Auto Focus

In this episode, we dive into Paul Schrader’s Auto Focus (2002), a darkly fascinating film about the life and career of TV star Bob Crane, best known for lead his role on Hogan’s Heroes. We discuss the film’s portrayal of Crane’s rise to fame, his complicated relationships, and his descent into scandal and sex addiction, culminating in his unsolved murder in 1978. Then, we compare Auto Focus to the real events behind the drama, examining how closely the movie stuck to the facts and what was left out. Join us as we unpack the true story of Bob Crane’s life, his obsession with sex and technology, and his untimely death, unraveling the line between truth and Hollywood storytelling.

Primary Sources:
Graysmith, Robert. The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan’s Heroes? The Crown Publishing Group (1993).
Entertainment Weekly

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Music: He_s Changing The Game by Darren-Curtis _ https___soundcloud.com_desperate-measurez_Music promoted by https___www.free-stock-music.com_Creative Commons _ Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)_https___creativecommons.org_licenses_by_3.0_deed.e

Chapters

• 0:13 True Crime Stories in Film
• 4:05 Autofocus
• 16:31 Night at the Burlesque Club
• 22:58 Double Life and Betrayal
• 35:50 Life of Bob Crane in Transition
• 42:03 Downward Spiral of Bob Crane
• 54:15 Autofocus
• 1:02:27 Bob Crane's Rise to Fame
• 1:10:01 Bob Crane's Personal and Professional Downfall
• 1:23:40 Unsolved Murder of Bob Crane
• 1:38:24 Trial Acquittal and Legacy Disclosure
• 1:45:43 Assessing the Accuracy of Autofocus
• 1:51:04 Exploring American Drug Traffickers in Film

Transcript

Remi: 0:14

Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we take a look at some of your favorite movies and the true crime stories that inspired them. I'm Remy. I spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California.

Ashley: 0:27

And I'm Ashley. I'm a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in the state of Oregon.

Remi: 0:32

And welcome back everyone for another episode of Criminal Adaptations. And happy late Halloween to everyone. I think we're gonna try and plan out maybe a Halloween episode or holiday episodes next year, but we didn't really have the dates planned for this season, so maybe next year. But we hope you all had a happy Halloween.

Ashley: 0:55

And we also hope that everyone is coping well with the upcoming election which, by the time this airs, will be tomorrow.

Remi: 1:03

Thankfully, that will be over soon and we have a little bit of good news that we would like to share with everyone. It's a personal update from us. We got engaged, we went to Hawaii and, yeah, we decided it was time to tie the knot and make everything official. We don't have a date yet or anything, but, yes, me and my co-host are going to be wed.

Ashley: 1:26

Our first recording as a soon toto-be-troved couple.

Remi: 1:31

That was a complicated way of saying it, but yes, I.

Ashley: 1:34

I know, and I hope I said it right. I'm not really sure, but to distract listeners, remy, what are we talking about today?

Remi: 1:41

Well, Ashley, have you ever heard of a show called Hogan's Heroes?

Ashley: 1:46

I think maybe I had heard the name before, but I definitely knew nothing about what it was about until this story.

Remi: 1:53

Same here. I knew a bit about it from my dad. I think he used to watch it back in the day. But we are talking about the star of that show today, Mr Bob Crane. And in case you don't know, Hogan's Heroes was a sitcom about a World War II POW camp.

Ashley: 2:13

Something that doesn't sound funny at all, but was a smash hit apparently.

Remi: 2:18

This show was a huge hit. Apparently. It was like the Office or Parks and Rec back in the day, which is very unbelievable to me that a show literally starring people playing Nazis was a huge hit back in the day. But the star of this show had a bit of a sordid past. That is what we are going to be focusing on today.

Ashley: 2:39

That, interestingly, didn't start until he was cast as the lead in Hogan's Heroes.

Remi: 2:45

This story is a bit of a warning on the dangers of fame and how it can pull you down, I would say but had you ever heard of this film, the film Autofocus, which is what we are here to discuss today?

Ashley: 2:59

I had only heard about it from you mentioning it that you had seen it before, even well before we thought about doing this podcast. You had mentioned it because we both like Willem Dafoe and you had said that you saw this movie and it was nuts.

Remi: 3:15

Big Willem Dafoe fans over here. He is an amazing actor. It is a travesty that he has not been nominated or won an Academy Award at this point, but I think he will someday. This is one of his earlier films before he had made it big with the Spider-Man movies, but he is. He will someday. This is one of his earlier films before he had made it big with the Spider-Man movies, but he is a brilliant actor. Poor Things is amazing. His Lighthouse performance astonishing. This guy is so good and in this movie he's no different. But I had seen this film a long, long time ago, I want to say back when I was a teenager. One of my co-workers at Starbucks actually recommended it to me, so I ended up checking it out and I think I rented it from Blockbuster Video. That's how long ago that was, but it always stuck out in my mind. I don't think I had watched it since, but it definitely made an impact.

Ashley: 4:06

And a bit of a unique viewer warning. This episode does deal primarily with sexual content. I don't know how graphic you get into it. When you talk about the movie Remy probably more than I do I kind of hunch a lot, but it was a big part of this man's life and thus is depicted in the film heavily. So if that is not something you're into, it's not like rape or sexual assault or anything. It's really just BDSM, s&m, alternative sex practice, stuff that this guy was into. But if that's not your jam, then this will not be the episode for you.

Remi: 4:40

Bob Crane was indeed a sex addict and the film does go into a lot of that. But it is a rated R film and not an NC-17 film, so they really never get too graphic. But we will be discussing a lot of details and the ins and outs no pun intended of the true story and all of the exploits Bob Crane got up to. But with that, should we just dive right in, or was there anything else you wanted to get into beforehand?

Ashley: 5:09

No, I think that's it. Let's talk about this movie.

Remi: 5:13

Autofocus is a 2002 film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Greg Kinnear and Willem Defoe, with a screenplay by Michael Gerbosi. Taxi driver screenwriter Paul Schrader, who had previously worked on films about such other real-life characters as Patty Hearst and Jake LaMotta, had since grown tired of constantly being offered biopics and had a standing mandate to refuse any more offers in the genre. That all changed, however, after Schrader was convinced to read the script for Autofocus by his agent and was immediately riveted by the subject matter.

Ashley: 5:49

Wait. So this director wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

Remi: 5:52

He did yes, he is primarily known more as a screenwriter, but he directed I believe it was American Gigolo and a few other films as well.

Ashley: 6:02

I haven't seen Raging Bull but I know you've said it was really good. But Taxi Driver is great.

Remi: 6:08

Taxi Driver is probably in my top 10 favorite films of all time. It's brilliant and it's extremely well written, and Paul Schrader is a talented guy. After reading the script, schrader commented that it was a story that would have been worth telling had it been fictional, and was all the more interesting because it was historical. That seems to be a running trend, with a lot of these true crime stories being made into films. People read the screenplay and are just astonished that this is actually a true story. The original screenplay, which was based on Robert Graysmith's book the Murder of Bob Crane, primarily focused on Crane's murder and the events that happened afterwards, so Schrader decided to do his own research into Crane's life. To fill in the majority of the story, schrader went on to interview several people who had known both Bob Crane and John Carpenter personally, including Bob Crane Jr, scotty Crane, richard Dawson's son, mark Dawson, and John Carpenter's widow Diana, along with several other people.

Ashley: 7:08

Do you know who Richard Dawson is along?

Remi: 7:10

with several other people. Do you know who Richard Dawson is? He was one of the co-stars from Hogan's Heroes. I only know this because of the autofocus film that I watched the other day. But he was British. That's about as much as I know from him. And didn't he do a talk show or a game show or something later on?

Ashley: 7:24

Oh, he sure did. He's the infamous kissing host from Family Feud.

Remi: 7:28

That's who this guy is. I knew that name sounded so familiar. Oh, wow. Okay, that puts it in a slightly different perspective. Now For the lead role of Bob Crane. Schrader offered the part to the former Talk Soup host, Greg Kinnear, who had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for as Good as it Gets just five years prior. Kinnear had been a fan of the TV series Hogan's Heroes during his childhood and accepted the role due to its intriguing story and complex character relationships, and I also heard in an interview with Schrader that he purposefully casted Kinnear because of his former experience on the show Talk Soup. I guess it reminded him a lot of Bob Crane, his demeanor and performance on that old show. It's still on today. I think it's a very different show now, but that was even before my time. I never remembered seeing this guy hosting Talk Soup.

