Auto Focus (2002)
Bob Crane had been dead a few years
before I ever heard anything about the seedy side
of his personality in his later years. The story is
rather well-known nowadays, so I don't feel like I'm
spoiling anything in this film by telling the plot
here, the plot here is secondary to the troubling
themes and the darkened atmosphere filmmaker Paul
Schrader creates.
Crane was a radio personality in
L.A. in the early 60's, a sort of prototype of the
Morning Zoo schtick, before hitting the big time playing
the title character in a TV series called "Hogan's
Heroes." After six years in one of the most popular
sitcoms on television, Crane sort of disappeared from
public view. What many of us found out only after
his death was that he became a sort of amateur pornographer,
taking pictures and videotaping sexual encounters
he experienced with numerous varied women as he travelled
the country doing dinner theater. Crane hooked up
with another guy into this same bent and the two of
them worked as a team in this area. Eventually, in
the late 70's I believe, Crane was murdered and many
suspect this "partner," John Carpenter (not the famous
schlock director), of being responsible. Carpenter
died of a heart attack a few years ago. The murder
has never been solved.
Schrader doesn't waste much time
in getting Greg Kinnear, as Crane, into the "Hogan"
era. There is a little bit about his DJ work before
we meet his wife, played by Rita Wilson and he embarks
on the career that made him a household name. Schrader
recreates the "Hogan" set, because so much of it is
important to the beginning of Crane's story, with
Kurt Fuller echoing Werner Klmperer as Colonel Klink
and Michael E. Rodgers portraying Richard Dawson.
Here Schrader films everything in loving tribute to
60's kitsch. The then-modern decor, the vivid yet
somehow muted color palette, the swinging clothes
and such are all perfectly detailed in the film. The
crew behind the scenes, like Art Director Seth Reed
and Costume Designer Julie Weiss do brilliant work
on "auto Focus."
Here, in the first hour of the film,
we see Crane suffering through the beginnings of his
sexual "addiction." I use that term because Schrader,
working off the script by Michael Gerbosi, treats
Crane as a character much in the same way that other
films have treated alcoholics and drug addicts. I
don't mean that there are scenes of over-the-top consequences
(like "Days of Wine and Roses" or "Requiem for a Dream").
Schrader has something much more subtle, more realistic
and more introspective in mind.
As the film follows Crane down his
path of degradation and into the seediness that his
"addiction" becomes, it also evolves into much less
an exemplification of kitsch. The muted avocado greens
become darkened brown polyester prints and the orange-specked
white Formica dining room tables become dusky wood
paneled basements. Cranes evolution is reflected wholly
in the style and look of the film and in the acting
and the tempo, the colors and the atmosphere. This
is a film that visually takes to where Bob Crane's
mind and personality is going.
As Crane, Kinnear is simply perfect.
This may very well be the role he was born to play.
He exemplifies Crane's folksy, pop culture persona
quite nicely in the first three reels and then shifts
subtly, like the film, into Crane's darker side. Kinnear
never goes over the top, never provides a false moment
and never stops being Bob Crane. It is an amazing
performance. Kinnear may only slightly resemble Crane
in reality but in this film the two are as one.
The supporting cast is wonderful
as well. Fuller, Wilson, and Ron Leibman (as Crane's
agent) all provide the adequate sense of reality needed
to juxtapose against Crane's descent into disquieting
perversion. But the true co-star of the film is, of
course, Willem Dafoe. As Carpenter, Dafoe essays a
dysfunctional sexual being, much like Crane, whose
addictions lead him into a degraded side of life.
But, in many ways, Dafoe's Carpenter is far more complex
and enigmatic than Crane. There is a homosexual undercurrent
to the role of Carpenter that briefly breaks into
the plot of the film like a wave cresting on a dark
and placid ocean. In the hands of a lesser actor,
Carpenter might become ridiculous, obvious and even
a reflection of homophobia. In the talented hands
of the well-known actor, he is never any of these
things. He becomes as dark, as troubled, as complex
and engrossing as Kinnear's Crane, especially as the
film evolves into its seedier second half.
This is a remarkable, delicate and
disturbing film. With its depictions of 60's and 70's
lifestyles and fashions and its brilliantly disquieting
atmospheric shift between the decades, the film is
unquestionably one of the most well thought-out period
pieces to be seen. But this is just the brilliant
visuals of the film. They underscore a far more interesting
and darkened theme. As an essay on man's descent into
his own personal hell of sexual addiction and societal
abnormality, "Auto Focus" perhaps stands alone. There
is a layer here, a seemingly nearly translucent one,
that is peeled back to expose something that lurks
not deep within us, but just beneath the polite exteriors
of our public personas. Given fame and money and a
partner in crime, Bob Crane wallows in his addiction
to sex, pornography and women.
Any man who has ever allowed his
dick to lead him into an area of sexuality he finds
upsetting and regretful will easily understand this
film. Our sexual natures guide us (men are often accused
of thinking with their dicks), flavor our personalities
and often define us as people. When we drift into
sexual proclivities that make us do and say things
that are not acceptable in polite society, there is
quite often a sense of regret and disgust that accompanies
"the morning after." Some men never experience this,
its true, their self- control or even paranoia can
hold them in check; some men have life experiences
that never lead them down any such path. For others,
however, this bent (whatever form it may take) can
be a lifelong battle to accept and modify behavior.
some are more successful than others. Finally, there
are those who seemingly never allow the consequences
of the dalliances to vex them. They accept their inclinations
and never look back. Somewhere in the middle of all
of this was Bob Crane. This film takes you to his
head. And yes, I mean both of them.
Note:
Also with Maria Bello, Ed Begley
Jr. and Michael McKeon. Bob Crane Jr. has a cameo.
Based on the book "The Murder of
Bob Crane" by Robert Graysmith. Score by Angelo Badalamenti.
In addition to "Hogan's Heroes"
other cast members, John Banner, Robert Clary and
Larry Hovis, other celebs portrayed in the film include
Clayton Moore, the Lone Ranger.
Schrader's original cut was given
an NC-17 rating in America due to some graphic sexuality
in images seen in the background on TV's (supposedly
from the video sessions Crane has taped himself engaging
in). Rather than cut these scenes or reshoot them,
Schrader has opted to simply obscure them (or the
objectionable portion of them) using CGI. This will
not be done in the International version (and presumably
not in the DVD release either).
The film has a really interesting
opening title sequence playing up the kitsch quality
of the film. But this approach has also been taken
by the marketing department for the poster and it
does not work. This poster seems in no way an adequate
reflection of the film. Nor does it entice me to want
to see the film.
Crane's family has been trying to
fight this film for quite some time. Someone calling
himself Robert Scott Crane (his son from his second
marriage) has left some interesting albeit also ignorant
and bitter comments about the film and Schrader on
the imdb message board for this film.
Viewed in October 2002 at a press
sneak at the Dobie Theater. The "Reel Deal" team was
in attendance. This was the first time I have seen
a film where both Corey and Martin were there and
they didn't disrupt the screening with snickering
or talking. They were silent throughout. This was
also the first press sneak I ever attended where I
was the first guy to get up and walk out after the
credits started. (Most critics are fairly notorious
for not watching credits). There was sort of a stunned
quietness after the film was over.
