Customer Reviews

Auto Focus [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Autofocus is the story of actor Bob Crane's rise to popularity as Colonel Hogan on Hogan's Heroes through his fall from grace in Hollywood and eventual murder, based on the Book 'The Murder of Bob Crane' by Robert Graysmith. Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) is a supremely likable guy with a family and a popular prime time sitcom, but also with a penchant for pornography and casual sex when he meets a man named John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) on the set of Hogan's Heroes. Carpenter was a sales representative for Sony's cutting edge technologies when they were developing VTR technology, a precursor to videotape. Crane, a lifelong photography enthusiast, was quite taken with this new technology. Also being a huge fan of pornography, he took the opportunity that VTR provided to make an astounding number of pornographic 'home movies' of anyone who would let him. Bob Crane's philandering and sexual obsession, often encouraged and facilitated by John Carpenter, became pathological and seemingly out of his own control, eventually costing him his first marriage and damaged his ability to get roles in Hollywood. Bob Crane was murdered in 1978 . The movie asserts the most popular hypothesis as to who committed the crime. But the circumstances surrounding his murder actually remain unclear.

Greg Kinnear gives the performance of his life as the affable, compulsive Bob Crane. I only know Bob Crane from television, but, based on what I've seen, Kinnear nailed Crane's mannerisms perfectly. Willem Dafoe is superb as bright, needy, and sleazy John Carpenter. Rita Wilson is admirable in her supporting role as Bob Crane's first wife Anne. Maria Bello plays his second wife, actress Patricia Olson. I don't like director Paul Schrader's decision to overdub a narration that is supposed to be Bob Crane speaking (even speaking from the grave at one point!). It is unnecessary, corny, and takes Bob Crane's words too far out of their context, I think. That is a minor point, since the overdubbing is only occasional.

Bob Crane's elder son by his first marriage, Robert David Crane, cooperated with the making of this film. His younger son by his second marriage, Robert Scott Crane -young "Scotty" in the movie- did not and has voiced strong objections to how his father is portrayed in the film. He cites a long list of what he claims are the film's inaccuracies. (You can read his objections if you search for Autofocus on the Internet Movie Database.) I am not inclined to take his criticisms of the film seriously because, having seen the movie, I can say that the film simply does not imply many of the things that Robert Scott Crane claims that it does. He seems to think that Autofocus paints an overwhelmingly negative picture of his father without showing the positve aspects of Bob Crane's life and character. I disagree. Autofocus is not unsympathetic to Bob Crane. He is portrayed as a likable and extremely gregarious man who cared for his family and was a talented comic actor...but who had an addiction that destroyed at least one of his marriages and his career and may have caused his premature death. He would never admit that he had problem and so never tried to change his behavior. I don't think that that characterization of Bob Crane is in dispute. But the issue of accuracy which Robert Scott Crane raises is a legitimate one. Unless the subject of a biographical film cooperates in writing the film, the screenwriters and scriptwriters cannot possible know the details of what went on behind closed doors or what was said in private conversations. So they make it up. They write scenes and put words in the characters' mouths that move the story along and support (hopefully) accurate character development. So viewers have to take the details with a grain of salt, not literally.

I recommend Autofocus for Greg Kinnear's great performance, and for its excellent portrait of someone who has crossed the line between self-indulgence and self-destruction and never really figures that out.

"You tell them Bob Crane is normal. Tell them sex is normal." -- Bob Crane in "Auto Focus"

Sex addictions typically invite a smile, and maybe envy. "Auto Focus," which chronicles the traveling sexual misadventures of the television star Crane, is a very funny movie, but, to its credit, inspires none of the latter emotion. If Bob Crane's life was perfectly normal, as Crane seemed to believed for a time, than "normal" is one hell of a raw, tiring deal.

In a year of virtuoso male performances, Greg Kinnear was overlooked for his portrayal of the "Hogan's Heroes" star, but Kinnear delivers the performance of his still young career. He has Crane's look, his bemusement, his bewilderment, his shallowness and his greed.