Ashley: 8:23

Bob Crane was also a radio show host before he got into Hogan's Heroes, so he was known for his personability, so I could see him, the director, making some parallels here.

Remi: 8:35

And Greg Kinnear as well did have radio experience. He actually worked as the host of a radio show in Greece when he was a teenager. Just a little bit of side info there, in preparation for the role, kinnear learned how to play the drums and watched every single episode of Hogan's Heroes, along with any other media appearance Bob Crane had ever made.

Ashley: 8:56

That's 168 episodes.

Remi: 8:59

Yeah, it is a lot. This is back in the day when a season was like 24 episodes or something like that. So yeah, this ran for a while and there were a lot of episodes. That so yeah, this ran for a while and there were a lot of episodes. But Kinnear has stated that watching the film Superdad was by far the most challenging aspect of all of his research. I have not seen Superdad, but I watched the trailer and I think that's enough for me.

Remi: 9:22

Willem Dafoe, who Schrader described as an avant-garde experimental theater actor, had previously worked with the director on the 1992 film Light Sleeper, which I have never heard of or seen. Schrader chose to cast Defoe in the supporting role of John Carpenter to further the juxtaposition between the two actors, and I think it paid off well in the final product. There are two very, very different styles of acting going on here, and Dafoe is just so good at being like creepy but kind of sexual. He has a weird way of doing things, but he's just so good. Dafoe has said that he had some difficulty mastering the technical lingo for his character and even attempted to read a 50-page book explaining the intricacies of video cameras, but ultimately fell asleep in the process and I probably would have done the same thing. I worked for a camera rental place back in LA for a while and it is like learning another language If you're not into it, it is very, very difficult to pick up.

Ashley: 10:22

And this guy, John Carpenter, was an expert in video equipment. So the amount you would have to learn to even get to a fraction of what this guy knew would be daunting in and of itself.

Remi: 10:33

Willem Dafoe and Greg Kinnear, who both have blue eyes in real life, wore brown contacts for the film. Dafoe wore them to give his character, john, a hint of Native American heritage, while Kinnear wore them to better resemble Bob Crane. Kinnear mentioned in the DVD commentary that he had to start wearing his contacts a week before filming just to get used to them enough to not be distracted during his scenes, and he has advised any actors to avoid having contacts for a feature film role because apparently they're super uncomfortable.

Ashley: 11:05

As a side note here, remy actually bought the DVD of this movie because he couldn't find a lot about pre and post production, and he saw that the DVD came with the DVD commentary, which, for our listeners who haven't ever watched a DVD commentary, it's a whole run through of the movie with different people that were involved talking about it as the movie goes, and in this case it was Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe. So you'll have to let us know if you like the extra fun details that we were able to add in for this episode.

Remi: 11:36

I must say I do miss DVD commentaries. I used to watch them back in film school a lot and they seem to have kind of gone away with streaming and all that stuff. But it is cool to just hear the actors or the filmmakers literally sitting in a room watching the movie and just saying like, oh yeah, that guy was a friend of this person. This day was really cold. That's why we're not in the pool during this scene, like little things like that. It's a very interesting behind the scenes peek from people that were there.

Ashley: 12:04

I know I was in and out of the room as you were watching this and one thing I overheard was I think it was Willem Dafoe was like oh, this is my favorite scene coming up, and it was just with like the wind blew and Greg Kinnear's hair stood straight up and he's like, ha ha, look how stupid you look. And it just seemed like they were having just a really fun time like shooting the shit.

Remi: 12:24

And the actors definitely notice a lot of things about their performance that normal people wouldn't.

Remi: 12:30

And in that scene that you're talking about, literally Greg Kinnear's hair just is blown up in the wind and it kind of looks like a peacock or something and Willem Dafoe just thought that was the most hilarious thing in the world and Greg Kinnear was just. I can't believe they used that take and this and that and in all honesty, I did not catch that at all the first time I was watching it. I think that's something that just people who are really, really focusing in on their performance pick up on. Robert David Crane, bob Crane's only son from his first marriage to Anne Crane, worked as a technical advisor on the film, contributing many of the key details scene to scene. Robert even loaned Kinnear his father's original brown leather jacket worn by Bob Sr on the show Hogan's Heroes to use during the film. Robert also has a cameo in the film as a reporter interviewing Bob Crane about his successful marriage, which is ironic to say the least. But with that should we dive into the feature film Autofocus.

Ashley: 13:29

Yeah, let's do it.

Remi: 13:47

After a surprisingly upbeat song over the opening credits, our story begins in 1964 at a radio station in Los Angeles where we are first introduced to Bob Crane, played by Greg Kinnear, who is currently working as a DJ in a similar vein as Ryan Seacrest from American Idol. After the show, bob heads off to a meeting with his agent, lenny, played by Ron Liebman, to discuss any new potential acting opportunities. Though Bob has his sights set on a career in feature films, lenny instead offers Bob the lead role in an upcoming TV series called Hogan's Heroes, which would essentially be a sitcom that takes place in a German POW camp during World War II. Naturally, bob feels that the entire concept of a comedy centered around Nazis with a laugh track to be a potential career killer, but nevertheless still agrees to read over the script for consideration. That weekend, bob and his wife, anne, played by Rita Wilson, who is married to Tom Hanks in real life, along with their three children, attend Sunday church services at the historic Los Angeles California temple on Santa Monica Boulevard, which I actually used to drive by on my way to work on a semi-regular basis, and it is massive. It's a very impressive church. After church, the family returns home to enjoy a delicious meal where we learn that Bob has reconsidered his agent's proposal to star in the TV series after reading the script and now seems genuinely excited at the prospect of playing the lead character, colonel Robert E Hogan.

Remi: 15:25

His wife, anne, however, still considers the premise of a Holocaust sitcom to be in extremely bad taste and advises her husband against taking the role, and I think that is probably good advice. This sounds like a terrible idea for a show. Before bed, bob jams out on his drum set as he considers his options, before inevitably deciding to listen to his wife's warning about not taking on such a controversial project. When Bob finally joins his wife in bed, he is surprised to learn that Anne had read over the script since their last conversation and reluctantly admits that she actually did find much of the material to be rather amusing. With this change of heart, anne gives Bob her blessing to do the show, despite her initial trepidations.

Remi: 16:05

Bob is later introduced to the other cast members during their first table read, which is a pre-production event where the cast and crew read the script aloud together. After years of working in radio, bob's initial reading comes across as overly animated and he is advised by the director to tone down his performance for the show. We then cut to the filming of the pilot episode of Hogan's Heroes, giving us our very first glimpse into the actual tone of the pilot episode of Hogan's Heroes, giving us our very first glimpse into the actual tone of the series.

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:32

Now my leniency is a legend right Wrong.

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:35

What do you mean?

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:37

You've got a reputation to uphold. You know that. I mean you're running the most brutal prison in Germany.

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:42

I am

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:43

In the world. You rank third, right behind Devil's Island and Alcatraz.

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:46

Third, ah,

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:47

and you're the toughest commandant in Germany

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:49

I am. Oh,

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:50

in the last words was killed a kaiser today? It is kill Clink!

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:54

kill, clink. I like that.

Hogan's Heroes clip: 16:57

You must not show weakness. You must punish the men, cancel the football game. You run a tough camp.

Hogan's Heroes clip: 17:04

That is my duty

Hogan's Heroes clip: 17:05

a

Hogan's Heroes clip: 17:05

good

Hogan's Heroes clip: 17:05

soldier

Hogan's Heroes clip: 17:06

again

Hogan's Heroes clip: 17:07

.

Ashley: 17:07

I cannot believe this show was such a smash hit.

