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

Bob puts his hand on his wife's shoulder, in the next shot, it is by his side.

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Quotes

[watching their videotaped orgy]
Bob Crane: What is that on my ass?
John Carpenter: That is my hand.
Bob Crane: Rubbing my ass?
John Carpenter: So what?
Bob Crane: Your fingers are up my cheeks. What you doing in there?
John Carpenter: lt's an orgy, Bob.
Bob Crane: So you can just touch my ass?
John Carpenter: I thought you liked it. - I thought it was her! God! What's the difference?
Bob Crane: The difference? You got your fingers up my asshole!
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Gilmore Girls: We Got Us a Pippi Virgin (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Souza Palooza"
Written and Performed by Tree Adams
Courtesy of Treehouse Music, Inc.

User Reviews

Focused drama

A cautionary tale of the dangers of sexual addiction, `Auto Focus' shows what can happen when a person attempts to lead a double life – in this case, a straight-laced family man by day and a pornography-obsessed playboy by night. In `Auto Focus,' the family man/pornographer turns out to be none other than the well-known actor Bob Crane, the star of TV's `Hogan's Heroes,' who was found murdered in a Scottsdale, Arizona hotel room in 1978 under mysterious and sensational circumstances that included the uncovering of tapes Crane had made of his own sexual experiences. The general public was shocked to discover that a man they had invited into their living rooms every week for six years had been living such an unsavory parallel existence – though those who knew him well were apparently far less shocked by the revelation. Drawing on Robert Graysmith's book `The Murder of Bob Crane' for its inspiration and viewpoint, the film, written by Michael Gerbosi and directed by Paul Schrader, chronicles the rise and fall of this handsome actor, from his days as a successful LA disc jockey and his meteoric rise to fame as star of a hit comedy series, to his growing obsession with promiscuity and pornography, which led to the disintegration of both his personal and professional life - and, ultimately, to his death, most likely at the hands of his buddy-in-sleaze, videographer John Carpenter (though he was never convicted of the murder).

`Auto Focus' certainly does not shy away from revealing many of the salacious details of this true-life story. Schrader deals head-on with the disturbing nature of a mind so all consumed with the subject of sex that all other aspects of life become obliterated and distorted. What's fascinating about Crane – at least in the way he is depicted in this film – is that he seems to have had some sort of self-destructive death wish, for not only does he risk his career by sleeping with countless women, but he insists on leaving behind the evidence by videotaping many of his encounters, and then flaunting his `accomplishments' to others in the Hollywood community. In a way, such a cavalier attitude only underlines the sickness at the core of Crane's soul – which in a perverse, paradoxical way, actually makes Crane a more sympathetic figure than he otherwise might be. An enormous amount of credit for this also goes to Greg Kinnear who does a superb job of not only replicating Crane's style of acting but of showing us the tortured man Crane became in his later years. He was truly a man driven to madness by the demons within him, and we can all identify in some sense with that condition (our demons may not be sexual in nature, but they probably eat away at us just as ravenously as they did Crane). Kinnear gets outstanding support from Willem Dafoe as Carpenter, the Svengali-like figure who lures Crane into his world of photographed sex, and Ron Leibman, as Crane's well-meaning, caring agent who can do little but stand by helplessly as his client throws his career and his life away to feed this devouring passion.

The filmmakers have done an amazing job capturing the sights and sounds of the era in which the film is set. Especially impressive are the scenes recreating `Hogan's Heroes,' with Kurt Fuller, in particular, a standout as Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink). It's also fascinating to see the evolution of videotape technology as portrayed in the film. How many of us knew that such equipment existed for home consumption as early as the mid-60's?

There's a real sadness to the final stretches of the film, made all the more poignant by having the dirge-like musical score run uninterrupted under the action. The effect is that we really get a sense of the total desolation of Crane's life at that point – as he has lost his family, his career, and his self-respect to the master he chose early on to serve. The loss of his life seems almost de rigueur given all that has gone before. `Auto Focus' is not always an easy film to watch, but for its unflinching look at an often-unappetizing subject, it deserves to be seen.