Auto Focus (2002)

A story about "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane and his friendship with John Carpenter.

Director:

Paul Schrader

Writers:

Robert Graysmith (book), Michael Gerbosi

Stars:

Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Greg Kinnear	...	Bob Crane
Willem Dafoe	...	John Carpenter
Rita Wilson	...	Anne Crane
Maria Bello	...	Patricia Olson / Patrica Crane / Sigrid Valdis
Ron Leibman	...	Lenny
Bruce Solomon	...	Edward H. Feldman
Michael E. Rodgers	...	Richard Dawson (as Michael Rodgers)
Kurt Fuller	...	Werner Klemperer
Christopher Neiman	...	Robert Clary
Lyle Kanouse	...	John Banner
Donnamarie Recco	...	Melissa / Mistress Victoria
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Mel Rosen
Michael McKean	...	Video Executive
Cheryl Lynn Bowers	...	Cynthia Lynn
Don McManus	...	Priest

Storyline

In 1965, Bob Crane, who had achieved some earlier success as a television supporting actor, was working as a successful morning radio DJ at KNX Los Angeles. Despite enjoying his work, photography (especially of the female form) and drumming, Crane wanted to be a movie star. So it was with some reluctance that he accepted the title starring role in a new television sitcom called Hogan's Heroes, a WWII POW comedy. To his surprise, the show became a hit and catapulted him to television stardom. The fame resulting from the show led to excesses and a meeting with home video salesman and technician John Carpenter, with who he would form a friendship based on their mutual interests, namely excessive sex (for Crane, purely heterosexual sex) and capturing nude females on celluloid. His fame allowed Crane to have as much sex as he wanted, which was incongruent to his somewhat wholesome television friendly image, and the way he portrayed himself to almost everyone except Carpenter and his ...

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Plot Keywords:

sex | friendship | video | radio | murder | 

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Taglines:

A day without sex is a day wasted.

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality, nudity, language, some drug use and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 November 2002 (Canada)

Also Known As:

A szexfüggő

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$123,761 (USA) (18 October 2002)

Gross:

$2,062,066 (USA) (24 January 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Puller Inc., Good Machine, Propaganda Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The leather jacket that Greg Kinnear wore while playing 'Bob Crane' in the Hogan's Heroes scenes in this movie was the one that 'Bob Crane' actually wore during that TV series Hogan's Heroes. Crane's son Bob Jr. (Robert David Crane) loaned the jacket to Greg Kinnear for this movie. Prior to Hogan's Heroes, this jacket was worn by Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express.

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Goofs

There is a glimpse of the famous Capitol Records building painted silver. At the time of the film, it was actually painted black to resemble a stack of records.

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Quotes

Interviewer: You've been married to your high school sweetheart for sixteen years.
Bob Crane: Fifteen, actually.
Interviewer: Fifteen years. How do you do it? What's your secret?
Bob Crane: Three words: Don't... make... waves. As every sailor knows, when one set of waves meets another set of waves, it can set up some chop. And when three sets of waves come together, it can make for some mighty rough sailing. It also helps sometimes to have a harmless safety valve. So when I get tense, I blow off steam. And so, when it comes to my own family,...
[...]

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Connections

References The Lone Ranger (1949)

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Soundtracks

"Whenever We're Apart"
Written by Curt Sobel and Gary Schreiner
Performed by Loverman featuring Klyde Jones
Courtesy of Palisades Music Productions

User Reviews

Obsession and Emptiness

Actor Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear), star of Hogan's Heroes, forms a friendship with a video enthusiast (Willem Dafoe) and together they become obsessed with sex, swinging, and photographing or filming the action.

This is a brilliantly disturbing movie. Kinnear carefully plays Crane as a blank-faced cypher who cannot see himself, and is comfortable with the surface of things. Thus photography is the perfect obsession for him; he can look without participating, even when he's looking at his own participation. Auto Focus is a clever title, referring to both the photography and the only person upon whom Crane can focus. He is lost in a world of obsessively meaningless behavior.

A look at IMDb's message board for the film shows that one of Crane's two sons is fighting the misinformation presented by director Paul Schrader and Crane's other son. It does seem that the movie distorts some biographical facts, but what biopic doesn't? This story of obsession and doom is worth much more than its attention to one man's biography.