Expected more

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely brilliant

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I have not been able to find this movie at any of the local stores. I would sort of like to see what Hollywood is showing regarding the star of Hogan. I have always gotten lots of laughs from the show but sometimes got the feeling Hogan was overdoing it.I go to youtube to get my Hogans fix every once in awhile.When I saw that Maria Bello was playing Hilda (Sigrid Valdis) I was skeptical. I have liked her in everything I have seen of her but to put her in the role of Hilda? Oh boy that is a stretch. Hilda was a healthy, curvy hunk of woman, while Bello is considerably thinner.I found the movie on netflix, so I just have to wait for it to arrive, then I'll come back and edit this review.

I don't know what Greg Kinnear has been up to lately, but as far as major rolls in movies go, he isn't doing enough.I'll admit I'm biased. I remember my girlfriend and myself laughing hysterically at Kinnear's commentaries when he hosted the old cable show 'Talk Soup', which featured highlights of the days' more outrageous talk show guests back in the late eighties. Priceless stuff.Like most people, I visibly cringe at the real Bob Crane's personal life as the details slowly began to leak into the public consciousness years after he was brutally murdered. We follow Bob as he makes the quantum leap from radio to TV early in the story as his agent lands him the lead role in risky new comedy set in a P.O.W. camp in World War 2 Germany. "Hogan's Heroes" turns out to be an overnight hit, and Bob is quickly seduced into a double life.One has to remember it was the mid-sixties. The sexual revolution was accelerating rapidly, and many already full grown adults were drawn into this new and forbidden territory, and often with disastrous results at the expense of spouses and children as well as careers. Bob's experience was no exception. By day, Bob is a loving husband and father (well, sort of). By night, Bob soon becomes unrecognizable as he quickly falls victim to all the dark sides that Hollywood has to offer, and then some.A big part of the problem is Bob's new best buddy, John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) who he meets on the set of Hogan's Heroes. John works as a salesman and representative for Sony, and is busy introducing the emerging technology of portable analog video recording systems, or video tape recorders. John is a likable enough guy, but he has a sleazy streak a mile wide.John already has Bob hob-nobbing at strip clubs after hours soon after they meet, but when John introduces Bob to the world of video tape, he is quickly filled with all kinds of dirty fun ideas.In the beginning as Bob descends into his personal cesspool, he stops himself here and there completely stupefied and shocked at his own tawdry decisions. But with John's help, he gets over it. Fast. Bob begins to swirl the great cosmic toilet bowl of depravity to the bitter end. After Hogan's Heroes is canceled, Bob, armed with his drunken arrogance, proceeds to ruin every personal and professional relationship he has. He tears through yet another marriage, loses all his children from both, alienates his agent and colleagues, and burns away money. All he has left is more booze, more sex, and John.After Bob and John begin to develop unavoidable contempt for one another, the end for Bob is right around the corner. Aside from an ending that I found too abrupt, Director Paul Schrader does an excellent job creating the tension and drama throughout the story as palpable and well presented. The supporting cast recreating the Hogan's Heroes sequences left a little to be desired, but was adequate. The exception was actor Kurt Fuller's reprising the late Werner Klemperer's role of Colonel Klink who bags it effortlessly.There is also a bit part in the movie acted by no less than Bob Crane Jr. See if you can spot it.

I can't imagine how this film has been given such a high rating here. Kinnear didn't come close to capturing Crane's confidence or charisma. His performance made Crane look like a hen-pecked Baptist; not the cocky man who dripped sheer hubris his Hogan character portrayed.The only good thing I can say about this film is that it would have given Ignatius J. Riley hours and hours worth of highly satisfactory mocking privileges.Kinnear appears to be a one-dimensional actor incapable of putting together a performance that doesn't remind viewers of his sniveling role in Little Miss Sunshine or his less than suave Dr. David Ravell in Nurse Betty.

I purchased this DVD because it featured Greg Kinnear in what appeared to be an attractive role. Well, it quickly hit a rough patch when I started to watch. This film has what is arguably the lamest and weakest theme song ever. It equals the efforts of a first-year college film student on his big project.Greg Kinnear did a good job portraying the look and mannerisms of Bob Crane. I could see that Greg spent a lot of time reviewing 'Hogan's Heros' episodes to get this aspect of his character down. He darkened his hair and successfully copied a lot of the familiar Bob Crane facial expressions. His efforts to be a convincing drummer were much weaker. Greg obviously has not the slightest musical ability.The plot of the film followed Bob Crane's plunge to the bottom from his career peak when he was cast for the lead in 'Hogan's Heros'. It became clear that Bob Crane could not handle all that success. He did tolerably well as a moderately-successful DJ and bit-part actor. He had never been the ladies' man of his fantasies and was resigned to being the devoted husband and father. He only occasionally lapsed from rectitude with his stash of porn magazines.Bob Crane's mismanagement of the tremendous wealth he earned from his salary for the lead role on a hit TV series was astounding. This man need never have worked another day in his life. Instead he was nearly broke when his TV show went out of production.The dynamics of the 'Hogan's Heros' cast relationships were somewhat interesting. I don't know how accurately the film portrayed the rancor between Bob Crane and Richard Dawson. It seemed to ring true, since we saw how big an ass Richard could be when he hosted 'Family Feud'.The mutually-destructive relationship between Bob Crane and John Carpenter was so creepy as to make my skin crawl. Carpenter was obviously a closet homosexual getting his gratification filming the sexploits of Crane with a horrid fixation on filming Crane's genitals in action. Crane had to be remarkably dense not to pick up on this motivation of Carpenter.It was so depressing to see how many women were willing to degrade themselves with this toxic duo in order to associate briefly with a minor celebrity. Crane married two women who really loved him. Unfortunately, he was so depraved that he could never be faithful as long as so many other women were available.The movie strongly hinted that John Carpenter murdered Bob Crane. When Crane broke off his relationship with Carpenter, it was like a lover's rejection to Carpenter. He was cut off from his vicarious access to his sexual fixation and the access to women that the pitiful dregs of Crane's fame still afforded.It cannot have been pleasant for Bob Crane's former wives and children for all this dirty laundry to be aired in this film. Perhaps some moral lessons from this film will benefit others with the inclination to follow in Bob Crane's footsteps.Overall, this film was more a moral lesson than entertainment. It wasn't much fun to watch, it was perhaps too realistic for my comfort. I hope Greg Kinnear chooses some more appealing scripts in future.