But at the outset of "Auto Focus," Crane is still a LA radio disc jockey and a bit of a goof -- a "cut up" as he calls it -- and still a reasonably devoted-if-vacant family man.

And then Crane lands the "Hogan's" gig. He meets the 1960s version of a tekkie in John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), who hangs around stars and peddles new gadgets, like the Sony Video Tape Recorder. Crane, it turns out, is a gadget man himself. Together, they use the VTR to record one another having sex with women.

Carpenter is the creep to end all creeps, but Crane is so locked into being affable that he bypasses the unseemliness for Carpenter's universal interests in naked women and booze. When he starts drumming late nights at a strip club, it's clear that his high school sweetheart-turned wife, Anne (Rita Wilson) won't be seeing him much any longer. There is one break when Crane discovers Carpenter is probably gay -- "It was a group grope!" Carpenter pleads -- but the rift is mended when Crane's home VTR player breaks, and only one man can fix it. It's a match made in porn from that moment forward.

I mentioned the movie is funny, and it is: Crane is likable but halfway hapless, and certainly dim-witted. Upon discovery of Carpenter's gay tendencies, Crane affects a deep hurt and betrayal he actually buys into. It's a sad joke, but humorous nonetheless, that Crane thinks he's operating with a full deck of cards: He knows charm like the back of hand, but not any other kind of deception -- he has pictures of naked women on his car seat for any passerby to see. He delves so deep into his addiction that he meticulously films and catalogues his escapades, only to watch every other aspect of his life crumble around him; he can't find work because his addiction is the murmur of the town, and the addiction puts him into a fog of bliss that neither his first wife, nor his second, Patti (Maria Bello) can ever bust through.

Carpenter can hang out, because he's the equipment guy, although at some point, Crane sees him as a drag, too. And then Crane sees the women as a drag, existing mainly to be filmed and viewed later, while Crane and Carpenter masturbate on the couch.

The movie's final act is a predictable, long ugly spiral toward Crane's mysterious murder in 1978. The world, aside from Carpenter and faceless women, has shut him out. A day without sex has become a day wasted, so much of the night is spent fulfilling the "mission."

Paul Schrader directs, and after his brilliant "Affliction, the cinematic equivalent of a icewrap around your head, "Auto Focus" is a film, though entirely different in source material, essentially in the same vein: Bob Crane is not without talents or virtues, but his delusions are stronger. Schrader's movies are a little cool to the touch, which has put off some critics (David Edelstein of Slate) but I like the approach -- "Auto Focus" is hardly your run-of-the-mill addiction movie. It's a little less hopped up and a lot more creepy.

This 2002 film explores the world of Bob Crane, the TV star of Hogan's Heroes in the 60s. Based on the true story of his addiction to videotaping himself in erotic encounters with hundreds of women, we watch his life spin out of control. His two marriages fail. He can't get jobs in Hollywood anymore. And he's all alone.

Greg Kinnear stars as Bob Crane. His performance is excellent for its depiction of the shallowness of the man. And Willem Dafoe, as John Carpenter, his best friend who entices Crane into a wanton lifestyle, gives an outstanding performance. Carpenter works for SONY and introduces Crane into the world of home video. He also brings him to strip clubs, sets Crane up with women, and flatters him incessantly. Crane gets hooked into this lifestyle and this leads to an inevitable violent outcome.

The script is somewhat lacking but the actors still manage to get into the skin of the characters. However, it makes these two men seem somewhat different from those around them and never captures the real whirl of the early 70s, when the freedom of the times was gripping America. Also, I wish that every woman depicted in the film didn't come off as a lightweight bimbo.

The DVD had some long extras about Bob Crane's murder. This was the era before DNA testing and so, even though there was a trial, nothing was ever proved. There were just too many questions. And too many people who might have had a motive.

I enjoyed the film and the theme. It held my interest and kept me watching.

