Paul Schrader's film, Autofocus, is the story of Bob Crane (played by Greg Kinnear), who had
the title character in the hit TV series, "Hogan's Heroes" in the late
1960's. The interesting thing about the real-life story of Bob Crane is
the fact that he was brutally murdered in 1978 by a killer who was never
convicted, even though everyone knew who it was. The movie examines how
fame and fortune in Hollywood can turn someone's life upside down - in this
case, by over-feeding a man's sex-obsession to the point of self-destruction.
The plot of the film is rather straightforward: it depicts Crane's life
as a loving father of two and husband in a traditional American home
in the 60s, and how his career lead to his demise. It starts with his
job as a radio disc jockey when his big break comes: to play the lead
role in Hogan's Heroes. As his career begins to move, he befriends a
man named John Carpenter (played by Willem Dafoe), an electronics wizard
who introduces Crane to the emerging world of Video Tape. The men become
friends and quickly learn of each other's affection for women. At first,
their relationship starts as any other friendship would, but Crane's
emerging stardom provides opportunities to meet and seduce women, feeding
both men's sexual appetites. Before they know it, they're having sex
parties every night, and video-taping their exploits for later perusal.
Crane's will-power erodes as his deviation into sexual hysteria consumes
him, breaking up two of his marriages, and alienating his children and
everyone else in his career. He and Carpenter eventually rely solely on
each for psychological stability. The stage is set for disaster when
Crane finally becomes determined to "get out" of the whole sex thing,
and try to make a go at his life again.
The problem with making a movie based on a true and well-known story,
is that everyone knows what's going to happen, so the purpose of
the film is to help us feel what the characters feel on their way
there. The relationship between Crane and Carpenter is "interesting",
but not nearly as strong as it needed to be to give the story a better
sense of purpose. Very little else about Crane or Carpenter
is explored, other than their sexual obsession, making them rather
two-dimensional.
On the other hand, the best part of the film is the filmmaking
itself. The scenery, mood and cinematography mirror Crane's state of mind
fluidly from beginning to end. The psychological
deterioration is not only depicted well by Kinnear, but reflected well
in the supporting visual and audible elements. The same cannot be said,
however, for DaFoe's depiction of Carpenter, who is almost a catalystic
passenger in the film. His role seems more to antagonize Crane to continue
his sex-obsession, but other than that, no other true depth of this
character is expressed.
The Bob Crane story itself is not that unique or interesting in the
realm of similar stories telling how Hollywood destroys the lives of
movie stars, so Autofocus had a tough road to hoe. If the movie
were supposed to be just a portrait of man, it should have expanded on
other sides of Crane to flesh him out as a complete character. But it
didn't. Aside from the excellent cinematic aesthetics, the movie was
rather ho-hum. Wait for it on video if you're a big Hogan's Heroes fan.
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