Remi: 17:10

It had its moments, I guess. But yeah, the subject matter is so out there. And that, of course, was a clip from the original Hogan's Heroes, which I have never seen a full episode of but always got the impression that Hogan was sort of a Ferris Bueller type, while the Nazi Colonel Klink was more like the tragically uncool principal that was always trying to catch Ferris skipping school. Before the show's premiere, cbs holds a poolside press junket for Hogan's Heroes with the entire cast in full wardrobe, including the Nazis. Bob sits down for an interview for a radio show with a man named Mel Rosen, played by Ed Begley Jr, where we learn that Bob abstains from alcohol by choice. The interview ends rather abruptly, however, when it is revealed that the reporter is Jewish and finds the premise of Hogan's Heroes to be extremely offensive. Offensive and a little side note here there was originally going to be a drunken Hitler at the CBS press party, but they ultimately chose to cut the scene from the final film.

Ashley: 18:17

I don't have this in my part, but at this press party CBS transformed this entire hotel into a replica of a prisoner of war camp. So there were people walking around dressed as Nazi guards, there really was a drunken Hitler impersonator and at one point a World War I plane flew over the swimming pool and dropped leaflets promoting the show.

Remi: 18:40

Wow, cbs really went all out for that production. That's pretty impressive, but was Hitler even on the show? It seems weird to have Hitler there because as far as I know, he wasn't a character on Hogan's Heroes.

Ashley: 18:53

I think it was just because he's the leader of the Nazi party and to kind of show that it's not glorifying what the Nazis did, but like making them out as buffoons. That's the exact word I was going to say.

Remi: 19:11

I was going to say. After the uncomfortable interview, Bob moseys over to the pool and is briefly propositioned by a beautiful girl who is enticed by the prospect of sleeping with the star of a new TV series.

Ashley: 19:19

This girl should hold her horses, because there are a lot of failed pilots out there, and by pilots I mean the first episode of a new series, not those who fly planes.

Remi: 19:29

Back at home, anne confronts Bob about a stack of adult magazines she found hidden in their garage, but Bob insists that he had only purchased the magazines because of his interest in photography.

Remi: 19:42

Likely story Anne admits that she had seen the magazines before and chose to ignore them, but now insists that Bob remove them from the house, to which he agrees. Hogan's Heroes premiered on Friday, september 17, 1965 at 8.30pm, and when the Nielsen ratings were released just four days later, hogan's Heroes was the number one new show on television and had reached number five out of 98 other primetime series Simultaneously. As the show's success continues to grow, the initial controversy surrounding the series also begins to fade. Having worked on many sitcoms myself, I'd just like to highlight that one of the benefits of working on a multi-camera show like this is that it's probably the closest thing in show business to working a regular nine-to-five job Mondays through Fridays. For example, a typical shooting day for a show like how I Met your Mother would often last less than eight hours to film almost an entire episode, while single camera shows like the Office can take significantly longer to film because you have to redo the setups for everything and it just takes a lot longer.

Remi: 20:52

But for a show like this, it gives you a lot of free time on your nights and weekends, which will come into play in just a bit. For Hogan's Heroes, mondays were used for blocking and stage positioning, tuesdays were for filming exteriors, wednesdays and Thursdays were for filming interiors, then, fridays, everyone would have a table reading for the following week's script. One day, while strolling through the studio's backlot, Bob casually strikes up a conversation with a man named John Carpenter, played by Willem Dafoe, who is installing some hi-fi equipment. In one of his co-stars' trailers, john boasts that he can wire just about anything and proves his point by demonstrating the pitch-perfect sound system he installed himself in his very own sports car. After Bob mentions his interest in photography, john enthusiastically suggests that Bob look into a brand new type of camera called a VTR, which basically utilizes the same process as photography, only for home video recording, which did not exist up until that point. John himself is at the forefront of this new technology, working for Sony as a pioneer and a salesman for its eventual widespread use across the United States. Before parting ways, john gives Bob his business card and suggests that he stop by a place called Salome's for a drink.

Remi: 22:11

Later, to continue their conversation, bob decides to take John up on his offer, but is a bit surprised when he arrives at Salome's and it turns out to be a burlesque club. Bob sees that John has already arrived and is sharing a drink with one of his fellow Hogan's Heroes co-stars, richard Dawson, played by Michael E Rogers. The trio settle into one of the booths to enjoy the show, but it isn't long before Bob is recognized by the drummer from the house band, who asks for an autograph and comments on how he had always enjoyed Bob's impromptu drum solos back when he was still on the radio. One thing leads to another, until Bob is invited up on stage to join the house band on drums during the next performer's provocative act, to which Bob gleefully obliges. And I wanted to get a clip of some of the drum solos that Bob has in the movie, but there weren't any online and I actually couldn't find any of the real Bob Crane doing any as well. But apparently he was a very accomplished drummer.

Ashley: 23:13

Yes, he was very into drumming starting at a young age, and you said that Greg Kinnear actually learned how to play the drums for this.

Remi: 23:20

He did learn how to play the drums for this film, but he said he never quite had it down. So he tried his best, but I think he only had like two months or something like that, which is not enough time to master a musical instrument.

Ashley: 23:33

So any of the crazy drum solos are probably a double.

Remi: 23:36

Most likely, yeah. Sometime later we find Bob catching up with his family's minister over lunch at Norm's Diner, which I have also been to. This film is just full of LA spots that are really well known to locals around town. As the two enjoy their meals, bob confides that he has been continuing to regularly play the drums at burlesque shows all over town without his wife Anne's knowledge.

Ashley: 24:02

Slippery slope, Bob, slippery slope.

Remi: 24:04

Their conversation is briefly interrupted when an attractive, starstruck female fan recognizes Bob and asks for a photo. Bob is, of course, happy to comply, as this type of attention has now become a regular occurrence for him, which he relishes every moment of. Once the fan has left, bob returns to his conversation, where the minister cautions Bob about the risks and temptations that come with leading this kind of a double life. One night after a performance at the Classic Cat Club, bob is sought out backstage by John Carpenter, who has to remind Bob of who he is exactly.

Remi: 24:41

After refreshing his memory, bob introduces John to a pair of burlesque dancers he had been chatting with, and they all agree to head on over to John's place to check out some of his new electronic equipment. After arriving back at his home, john explains the intricate details of his various electronics, including the VTR camera, as Bob hangs on his every word, utterly fascinated by this new technology. Their female companions, on the other hand, are clearly very bored by all the tech talk and suggest putting on some music to lighten the mood. As Bob and John pour the girls some drinks back in the kitchen, john candidly inquires as to which one of the girls Bob intends on sleeping with that night and Bob responds by spiking his own grapefruit juice with a heavy pour of vodka. And I am under the impression that Bob does not drink like ever, and the fact that he is doing so now is sort of a big deal.

Ashley: 25:38

That's a nice little touch. They added he rarely, rarely, rarely, ever drank, but when he did, it was only vodka.

Remi: 25:46

This man had no problems with substance abuse or anything like that. It was just sexual addiction, which is, I think, kind of rare in the entertainment industry. Usually alcoholism or drug abuse and things like that also accompany this sort of thing, but not Bob. Once John and one of the girls have made their way back to his bedroom, bob and the remaining girl awkwardly make conversation, as Bob momentarily considers the consequences his actions could potentially have on his marriage. Should he decide to proceed. After hesitating at first, bob does eventually relent and ends up having sex with the exotic dancer. During the second season of Hogan's Heroes, actress Cynthia Lynn, who played Helga on the show, was replaced by Patty Olsen, who in this film is played by Maria Bello as the character Hilda, helga Hilda. They were pretty much dressed exactly the same too. Not much of a difference in these characters.

Ashley: 26:42

They were meant to be the same. I don't know why they changed the name, probably so people wouldn't comment that it was a different actress, but they were supposed to be the same character.

Remi: 26:52

And, for reference, both of these female characters that the two actresses portrayed look a lot like the woman from the label of the non-alcoholic beer St Paulie's Girl, if anyone has ever seen those.