I am old enough to remember when Hogan's Heroes first made its appearance on national television. The unusual comedy series regarding a German POW camp was fluff and few thought otherwise. Bob Crane portrayed the central character in a casual and easygoing manner. He reminded no one of the great actors of his generation. To be blunt, Director Paul Schrader's newly released movie highlights the life of someone who normally would be long forgotten. Auto Focus depicts Bob Crane as a practicing Catholic who fails to heed his church's warning that one must shun the occasions of sin. Crane takes one bite of the apple of temptation and is almost instantaneously unable to exercise any significant control over his sexual appetites. One need not be a religious person to concede that Crane became a slave to passion and no longer the master over his own destiny. There is one unavoidable fact about any form of addiction: the addict neglects the important people and other responsibilities in their life. Bob Crane was no exception to the general rule.

Greg Kinnear aptly portrays Crane as an obsessed man who strictly adhered to the motto "a day without sex is a wasted one." He meets the somewhat parasitical John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) who introduces him to the numerous females eager to sleep with a famous actor. Both men share a common interest in taking pictures of their exploits. This inevitably does little to aid Crane's career which is premised upon his marketed image as a clean cut all-American husband and father figure. Crane psychologically and existentially disintegrates into a pitiful creature undeserving of respect. We know something bad is going to happen. It's merely a question of when and where. Choosing to see Auto Focus does not require that you have any particular interest in Bob Crane. Schrader's insightful handling of the theme of sexual addiction alone justifies an investment of a few hours of your time. Auto focus earns five stars and should be on the top of the list for all mature adults.

That's the cornball line Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) runs on every woman he photographs, whether in the beginning of his career for autograph hounds, or later as a sick pornographer in this excellent though dispiriting movie.

First off, let me say that I have never seen an episode of "Hogan's Heroes"; my father, a WW2 vet from the European theatre, refused to have it on in our house. Thus, I have no clear image of the real Bob Crane, meaning that I can't really tell whether Kinnear's portrayal is cariacature, dead-on, or way off.

But that didn't bother me none. He actually reminded me of a somewhat unsavory man I know in real life, so I had no trouble making the leap that this seeming family man was actually a Real Creep in sheep's clothing. Kinnear does a great job as we see him disintegrate from a respectable vaguely naive man into a joyful then joyless sexaholic. It's a shame, really, that neither he nor his talented co-star Willem Dafoe got Oscar nominations for their work in this film. Dafoe brings to mind every lounge lizard you've ever seen as the Mephistopheles character to Bob Crane/Faust. It's Carpenter (Dafoe) who, as a pioneer in video tech doing some work for "Hogan" co-star Richard Dawson, introduces Crane to swinging and videotaping their joint sexual escapades. The two feed off each other for well over a decade until a final ugly altercation. Shortly after, Crane is found murdered in a motel room; the filmmakers imply that the guilty party is Carpenter.

While I may not be conversant with Bob Crane's visage, like anyone else from the 1970s I do know "Family Feud" host Richard Dawson, and I have to say that this guy was terrible casting in that role. I don't know how long it took even for me to realize who this actor was supposed to be playing--nothing like him at all! More like Tommy Tune than the short somewhat stocky real
Dawson.

But that's about the only complaint I have about "Auto Focus", with the possible exception of the unhelpful title. When I went to the theatre, I couldn't for the life of me remember what this movie was supposed to be about, even though I knew I'd seen the trailer before. It just doesn't communicate anything to its potential audience, which may explain that a lot of people didn't find out about this movie, good though it is.

"Auto Focus" does a creditable job of capturing the emptiness of Crane and Carpenter's sex addiction; one telling moment is when the two men are comparing notes on which cities have the best in certain sexual specialties, the way some others might talk about bus service. Another time, the two men are watching footage of themselves and begin to masturbate, each alone in his addiction despite the other's presence. Interesting too that Crane is up for any kind of action except homosexual; he goes ballistic when he sees Carpenter's hand on his own naked posterior during an orgy.

In the end, the main moral of "Auto Focus" is that loss of control in one area eventually spells disaster in every facet of Crane's life, whether professional or personal. Like a modern update of a morality play, we are all well warned to stay on the straight and narrow to avoid such a downfall as Bob Crane's.

