Hell's Angels

As well as being a highly successful entrepreneur and inventor, he tried his hand at filmmaking and was, as far as he's concerned, very good, even if the critics didn't always agree.

As the director and producer of the 1930 film Hell's Angels, Hughes staged spectacular aerial dogfighting scenes, even piloting planes above the action himself and coordinating maneuvers through radio direction.

Later, when he directed The Outlaw, starring Jane Russell, he employed his engineering skills to design a new cantilevered underwire bra, one to emphasize Russell's already impressive bust.

The result was too uncomfortable for Miss Russell to wear, but that didn't faze Howard Hughes.

And initially, he's working over at Paramount.

And, you know, then for a time, he's actually working with Howard Hughes, who's spent the past two and three years working on a silent film called Hell's Angels, which he's now decided, okay, maybe I need some dialogue in this thing.

So, go get me the Journey's End guy.

So, Whale works on that movie, and it's a huge hit at the box office, which then puts him on the radar of Carl Laemmle.

Yeah, I mean, this one's color in the 30s, and it's certainly not the norm, especially in the early 30s.

Yeah, I know of some movies that had some Technicolor, but one of them, Hell's Angels from Howard Hughes, mostly just had blue.

Yeah.

They say it's in Technicolor, but really they just blued

The film follows his life from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s as he becomes a successful film producer, aviation pioneer and business tycoon.

Hughes pours his fortune into making the epic film Hell's Angels, then goes on to break aviation records and build innovative aircraft.

Along the way, he has high-profile relationships with Hollywood stars such as Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner, and as his success grows, so do his personal struggles.

And the film shows Hugh's worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder, which affects both his personal and professional life.

Yes.

He did found fuse aircraft.

He did make that movie Hell's Angels.

It's a real thing.

... really long time.

He started out, he's one of the uncredited directors on Hell's Angels.

He does Waterloo Bridge, the first Waterloo Bridge, I would argue the best Waterloo Bridge.

Agreed.

If we think of Howard Hughes, what did Howard Hughes do before he got into aerospace? He directed movies.

And in fact, he directed one of the most expensive movies of that t- uh, prior to the aerospace period called Hell's Angels.

Hell's Angels was a war propaganda film.

Now, uh, the, I forget the name of the actor, but it's the guy who plays Jimmy Dean [laughs] in the old Jimmy Dean com- sausage commercials.

He's actually the guy that's playing, uh, Willard White here, who is explicitly a stand-in for Howard Hughes in the both reality and in the, and the fictional incarnation.

If we think of Howard Hughes, what did Howard Hughes do before he got into aerospace? He directed movies.

And in fact, he directed one of the most expensive movies of that t- prior to the aerospace period called Hell's Angels.

Hell's Angels was a war propaganda film.

Now, uh, the, I forget the name of the actor, but it's the guy who plays Jimmy Dean [laughs] in the old Jimmy Dean comm- sausage commercials.

He's actually the guy that's playing, uh, Willard Whyte here, who is explicitly a stand-in for Howard Hughes in the, both reality and in the, in the fictional incarnation.