Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies

Howard Hughes' life was packed with enough drama, intrigue, and eccentricity to challenge the fevered imagination of the most creative Hollywood scriptwriter. Born to an overly protective mother with a germ phobia, and a wealthy, philandering, aloof father, Hughes' headed west to Hollywood after his parents died, determined to conquer the town on his terms. Produced by Turner Classic Movies and narrated by Billy Zane, Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies offers a look at Hughes' increasingly weird, ultimately tragic life. The high point of his movie work came in the early '30s, with Hell's Angels (1930), which combined Hughes' love for movies and aviation, and featured spectacular combat flying scenes (along with Jean Harlow's breakthrough performance), as well as Howard Hawks' Scarface (1932), a gritty gangster saga that pitted producer Hughes against the censors. Meanwhile, Hughes was romancing Billie Dove, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, and many other women who were set up in penthouses around Hollywood. To Hughes, women and movie studios were toys to be used and discarded whenever he felt like moving on, and he eventually neglected movies in favor of other businesses, returning in 1943 with the Hughes/Hawks collaboration The Outlaw, a bizarre Western more interested in Jane Russell's breasts than Billy the Kid. Eventually, Hughes retreated into his world of deafness, paranoia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Featuring clips and commentary from Leonard Maltin and other experts, this disappointingly superficial documentary underplays the seamy side of his later years while also undervaluing his very real early achievements. A rare misfire from TCM, which usually sets a higher standard. Optional. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)