Auto Focus (2002)

The life of TV star Bob Crane and his strange friendship with electronics expert John Henry Carpenter.

Director:

Paul Schrader

Writers:

Robert Graysmith (book), Michael Gerbosi

Stars:

Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Maria Bello

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Greg Kinnear	...	Bob Crane
Willem Dafoe	...	John Carpenter
Rita Wilson	...	Anne Crane
Maria Bello	...	Patricia Olson / Patricia Crane
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 (as Donnamarie Recco)
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 (1965), 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:

breasts pulled out | breast fondling | sex scene | sex addict | breasts | 

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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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Certificate:

18A

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film depicts a Hogan's Heroes press/affiliate party and this scene was filmed at the Ocotillo Lodge in Palm Springs. The original party was held at the Ocotillo in October of 1965 and featured a POW theme with attendants dressed as guards and leaflets dropped overhead from a World War II plane. Overnight guests found a "Welcome to Stalag 13" sticker affixed to their room key.

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Goofs

When Crane's photographs are spread across the floor, we see small black lettering on the back of each print. This black lettering is a computer printout of exposure information, used by photo lab machines only since the 1980s, long after the movie's setting in the late '60s/early '70s.

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Quotes

John Carpenter: Do you know what time it is? It's FUCK time!

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Alternate Versions

The following deleted scenes appear on the DVD:

• Victoria finds Bob's body.
• Hogan's Heroes Montage
• Bob unloads drums and some dirty magazines fall out.
• Anne and Bob talking by the pool.
• Anne in the darkroom.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Yes I'm Ready
Written and Performed by Barbara Mason
Courtesy of Arctic Record Co. / Jamie Record Co.

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 November 2002 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Auto Focus

Filming Locations:

Mecca, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$123,761, 20 October 2002

Gross USA:

$2,063,196

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,704,951

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