Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 10/18/2002(USA
Release Date: 03/18/2003
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 106 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Adult Humor, Profanity, Substance Abuse (Alcohol, Drugs)
Distributor/Studio: Columbia TriStar
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, All Movie Guide
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