Remi: 27:04

By the end of the second season, Hogan's Heroes was rated 17th by the Nielsen ratings, and as Bob's celebrity status continues to grow additionally, so does his fan base. Bob has also become a regular fixture around LA playing the drums at burlesque clubs all over town, with John now acting as Bob's permanent wingman, regularly recruiting women from the audience for some late-night funny business back at his place after the show. Once there, the two men play out a carefully orchestrated pickup routine involving the reenactment of popular Hogan's Heroes scenes for the women's amusement. This eventually leads into a sexy photo shoot with Bob as the cameraman, inevitably culminating in copious amounts of copulation, secretly being recorded on a hidden VTR camera. And on a personal side note here I just want to point out that Willem Dafoe is totally ripped in these scenes, most likely because he was filming Spider-Man around the same time as this, and it's just really unexpected to see him cut in all of these scenes.

Ashley: 28:09

Yeah, whenever you see him, he's usually very, very thin.

Remi: 28:12

I know he had a shirtless transformation scene in Spider-Man, so I'm assuming he bulked up and was working out for that scene specifically and it just happened to carry over into this film.

Ashley: 28:24

Good timing, since he's probably at least partially nude for a good portion of this.

Remi: 28:29

Anyway, at first Bob is totally clueless about John's recordings, but once it is revealed to him, Bob couldn't be more excited to continue filming their escapades. The two men would often end up watching the videos back together late into the evening, long after the girls had already departed. Bob even purchases his own VTR camera, which John helps to install in Bob's home, under the pretext that the camera will be used for recording home movies of Bob's family and you'll probably go into this in the true story. But as far as I know, he didn't do this stuff in his own home, it was primarily at hotels and John's house, as far as the film portrayed it.

Ashley: 29:12

John's house as far as the film portrayed it Later. He does do it in his house, but it's when he's touring, so it's not his permanent residence. It's these apartments that he would rent out as he's touring this dinner theater circuit.

Remi: 29:21

Okay, that makes a bit more sense. Bob also begins having an affair with his new co-star, Patty, while he continues sleeping with other women on a near-nightly basis. Despite all of this, Bob is still somehow viewed by the public as an upstanding family man who has been faithfully married to his high school sweetheart for the past 15 years. Pr is quite a powerful thing.

Ashley: 29:46

And there's no social media, so there's no way for people to really know that all this is going on, unless it's covered by a news story.

Remi: 29:54

And I also don't think that tabloids and things like that were quite as big back then as they were today. They still existed, but not like they do now. Doors and has begun to question her husband's loyalty due to his constant neglect and complete lack of interest in showing her any kind of physical affection. And I think that is usually a warning sign that someone may be cheating on their spouse when the physical intimacy just ceases at a certain point. I think that is a warning sign for some people, not everyone. One night, while watching their hidden camera footage back together, bob happens to notice that John had been fingering his butthole during one of their group sex parties. Appalled that the rogue digit did not belong to one of their female companions, bob lashes out and calls John a pervert before storming out of the house, vowing never to see him again. Meanwhile, vtr technology has continued to improve and in time Sony develops a new type of camera capable of recording in color.

Ashley: 30:57

Game changer.

Remi: 30:59

Well, unfortunately, during one of Sony's presentations of this new technology to potential investors, it is revealed that John is, in fact, colorblind and unable to properly adjust the color settings for the new VTRs resulting in John's termination from the company from Tokyo, every network, and you pull a stunt like this, John leave, I'm fired.

Auto Focus Clip: 31:32

Yeah, get out. You can't do that. It's done. I've got the contacts. Who do you think, got you the celebrities? I sold Vidicons to Tommy Smothers, dick Martin, bob Crane. I sold a VTO to Elvis. Do I need to call security?

Ashley: 31:54

That really, really, really sucks. I didn't see anything in my notes or research of this about him being colorblind, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't true. There's very little out there about John Carpenter Very, very, very little. So I'm going to operate under the assumption that this is true, and it does seem in the video how it's portrayed that he didn't know.

Remi: 32:16

This scene was actually added while they were already filming the movie. It was a bit of information that they found out about John very, very late and Paul Schrader thought it was a key bit of information to include about the character. So they wrote up this scene and filmed it kind of last minute to include in the film and I do think it adds a lot to the character. Despite Bob's promise never to speak with John again, he is soon eating his words after Bob's home VTR malfunctions and he is forced to call John to come over and fix it. During the repairs, john apologizes to Bob about the incident and the two make amends, resulting in John inviting Bob to a party up in the Hollywood Hills later that evening.

Remi: 33:03

And if you have been to LA or lived in LA, you know those Hollywood Hills parties are crazy. At the party, naked women are everywhere and free love is running rampant as Bob playfully mingles with a few of his fans. Before long, bob has his trusty camera out and is snapping photos of all the lovely ladies around him. Bob even begins a new pickup routine that night, called the Smile Photo, which involves Bob taking pictures of women as they flash the camera after asking them to smile, how romantic.

Remi: 33:39

That is something that really stuck out to me. From having not seen this movie for a really long time. I remember Greg Kinnear delivering that smile to all the girls and it's so sleazy but friendly. It's a really good balance he manages in this film, greg Kinnear. I know we've been saying Will Mifo is outstanding, and rightfully so, but Greg Kinnear, I think this is probably one of his best performances. In my opinion, bob also delivers the following monologue, which I was unable to find a clip of, unfortunately, so we'll be reading verbatim. I'm a normal red-blooded American man. I like to look at naked women. I love breasts, any kind. I love them. 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. Such a classy guy, bob.

Ashley: 34:42

Props to you for getting through that with a straight face. That is absolutely absurd.

Remi: 34:47

I really, really, really wanted to find a clip so I didn't have to read it myself, but I think that tells you again a lot about what's going on in this character's head. He's very one-track minded. As time rolls on, bob and Patty continue to grow closer and even begin having frequent discussions about Bob leaving his wife Anne so that he and Patty can get married someday. Patty also divulges that she is fully aware that Bob has been sleeping with other women and holds no ill will towards Bob's sexual proclivities, as long as he is honest with her from that point forward. As long as he is honest with her from that point forward. Sometime later, during a conversation between John and Richard Dawson on the Hogan's Heroes set, we learn a bit more about Bob and John's relationship, as well as Bob's concerning lack of discretion regarding his infidelities gentlemen,

Auto Focus Clip: 35:40

I don't push, but you gotta draw her out, get her to talk about herself, listen to her problems, act like you give a shit just to get her clothes off. And then not even that. That's life with the ladies. Bobby just comes in with that crooked smile and gets his strike on the frickin' line every time.

Auto Focus Clip: 35:56

Bob's gotta be careful.

Auto Focus Clip: 35:58

What do you mean?

Auto Focus Clip: 35:59

I warned him. He shows me his car full of nudie pictures of him getting sucked off. I said Bob, you're a big star. What happens if you get pulled over by the cops? He did it on a virgin marriage. He's standing right there. If he could,

Auto Focus Clip: 36:16

richard, you are so

Auto Focus Clip: 36:17

bad

Auto Focus Clip: 36:18

.

Ashley: 36:19

This is another part of the story that I omitted from my portion.

Remi: 36:24

Because your original draft was 17 pages long.

Ashley: 36:28

Yes, that is why At the beginning, when Willem Dafoe is explaining how he has to work to get women and Bob Crane, it just comes naturally to him. That was a dynamic that was going on whenever he was with Crane and Dawson because they were famous, and a theory later to help provide a potential motive. Part of it was that there was a jealousy component because he was kind of always the third or second fiddle to these famous men.

Remi: 36:56

Celebrities garner attention. People have seen their faces and the actors many times don't know them. So it can be a very, very powerful, alluring thing being known nationally from a television show or any type of fame. It's appealing to people. People want to talk to celebrities, people want to hang out with them and party with them. Bob has also begun showing up to set, looking noticeably haggard from his frequent late night partying and while shooting a scene. One day Bob hallucinates that he is actually a prisoner of war, talking with real life Nazis about his sex addiction, leading to an orgy between Bob and the other cast members of Hogan's Heroes, as John records everything from the sidelines and Bob's family also watches.

Ashley: 37:47

I think this scene is supposed to represent two things One, how preoccupied he has become about sex, and two, how there was internal discontent between his desire for these recurrent sexual conquests and his religion and view of himself as a loving family man.