The title "Auto Focus" relates to "self-involved", not the operation of camera lenses (which were not around in Bob's day.) The movie covers the period of 1965-1978 in the life of actor Bob Crane.

"But why Bob Crane"? you might ask. Good question. Bob Crane is best-known as "Colonel Hogan" in the hit TV sit-com "Hogan's Heroes" which aired for 6 years. Previous to that, Bob did mostly radio work, and some minor acting. After "Hogan's Heroes" was abruptly cancelled, he had a hard time getting much meaningful work, mostly because of his reputation for having an addiction to sex and pornography, which is the main thrust of the movie.

While at first blush this may not seem to be much of a story, it is strangely compelling. It was directed by Paul Shrader, who wrote Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, so he is no lightweight when it comes to dark subjects. However, the movie is pretty quite bright and cheery for the first third or so. Then by design, as we see more and more of Bob Crane's degrading life and lifestyle, the colors get darker and drabber, different film-stock is used for a grungier feel, the camera becomes hand-held rather than having smooth pans, etc.

Bob met up with a man named John Carpenter, who was sort of a video enthusiast/merchandiser, when video was just getting going. There is a fair amount of retro-video technology shown in the movie - big bulky cameras (VTR's - video tape recorders)- which produce reel-to-reel tape, then big bulky cassettes, etc. In fact, like modern men, these two characters sometimes would be more interested in the working of the technology than the ladies they have brought home.

These two men struck it off and became good friends. With his TV show on the air, Bob had no problem getting women, and John reaped some benefits as well. Although rather conservative, and a Catholic, Bob divorced his first wife and married an actress from "Hogan's Heroes". He continued his decline with videotaping and cataloging his sex adventures up until the end.

Bob's murder is still unsolved, mostly due to the fact that the majority of evidence is circumstantial, and the DNA testing abilities back then (1978) were somewhat rudimentary. Therefore, although there was a trial, the accused was acquitted.

Greg Kinnear plays Crane, and Willem Dafoe is John Carpenter. In many respect Kinnear's career is similar to Crane's - radio background, not very large acting roles, etc. Both actors do a fine job. Some notables also show up in the supporting roles, including one of Bob's sons as an interviewer.

Director Paul Shrader says he was not a fan of "Hogan's Heroes" and the movie was not an attempt to revive any warm-fuzzies of that show. He simply saw an intriguing story. In one scene, in order to avoid an NC-17 rating, the central portion of the scene of oral sex was pixellated. At first, you think "that's odd", but Shrader explains that he wanted to show the actual hardcore videotaping that Crane was doing so we would know this wasn't just a little cheesecake stuff he was doing on occasion. Had the scene just been cut, then we would not really know how deep Bob was sinking. There are other scenes of sex, but most is on the old video tape played on a TV with low resolution and image quality.

Director Paul Shrader's commentary is very good and interesting, mostly about technical aspects of the film and story. The second commentary by the writer and two producers is only for the first hour due to space, and is mostly about the script development, though it too was interesting.

There is an excellent documentary about the investigation into Bob's death including graphic photos of the bloody body. The police, prosecutor, defense attorneys and family members all contribute. There is footage for the trial, which as I mentioned, resulted in acquittal. If the available evidence had been analyzed with modern technology, I'm quite sure the accused would have been convicted of manslaughter at least.

Very well-made movie of an off-beat subject. There are some comical aspects to offset the darkness. The short and shallow behind-the-scenes was the only disappointment. Recommended - but not as a first date movie.

Like Emilio Estevez's "Rated X" (about the rise of the Mitchell Brothers and their soft-core pornography empire), this is a pretty good movie about a provocative topic made better by the DVD extras that elaborate on that topic. In this case, director Paul Schrader skillfully tells the sad story of actor Bob Crane, a personable, upbeat guy eventually brought down by an excessive interest in the seamier aspects of sex. I liked the way the opening parts of the movie were filmed in a bright, straight-forward manner as the earlier, optimistic period of Mr. Crane's career was chronicled, but then later the camera got all jittery and the lighting muted when, his demons taking firmer hold, Mr. Crane's career and life overall became likewise shaky and dark.

