They meet with the Spruce Goose looming dramatically behind them -- two legends from the lunatic fringe of American capitalism. Howard Hughes (Dean Stockwell, in another of his sharply incised cameos) gestures toward history's largest airplane. "They say it can't fly," he intently whispers, "but that's not the point." We in the audience laugh, poor conventional souls that we are, brought up to believe the goal of invention is not self-satisfaction but marketability and, just possibly, the chance to improve mankind's general welfare. How boring!
Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges, in the performance of his life) knows better. He just nods sober...