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Jed (jedstarny@aol.com) wrote on 01/22/2003:

Admittedly, I don't watch much TV. I'm not a "Will and Grace" addict, a "Queer As Folk" junkie, or a "Sex In the City" slave. The only TV show that I TRULY look forward to watching is "The E! True Hollywood Story", the E! network's documentary series which profiles the lives of celebrities-- without judgement, and no holes barred. The show reflects the new breed of biopic, in which very little integral information about the subject is left out or sugar coated. Years ago, any filmed version of the life of a real person tended to reflect the mores and values of the era in which the movie was made. Of course, you know how those American movie makers of yesteryear always felt that they had to "teach us a lesson". God forbid we knew that celebrities were human, and that could have flaws just like "regular" people. Sexual issues were either avoided, changed, or glossed over. So, of course, "Hans Christian Anderson" (1952) and "Alexander the Great" (1956) both turned their titular characters straight for fear of "offending" people in the '50's, and even "Auntie Mame" (1958), considered by many to be a quintessential gay classic flick, heterosexualized Patrick Dennis. "The Christine Jorgensen Story" (1970), a biopic about the first man to undergo a sex-change operation, arrived almost 20 years after the event-- and it wasn't even worth the wait. In addition, many biopics were genuinely negligent of the facts when it came to their subjects (like 1965's Jean Harlow biopic "Harlow" and 1963's "Cleopatra" with Elizabeth Taylor). Today, more sophisticated movie critics and viewers (hopefully!) just wouldn't stand for that, and many actors strive for more realistic representations. As actor Greg Kinnear said of portraying a real-life character: "There's a burden of authenticity obviously with doing... a real-life character that doesn't come with a fictional character." In today's day and age, with cable TV and independent cinema giving us more options and breaking barriers of what we "can" and "can't" see, we can finally get a realistic depiction of the life of people who, like all of us, had flaws...and who may have dabbled in the more "subversive" aspects of life. There's just no way that you could accurately do a biopic of, let's say, Larry Flynt or Linda Lovelace, without getting explicit about sexual issues. "Auto Focus", a new biographical drama about the life of Bob Crane which stars Greg Kinnear and Maria Bello, tells a story about sexual addiction-- a subject worthy of greater exploration and understanding. And "Auto Focus" does this in a highly stylized, fast-moving, fascinating way... it's a tale engrossing enough to appeal event to those of us-- including me-- who never even heard of Bob Crane or "Hogan's Heroes." Directed by Paul Schrader ("American Gigolo", "Cat People") and based on the book "The Murder of Bob Crane" by Robert Graysmith, "Auto Focus" introduces us to Bob Crane in 1964, when he's living with his wife Anne (Rita Wilson) and kids in a suburban home that could have easily been a slightly more affluent version of "The Brady Bunch" house. At that time, Crane worked as a popular radio host and had some TV acting experience. Bob Crane's big break came in 1965 when he was offered a starring role on TV's "Hogan's Heroes", which would become enormously successful and would run until 1971. The spark that led to the new TV star's fall from grace seemed to come when he met John Carpenter (played by Willem Dafoe with the perfect combination of charisma and sleaze). The two men form an oddly intimate and dependent friendship, and Carpenter introduces Crane to a new invention-- the VTR (video tape recorder), an early version of today's VCR. He also introduces his new friend to a growing phenomenon of the late '60's: sexual freedom. Soon the two are using Crane's celebrity status to meet women, taking snapshots and filming videos of their sexual adventures, and watching their homemade porn for entertainment., As his marriage of 21 years collapsed due to his infidelity, Bob Crane re-married-- this time, to his "Hogan's" co-star Patti Olsen (played by Maria Bello), who is tolerant of his sexual exploits with other women. We see the decline of Bob Crane as demonstrated by his being late to work and showing X-rated photos of himself with his women to his "Hogan's Heroes" co-stars . After "Hogan's Heroes" ended its six-year run, Bob Crane continued acting, but put more energy into aspiring to his philosophy that "A day without sex is a day wasted." --showing off his new penile implant and becoming a regular presence at orgies (called "scenes" in the '70's). Even Crane's second wife eventually left him-- not because of his sexual adventures, but rather from neglect. Ultimately, Crane took a good, hard look at his life, and tried to break off his relationship with buddy John Carpenter, who didn't take it well. It' was the cumulation of Crane's sexual habits and his friend's feelings of rejection that may