As good as the movie is, the generous extras on the DVD definitely make "Auto Focus" a must-see. The centerpiece of the extras is an almost hour-long documentary (presented in two twenty-some minute segments) that covers every aspect of the real life case of the life and death of Bob Crane. While the movie focuses on being entertaining and telling a good story, the documentary makes it clear what is known and not known about the case, letting the viewer decide for himself or herself what actually happened. Together, movie and supplements, we get a thorough picture of the subject in question and the mysteries that remain.

One final word: While Paul Schrader is a great artist who always tries to tell a story in an intelligent, sensitive manner, it was nevertheless nice to see in the brief making-of piece also included here that he isn't above being a showman: "The early stuff with Hogan's Heroes and his white-bread home life was fun to film," he said, "but it wasn't the good Bob that people were paying to see, it was the bad Bob. So we tried to get to the bad Bob stuff as fast as we could." Somehow that was reassuring, seeing that an accomplished artist was still very concerned with giving viewers a memorable time and their money's worth.

As a teenager, I loved watching HOGAN'S HEROES, a late 1960's sitcom starring Bob Crane. Ah, the innocence of youth.

AUTO FOCUS depicts the professional self-immolation of Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear). And caused by what? Drugs? Booze? Gambling? Twinkie over-indulgence? Nope, just sex. Lots and lots of it. (Come to think of it, isn't that every teenage boy's fevered fantasy?)

As the film opens, Bob is a talented, radio talk-show host on the Los Angeles airwaves. His (apparently) happy family includes a pretty wife and kids. They're devout Catholics, going to Mass every Sunday.

Bob's agent (Ron Liebman) lands him the starring role as Colonel Hogan in the WWII prisoner-of-war farce, HOGAN'S HEROES. It's during this period that Bob befriends John Carpenter (William Dafoe), an obsequious salesman who haunts the studio lot trying to interest stars in the emerging technology of home video taping/playback. Bob, an avid photographer, is hooked. John, a sexual satyr, introduces Crane to his world of promiscuous women. Bob's growing fame as Col. Hogan attracts even more. For Crane, a typical night on the town with pal John soon involves having sex with multiple partners, all the action recorded with still or video cameras for Bob's later enjoyment. Crane even begins a torrid affair with the Hilda character (played here by Marla Bello) of HOGAN'S HEROES. (Remember Klink's secretary, Hilda, played in the series by Sigrid Valdis? She was a Babe.) Needless to say, Bob's marriage fails. And then things get progressively worse.

Kinnear is wonderfully creepy as the self-destructive Hero who jeopardizes everything he holds dear just because he can't keep it zipped. (As Crane asserts, "A day without sex is a day wasted.") Even then, he might have gotten away with it if he'd been the least bit discreet. But soon, the rest of the Hollywood entertainment Biz regarded him as nothing better than a porn star. And porn stars don't get "legitimate" gigs. Crane's only good luck was that this was pre-AIDS.

Dafoe's performance as the sleazy, pimping Carpenter is chillingly good. With a friend like that, who needs enemies?

Crane's sordid end in a Scottsdale hotel room remains one of Tinseltown's greatest enigmas.

The film contains full-frontal female nudity, and certain scenes miss an NC-17 rating by the narrowest of margins. It's probably not a movie you'd pop into the DVD player to show the extended family after next Thanksgiving's feast.

I'll never again watch a HOGAN'S HEROES rerun from the same perspective.