Remi: 38:07

And from the DVD commentary. Both actors agreed that this scene didn't turn out how everyone wanted it to turn out. But I think this scene could have worked if it was done a little bit more realistic and less silly than it was. But I appreciate the thought behind the scene, but it doesn't really work. Upon returning home that night, bob discovers that his wife Anne had found another secret stash of Bob's pornographic magazines along with a box of Polaroids from Bob's many extramarital dalliances. After their divorce, bob relinquishes his house, car and full custody of their children over to Anne, then marries Patty not long after and I didn't include this because I didn't realize it was happening, but they got married on the set of Hogan's Heroes. Bob and Patty did.

Ashley: 38:56

So romantic again.

Remi: 38:58

By the time Bob and Patty are expecting their first child from the result of a leaky vasectomy, hogan's Heroes officially comes to an end on July 4th 1971, after six seasons and 168 episodes. That is a lot of programming. Unfortunately, this also means that Bob is now unemployed and drowning in debt due to his recent divorce and ever-growing family. Bob continues going out with John on their late-night sexcapades, despite their pickup routines growing more and more stale over time. During one scene, john even attempts to pick up a woman by showing her his LED watch, which has an electronic face depicting a digital animation of two people having sex. You know what?

Ashley: 39:53

time it is, it's fuck time. I mean, I guess you gotta appreciate that the man isn't beating around the bush now, is he?

Remi: 40:11

He's really going for it. I mean, I could never imagine trying to pick up a woman like that. But John has his style. I guess he's not famous, so he really has to be blunt about what he's looking for. And on a side note, that LED watch that John uses to entice women in the scene is inspired by an actual watch sold in the back of pornographic magazines in the 1970s to 1980s from a company called Leisure Time Products. However, unlike the watch in the film, the original was analog and retailed for the modern equivalent of $150.

Ashley: 40:41

Who would buy that?

Remi: 40:42

People buying watches that they see in the back of porno magazines. Back in the 70s apparently Maybe it was an untapped watch market, I don't know Around this time Bob is introduced to the world of S&M by a dominatrix and goes on to describe the experience to John on camera as if it were a transcendent experience. Bob's acting career, on the other hand, still leaves much to be desired. So Bob reluctantly accepts a role performing with a traveling dinner theater in a sophisticated sex comedy called Beginner's Luck. Shortly after Bob's new gig hits the road, he is joined by John, along with cases upon cases of new filming equipment, complete with the latest technology, which John calls a videocassette Soon. The two men have adapted their old pickup routine for the dinner theater crowd who attended Bob's live performances outside of LA, and the new routine seems to be going pretty well for them. Bob has also begun toying with the idea of producing his own big-budget sex film and even purchases himself a state-of-the-art penile implant to make his penis look slightly thicker for his on-screen performance.

Ashley: 41:58

That is some dedication.

Remi: 42:00

Agreed, but these plans are put on an indefinite hold. However, after Disney offers Bob the lead role in a new film called Superdad, just as production begins, the National Enquirer releases a series of photographs they took of Bob patroning a local topless bar. Bob's agent, lenny, firmly advises his client to keep a lower profile and to be more discreet now that Bob is working for a family company like Disney. But old Bob still ain't worried and just continues on having his orgies without a damn care in the world.

Ashley: 42:36

I am actually shocked that Disney didn't pull the plug on this, no matter how far they were in production.

Remi: 42:41

I thought that's what the scene was leading to, was that he was going to be fired from this film. But no, they kept him, and I guess this was one of the few bits of photographs that got out about him. It's just him at a strip club. There are a lot worse photos of this guy floating around, so he should have felt very lucky that that was the only stuff that they caught him on camera doing. Superdad is eventually released after being delayed for nearly a year, only to utterly flop at the box office. But on a funny side note, a very young Kurt Russell played the daughter's boyfriend, bart, in the original Superdad film.

Remi: 43:19

Bob continues returning to the road and the world of dinner theater after the film's failure, but Patty protests claiming that Bob is never home anymore and when he is home he's always downstairs editing his sex tapes which is kind of funny that he was editing his sex tapes too.

Remi: 43:37

In response, bob half-heartedly agrees to his wife's demands and remains gainfully unemployed without access to his traveling celebrity pickup routine. John still pays Bob regular visits during this time to show off the latest and greatest innovations in video recording technology and to, of course, masturbate together while watching old videotapes and reminiscing about the good old days and, believe it or not, this was the scene that convinced Willem Dafoe to do the movie. And, believe it or not, this was the scene that convinced Willem Dafoe to do the movie In time. Bob does eventually return for another tour in dinner theater, but with far less sexual success than he had had previously. Down but not out, bob has the bright idea to start editing together his sex tapes to include random video clips from Hogan's Heroes to screen for women with the intention of getting them in the mood. Because Hogan's Heroes to screen for women with the intention of getting them in the mood.

Ashley: 44:26

Because Hogan's Heroes is what these women need.

Remi: 44:29

Something else I learned from the video commentary is apparently the real videos that Bob Crane edited together had clips from all sorts of pop culture shows like Johnny Carson, Saturday Night Live, like tons of different stuff spliced together with all the sex stuff. But for the film they could not get the rights to anything, so they could only include clips from Hogan's Heroes and stock footage, basically, and apparently Greg Kinnear was very upset that they could not get the rights to anything and he thought the video that they used in the film was really bad. They could not get the rights to anything.

Ashley: 45:04

And he thought the video that they used in the film was really bad. I didn't include this either, but when the police do get their hands on his tapes that are found in his apartment after his murder spoiler alert they did find intermingled with his sex tapes like random video programs that he taped, just like we would in the old days when we wanted to see a show and couldn't catch it, or when we knew it was going to be something that we might want to rewatch later.

Remi: 45:28

Bob Crane probably would have had a good editing career on YouPorn today if he was still alive. But Bob doesn't stop there and for a lark Bob creates a separate tape with footage of John carefully edited together to imply that John is secretly gay.

Ashley: 45:45

Well, that's not very nice.

Remi: 45:47

I think it was because of the finger in the butthole thing. Bob never let that go. When John is shown the tape, john takes Bob's insinuation personally, leading to a verbal confrontation. As tensions run high, bob seizes the opportunity to remind John that the only reason he ever got laid was entirely due to Bob's celebrity status. I mean, it's true, but you shouldn't say it. As the years continue, patty finally files for divorce after a violent altercation and Bob Crane desperately clings to whatever stagnant fame he still has left. Clings to whatever stagnant fame he still has left. Outside of Bob's perpetual dinner theater role as Paul Burnett in Beginner's Luck, bob has been unable to secure any other acting work outside of a celebrity guest spot on a local Canadian cooking show which goes poorly after. Bob makes repeated sexual innuendos while commenting on an audience member's breast size. With his career now seemingly in ruins, bob pays his old friend Lenny one final visit in a desperate plea to find more work.

Auto Focus Clip: 46:55

I was wondering if you'd set some meetings up for me. Get in circulation a game show. Do you remember the reaction I got on Password? I know Password is, you know, not on the air, no more, but maybe Hollywood Squares, you know something, just to get into the public's eye. Don't look like that. Hey, I'm not talking about Paul Lynn Square. Any square is fine,

Auto Focus Clip: 47:20

we've talked about this, the image problem,

Auto Focus Clip: 47:22

oh,

Auto Focus Clip: 47:23

If I were to send you out again, I'd have to be able to tell people you're a new .

Auto Focus Clip: 47:29

Well, tell them, sex is normal, it's good for you, I'm normal.

Ashley: 47:35

This is a really good depiction of addiction. Despite the negative impacts that his sex addiction is having on his personal life and his career, he still isn't fully ready to give it up because he hasn't quite yet hit rock bottom.

Remi: 47:53

He still thinks that what he's doing is perfectly normal and other people are unfairly judging him for these things. I personally think that this is one of the most emotional parts of the entire film. Greg Kinnear does a stupendous job in this scene, and you really feel bad for Bob. He really thinks that he is still a good person and he's not doing anything wrong, and he doesn't understand why his life is falling apart. He just can't see the truth right in front of him, even when everyone is telling him.

