They won't make it.
It's the climax of the picture.
You make it work.
Look, decrease the vertical
trajectory if you have to.
A Le Rhфne rotary won't stall
at 60 degrees. I've done it.
Howard, we're still short
two cameras.
We need to cut
that sequence down--
We're not cutting anything,
all right?
I'll get those cameras.
Set up for rehearsals
in five.
Mr. Hughes.
I'm Noah Dietrich.
Your office said
I might find you here.
Dietrich. You're a...
You're a man on the come.
I read your rйsumй
and talked to your references.
You know what
I'm looking for?
Well, as I understand it,
you're looking for
A second-in-command
at Hughes tools.
Someone to help oversee
The financial aspects
of the business.
Yeah, I'm looking for somebody
To run it and do
a damn good job.
Look, there's really only
one thing you've gotta know.
My folks, they're gone now.
So it's my money.
Now, what I choose to do
with that money
May seem crazy to those
sons of bitches in Houston--
And I'm sure as hell it does.
--But it makes good sense to me.
You got that?
Got it.
Good.
Now, you made, what,
$5200 a year at your last job?
I'll pay you 10,000.
Guess I'll be working
twice as hard.
You'll be working
four times as hard.
I just got you at half-price,
Mr. Dietrich.
Welcome aboard, huh?
Thank you.
You're my voice now.
Make them understand that.
Look, some of those fine folks
down there still call me Junior.
You tell them
it's Mr. Hughes now.
You bet.
So when do we
go to Houston?
We don't. Cholera epidemic
in 1913. Two thousand dead.
Whole place is nothing
but pestilential swamp.
Typhus, malaria,
cholera, yellow fever.
You name it, they got it.
You see that, Mr. Dietrich?
You are looking at
The largest private air force
in the entire world.
What do you think
of that, now?
It's your money.
Start them up!
[%%]
[people whistling]
["I'll build a stairway
to paradise" playing]
%% I'll build a stairway
to paradise %%
%% with a new step every day %%
%% I'm going to get there
at any price %%
%% stand aside
I'm on my way %%
%% I've got the blues %%
%% and up above it's so fair %%
%% shoes
go on and carry me there %%
%% I'll build a stairway
to paradise %%
%% with a new step every day %%
%% I'll build a stairway
to paradise... %%
Man:
I just saw the rough cut
Of the new Tod Browning movie,
London after midnight.
Lon Chaney is incredible.
It's his best performance
in a long time.
It's gonna be a big hit.
The cards are great.
It's supposed to be--
Hello,
Mr. Mayer.
I-I don't know
if you remember me.
My name's Howard Hughes.
I was wondering if I could have
a moment of your time.
Oh, yeah, Howard Hughes.
Yeah.
The airplane picture, right?
Exactly.
Yeah, I remember.
Hell's angels. You heard of it.
Good.
Yes.
Listen,
I was wondering
If I could have
a moment of your time.
I... I need
a few cameras.
Yeah?
Yeah, two, to be exact.
Mm-hmm.
I already bought
every camera I could find.
But we're shooting our big
dogfight sequence this week,
I need two more.
Desperately.
You think MGM
could help me out?
With what?
Cameras.
Oh, with the actual cam--
Well, we're not usually
in the practice
Of helping out the competition.
Oh.
No.
So how many cameras
do you have now?
Twenty-four.
[coughs]
[laughs]
[laughing]
you--? Wait a minute.
[mutters]
wait-- no.
You have 24 cameras?
That's right, 24.
And you--?
You need two more?
Yeah.
You don't think you
got it with 24?
No. No, sir.
You know, I think--
I think we've got 'em all--
Don't we have 'em all--?
They're all used, right?
All 26 of them.
I only need two, sir.
Jesus Christ, Sonny.
Howard.
Howard.
Let me give you
a little advice, huh?
Why don't you take
your oil money--?
Drill bits.
Take--
All right, your drill-bit money,
yeah.
And put it in the bank.
Uh-huh.
Because if you continue making
the movie the way that you are,
There