When I took a trip to see my relatives recently, I noticed with some interest my grandfather's fascination with old television programs. He doesn't get around as much as he once did, so he spends a lot of time parked in front of the television set watching shows on DVD. He has quite a collection. During the time I was there, he played "Hogan's Heroes" on a perpetual loop. I haven't seen the series in years, and most of the shows hold up pretty well. Colonel Klink's endless confusion still garners a few guffaws, Sergeant Schultz still knows nothing, and the prisoners led by the indomitable Colonel Hogan as played by Bob Crane still make the Germans look like buffoons. Of course, anyone with knowledge about Bob Crane's extracurricular activities can't really watch the show without looking for clues to the man's real nature. I'm not sure whether my grandfather knew what Bob Crane did when he wasn't filming episodes of "Hogan's Heroes". And you know what? I couldn't bring myself to tell him that the show he loves so much starred a man with a serious sexual addiction. I'm definitely NOT going to send him a copy of "Auto Focus".

This movie, helmed by veteran Hollywood director Paul Schrader, examines the schizophrenic life of Bob Crane without flinching away from all the unpleasantness. We see little to worry about in the first part of the film. We learn that Crane (Greg Kinnear) has a lot going for him. He owns a wonderful home, complete with swimming pool, and has a beautiful wife named Anne (Rita Wilson). Moreover, he's got a lot of children that seem to make him happy. Our hero also has a great job as a popular disc jockey at a Los Angeles radio station. His work brings in a lot of stars who like the publicity Crane gives them. They also like Crane as a person. What's not to like? Our man comes across as one of the most affable people you would ever want to meet. He's charming to a fault, a charm that eventually helps him attain the lead role in a new television series about Allied prisoners in a German POW camp. Thus was born "Hogan's Heroes," a show that went on to make Bob Crane a star and a household name. We see his ascendancy to fame and fortune in great detail here.

Alas, behind the good looks and the outgoing personality, Bob Crane harbored terrible secrets. We see hints of his addiction in the first part of the film, when his gigs as a drummer in various Los Angeles nightclubs give him access to numerous beautiful women. Still, he doesn't seem out of the ordinary--a lot of guys would cheat on their wives a couple of times given the opportunity. It's when Crane meets John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), an electronics salesman, that his problems seem to escalate. Carpenter, a real sleaze with a craving for the celebrity lifestyle he can never have, homes in on Crane like a missile. He shows Bob a new device called a video camera, and before too long both men start prowling around town looking for women they can film during their various exploits. The two men, helped greatly by Crane's status as a television star, soon amass hundreds of videos. Women like going to bed with a star, and Crane is only too happy to oblige them. But when "Hogan's Heroes" goes off the air, when his personal relationships start to tank, the only thing left in our hero's life is his sick relationship with John Carpenter. Disaster will inevitably follow.

"Auto Focus" is an amazingly grim film for mainstream Hollywood. What we see here isn't pretty, not by a long shot. You only need to witness the scene between Dafoe and Kinnear, the one discussing the placement of a certain finger, to know that you're walking through a film that refuses to play nice. Watching Bob Crane deteriorate into a zombie whose only function in life revolves around sexual conquest is disturbing in the extreme, almost as disturbing as a place like Hollywood making a movie taking someone with a sexual addiction to task. Hollywood? C'mon! Half the people living there are Bob Cranes, and the other half are the ones sleeping with them. Aside from that little problem, the movie works on a number of levels. One, the acting is excellent. Willem Dafoe turns in a great performance as the scuzzy John Carpenter, and Greg Kinnear practically morphs into the deeply troubled Crane. The two had great chemistry together, and their descent into total immorality was never less than totally believable. Two, I got a kick out of the scenes recreating "Hogan's Heroes". Kurt Fuller playing Werner Klemperer playing Colonel Klink did an incredible job! Three, and finally, I thought the film did an amazing job recreating 1960s and 1970s Los Angeles.

Expect a DVD packed with extra features. The "Auto Focus" disc contains three commentary tracks. One has Willem Dafoe and Greg Kinnear, another one features director Schrader, and the third has the writer and producers commenting on the film. You'll get plenty of information about all aspects of the movie if you listen to these three tracks. Good stuff! Other supplements include five deleted scenes with optional commentary from Schrader, a making of featurette, and a documentary about the death of Bob Crane called "Murder in Scottsdale". This last extra is a must see, as it offers up lots of information about the actor's horrific murder in an Arizona hotel and the subsequent investigations into who committed the crime. If you're in the mood for a movie that likes to walk on the dark side, pick up a copy of "Auto Focus". You'll never look at "Hogan's Heroes" the same way again.

