| Auto Focus | | Cast : | Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Maria Bello, Ron Leibman | | Director : | Paul Schrader | | Studio : | Columbia Tristar Hom | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | May 04, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 05, 2005 | | Summary | Upbeat, then seamy, but memorable throughout | Content
 | Like Emilio Estevez's "Rated X" (about the rise of the Mitchell Brothers and their soft-core pornography empire), this is a pretty good movie about a provocative topic made better by the DVD extras that elaborate on that topic. In this case, director Paul Schrader skillfully tells the sad story of actor Bob Crane, a personable, upbeat guy eventually brought down by an excessive interest in the seamier aspects of sex. I liked the way the opening parts of the movie were filmed in a bright, straight-forward manner as the earlier, optimistic period of Mr. Crane's career was chronicled, but then later the camera got all jittery and the lighting muted when, his demons taking firmer hold, Mr. Crane's career and life overall became likewise shaky and dark.
As good as the movie is, the generous extras on the DVD definitely make "Auto Focus" a must-see. The centerpiece of the extras is an almost hour-long documentary (presented in two twenty-some minute segments) that covers every aspect of the real life case of the life and death of Bob Crane. While the movie focuses on being entertaining and telling a good story, the documentary makes it clear what is known and not known about the case, letting the viewer decide for himself or herself what actually happened. Together, movie and supplements, we get a thorough picture of the subject in question and the mysteries that remain.
One final word: While Paul Schrader is a great artist who always tries to tell a story in an intelligent, sensitive manner, it was nevertheless nice to see in the brief making-of piece also included here that he isn't above being a showman: "The early stuff with Hogan's Heroes and his white-bread home life was fun to film," he said, "but it wasn't the good Bob that people were paying to see, it was the bad Bob. So we tried to get to the bad Bob stuff as fast as we could." Somehow that was reassuring, seeing that an accomplished artist was still very concerned with giving viewers a memorable time and their money's worth. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 29, 2005 | | Summary | The Fall of Colonel Hogan | Content
| It would be easy to look at the sleazy life and sad demise of Bob Crane as another sordid Hollywood tragedy, but Paul Shrader did something interesting with AUTO FOCUS: I thought he did a terrific job of showing how someone can be overtaken with a sexual addiction--and Greg Kinnear did a great job of playing it.
Instead of drawing away from Crane, I actually felt sympathy for him: he's a guy who got in way over head and his celebrity status allowed him to be consumed by it. He was like an embarrassed little boy when his wife finds his porno stash, then he was like a man who realizes he has no control when he hits the strip joints with Richard Dawson and friends.
Production values are first rate; the sets and music really bring that bright pastel California 1960's look to life, as well as the dark wood-panel barroom 1970's atmosphere of the last scenes. Performances and attention to detail are great.
As deep and effective as everything is, I still find myself telling friends: "This is a great--but it's basically about a guy who lets his sex life out of control until someone beats him to death."
I grew up watching the sitcoms of the 60s and 70s, so it's been quite a trip to find out that Mr. Brady from THE BRADY BUNCH and the second Darren from BEWITCHED would both die of AIDS, and that Colonel Hogan would spend his time outside of Stalag 17 in nonstops orgies.
Man, what's next? |
| Rating | | | Date | April 23, 2005 | | Summary | Revealing glimpse of a bigger picture | Content
| This true-to-life, biopic, chronicle of descent into sexual-image addiction provides many useful historical footnotes on the impact of home video technology advances on the later burgeoning of the pornographic market.
Video technology (in particular Beta and VHS) made it possible to migrate the consumption of pornography from blue-movie theaters to bedrooms and living rooms across America and then around the world, leading to a current worldwide market size of $30 billion ($U.S.), with the U.S. taking upwards of $10B of that total. http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11541&hed=Mobile+porn%3a+Moving+fast
Not ironically, the masculine obsession with visual titillation is paid little attention by the media (who's to be critical when so many are consuming). This culturally embedded practice also precludes an examination of the impact of porn-image consumption on interpersonal relationships and gender attitudes & behavior.
In that light, this up-close and personal look at an erstwhile American-TV hero serves as a nervous glimpse of the 2nd & 3rd-order misogynist effects of a pervasive habit.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 07, 2005 | | Summary | Increasingly disturbing and compelling | Content
| Bob Crane shot to television stardom in the 1960s as the star of the television series Hogan's Heroes. However, while he was enjoying the life of a TV star, he was simultaneously delving into dark territory in his personal life - sexual promiscuity and deviance. Auto Focus tells the story of Bob Crane as a tragic cautionary tale of the dangers of excess.
When the film opens, Bob (Greg Kinnear, in a fantastic performance) is about to hit the big time, and is a loving family man who doesn't drink or smoke. He attends mass on Sundays. One day on the set of Hogan's Heroes, though, his life begins to take a bit of a turn when he meets John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), a techno-guy with all the latest gadgets, including video equipment, which fascinates Crane.
"Carp" opens the door for Bob to unleash his inner desires, which both excite and frighten him. It begins innocently enough, sitting in on the drums at a strip club, but eventually Bob loses all self-control and ends up making pornographic videos of his exploits and frequently "swinging." All the while Bob refuses to admit that there's anything wrong with him; if you ask him, he'll tell you he's just a normal guy.
After Hogan's Heroes came to an end, Crane took a job with a dinner theatre show, which allowed Crane and Carp to take their liaisons on a traveling show. As Crane's indiscretions get worse, his personal life deteriorates, as he divorces two wives (played by Rita Wilson and Mario Bello).
Auto Focus has been expertly directed by Paul Schrader, who begins the film with bright, glossy colors, then as Crane goes deeper and deeper into his obsessions, the colors fade and the camera becomes unstable, just as Crane does. Kinnear gives the performance of his life, showing us an uptight man who is afraid of his sexual demons turning into an uptight man who lets them take over his life. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 13, 2005 | | Summary | 3/5 | Content
| Paul Schrader, the director of this movie is, best known as a screenwriter for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation Of The Christ-- just to name a few, naturally spiced up the release of this movie. With a name like his, the movie is bound to create some kind of a buzz. Even though Auto Focus did not get a wide release, it still did fairly good as a limited release in select cities. While I'm at it, it's important to say that Bob Crane's family has been trying to fight this movie for quite some time, as you can see, they did not succeed. I can honestly understand why they wouldn't want this movie to see the light of the day, but I also understand how Hollywood works with juicy stories hence the making of this movie.
To be quite honest, this movie would be extremely boring if it wasn't for this juicy subject matter.. what juicy matter you say? Well, it seems that if late Bob Crane has this *wild* idea to videotape himself having sex with various women across the country. I can't imagine anyone else wanting to do this (yea right), but Bob Crane did and he had a lot of fun doing it too, naturally. As interesting this story is, it seemed a bit dull because of the time period, not of the time period when it was shot but period of time that it was released in, meaning now. After all, we've seen everything and this movie is really not all that shocking but I do give it the credit it deserves, it looks absolutely great and it was wonderfully acted by the cast.
I think in this movie was released many years ago it would have done much much better, all in all, enjoy this biopic, it's fun to watch! |
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