Ashley: 48:32

And I do want to point out here that we are in no way saying that his alternative sex practices are. What is problematic, it's the frequency at which he is pursuing these things and the negative impact it's having on his life that is making the things he is doing problematic.

Remi: 48:50

I think I have heard somewhere that it really becomes an addiction when it starts to negatively affect other areas of your life that aren't a part of that, and that is clearly what's going on with Bob, and has been for a long, long time.

Ashley: 49:07

Yeah, big, big big part of diagnosing any sort of use disorder or addiction is that the substance, which in this case sex, is having a significant negative impact on someone's life and functioning or is causing them a high level of distress, and in this both are true. While it's not distressing to him in the moment, the consequences of it is what is causing him the distress and impairment.

Remi: 49:35

Dejected Bob next attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage son, robert, from his previous marriage to Anne, but the conversation feels strained after so many years of separation and ends with a promise from Bob to turn his life around for his son. With no career, no family and no money, the only person that Bob can turn to now is his old friend, john. That is until it slowly begins to dawn on Bob that John may be the root of all of his problems and soon comes to the conclusion that he will need to separate John from his life as well. As Bob and John sit leeringly in the corner booth of a sparsely populated discotheque, one night, bob breaks the news that he plans on quitting dinner theater once and for all in an attempt to get his career back on track. Bob additionally tells John outright that he thinks that they should take a break from their routine together, but John does not take the news very well.

Auto Focus Clip: 50:39

There, I said it. What am I like? A drag, a drag on your career. Who's always been there for you when you were moping complaining? Oh, oh, oh, john, john, nobody wants to hire me Flying around the country whenever you called hauling your shit from the airport, taking seconds. I'm a drag. Well, you're a fucking loser. Bob Crane's a loser!

Auto Focus Clip: 51:01

I ain't a loser! Bob Crane ain't a loser! It's you who brought Bob Crane down. Bob Crane is a good guy.

Auto Focus Clip: 51:09

Bob, let's not do this, please

Auto Focus Clip: 51:11

.

Ashley: 51:14

I will say I think it is a little unfair for Bob to say that John dragged him down. John didn't make him do anything he didn't want to do, but together, together, their friendship is clearly toxic.

Remi: 51:28

Agreed.

Remi: 51:29

It is a toxic relationship and in addiction, when people are trying to get clean and sober, one of the biggest steps is cutting ties with those people that you used to share your addiction with, which is clearly what Bob is trying to do here.

Remi: 51:46

Later that very same night, as Bob Crane lay sleeping in bed, a shadowy figure quietly slips into Bob's Arizona hotel room undetected. Then, in a brutal act of violence, the mystery assailant bludgeons Bob to death with a nearby tripod, before vanishing back into the night. The Scottsdale police are called in the following morning and through voiceover, bob reflects on how poorly his murder investigation was handled. John Carpenter was, of course, the prime suspect, but since the crime had occurred before the innovation of modern DNA testing, the local police department chose not to prosecute after claiming that they didn't have a strong enough case. 14 years later, a new district attorney finally took the case to trial, but by then much of the evidence had been lost to time, resulting in John's acquittal. John Carpenter passed away from an apparent heart attack just four years later, and that was Paul Schrader's autofocus. What do you think, ashley?

Ashley: 52:47

I really enjoyed the clips of this that you showed me. It seems that both actors really gave it their all and embodied these characters that they were portraying, and I also am astounded by the amount of attention to detail and research that went into this. I have a feeling that the fact that they spoke to Bob's two sons and had the older one, who was the one that had the closest relationship with him, just because of age he was about 27.

Remi: 53:18

Robert, the son Robert, I believe.

Ashley: 53:19

He was about 27 when his dad was murdered.

Remi: 53:33

He was about 27 when his dad was murdered and I think having him involved in this really gave them a lot of inside scoop into both of these men. For Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe is brilliant here In that scene that we just played for you all. He has so much emotion on his face when he's talking to Bob. He's yelling at him, but his face is so sad, he's so good. I've said it a million times in this episode because I probably won't get another chance to talk about Willem Dafoe again, but yeah, the acting in this movie is amazing.

Remi: 54:04

My only complaint is that it kind of ends rather abruptly. Bob Crane dies and there's maybe a paragraph of voiceover and then that's it the end. I was left wanting more. I didn't think that the story was fully over when they ended it, but I still think the film was, for the subject matter, pretty tastefully done and had a balance of drama and comedy. That is a difficult tightrope to walk and I think it pulled it off and I really do enjoy this film and recommend it for anyone out there who feels comfortable watching this sort of thing.

Ashley: 54:40

The tastefully done was also something I was going to point out. This could have turned into NC-17 really tacky, really, really, really, really easily, and it sounds like that was completely avoided, which in part has to be due to the director.

Remi: 54:58

I have a little bit of behind the scenes stuff here For the beginning half of the film, stuff here For the beginning half of the film.

Remi: 55:08

The majority of the women that they hired for the roles of the women that Bob and John were sleeping with were porn stars modern day porn stars because they were more willing to be naked and that sort of thing.

Remi: 55:17

But Willem Dafoe actually commented that none of the women looked like real women from the 70s. They all had breast implants, they all had cosmetic surgery and Willem Dafoe was pretty adamant about we need to get women that look like they were from the 70s. They can't all be beautiful, they can't all just be porn stars. And after Willem Dafoe had brought that to the director's attention, there is a difference in women throughout the rest of the film. They look more like everyday women instead of porn stars. And I guess it was also very important to Greg Kinnear to emphasize that this guy wasn't just having sex with beautiful women every single night, he was having sex with any woman. And though it was brought into the film late, I do admire the fact that Willem Dafoe found that necessary to point out and they did correct it, even though it was halfway through production.

Ashley: 56:11

And even though it was halfway through production, I think it's probably pretty fine because of his fame. He was primarily with women that he would meet at exotic dance clubs or burlesque clubs or sex workers, and then it was when he started going on the dinner theater tour circuit that he was in all of these cities and it was just really whoever he could pick up at the local watering hole that night.

Remi: 56:36

Now that you mentioned it, that is when the difference takes place is when he starts doing dinner theater and traveling the country outside of Los Angeles. So it does make sense within the context of the film too. Well, with that, are you ready to get into the release part of this film?

Ashley: 56:53

Yes, I sure am.

Remi: 56:55

Autofocus premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before going on to have a limited release on just 11 screens in the United States. When all was said and done, the film had earned just $2.7 million at the global box office, against a $7 million budget, in stark contrast to another Willem Dafoe film released that same year called Spider-Man. This movie actually came out, I think, six months before Spider-Man hit the scene and officially made Willem Dafoe a big name actor.

Ashley: 57:32

When it's playing on only 11 theater screens, you can't expect a large return.

Remi: 57:38

This movie really went under the radar when it was released and I am surprised that this movie didn't get any Academy Award nominations, especially in the acting category. But the film currently holds an approval rating of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critical consensus that reads Kinnear and Defoe help make this downward spiral of one man's life a compelling watch. Paul Schrader went on to be nominated for the Golden Seashell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, while Willem Dafoe was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Chicago Film Critics Association. One person who was not a fan of the film, however, was Bob Crane's other son, scotty, who has made repeated public statements throughout the years lambasting the film for being inaccurate.

Ashley: 58:30

Which take what he says with a grain of salt, because he was seven years old when his father died, so of course he's not going to know a lot about what was going on, and anything he really is going to know is going to come from his mom.

Remi: 58:45

Well, in an October 2002 article, scotty claimed that his father had not been a regular churchgoer and had actually only attended three church services in the past 12 years, including his own funeral. Scotty also alleges that director Paul Schrader included the S&M scene based on Schrader's own personal experiences, and that there was never any evidence that Bob Crane had ever engaged in S&M. I will let you tell me if that part is true later. Scotty additionally contended that his father didn't become close friends with John Carpenter until around 1975, and that Crane's struggles with sex addiction, as well as his habit of recording the encounters, may have actually started as early as 1956, long before his father had become famous. I'm going to call bullshit on that one, because John was the electronics guy. You mean to tell me Bob started this before meeting John. I find that hard to believe.

