★ 7 / 10
**_Bob Crane's growing sexual addiction and murder_** Crane
Wuchak
**_Bob Crane's growing sexual addiction and murder_** Crane (Greg Kinnear) befriends a video expert named John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) around the time he gets…
**_Bob Crane's growing sexual addiction and murder_**
Crane (Greg Kinnear) befriends a video expert named John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) around the time he gets the gig for Hogan's Heroes. He is soon seduced by the temptations of being a big star; "free sex" is the sin du jour of the era and Crane can't resist the scores of beautiful women who want him. Unlike Crane, Carpenter isn't a star and isn't handsome, but he's able to continually pick up women simply due to his friendship with Bob. During and, especially, after his popular TV show, Crane experiences a downward spiral as he becomes entangled in the web of loose sex. By June, 1978, he was dead at 49.
"Auto Focus" (2002) was based on Robert Graysmith's book "The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan's Heroes?," which – believe it or not – depicts Crane's plunge into sexual immorality even worse than seen in the movie.
Director Paul Schrader is a writer or director of quite a few critically acclaimed films, like "Taxi Driver" (writer), "The Mosquito Coast" (writer) and "Hardcore" (writer & director). Speaking of "Hardcore," that film also addresses the subject of sexual hedonism with focus on a fascinating father/daughter relationship that develops between a staunch Calvinist conservative (George C. Scott) and a young lost prostitute (Season Hubley). "Auto Focus" may not be quite as good but, if you can handle the sleazy aspects, it maintains your attention and the actors do a quality job.
Rita Wilson and Maria Bello are on hand as Crane's wife and mistress/new-wife respectively. Meanwhile Michael E. Rodgers plays Bob's somewhat nemesis, Richard Dawson.
The DVD features a documentary on Crane's death and the most obvious culprit, John Carpenter. It's an interesting case, to say the least.
I shouldn't fail to add that I know someone who worked as a waitress at an A&W in my area during the mid-70s when Crane was forced to do traveling theater work to earn a living, as shown in the movie. She waited on him & another guy and Bob was his typically amiable self, just with a decidedly smart-alecky edge. I guess my friend didn't act starstruck enough because he didn't leave her a tip!
It runs 1 hour, 45 minutes, and was shot in California and Arizona.
GRADE: B
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★ 8 / 10
Made me put my tripod in my last garage sale (it sold). Seriously, a good film, hard to watch at times, but stays with you well after it's over
kcchiefstds
Not having had a chance to see the movie first-run, I bought the DVD and was impressed with it. The movie itself was, to borrow a phrase from another review on…
Not having had a chance to see the movie first-run, I bought the DVD and was impressed with it. The movie itself was, to borrow a phrase from another review on this site "brilliantly disturbing." Those of us who remember when Bob Crane was murdered at an apartment in Scottsdale, AZ while doing dinner theater gig; that was weird in of itself. After all who would want to kill good old Colonel Hogan? I remember watching Crane on the show, and also on talk or game shows. He seemed so together, self-assured and quick-witted. So it was even more of a shock to find out about his double-life, which this movie covers so well although it is perhaps a bit misleading in spots. Greg Kinnear does very good as Crane, especially in the latter scenes of the film. I think the part of Bob Crane would be somewhat difficult to play. Crane's legendary status is caught up not in his career itself, but his life other "on camera" life. A life that ended with his bludgeoning death (by blows from a camera tripod.) in June, 1978, just two weeks before what would have been his 50th birthday. Wilhem Dafoe is even better as the creepy John "Carpie" Carpenter, a video salesman who Crane meets on the set of Hogan's Heroes. Virtually all the supporting cast is also quite good. Particularly good are Kurt Fuller as Werner Klemperer/Col. Klink and Rob Leibman, who plays Crane's agent who watches helplessly as Crane's career and personal life veer out of control and plummet.Carpenter, an electronics expert, at the time worked for Sony, selling the new and expensive technology of videotape players to mostly celebrities or others wealthy enough to afford them. The movie takes the viewer through the mid-late 1960's as Crane and Carpenter, both sex addicts, videotape their seemingly every night exploits with women they pick up from night clubs. This is no problem for Crane who was handsome and famous. Carpenter was portrayed as a hanger-on, along for the ride, and taking Crane's "seconds." Crane, married with children is at first able to hide his double-life from his family, although his wife is suspicious of his roving eye.. As a sidebar, there are some interesting tidbits in the movie about the development of videotape in the 60's into the 70's. After the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes in 1971 and his expensive divorce (his wife found photographic evidence of his escapades), Crane's sex addition seemingly worsens. He remarries, this time to an actress who played Col Klink's secretary in the Hogan's Heroes who tells him his dalliances are okay with her. They have a son soon after they are married and even she grows weary of his being away so much with Carpenter.The mood of the film is in the beginning almost light-hearted, almost campy at times. . As the film continues and as Crane's personal life steadily implodes, professional life goes on the decline, a sense of darkness and desperation engulf the film. This is reinforced superbly by the hues on screen and the background music. The symbiotic relationship between Crane and Carpenter are portrayed so convincingly. Crane needed Carpenter for his video expertise and Carpenter needed Crane for the access to women. It is stunning how cavalier Crane was about picking up women and taping his sex acts, with or without their consent.Crane is portrayed as a nearly broke totally washed-up B or C grade celebrity at the time of his murder. This was not necessarily the case. Crane in fact had made a lot of guest appearances on television series and game shows in the early and mid-70's. He had been signed to star in an ABC Movie of the Week shortly before his murder. Crane also owned a portion of Hogan's Heroes, and had received a royalty check in 1977 of over $95,000. Doing dinner theater was more a choice he had made, and he was making amounts off dinner theater that rivaled his royalty checks. Not a fortune, but a very decent living, especially for that time. To be sure he was strained by having to support one but two families, plus his addiction. He was not the big star he was, but not in oblivion, either. Only so much can be covered in the film's 90 or so minute running time, but the notion that his professional life was in smithereens was a bit misleading. Yet, many in Hollywood knew about his exploits and it no doubt cost him in professional opportunities. There is debate on both sides whether or not Crane at the time of his murder was attempting to change his life.Near the end it is clear Crane had grown tired of "Carpie" and had basically told him the friendship as they knew it was coming to an end. This was just a day or so before his murder. Carpenter was arrested and tried years later for the murder but acquitted. He died in 1998, and the case officially remains unsolved. Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) directs so well this lurid and unflinching story. The DVD has lots of extras, including 3 different commentaries. The first by Kinnear and Dafoe, is good. Schrader's commentary is best as it offers a lot of insight into how they were able to make a relatively low-budget picture ($7 million I recall) look like they easily spent twice that amount. There is a third commentary was by the screenplay writers that I found dull. The deleted scenes are worth watching. For those interested in the Crane murder and the "whodunit" aspect there is a 45 minute feature entitled "Murder in Scottsdale" loaded with interviews and archival footage. The movie is based on Robert Graysmith's The Murder of Bob Crane, which I found to be interesting reading.
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True Crime, Crime, Biography and Drama says imdb.