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Auto Focus (2002)

R   |    |  Biography, Crime, Drama

Auto Focus (2002) Poster

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

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6.6/10
12,376
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66 Metascore

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Photos

  • Greg Kinnear and Catherine Dent in Auto Focus (2002)
  • Willem Dafoe and Greg Kinnear in Auto Focus (2002)
  • Auto Focus (2002)
  • Greg Kinnear at an event for Auto Focus (2002)
  • Greg Kinnear at an event for Auto Focus (2002)
  • Greg Kinnear at an event for Auto Focus (2002)

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Awards

6 nominations.

Reviews & Commentary

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User Reviews
20 April 2005 | Dehlia_
10
| 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.

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Critic Reviews

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The leather jacket that Greg Kinnear wears while playing Bob Crane in the Hogan's Heroes (1965) scenes of this movie is the one that Crane actually wore during the shoot of that TV series. Crane's son Robert David Crane loaned the jacket to Kinnear for this movie. Prior to the original "Hogan's Heroes" show, this jacket was worn by Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express (1965).

Quotes

Bob Crane: A day without sex...
John Carpenter: ...is a day wasted!

Goofs

Crane's daughters play with a bent-armed Barbie doll; all such dolls of that era had straight arms.

Alternate Versions

Director Paul Schrader stated at the Toronto International Film Festival that the film originally garnered an "NC-17", but was toned down to get an "R". The problem was a scene where hardcore pornography is seen on a television in the background, as well as a scene where a girl is clearly seen giving oral sex with motions. The version shown at the Film festival was uncut, as the will be the International version.

Soundtracks

Souza Palooza
Written and Performed by Tree Adams
Courtesy of Treehouse Music, Inc.

Storyline

Plot Summary

Genres

Biography | Crime | Drama

Details

Release Date:

1 November 2002

Language

English

Country of Origin

USA

Filming Locations

Mecca, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$123,761 (USA) (20 October 2002)

Gross:

$2,062,066 (USA) (26 January 2003)

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