This is a superb little summary of Howard Hughes life and times and should appeal to all and sundry, though it may be not as exciting as some action/adventure lovers would wish.

Good performances from virtually all concerned (especially main stars DiCaprio, Cate Blanchette, Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda) combine with a great all-round family-friendly story to make a 4-5* film.

The documentary (as opposed to "making of" etc) extras are superb and give more insight into the man who, thanks to his own ability and the money from his father's development of a modern oil-drilling bit, broke the world air-speed record, built the largest plane in the world out of wood (the Hercules transport sea-plane), made the first multi-million dollar movie (Hell's Angels 1930 at $4 million), bought TWA and became the richest man in the world.

Into everything technical, the film and extras show that you have Howard Hughes to thank for a myriad of modern technologies like fast, above the clouds, pressurised-cabin long-haul flight, hydraulic aircraft control systems, satellite communications, computer guidance systems and even to some extent jet-engine development. At most points he just seemed to correctly recognise exactly where the future lay before most others. Even GB Prime Minister Winston Churchill was indirectly involved with him.

A congress committee brought about by a rival airline tried but failed to screw him for taking the tax-payers' money during WW2 and not coming up with the goods when all and sundry were doing exactly the same for much more vast sums of money.

The great man died in 1976 as a result of the effects of his obsessive, compulsive disorder, never of course then diagnosed as such, which had become an ever-increasing problem since the 1930s, having become a recluse last photographed in public in 1952. His estate took years to sort out.

This is all superb stuff indeed and most highly recommended to all.