Auto Focus (2002)

Copyright by the Doomster 2003

Rating (1 to 10) : 6

Summary: A biopic about actor Robert Crane, who played Col. Hogan in the popular TV series “Hogan’s Heroes”.

“I’m normal. People got these hang-ups”. That’s how Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear, Simon in “As Good As It Gets”) describes himself in “Auto Focus”. This movie shows the life of Bob Crane from when he was starting out as a popular radio host to when he became the well-know Col. Hogan on “Hogan’s Heroes” to when he was killed in Scottsdale under mysterious circumstances. Between the two points, you witness his decline as he goes from a family man with a predilection for pornographic magazines to a famous TV star with such a serious sex addiction that he filmed himself having sex with thousands of women. It got to a point where, as Bob says “All I think about all day long is sex. Having sex, filming sex, watching sex.”

Greg Kinnear does a magnificent job of portraying Bob Crane. It helps that Kinnear resembles Bob Crane but it’s more than his appearance. Kinnear mimics Crane’s mannerisms to a tee - his disarming smile, glib personality, and smooth wit, the real-life persona of Col. Hogan. As Bob says of himself, he’s a likeable guy.

But behind the façade of a harmless, likeable guy, you see the other side of Crane, the man who is a sex addict who tried to have a different woman every day. With his sidekick hanger-on John Carpenter (William Dafoe, Norman Osborne in “Spider-Man”), Bob frequents strip joints and attends swinger parties. He has thousands of photos of naked women (he claims that he’s a student of photography). With the help of John, a video equipment specialist, he films thousands of hours of videotape of him having sex with women. If there is one weakness of this movie, it’s that it never reveals or even hints at the root cause of Bob Crane’s addiction.

At first, Bob Crane is able to keep his “other” life well hidden but as the movie progresses and his addiction gets larger and larger, his “other” life intrudes into his public life, becoming far bigger than his family, his marriages, and his career. Bob Crane can’t do a guest appearance on a cooking show without making a lewd sexual comment about a well-endowed woman in the audience. As Bob Crane tries to do other things after “Hogan’s Heroes”, his behavior sullies his reputation to the point of closing doors on his career. His financial situation after his divorces force him to travel around the country doing dinner theater and Bob Crane was in Scottsdale in 1978 doing his show when he was killed.

It’s sad to see how the life of someone like Bob Crane is cut short by an addiction but the fatal addictions are usually drug-related that cause physiological damage. Sex itself didn’t kill Bob Crane but being around the sexually licentious environment created a situation where someone found a reason to kill him. You wonder why Bob Crane, who had two attractive wives, wonderful children, and a great career, would throw it all away just for carnal pleasures. Again, the movie doesn’t get to the root cause of his addiction but then again, perhaps the director wanted to keep it unexplained and inexplicable. The movie also makes an underhanded comment on how much women are attracted to fame and power; even a declining star like Bob Crane could pick up on beautiful women just based on his celebrity status, no matter how dimming it was.

Why you should or should not see this movie:

If you liked “Hogan’s Heroes”, this is an interesting film about Bob Crane and the real Col. Hogan. Even if you aren’t a fan, you should see it to see a great performance by Greg Kinnear, an underrated actor who does a spot-on impersonation of Bob Crane. Willem Dafoe also deserves accolades – he makes John Carpenter come off as a creepy sycophant who was the enabler to Bob Crane, all in a believable manner.

Memorable quotes

Bob Crane: “Hey, I do my best work in front of the camera.”

Interviewer: “How do you do it? What’s your secret?”

Bob Crane: “Three words. Don’t….make….waves.”

Bob Crane: “All I think about all day long is sex. Having sex, filming sex, watching sex.”

Bob Crane: “I’m a normal red-blooded American man. I like to look at naked women. I love breasts. Any kind. I love ‘em. Boobs, bazooms, balloons, bags, bazongas, the bigger the better. Nipples like udders. Nipples like saucers. Big pale, rosy-brown nipples. Little bitty baby nipples. Real or fake, what’s the difference? I like tits. Who’s kidding who? Tits are great!”

Bob Crane: “A day without sex….

John Carpenter: “…is a day wasted.”

Lenny: “Sex is not the answer.”

Bob Crane: “I know that Lenny, it’s the question. ‘Yes’ is the answer.”

Bob Crane: “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. Two out of three ain’t bad.”