I have wanted to see this film for some time now. Who didn't love Bob Crane as Col. Hogan on Hogan's Heroes? As a child watching the show in syndication, Crane seemed to be an exceedingly cool and funny actor. As I got into my teens, I learned of Crane's gruesome death and the mystery surrounding it, and I had trouble figuring out how something like that could happen to such a seemingly great guy. More time passed, and I began to hear stories about Crane's lifestyle, activities that I could hardly picture the man taking part in. All of this left me wanting something that could put all the pieces together, to show me the true Bob Crane and place his death in its proper context. Auto Focus attempts to do just that, and I understood that many critics praised the movie. Having now seen it for myself, I have to agree that it is a very impressive film that works on a number of cinematic levels. Does it answer all of my questions about Bob Crane and his death? I don't know. What you get with Auto Focus is one interpretation of the final fourteen years of Crane's life, but who is to say what really took place in Crane's private world. Obviously, the man had some serious issues and flaws, enough to qualify him for the label of sick if not depraved in my book, but this movie seems to push too far, showing us private moments that no one alive today can verify or disprove. Thus, I do not consider Auto Focus a true biographical portrait of Bob Crane, and I worry that it does further damage to a reputation the man himself seriously destroyed on his own.

Auto Focus follows Crane's life and career from his disc jockey days in 1964 to his six-year run on Hogan's Heroes to the troubled years then leading up to his death. Initially, he comes across as a clean-cut, sweater-sporting, all-around good family man, but the seeds of doubt and trouble are soon sown in his wife's discovery of pornographic magazines in the garage. As his time on Hogan's Heroes begins, he seems to still be cultivating the image of a "good" man, one who refuses both alcohol and cigarettes. Then of course fame begins to change his life, and the many young women who flock around him let his barely-contained sexual beast out of its cage. His new friendship with video technology guru John Carpenter is the worst thing that could have happened to him, as Carpenter soon gives him the keys to the perverted sexual paradise Crane had obviously fantasized about for some time. Up to this point, Crane had still been salvageable as a decent human being, but his moral weakness soon asserts control and leads Crane into a life of total debauchery that he was shameless enough to document on film and video. When his career bottoms out, the tailspin that would lead to his brutal demise was all too apparent. The cinematography of the latter part of the picture was really effective; unusual, sometimes unstable camera angles and shots reinforced the image of Crane's life falling apart more and more quickly as time passed.

John Carpenter was an individual I knew nothing about going into this film. Clearly, he was a rather disgusting individual who held a strong and uncomfortable hold over the rest of Crane's life. This film, in my opinion, goes a little too far in the direction of blaming Carpenter for Crane's mistakes, though. It seems clear that Bob Crane alone is responsible for the way he lived his life; he never did anything more than talk about making a lifestyle change, even after the demise of two marriages, his relationship with his four children, and his total alienation from everyone but Carpenter. The recreation of his murder is good up to a point but could have improved. I do not think the true force and viciousness of the attack as shown matches the actual event, and I have to question why the scene showing his body's discovery by a fellow actress was deleted from the final cut. The movie does implicate one suspect in particular, and I have to question this because, while I think the prime suspect was indeed the murderer, the film's presentation precludes alternate theories of what remains an unsolved mystery.

The DVD is excellent; there can be no question about that. Alongside the film itself, you get no less than three separate commentaries, a making-of featurette, five deleted scenes, and a lengthy documentary on the actual murder. Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe are excellent in their roles of Hogan and Carpenter (although I saw much more of both men that I would have liked, if you know what I mean). I was also amazed at how truly Klink-like Kurt Fuller was in his portrayal of Werner Klemperer. In the final analysis, Auto Focus is an impressive motion picture, but at the same time it stands as a questionable biography and dramatization of Bob Crane's life and death.