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Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Maria Bello, Ron Leibman ... see more see more... , Kurt Fuller , Ed Begley Jr , Michael E. Rodgers , Michael McKean , Christopher Neiman , Bruce Solomon , Lyle Kanouse , Nikita Ager

The life and sordid, untimely death of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane are explored by director Paul Schrader in this biopic, which marks one of the few times the filmmaker has not scripted his own film... read more read more.... Auto Focus chronologically traces the meteoric rise of Crane's show business career, beginning with his early success as a jokey deejay on Los Angeles morning radio in the early '60s. A devout family man, Crane lives in Southern Californian comfort with his wife Anne (Rita Wilson) and their young children, relishing the modicum of celebrity his job provides him. His life begins to change, however, when his agent Lenny (Ron Leibman) proposes that he take a breakthrough role on the CBS POW-camp sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Initially reluctant to take the job, Crane signs on with the production and, to his and everyone else's surprise, the show becomes a smash hit. With celebrity comes a new set of friends, and Crane falls in with audio-visual guru John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), a Sony sales rep who spends his days setting up home entertainment systems for the Hollywood elite, and his nights cruising strip clubs for anonymous sexual encounters. Already a pornography buff, Crane starts using his fame to secure him and Carpenter an endless parade of affairs, which they videotape and then obsessively review. It isn't long before Anne demands a divorce, and Crane marries his Hogan's co-star Patti Olsen (aka Sigrid Valdis, here played by Maria Bello), who's more accepting of his escapades. When the sitcom is canceled, however, Crane has trouble securing acting jobs, and recedes further and further into his life of amateur porn with Carpenter. Auto Focus premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals before its art-house run in the fall of 2002. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Flixster Users

57% liked it

5,645 ratings

Critics

72% liked it

155 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 46 min.

Directed by: Paul Schrader

Release Date: October 18, 2002

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DVD Release Date: March 18, 2003

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Flixster Reviews (331)

  • LoughnerWasLucid
    May 31, 2011
    LoughnerWasLucid
    Willem Dafoe is my GOD.
  • flixsterman
    April 23, 2011
    flixsterman
    Apparently there is a downside to pornography. Who knew?!?!
  • Deano78
    April 9, 2011
    Deano78
    A well made film about the actor Bob Crane from a hit 70's TV show. His soaring popularity effects him in many ways, becoming a sex addict and with technology progressing at the time making his own "home" videos and pictures. A little known film with a good cast, how much you lik... read moree it depends on whether you knew of the actor or TV show. I didn't but still found it interesting as it's based on true events.
  • clintervin
    January 13, 2011
    clintervin
    This movie is the portarit of Bob Crane's degeneration from seemingly wholesome family man into a deplorable, disgusting condition. Because of his dual personas, many never knew the real man. The best aspect of the film may be its tone; the viewer actually feels Crane's decline, ... read moreand the tone increases in melancholy. I found myself becoming depressed. Secondly, these are some of the best performances you'll see. The leads, Kinnear and Dafoe are stunningly realistic. Dafoe's Carpenter is needy, creepy, and slimy. Kinnear's Crane is charmingly likeable while just as sleazy and completely amoral. Kurt Fuller as Col. Klink is a riot, perfect casting.

    Its a study of addiction. Like any addict, Crane constantly announced plans to change but never made any effort. If he really meant to in the end, that's probably what got him killed. His obsession ruined his life and career.

    Director Paul Schrader may have made a faithful adaptation of the source book, but it left me wanting more of some things and less of others. It did have plenty of sleaze. Its a gloomy, unflinching film, and I recommend it to anyone willing to delve into the dark underbelly of success.
  • 366weirdmovies
    May 7, 2009
    366weirdmovies
    Actor Bob Crane gets the lead in "Hogan's Heroes," then loses his family and career because of extreme bad judgement in filming his numerous swinging sexcapades. Not a serious study of "sex addiction" but glorified softcore sleaze dressed up as tragic drama, which actually makes... read more a reasonably nice break from all the glorified violence dressed up as epic adventure.
  • creepfreak
    February 5, 2009
    creepfreak
    "A day without sex is a day wasted."
    - Bob Crane


    Sad, and at times quite painfully funny. Moving and deeply disturbing in it's depressing nature. As perversely real and somber as it is, Auto Focus is simply fantastic.

    Bob Crane has an urge for sex in the same way a heroi... read moren addict relentlessly craves his or her next fix. He's blinded by the sexual pleasures which slowly deteriorate his naturally talented capabilities and the essence of his charmed, kind heartedness. What starts out as a promising dream becomes a fu*king nightmare from something so pleasantly pure and natural. His drug doesn't come from any needle. It doesn't come in the form of a pill or a powder. It doesn't come from the bottom of a bottle. In fact, Bob's drug has a mind of it's own and it comes in the form of a beautiful woman...hundreds of them. And by "drug" I do speak of the kind of deadly addiction, an addiction that's harmful in everyway possible. For those who have any doubt or are questionable about the extremities that sexual addiction can cause, crippling the mind, destroying your consciousness and driving close ones away, I assure you that Auto Focus will set you straight.


    The Real Bob Crane:
    "In 1965, Crane was offered the starring role in a television comedy pilot about a German P.O.W. camp. Hogan's Heroes became a hit and finished in the Top Ten in its first year on the air. The series lasted six seasons, and Crane was nominated for an Emmy Award twice, in 1966 and 1967."



