Deliberate mistake: During the flight Hughes takes with Katherine Hepburn, they talk to each other in normal, conversational voices. A twin-piston-engined aircraft of that vintage (or any vintage for that matter) is LOUD. We should be able to hear roaring engines, and the two should have to shout at each other to be heard.
The Aviator (2004)
1 deliberate mistake
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, Ian Holm
Continuity mistake: When Hughes and Odie are talking about mounting a camera on a biplane and removing one of the wings, the shots alternate between a back view of their heads and a front view of their faces. Odie's head position has no relationship to the one it had in the preceding angle in most of the cuts.
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.
More questions & answers from The Aviator
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.