Ashley: 59:47

Again. He was seven when his dad died.

Remi: 59:50

Well, much of Scotty's bitterness towards the film could also be due to the fact that Scotty and his mother had written their own script for a film based on Crane's life called F-Stop, which is a camera term and a sex term as well. Double entendre very clever, but once autofocus was announced, all interest in Scotty's script seemed to dissipate.

Ashley: 1:00:13

I read that they had two running titles that they were willing to go with F-Stop or Take Off your Clothes and Smile. I'll say F-Stop was a bit better.

Remi: 1:00:24

It should have been take off your clothes and smile, but okay, they're both not great titles, but that was Paul Schrader's autofocus and the story of a sitcom celebrity's tragic downward spiral into addiction and murder. It's a pretty insane story and, again, I did not know a lot about Bob Crane before, but I know a lot of people who were fans of the real Bob Crane were devastated to find out that all of this stuff was going on. I know a lot of the stuff I read online. People who were fans of Bob Crane try watching this movie and many of them can't get through it because it depicts someone that they were such a big fan of in this light and it can be difficult to separate an actor from the character that they are playing on screen, and I think that this is one of the more interesting examples of a person's on-screen presence being the total opposite of who they were off-screen. But that's only the movie side of things, ashley. I want to know what really happened. Can you shed some light on the true story of Bob Crane?

Remi: 1:01:34

I sure can so that was of course, the real Hogan's Heroes theme from the old TV show, but I just want to point out that in autofocus the producers refused to pay CBS any royalties to use the original Hogan's Heroes theme song. So in the film it's actually just a generic ripoff, and Greg Kinnear and Will Nifo were not happy about that either. But, ashley, take it away please.

Ashley: 1:02:28

Robert Edward Crane was born in Waterbury, connecticut, on July 13th 1928. He became interested in music at a young age and by the time he was 11, he was playing the drums in a musical group and organizing local drum and bugle parades with his neighborhood friend. In high school he played on the orchestra, marching and jazz bands, in addition to youth orchestra programs for the Norwalk and Connecticut Symphony. He spent two years in the Connecticut Army National Guard before he was honorably discharged in 1950. The year prior he married his high school sweetheart, anne. The couple remained married for 21 years and had three children together Robert David Deborah Anne and Karen Leslie Crane started his career as a radio personality at a New York station in 1950.

Ashley: 1:03:17

Shortly after he moved to a different one in Connecticut and stayed there for six years. In 1956, he received a phone call from a top-rated CBS-owned station in LA. Turns out his radio show in Connecticut was so popular that it was impacting the ratings of his former New York station. So the executives called LA and told them they knew just the man for the open position. In LA. Crane scored guests like Marilyn Monroe, frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. He had a personality made for the spotlight. He was affable, funny, laid back, outgoing, friendly, professional and sober.

Remi: 1:03:54

A likable guy as he is described as in the movie.

Ashley: 1:03:58

It wasn't long before his radio show was number one rated and he became known as the king of the LA airwaves.

Ashley: 1:04:05

And here's a little clip of a radio spot of Bob Crane

Bob Crane: 1:04:13

oh boy, with that enthusiastic opening there from Roger Gallagher, I don't know where we go from here. A very happy, good evening. This is Bob Crane, and actually I do know where we're going from here. We have Bobby Troop in the live group with us again tonight. We have Lynn Franklin to sing and our in-person guest, jerry Wald, who we'll be getting to in just a moment. Before we do anything, though, I better introduce myself in, as much as I have only been out here on the West Coast for about three and a half years. We did a show back east and we were sent out here. We moved out, we being my family, my wife and son and my mother-in-law. It was the usual package deal when you come to California and you know, living back there is a completely different way of life. Unless you have lived in California, you don't know what it's like out here.

Ashley: 1:04:55

Crane wanted to be an actor as much as he wanted to be on the radio. For the first few years he agreed to every personal appearance presented to him which panned out as he was offered guest appearances on programs like the Ed Sullivan Show, alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Tonight Show.

Remi: 1:05:12

So he was a working actor basically.

Ashley: 1:05:15

And a lot of these, like on the Tonight Show and stuff he would play the drum. He also started guest hosting Johnny Carson's TV game show called who Do you Trust. In 1962, he convinced a producer to give him a single episode guest spot on the Dick Van Dyke Show. After seeing his performance, donna Reed offered him a recurring role on her program, the Donna Reed Show. Crane left the show two years later due to a pay dispute, but not long after he was cast as the lead on a new show CBS was developing Hogan's Heroes. From April to August 1965, crane worked two jobs. He woke up at dawn to be in the studio in time for the 6 am radio show taping. Then it was straight over to the Hogan's Heroes set to film the day's scenes.

Remi: 1:06:00

I want to point out again this is exactly like Ryan Seacrest. He does his radio show in the morning and then goes off to do American Idol at night. So a lot of similarities, I feel, between those two.

Ashley: 1:06:12

It sounds so grueling personality types.

Remi: 1:06:25

yeah, you just have to be everywhere. It's all about exposure and getting yourself out there. And yeah, I just couldn't imagine being on this much, having to have this personality all day, every day, but it came really naturally to Bob.

Ashley: 1:06:35

During these months. Rarely was he home before seven o'clock and even if he was, he studied the next day's script before he passed out. This schedule persisted until the show premiered in September 1965, but he continued to be the first person on set and the last to leave throughout the show's production. Hogan's Heroes was an overnight sensation. Out of 98 primetime programs it ranked fifth, and first of all the new shows that premiered that year. By the end of the first season it was the ninth most popular show and the sixth for CBS. Crane's performance scored him two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series in 1966 and 1967. Now the show certainly wasn't without its critics. For the first year, the network received hate mail from three primary groups people of Jewish descent, germans and the American Nazi Party. But it fizzled out after the first season.

Remi: 1:07:30

Probably one of the very few things those three groups have ever agreed upon.

Ashley: 1:07:35

Random fact, there were three cast members of the show Robert Cleary, Werner Klemperer and John Banner. They had direct ties to World War II. Two fled to the States as refugees and another was interned in a concentration camp for three years. Crane's newfound fame wasn't without problems. It impacted his marriage and he started to seek out sexual outlets like pornography, nightclubs and exotic dancers in search for relief from his heavy workload. He also started having an affair with his co-star Cynthia Lynn, who was replaced after the first season with Patricia Olsen.

Remi: 1:08:10

That part was left out. He only had the affair with Patty in the film.

Ashley: 1:08:15

Patty moved to LA with her daughter while in the process of getting a divorce in 1963 and enrolled in acting classes. She is one of the few lucky ones who got work right away in a Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin film, followed by several other small roles, before being hired on to Hogan's Heroes. Crane didn't seem upset about the casting change and set his sights on his new co-star. The couple married on the set of the show, with co-star Richard Dawson serving as Crane's best man in October 1970, just four months after his divorce from Anne was finalized. Patty retired from acting after their son, robert Scott, was born in 1971. They also adopted a daughter soon after.

Ashley: 1:08:56

Patty wasn't the only person that Hogan's Heroes brought into Crane's stratosphere. People were often mingling around the open set, which is how Richard Dawson came to introduce Crane to his friend, john Henry Carpenter. Carpenter was born in LA on June 24, 1928. After he retired from the army, he took a job marketing video tech, became an expert in the field and was hired as a regional sales manager for Sony when it was first introduced to the US market. The trio shared two common interests video equipment and women. Carpenter maintained a friendship with both men after the relationship between Crane and Dawson started to sour something he hid from both of them In March 1970, cbs CEO Bill Paley. Do you remember who Bill Paley is? Remy Bill.

Remi: 1:09:42

Paley. Do you remember who Bill Paley is? Remy Babe, Paley's husband. Coming back to the Swans and Truman Capote it all comes full circle.

Ashley: 1:09:50

Somehow every road leads back to Truman Capote, tangentially.

Ashley: 1:10:00

Right, I mean, it's kind of crazy at this point. We've had so many references back, it's nuts. Well, during this month, bill went to a program meeting to discuss the future of the network. Profits were down, ads were being sold at half price and Congress's recent ban on cigarette TV advertising resulted in tremendous revenue losses Per the board. Cbs had become a network for the aging. The audience was primarily comprised of older, rural, lower SES audiences, which was unattracted to advertisers who wanted to market to younger people with more buying power.

