February 24, 2003 -- "Auto Focus," the film based on the true story of the seamy life and death of "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane, is a depressing, but instructive movie about the seamy side of Hollywood. Hollywood has always had its dark side, as chronicled in Kenneth Anger's book, "Hollywood Babylon." This is the side of Hollywood you seldom see, except during the occasional court case. There are enough of such trials to fill a weekly television show with the oxymoronic name "Celebrity Justice." As I write this there are two murder cases in Hollywood, one involving former TV and movie star Robert Blake.

Bob Crane was the star of the popular "Hogan's Heroes" show on CBS from 1965-1971. He was also a popular radio show host and appeared on other TV shows and movies. He was handsome, charming and very likeable. His personal life, however, was very different from his slick public persona. He was murdered in his sleep in a Scottsdale, Arizona hotel room in 1978. No one was ever convicted of the crime. "Auto Focus" shows us the dark side of Crane. His relentless pursuit of sexual pleasure led to the breakup of his two marriages. He also videotaped his numerous sexual exploits, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the participants, for his viewing pleasure. The big surprise, with all this hound dogging around, is that Crane ever slept long enough to be murdered in his sleep.

Crane (played by Greg Kinnear of "We Were Soldiers"), starts out as a normal guy, apparently faithful to his wife (played by Rita Wilson of "The Story of Us"). He goes to church and is a devoted father to his children. His fateful decision to take the role of Hogan on the TV series seems to have led to his downfall. His increased popularity and tremendous public recognition, together with his charm and good looks, made casual sex too tempting. Another key thing in his downfall was his friendship with video technician John Carpenter (played by Willem Dafoe "Spider-Man"). Carpenter was as much a sexual addict as Crane and he began video taping Crane's sexual exploits and participating in orgies and other group sex activities with Crane. He began to depend on Crane to get him sexual partners and he became Crane's best friend. Crane's only other friend was his agent, Lenny (Ron Leibman of "Personal Velocity"), who tried repeatedly to talk some sense into Crane.

The thing that comes across strongest in this movie is the fact that Crane and Carpenter were totally unable to see their behavior was self-destructive until it was too late. Crane repeatedly tells people that he is "normal," even as his behavior gets more and more out of control. Crane seemed to see himself only as his own slick, handsome, charming public image, not as he really was. In most businesses and most communities, Crane's outrageous behavior would have gotten him in trouble a lot sooner and he would have been held accountable for what he did, but not in show business, where anything goes, especially in terms of sexual behavior. In Hollywood, there were plenty of people to facilitate Crane's denial of any responsibility for his actions. But even in Hollywood, there are limits to permissiveness and Crane tested those limits. He was warned by Disney studios to clean up his act while filming "Superdad" for that studio in 1974. In those days, Disney was the most morally conservative of the studios, and they primarily made family-oriented movies.

The movie, directed by Paul Schrader ("Affliction") uses some creative dream sequences to show how Crane became disconnected from reality at times and these visions hint at his troubled past. Both Kinnear and Dafoe give excellent performances in this relentlessly dark, downbeat movie and Ron Leibman's supporting performance is terrific as well. Surprisingly, however, character development is minimal. Crane's inner workings seem hidden from view. He is as much a mystery at the end of the film as he is at the beginning. We don't see much below the surface of Carpenter, either. In the end, the film doesn't really seem to offer any hope, any solutions, any real explanations and consequently it doesn't go anywhere. It takes us on a journey, all right, but it is all darkness and little light. It illuminates these tragic lives only faintly. It is more like a peep show than a character study. This film rates a C.

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