    His Death:
    "During the run of Hogan's Heroes, sitcom costar Richard Dawson introduced Crane (a photography enthusiast) to John Henry Carpenter, who worked in the stock room at Sony Electronics and could acquire early VCRs.

    On a late night in 1978, Crane allegedly called Carpenter to tell him that their friendship was over. The following day, Crane was discovered bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a camera tripod) at the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale, Arizona. Crane had been appearing in Scottsdale in a production of a play titled Beginner's Luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre, now known as Buzz, located at the southeast corner of Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Rd."


    At times Auto Focus may sicken. This film sure gets it's hands dirty but it never becomes redundant, and it's clear that shock wasn't it's prime agenda, but only to simply give us an idea of what really went down in the most suitable way possible, although hard given the sleazy realities of Bob Crane, but always done with great skill and well polished structure.

    It's strong solid performances and sharp crafty script make it seem all the more precise, realistically dangerous and it becomes a mind blowing experience. A jaw dropping story that needed an audience and couldn't have been told any better, visually. Auto Focus is a great film!


    AUTO FOCUS

    "The film is pitch-perfect in its decor, music, clothes, cars, language and values. It takes place during those heady years between the introduction of the Pill and the specter of AIDS, when men shaped as adolescents by Playboy in the 1950s now found some of their fantasies within reach."
    - Roger Ebert

    "A hilarious and harrowing portrait of addiction and self-annihilation."
    - eye WEEKLY

    "Auto Focus is tough stuff, but it's as profoundly resonant as it is immediately disturbing."
    - Premiere Magazine

    "Sordid, surreal tale of "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane's rise and fall grabs you tight like a clammy handshake and doesn't let go."
    - James Rocchi (Netflix)

    "Creepy, authentic and dark. This disturbing bio-pic is hard to forget."
    - Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

    "Two thumbs up, way up!"
    - Ebert & Roeper
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    April 16, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Great chemistry between Kinnear and Dafoe. Good direction but the plot feels aimless at times. Crane's character feels very little explored. Neverless, the movie never gets dull.
  • deano
    March 1, 2007
    deano
    Interesting true Hollywood story about the life and times of 1960s TV luminary Bob Crane from his days as radio jock to Hogan's Heroes celebrity, married man, strip club frequenter, to sex-addict and do-it-yourself handicam porngrapher.
  • mjgildea
    November 13, 2006
    mjgildea
    This film was so dark and creepy. Therefore I loved it.
  • gator681
    January 2, 2006
    gator681
    "Auto Focus" is based on a true story. It is 1964 in Los Angeles and DJ Bob Crane(Greg Kinnear) has just received an offer from his agent(Ron Liebman) to star in a new TV series called "Hogan's Heroes". The show turns out to be wildly popular and turns Crane into a star. While... read more at the studio one day, Crane meets John(no, not the film director) Carpenter(Willem Dafoe), a top salesman from Sony who is selling the first VTR's(video tape recorders) to select clientele. Carpenter also introduces Crane to the world of strip joints where Crane sits in as a drummer on occasion.(Crane is a married man. He also an interest in photography which spills over into nudes.) He also exploits Crane's interest in pornography into a full swinging lifestyle which is recorded for posterity by Carpenter's equipment.

    I do not honestly see what the point of "Auto Focus" is supposed to be. A whole bunch of topics are barely touched on like dubious celebrity and the need for self-control.(And Crane is not the first nor the last one-hit wonder in television history.) Yes, "Hogan's Heroes" does sound like a bad idea but then so does "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer."

    The relationship between Crane and Carpenter is not really homoerotic in nature. It is more like shared misogyny. Both men only seem interested in the physical side of women and Crane takes pictures just of female body parts.(But on the other hand, the movie pays little attention to its female characters.) And I wonder if Carpenter ever had a lasting relationship with a woman? I do not know anything about the real Carpenter but Dafoe only shows off the character's sleazy and sinister side which would not exacly make him somebody you would want to hang out with, much less swing with.

    Playboy Magazine had been published since 1953, so I don't understand why nude photography would be a huge surprise 12 years later. And Crane and Carpenter are ahead of their time by creating pornographic home movies in the 1960's.

View All Auto Focus Reviews

Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer
January 16, 2003
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine

Schrader really isn't interested in Crane except as the straw man for his moral lessons about sin and sexuality and the nature of celebrity. Full Review

Rick Groen
November 8, 2002
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

How do you make a movie with depth about a man who lacked any? On the evidence before us, the answer is clear: Not easily and, in the end, not well enough. Full Review

Desson Thomson
November 1, 2002
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Admirably unconventional film. Full Review

Stephen Hunter
November 1, 2002
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

It never answers the key question: Why should we care? Full Review

Joe Baltake
November 1, 2002
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Kinnear is brilliant here ... and he's matched by Dafoe. Full Review

Susan Stark
November 1, 2002
Susan Stark, Detroit News

It's no fun to watch, but there's no denying the power of its point of view, of its two lead performances and of its claim to attention as an evocation of recent social history.

Terry Lawson
November 1, 2002
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

You may want to fast-forward to a movie with a point. Full Review

Bill Muller
November 1, 2002
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

Although Kinnear looks the part, he's never able to capture Crane's intangible charm, a peculiar mix of leering slickness and affable class clown.

Roger Moore
October 31, 2002
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

The emptiness of serial seductions has never been painted in starker colors. And the message of Auto Focus stings and sticks with you.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
October 29, 2002
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Somewhat blurred, but Kinnear's performance is razor sharp.

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