I thought The Aviator, the flick about Howard Hughes, was pretty bad physics-wise. The computer-generated airplanes looked great, but didn’t move anything like real airplanes would move.
The HR-1’s power-off, gear-up slide through the berry patch — after a cartoonish “flareout” — lasted eighteen seconds before the camera cut away, the airplane still moving at a good clip, seemingly a constant speed (maybe they were greaseberries?). Plenty of time for Leo to mug for the camera. Plus he handles the controls like it was a skiploader, rather than a high-performance airplane. Jimmy Stewart, at least, knew how to “fly” an airplane in the movies.
And how about sound? Over the Hollywood Hills Leo and Cate whisper and coo to each other in the cockpit of a Sikorsky S-38 (Hughes’ real airplane was an S-43) as “Moonglow” plays softly in the background. That would have been kinda tough with the din from the unmuffled R-1340’s and prop tips mere inches from the cabin roof.
In the interview on the bonus disc, director Scorsese admits that before making this movie he knew nothing about aviation. No kidding. Howard Hughes was passionate about technical accuracy in his films; he would have hated the aviation scenes in this movie.
But the movie folk play on the audience not knowing anything about aviation (or anything else) to sell a story.
