Tommy Lee Jones, in one of his first starring roles, plays eccentric billionaire aviator/moviemaker Hughes in this abridged version of a TV miniseries released a year after Hughes died. (I haven't seen the original, which is not available on video, so I'm reviewing this version as presented on DVD.)

The movie covers the span of Hughes' lifetime, from early scenes of his youth right through his end as the world's most famous hermit and germophobe. The story jumps around between Hughes' adventures in aviation, film, and other businesses. These intertwine in a segment showing the making of Hell's Angels a movie set in World War I, directed by Hughes and finally released in 1930. Hughes can't get any of his pilots to perform a dangerous scene close to the ground, so he does it himself with disastrous results.

Several famous actresses such as Jean Harlow, Katherine Hepburn, and Jane Russell, who had dealings with Hughes, are portrayed here. The film was based on the 1972 book Howard: The Amazing Mr. Hughes, by Noah Dietrich, one of Hughes' top assistants, who is played by Ed Flanders. (Not the guy from The Simpsons.)

Among the other flying scenes is Hughes testing the Spruce Goose, the famously impractical eight-engine wooden airplane with a 320-foot wingspan that barely flew. Also depicted are Hughes and his crew making one of the first around-the-world flights and his exploits running a major airline.

I too was all so excited to see this on dvd and bought it without reading any reviews.I did not think I needed to because I saw the movie twice on TV and thought it was excellent . I told my girlfriend all about it and we sat down to watch it and I kept saying all throughout the movie "Hey,they left something out" over and over again. I live in Shreveport Louisiana and I was real let down when they left that part out when he showed up here and wound up in jail.I bet ya'll would like to know more about that.Well I guess you will have to see the movie.BUT NOT THIS VERSION.THEY CUT OUT WAAAAY TOO MUCH!!!!

My dad asked for this, and of course, I bought it. I did not hesitate buying this version of Howard Hughes life (starring Tommy Lee Jones), due to the fact that I saw it aire on tv quite some time ago and loved it. It is extremely interesting, NEVER boring, great acting, and one of the most factual accounts of Howard Hughes that I've ever watched. Excellent film, great price, fast shipping.

I expected to see more of the genius and contributions to aviation but this focuses less on his rise and more on his disfunction and fall. I thought It was a well done period piece. Just not my taste In movies.

I taped the broadcast version on VHS years ago and purchased it when it was released on commercial cassette. I finally got the DVD version checked and I am totally disgusted. They probably cut the VHS version to hold it to 2 hours but there is no reason to short change us on the DVD. Some of the missing parts were critical to seeing Howard lose his marbles over time. I wish TNT would run it again and this time I would put it on DVD myself.