Auto Focus (2002)

72% of critics liked it
(155 reviews)
57% of users liked it
(5,596 ratings)

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. Auto Focus chronologically traces the meteoric rise of Crane's show business career, beginning… More 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. 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

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 46 min.
Directed By: Paul Schrader
Written By: Trevor Macy, Michael Gerbosi
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Oct 18, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Mar 18, 2003
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

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.
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.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Admirably unconventional film.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
It never answers the key question: Why should we care?
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Kinnear is brilliant here ... and he's matched by Dafoe.
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.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
A repetitive and disappointingly shallow look at what is in fact an intriguing Hollywood mystery.
Christopher Smith, Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Out of focus.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Sempre fascinante, o filme traz Greg Kinnear e Willem Dafoe em performances absolutamente impecáveis.
Oz, eFilmCritic.com
See it for Kinnear's performance, see it for a supreme depiction of the time, but don't go in expecting Citizen Kane. More like Deep Throat.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
Another probing case history of male pathology from one of the most consistently interesting American film-makers alive.
Jurgen Fauth, About.com
Given its lurid subject matter, the film is astoundingly bland.
Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly
Crane's story is a modern Hollywood tragedy, and Schrader and Kinnear treat it with the utmost respect, creating a film that is both touching and bittersweet.
Shannon J. Harvey, Sunday Times (Australia)
..interesting for the way it reveals what the advent of the videotape in the '70s has done to all of us. Like the Internet in the '90s, it has helped make what's private public - for better or worse.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Coxxie M

Willem Dafoe is my GOD.
Randy T

Apparently there is a downside to pornography. Who knew?!?!
Dean !

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… More
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 like 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.
Clintus M

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… More
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, and 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.
Greg S

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,… More
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 a reasonably nice break from all the glorified violence dressed up as epic adventure.
Creep F

"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… More
"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 heroin 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." <img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/BobCrane.jpg"> 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! <img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/AutoFocus2.jpg"> 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
Tsubaki S

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.
Dean M

Interesting true Hollywood story about the life and times of 1960s TV luminary Bob Crane from his days as radio jock to <i>Hogan's Heroes</i> celebrity, married man, strip club frequenter, to sex-addict and do-it-yourself handicam porngrapher.
Michael G

This film was so dark and creepy. Therefore I loved it.
Walter M

"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… More
"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 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.
Stephen E

Never before have I seen a movie present such lurid subject matter with such an upbeat tone -- excluding Todd Solondz's Happiness, that is. Paul Schrader is a man who certainly knows how to capture the darker points of life onscreen. Auto Focus and Affliction, the latter being a… More
Never before have I seen a movie present such lurid subject matter with such an upbeat tone -- excluding Todd Solondz's Happiness, that is. Paul Schrader is a man who certainly knows how to capture the darker points of life onscreen. Auto Focus and Affliction, the latter being a personal favorite of mine, are perfect examples of that. Schrader begins by showing us a character that has been a victim of circumstance, and then leads us down a path to despair as they are swallowed by their own sin. In the end, we cannot help but feel pity for them . Though Schrader is indifferent to the lead character, Bob Crane, it is clear that he loathes and holds a deep resentment for the sin that Crane commits. It is exactly that that makes Auto Focus such a good film, not to mention the wonderful performance from Greg Kinnear. There need to be more directors like Paul Schrader out there. Cinema does have a purpose, but, sadly, it is typically used to entertain audiences with either bad jokes, loud action, or both. I, for one, feel that cinema is a perfect way to warn the world of the dangers and temptations that lurk beneath the happy exterior, the dangers that lurk like characters in a David Lynch film. Cinema's number one purpose is for entertainment, yes, and I have no quarrels with that, but take a look at the world we live in. Look at the box office totals between Auto Focus and, say, Transformers. Surprised?
Alec B

I had no idea Bob Crane led such an "interesting" life. I new that he was murdered and that the case was never solved, but I had no idea that he had such a strong sex addiction. I was worried that this would be another ups and downs of stardom bio-pic, but Auto Focus is so… More
I had no idea Bob Crane led such an "interesting" life. I new that he was murdered and that the case was never solved, but I had no idea that he had such a strong sex addiction. I was worried that this would be another ups and downs of stardom bio-pic, but Auto Focus is so frank and unapologetic that it becomes original for simply having the guts to hold no punches. Greg Kinnear gives a terrific performance as Crane and Paul Schrader deserves so much credit for never giving the audience a moment of hope in the downward spiral of Bob Crane.
Joey N

About 3/4ths of this movie is fast-paced, juicy fun, but things get a little trite and cliched in the this-has-gone-too-far section. Greg Kinnear is the perfect choice to capture this guy's double personality: old-fashioned nice guy and closeted pervert. The day-dream sequence… More
About 3/4ths of this movie is fast-paced, juicy fun, but things get a little trite and cliched in the this-has-gone-too-far section. Greg Kinnear is the perfect choice to capture this guy's double personality: old-fashioned nice guy and closeted pervert. The day-dream sequence is particularly strong.
Stephen E

Paul Schrader's "Auto Focus" is shockingly bleak, abrupt, and offers virtually no catharsis. Never before have I seen a movie present such lurid subject matter with such an upbeat tone.
Brian R

I admire the character Bob Crane who is known for acting in the 1960's TV series "Hogan's Heroes" but there is a haunting personal side of Crane I didn't know and that was his passion(actually his obsession) with photography and video equipment while mixing it… More
I admire the character Bob Crane who is known for acting in the 1960's TV series "Hogan's Heroes" but there is a haunting personal side of Crane I didn't know and that was his passion(actually his obsession) with photography and video equipment while mixing it in with his sexual escapades with women. Filmmaker Paul Schrader knows these characters inside out from his Travis Bickle, to Wade Whithouse and even Mishima. It is Crane's personal dark obsession that I instantly noticed. The first half is filled with Crane's happy life(Schrader and his crew uses bright colors to suggest the feeling) as the film reaches the early 1970's the colors start to drab a little and the camera movement becomes shaky because Crane's life at that time was getting WAY to shaky. Greg Kinnear was born to play the DJ/Actor sensation and Dafoe is creepy as John Carpenter. "Auto Focus" is one of my favourite pictures.
Jared H

If there was ever a movie that illustrated how dangerous sex can be, this movie is it. You start off with a successful career, a nice wife, a good Christian family, and then you get curious. The next thing you know you're cheating on your wife, then you're doing weirder and… More
If there was ever a movie that illustrated how dangerous sex can be, this movie is it. You start off with a successful career, a nice wife, a good Christian family, and then you get curious. The next thing you know you're cheating on your wife, then you're doing weirder and weirder stuff, then you're addicted, then you look back and realize that your family has fallen apart, and then betrayal happens and you die...all in the name of a good time. And this is a true story too. Kinnear plays his part quite well, though I thought Dafoe was a little too old and overtly creepy for his part. Never heard of Bob Crane before, but that dude straight up lost sight of the Jeez, and and a downward spiral ensued.