Greg Kinnear and Maria Belo in a scene from the motion picture "Auto Focus." (Gannett News Service, Frank Masi/Sony Pictures Classics). Auto Focus Starring: Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe. Director: Paul Schrader. Rated R: Strong sexuality, nudity, language, some drug use and violence Running time: 104 minutes. view the trailer | official website Based on true story, a glimpse into the colorful life, and mysterious death, of actor Bob Crane. Handsome and charming, Crane became well known as the star of CBS' hit comedy "Hogan's Heroes" (1965-1971). Capitalizing on his fame, Crane dove into the freewheeling spirit of the times with relish, having affairs with numerous women. Crane fell into the seamy world of sex, strip clubs, and decadance. Eventually, Crane teamed up with video technician John Carpenter to document his exploits, an association that may very well have led to his murder in a Scottsdale, Arizona motel room in 1978, where his skull was crushed with a camera tripod.

by Christy Lemire, Associated Press

Bob Crane had the misfortune of living in a time before video cameras were everywhere, allowing people to document their every idiosyncrasy and indiscretion.

If he were alive today, the star of the '60s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" might not have been perceived as a sexual deviant. His propensity for producing his own pornography, combined with the kitsch of his TV career, might have landed him a reality series on the Playboy Channel - or at least a spot as a contestant on celebrity "Fear Factor."

That's fitting, because director Paul Schrader's "Auto Focus" often plays like "The E! True Hollywood Story" of Crane's life. The moment in which he's bludgeoned to death with a camera tripod feels like the kind of cheesy dramatization for which such shows are known.

The year: 1978. The place: Scottsdale, Ariz. Through a cracked door, we see Crane (Greg Kinnear) lying asleep in the dark in a hotel room bed. We see the silhouette of a figure enter the room. Then we see the shadow of that person raising a tripod in the air before crashing it down on Crane's head.

The scene is emblematic of the tone Schrader takes throughout the movie. Too often, he simply re-enacts Crane's key moments, from his rise to fame in the '60s to the sexual indulgences in the '70s that cost him his career, his two marriages, and ultimately, his life at 49. Other recent biopics - "Man on the Moon," "Steal This Movie" and "Pollock" - felt simi­ larly superficial in their treatment of Andy Kaufman, Abbie Hoffman and Jackson Pollock, respectively. While the actors capably go through the motions, they're never truly moving.

Producers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski know this territory well, so they should know better: They wrote the screenplays for "Man on the Moon" and the far superior "Ed Wood," a great example of telling a real person's story in a compelling way.

Schrader also has had his share of experience with films about tormented men: He wrote the screenplays for "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "The Last Temptation of Christ," and wrote and directed "Affliction."

With "Auto Focus," he doesn't try to psychoanalyze Crane, and he doesn't need to. But Schrader obviously judges Crane, presenting his downfall as a cautionary tale. But of what? And for whom?

The movie could have been - and should have been - a lot weirder. Surely Crane's life merits an unorthodox approach, if any­ one's does; he was a schmaltzy sit­ com star, living a secret life beneath a pastel, plastic suburban existence.

Occasionally, though, "Auto Focus" achieves a surreal vibe that the rest of the movie sorely lacks. That's usually thanks to Willem Dafoe - who brings a hint of danger to any role he plays - as Crane's friend John Carpenter.

Screenwriter Michael Gerbosi expanded Carpenter's importance. In real life, he was the guy who introduced Crane to the wonders of video equipment; in the movie, Carpenter (not the horror film director of the same name) is his constant wingman and hanger-on, following Crane from town to town and picking at the leftovers of his conquests.

At his most clingy and desperate, Dafoe makes Carpenter truly creepy.

(Carpenter was tried for the crime in 1992 and found innocent; he died in 1998 and the murder was never solved. "Auto Focus" clearly suggests he was the killer.)

Also creepy, simply because it's such an uncanny resemblance, is Kurt Fuller's portrayal of Werner Klemperer, who played Col. Clink on "Hogan's Heroes."

Kinnear looks sort of like Crane - his hair is dyed black, he has a similar carriage - but he's not really a dead ringer. But his years as the host of "Talk Soup" on E! help him capture Crane's fluffy affability, and the "what's-the-big-deal" veneer he wore like a polyester leisure suit until the day he died.