Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Hero goes down in flames, 14 Jan 2006
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 (Marla Bello) of HOGAN'S HEROES. (Remember Klink's secretary, Hilda? She was a Babe.) Needless to say, Bob's marriage fails. And then things get progressively worse. Kinnear is wonderfully creepy and 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 X 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.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another gem from Dafoe, 26 Dec 2003
This dark biopic charts the career of Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) from cheeky disc-jockey in 1964, desperate to break in to serious films and be the new Jack Lemmon; through the high-life years he spent in the title role in 60’s US tv smash, ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ to his untimely death. Kinnear is well cast in the role of the initially insecure but amiable Hogan, who believes that likeability is 90% of the battle, which is good news as he sees himself as the typical likeable guy, always wanting to make an impression. Kinnear manages admirably to break down the image that his hard-to-beat performance as Jack Nicholson’s gay neighbour in the vastly under-rated, ‘As Good As It Gets,’ by putting everything into his portrait of Crane. Even in scenes where he is filming ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ he manages to convey both the part he is playing and the actor he is playing in tandem through his quietly expressive face. Bob is ultimately a good man, tee-total, devoted to his family although not spending enough time with them through work, who has a small skeleton in the pornographic magazines he keeps in the garage (due to an interest in photography, he tell his wife.) It is his friendship with John Carpenter (Carpy) played with restrained magnificence by the gorgeous Willem Dafoe, that sees Bob slowly fall off the rails. Carpy is a technical expert, working for Sony, doing a good line in selling expensive hi-fi’s and video tape recorders to the rich and famous. Pretending to be a fan of the show, he takes Bob to a local strip club, where Bob, apprehensive at first, is soon adopted as drummer by the resident band, accompanying the girls’ routines. This quickly leads to double dates with Carpy, and the recording of their exploits for them both to drool over afterwards. His marriage soon collapses and Bob leaves Anne for his co-star on Hogan’s Heroes, Patty (Maria Bello) who tells him she understands him and is willing to put up with the other women. With this encouragement, and Carp pushing him further into excess, Bob’s real life, acting and fantasy life start to collide in a series of blackouts/hallucinations. Bob tries to spend less time with Carp, but he is already hopelessly addicted to their excessive lifestyle. Carp keeps him interested by showering him with better and improved video cameras. Their post mortem of each orgy afterwards as they masturbate in front of each other, watching the previous night’s events, becomes almost as important as the orgies themselves. For Bob they are proof of his versatility on screen. They are his acting taken to its next stage. As the friendship between the two men deteriorates due to Bob’s increasing disrespect of Carp, his life spirals towards its bloody end. This downbeat, voyeuristic take on success and its temptations really hits the button. Greg Kinnear in possibly his best form ever is almost upstaged by Dafoe, who beneath the sliminess, really makes you care about his character, despite his unscrupulous immorality. A suitably creepy screenplay from Paul Shraeder and a subtle homo-erotic undertow make this seedy take on ‘A Star is Born’ uncomfortably compulsive viewing
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Dunno why but this got to me, 19 Oct 2009
Saw this in the cinema back in the day and for lots of little reasons this film touched a nerve.
...and not because I fancy myself as a home movie porn star.
Maybe it was the fall from grace, the potential unrealised or the fact I was working in radio at the time the film came out. Maybe it was because as a child I learnt the counter melody of Hogan's Heroes while in the school band (it was counter intuative if you ask me). Maybe it was because of...
Who knows.
Good performances from the cast...
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