trying to be more famous

than Lindbergh?

You know,

fame is supposed to be my turf.

L. B!

If you don't get more distinguished

every time I see you.

You look so beautiful.

Is that true?

Don't worry about it, Howard.

She's just working the room.

It's her job, baby.

Sultry Southern tigress Ava Gardner

dazzles the room tonight.

She's the newest star

in the MGM galaxy.

And believe you me,

she puts the "cheese" in "cheesecake."

Well, Jane Eyre has been selling popcorn

for over a hundred years, L.B.

Hello.

Hello.

Could you reach me a towel?

I...

I really can't do that.

I'm sorry.

I'm an idiot. I'm a complete idiot,

and I'm sorry.

- Forget it.

- No, no. I'm a vain, preening ass...

...without a single redeeming feature.

- That's not true. You have very good teeth.

Come on.

I've got a better idea. Take me flying.

Or better yet, I'll take you flying.

Do your worst, Miss Hepburn.

Don't be so squirmy. You're gonna

get on famously with Father and Mother.

And I'm sure they'll like you too.

Once they get to know you.

- Hello! Hello!

- Kath, hello.

Kathy.

- Who's that with the camera right there?

- That's my ex-husband, Ludlow.

Father and Mother are just mad

about Luddie.

- What the hell's he doing here?

- Oh, he's here all the time.

Hello!

Sorry we're late.

- Mom.

- Oh. Oh, thank you.

- Dad.

- Darling.

- Uncle Willy.

- Oh, who have we got here?

- Don't feel self-conscious.

- Hepburns! Hepburns!

Attention, please. This is Howard.

Howard, welcome.

Don't worry, he's had his lunch.

He likes you. That's unusual.

We pay our devotion to the arts here.

A colony we created.

Julian's a painter. Abstract, of course.

What's the point of painting...

...something real when you can just

take a picture nowadays?

Where do you stand on politics,

Mr. Hughes?

- Excuse me?

- We're all socialists here.

We are not.

You've met Mr. Roosevelt.

What make you of him?

What are you sniggering at?

- What? What was that?

- You just sniggered.

No, no. The dog.

It seems to be crushing my feet.

- Oh, my God!

- Buster!

Hey. Hey!

Don't you like dogs?

I will not have you sniggering

at Mr. Roosevelt.

- Please leave.

- No. I wasn't.

- I thought everybody liked dogs.

- Perhaps he had a bad experience.

Does it upset you

that Howard gets more press?

- A bad experience with a dog?

- No, no.

- You are such a shy creature, aren't you?

- Perhaps it was a very large dog.

- The press can be a damned nuisance.

- Was it a Doberman?

- A Doberman, Mr. Hughes? Or a dachshund?

- Neither, sir.

- Dachshunds are little dogs, Hep dear.

- They should all be lined up and shot.

- What's that Spanish painting?

- The Goya.

Goya. Of course. Yes.

- Yes, Mexican.

- What was that called?

Anyway, that's the vulgar press, I'm sure.

Do you read much, Mr. Hughes?

I try to stay up to snuff

on the trade journals, yeah.

- Snuff?

- These would be flying magazines?

- What was that?

- Oh, he's a little deaf.

- Pass the goddamn butter, I beg you.

- You read flying magazines?

Trade journals. On engineering. Aviation.

We read books.

Howard has to read the trade pieces, Mom,

because he's designing a new aeroplane.

Oh, really? Do tell.

Well...

...it's quite exciting, actually.

It's a spy plane for the Air Corps.

A twin-engine plane with some...

...I must admit,

some rather unique design features.

You see,

it has these two booms at the back...

Luddie built a birdhouse once.

You remember that, dear?

- Yes, well, a mere trifle, darling.

- I remember the painting!

The painting, it's called

May 18-0- something.

Anyway, Goya's vastly overrated.

All the Spaniards are.

- Nonsense! Picasso is sacred.

- I'm a urologist.

- It was quite aesthetic, really.

- A sacred monster.

The birds don't care for it much,

but the bats do.

- I'll bet.

- That's such bunk!

- Do speak up, dear.

- Nothing, nothing, Mrs. Hepburn. Nothing.

Why did you speak? I can't abide people

who speak but have nothing to say.

Did you go to mechanic school

to learn all this airplane guff?

No, no, I didn't, Luddie. No.

Well, Howard just flew round

the world in three days.

- I think we've had enough about airplanes.

- And dogs.

- Then how did you make all that money?

- We don't care about money here.

Well, that's because you have it.

Would you repeat that?

You don't care about money

because you've always had it.

- How did you make all that...?

- Excuse me, I'm speaking.

- Okay.

- Thank you.

All right.

Some of us choose to work for a living.

Speaking of which, I have more of that

airplane guff to attend to.

Excuse me.

Well, seems a rather high-strung chap.

You're a fine bunch of bullies,

aren't you?

Have you talked to Mr. Mayer

about letting you do Jane Eyre?

The old philistine won't budge.

Too arty, don't you know.

I'm convinced the man hasn't read anything

longer than a Katzenjammer Kids in his life.

No fair, kicking.

You have to use the mallet.

Really, darling, you can't retire

from the field of battle like that...

...or they'll never respect you.

- Katie, I don't understand.

You're like a different person in there.

They just expect me to be a certain way.

There's only one real Kate,

and that's your Kate.

Over in Hollywood, aviation tycoon

Howard Hughes is cooking up something big.

Even as he edits his new picture, he's been

secretly meeting with the U.S. Air Corps.

We applaud his patriotism and look forward

to his newest marvel.

You know how many Allied ships we lost

because of U-boat attacks?

- No.

- Six hundred and eighty-one ships...

...just this year so far. The Army needs

a new airplane to fly the troops to Europe.

These ships, they're sitting ducks

for the U-boats.

- You wanna build a troop-carrier plane?

- Stop thinking like an insect.

Not just to carry troops,

a plane to carry everything.

The troops and the jeeps and the tanks

and whatnot. Here, take a look.

No. Other side.

I figure around 200 feet from nose to tail.

Wingspan, around 300.

We're gonna need

about 24,000 horsepower.

Now, this is just what Kaiser

and the Army are looking for.

- They're gonna pay for it this time.

- What are you getting us into?

Well, it's a big plane,

so I'm calling it The Hercules.

Swell name, isn't it?

- How heavy you imagine this thing is?

- Say around 200 tons.

Well, I didn't say it was gonna be easy.

All right, boys,

I want you to rig up something like this.

Should give the proper uplift ratios and

reduce need for torque support on the front.

We are not getting enough production

out of Jane Russell's breasts.

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