Auto Focus (DVD)

Takes you back, doesn't it?

This is a biography-type film about legendary television actor Bob Crane, star of the American 60s hit comedy series "Hogan's Heroes". The story starts off cheerfully enough with Bob leading a very healthy and successful life. First he was a well-liked presenter with a radio station and then he stuck his finger in every pie he could before landing his most famous role as Colonel Hogan. His family ...
...darker trappings of celebrity life. He met and made friends with a video technician who would form a sexploitative relationship with him as they became obsessed with filming themselves having sex with women and keeping records of their conquests. This turned into a destructive habit and Bob became alienated from family, work and even religion. Soon his impending movie deals with Disney fell through because of his uncontrollable addiction and his ... more

Takes you back, doesn't it?

This is a biography-type film about legendary television actor Bob Crane, star of the American 60s hit comedy series "Hogan's Heroes". The story starts off cheerfully enough with Bob leading a very healthy and successful life. First he was a well-liked presenter with a radio station and then he stuck his finger in every pie he could before landing his most famous role as Colonel Hogan. His family life was also stable until he was caught with the darker trappings of celebrity life. He met and made friends with a video technician who would form a sexploitative relationship with him as they became obsessed with filming themselves having sex with women and keeping records of their conquests. This turned into a destructive habit and Bob became alienated from family, work and even religion. Soon his impending movie deals with Disney fell through because of his uncontrollable addiction and his family deserted him too. As this is not a thriller by any account I will tell you that Bob Crane met an unexpected end at the hands of a an unknown murderer in his room as he was sleeping and this remains one of Hollywood's most persevering unsolved homicides.

I have done some reading and it appears that the events that are shown on the film are mostly improvisional and that Crane's second family has dismissed it altogether. In any case, Paul Schraeder (writer of Taxi Driver and director of Affliction and Raging Bull) has made a very interesting account on his life here. Despite what must be said as a offbeat, uninspiring and trivial nature to this film, I found that this movie is very watchable indeed.

Firstly, I have always felt that Greg Kinnear is an under-rated actor who really deserves more roles in Hollywood A-List movies. He has an amazing intensity to him which permeates and ebbs well with the flow of this film. His portrayal of Bob Crane here is very impressive and there are many scenes where the bleakness of his life just spoke through his eyes behind those 70s tinted glasses. Willem Defoe who played his sex-crazed sidekick was equal to the task and delivered a fine performance, as he has always done with characters with a twisted or destructive nature. I must confess that the only reason why I bought this film was to catch a glimpse of the adorable Maria Bello (ER and Coyote Ugly fame) and she did her part as Crane's on-set lover and later wife very well indeed.

Casting aside, perhaps another reason why the movie works for me is that I feel too many biography-type films (Will Smith's "Ali" and Russell Crowe's "A Beautiful Mind" for example) always seem to disappoint on a cinematic point of view because it often tries to cram a man's lifetime into 120 minutes, resulting in a very comprehensive but rather tedious-to-watch movie experience. Also, perhaps for fear of a lawsuit, script-writers and directors always try to project a neutral feel to the characters of a movie on somebody real and this adds on to the dourness of a biography-type movie. "Auto Focus" does not suffer the same fate because it adopted a certain impression of Bob Crane and just went on with the screenplay.

On a personal level, I feel that there are many Bob Cranes out there who represent a very human frailty in all of us -the lack of will to fight an addiction. For many, it almost inevitably is alcohol or drugs but in the case of the unfortunate Crane, it was simply sex. This was a refreshing change to the usual addiction-type movies that I am more exposed to.

The DVD is packed with extras, the most useful and attractive being the substantial "Murder In Scottsville" documentary. It shows the investigations behind Crane's murder and how it remains unsolved today. Other bonus features include cast commentaries, a making-of featurette, theatrical trailers, deleted scenes and also director, producer and writer commentaries. Some frontal nudity and intermittent language make this a UK 18-rated release so this is definitely not something for the family.

I bought this DVD off eBay for less than 3 pounds second hand and I must say it was well worth the price for a decent piece of entertainment. It can be rather depressing due to the gloomy texture of the film in the last thirty minutes or so and I wouldn't recommend it to viewers who are just looking for a feel-good film. This is a film about a man who destroyed himself and did not have the chance for redemption.

Thank you for your time.

***---Yet another easy-to-read HabitualDamnation review---***
-because content is king...
 

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