have ultimately led to Crane's untimely fate in 1978-- which the film concludes with. Some viewers may criticize the ending of "Auto Focus" as being far too clear in implying who was responsible for Bob Crane's fate. The mystery, in actuality, has never been solved. Greg Kinnear, who won an Emmy for his role as host on E!'s "Talk Soup" and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "As Good as it Gets", is absolutely perfect in the role of Bob Crane. In his Award-worthy performance, Kinnear manages to capture the duality of Bob Crane's persona. In the beginning of his sex, lies, and videotape obsession, Crane still maintained his clean- cut, likable image alongside his sexually aggressive lifestyle. But eventually, he couldn't separate the two, and the salacious aspects of his life won out. Thanks to Kinnear's performance, Schrader's direction, and unique cinematographic techniques, the change in Kinnear's Bob Crane is so subtle that by the time we see the unshaven, unkempt, sex-obsessed Bob Crane at the end of the movie, we can't even remember the perpetually smiling, charming Bob Crane at the beginning of the movie who slept in full pajamas and went to the family priest for advice. At a round table interview session, a panel of writers including myself had the opportunity to interview Greg Kinnear and Maria Bello about "Auto Focus". Greg Kinnear, who was not only very handsome but funny and charming as well, spoke about playing Bob Crane, whom he used to watch on "Hogan's Heroes" as a child: "He (Bob Crane) seemed much more interested in documentation than he was in fornication... and I don't know what that speaks to-- I mean, obviously, some sort of narcissism..." Maria Bello ("E.R.", "Coyote Ugly"), blonde and stunningly beautiful, exhibits the same fun charisma in person that her character in "Auto Focus" displays. Bob Crane's obsession with home porn was a negative by-product of the newfound sexual freedoms of the late '60's, and something of a precursor to today's explosion of home pornography, amateur adult websites, and chat rooms with web cams. The difference is that back in the time the movie takes place-- the era of flash cubes on cameras, rotary phones, and indoor smoking-- sexual addiction wasn't discussed as the serious problem that we realize today that it can be for some folks. Bob Crane's sexual appetite-- which, arguably, was no greater than any other healthy man's-- wasn't his problem. His problem didn't even seem to be an addiction to the sex act, per se, but rather the excitement and anticipation of each sexual conquest. Viewers who believe that "Auto Focus" conveys an "anti-sex" message miss the mark. If I believed that "Auto Focus" gave that message, I would have objected. Paul Schrader has stated in an interview, "If this is a morality tale-- and I am not sure that it is-- but if it is, the moral of it isn't: 'Don't have sex' The moral is: 'Don't be selfish.' Bob's crime wasn't that he slept around a lot, it's that he was oblivious to how his behavior affected others." Crane was deceitful to the women who were unaware that they were being videotaped. In addition, his two marriages and, to a lesser extent, his career, suffered as a result of his habits. Therefore, he sabotaged several of the more stable things in his life in his quest for his "fix"-- the essence of addiction. The lesson that we can learn is that the joy of sex-- which is always greater if it includes intimacy and respect for your partner-- should not be confused with the perceived joy of anonymous sex or putting quantity (number of partners) over quality. In the gay male community, issues of sexual addiction-- often manifesting itself as, again, putting quantity over quality-- often pair up with our increasing use of relatively anonymous ways of meeting other men, like through the Internet. The result can ultimately be alienating, may cause us to overlook more rewarding aspects of life (romantic and otherwise), and can eventually contribute to our developing a "sex-is-negative" attitude-- which so many of us fight on a daily basis, thanks to the pervasive status quo that mainstream America forces upon us. Self esteem has a lot to do with it. Like so many other addictions, if we keep reminding ourselves, "I'm worth more than that!", we're taking a step in the right direction. Director Paul Schrader stated that his next big thing will be going off to Morocco to direct the fourth "Exorcist" movie. Actually a prequel to the 1973 film, the new movie will star Stellan Skarsgard as the young Father Merrin (played by Max Von Sydow in the original). Then it's on to "The Walker", in which Schrader takes the "American Gigolo" character and puts him in modern-day Washington, D.C. He's now 55 years old, gay(!), and renting himself out to rich ladies to go to the opera. Schrader wants Kevin Kline for the part. Now, that should be interesting! While Greg Kinnear stated that he's not sure about his next project, Maria Bello will next be seen in "The Cooler" with Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy.