Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the film where Howard Hughes flight tests the silver monoplane (the H-1), the close up shots show an open cockpit while the longer shots show a closed cockpit.
The Aviator (2004)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, Ian Holm
Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose flies with success. As the victory celebration takes place, Howard suffers from his mental disability and keeps on repeating, "The way of the future", over and over. As he cools off in a restroom, he remembers himself as a boy saying that he wants to make movies, fly planes and become a rich man.
Doug Hryniuk
Howard Hughes: What the hell does a senator from Maine need to fly to Peru for?
Trivia: At the Academy Awards, Cate Blanchett became the first Oscar winner to win her award for playing another Oscar winner.
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Chosen answer: Hughes has obsessive compulsive disorder. He washes his hands so often, and so intensely, that he's literally worn away his skin. This is common with OCD sufferers.