Remi: 1:10:29

I believe that CBS has that same reputation still today.

Ashley: 1:10:34

As a result, the president of the company called for a complete overhaul of the primetime schedule, which included cutting shows that had been on the air for a while, since it meant the audiences were naturally older and they were also more expensive to produce due to annual salary increases. At the end of the 1971 season, hogan's Heroes and other award-winning shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show, lassie and the Beverly Hillbillies were replaced with new programs like On the Family and the Mary Tyler Moore Show, replaced with new programs like All in the Family and the Mary Tyler Moore Show. After six seasons and 168 episodes, it left the network on April 4th 1971.

Ashley: 1:11:10

Crane flailed for a bit after the show was canceled. He was still being offered plenty of roles, but most were similar to his character on Hogan's Heroes, so he turned them down to avoid being typecast. In 1972, he briefly returned to radio doing Big Band and Frank Sinatra specials. He also hosted local shows, taped radio spots, did stage work and recorded some unsuccessful pilots, but his image remained the same. Despite his reduced work, he continued to receive royalty checks from Hogan's heroes. You see, crane was smart. In lieu of annual raises, he asked for a profit percentage increase and higher royalty rates, while the other actors were only paid residuals for the first 10 reruns by 1976, his royalties were sometimes as high as six figures.

Remi: 1:11:59

That is a very, very smart move by Bob. What is the old saying? Take the gross, not the net.

Ashley: 1:12:05

Yeah, so it took him a while to start getting enough money to live on off of these checks, but when he did, these royalty checks continued throughout the rest of his life.

Remi: 1:12:16

Many sitcom actors. There is a certain episode level that you need to get to. It might be different with streaming these days, but many actors can literally live off of one role they played on a TV show from the royalty checks that they'll be receiving for as long as that show is playing. They're going to be getting a check, so it is a pretty amazing continuous source of income for actors.

Ashley: 1:12:42

I know. The big one that comes to mind is the Friends actors. They all banded together because they insisted that they were all on the same playing field, and so they all negotiated their contracts together to always include these royalty payments. And I don't know how much they make, but I know it's a lot because Friends is everywhere. In 1973, Crane purchased the rights to a theater production called Beginner's Luck and began touring it through the windmill dinner theater chain.

Remi: 1:13:09

So he actually owned the rights to Beginner's Luck.

Ashley: 1:13:12

Yeah, he purchased it and he was really the one to be kind of the face of it. He was the star and, like the unofficial director.

Remi: 1:13:20

That puts that whole thing in a little bit of a different perspective for me, knowing the truth, the show toured all across the states in month-long residencies from 1973 until his death in 1978.

Ashley: 1:13:33

The production premiered in Scottsdale, Arizona, on June 26, 1973. While there, he had a sexual relationship with 19-year-old Brenda Broyles and I say her name because I'm going to mention her again later. At the time she was a sex worker and an aspiring model in the process of getting a divorce. Shortly after their interaction, some people said Crane seemed on high alert, constantly looking over his shoulder. Out of fear, her estranged husband hired someone to follow him. The situation was so nerve-wracking for him that he was reluctant to return to the city for a second run five years later.

Remi: 1:14:08

I want to just add that in many of the interviews with Greg Kinnear regarding this film, they would ask him if he thought that John had killed Bob, and he always answered the same. I think he had a lot of enemies, he slept with a lot of women that were married and he did a lot of things to a lot of people that John is the number one suspect, but there are a lot of other people who were very mad at Bob.

Ashley: 1:14:35

Or had reason to be mad, at the very least. In between theater stints, Crane continued to take up acting gigs. Most notably, NBC premiered the Bob Crane Show in March 1975, but it was canceled after 13 episodes and three months later. He also starred in two flopped Disney movies 1974's Superdad and 1976's Gus.

Remi: 1:14:58

They did not bring up Gus in the film. I wonder what Gus was about.

Ashley: 1:15:02

I looked up the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and both flopped.

Remi: 1:15:07

From what I saw of Superdad, I can't imagine that Gus was any better.

Ashley: 1:15:12

Throughout these years, crane started getting some bad press for his off-screen activities. Stories circulated about his high sexual appetite, alternative sex practices and how frequently he was seen chatting up women in clubs and bars. His sexual exploits were common knowledge within his social circle. As he was pretty open about his private life, a typical night consisted of him going out to dinner, often with friends, and seeking out women for casual sexual encounters.

Ashley: 1:15:39

He reportedly had a dominatrix in San Francisco, paid for the construction of several sex dungeons, although his son, scotty, later disputed this, as you mentioned, and took out ads on swinger club mailing lists across the country. If he liked a response, he would catch the first flight and meet with them. Given his love of video equipment, he had a large collection of homemade pornographic movies and photo albums with Polaroid pictures of women in various states of address. It was not uncommon for him to show his houseguests this material describing in detail where the women were from and what sex acts he did with them On tour. His rented apartments were bare bones, with the exception of his camera equipment, videos, photo albums and elaborate photo development lab he constructed in the bathroom.

Remi: 1:16:26

This guy is just falling deeper and deeper and deeper into this.

Ashley: 1:16:32

It was described that if you walked into his apartment you would see those things and otherwise everything else was in a suitcase. There were no personal photos of friends or family, it was just anything having to do with video and sex, and everything else was stored away.

Remi: 1:16:47

Yeah, he was clearly obsessed and that's all he could focus on.

Ashley: 1:16:51

John Carpenter's job as a video sales and repairman meant he was pretty much free to travel whenever he wanted. He arranged his schedule to match Crane's so that he did a repair job where Beginner's Luck was touring, charged the trip to his company card and spent his free time with Crane, often staying with him in two-bedroom rental apartments. Crane got while on tour, although he was married and also had a 15-year-old girlfriend named Rita. He was an active participant during all the swinger parties and orgies. There were also Polaroids and videos depicting sex acts involving the men and other women. Creighton's marriage to Patty was also having serious problems during this time. By the mid-1970s, they were having frequent screaming matches, some of which turned violent.

Remi: 1:17:36

Did he hide this from Patty? I don't know if that was clarified.

Ashley: 1:17:41

I don't think he like broadcasted it to her, but I do think it was common knowledge.

Remi: 1:17:47

Like she knew of it, but she may not have known the extent.

Ashley: 1:17:51

Possibly I'm not really sure what she did or didn't know, but at least at the beginning of their relationship she did know and per Carpenter. So take this with a grain of salt she was okay with, like the group sex stuff, but it was the one-on-one affairs that she didn't want him to do because that seemed like it would be an opportunity for him to develop a more intimate connection. Per Crane's side of the family, patty, was controlling, physically abusive and hated his first family. In her filing for divorce in late 1977, she reportedly alleged that Crane harassed, slapped and screamed at her, accused him of showing six-year-old Scotty pornography, said he forced her to make a sex tape and claimed his oldest daughter was a sex worker, broke Scotty's arm and may have had a sexual relationship with her father. Obviously, everyone except for Patty denied every aspect of these claims. Obviously, everyone except for Patty denied every aspect of these claims. Most said that she was the physical aggressor and she did make a sex tape with him. Crane says that she did it completely willingly because she knew that he would be into it. Crane started 1978 in New York as a guest on a show called Celebrity Cooks. During the taping he allegedly made tasteless jokes about women and his death before tearfully talking about his deteriorating marriage. However, the producers of the show and the staff denied these accusations after his death and insisted that they would have stopped the taping if anything like that happened. Regardless of what went down, the episode never saw the light of day as it was set to air a few weeks after his death.

Ashley: 1:19:24

The next few months went on as usual. Crane continued to tour with Beginner's Luck, fielded constant phone calls from Patty and attended a premiere of an X-rated film with Carpenter. While there, they approached the promoter to talk about producing adult films. 49-year-old Crane and the cast of Beginner's Luck arrived in Scottsdale for a month-long stint on June 5th 1978. Around this time his accountant told him he was on shaky financial ground, which didn't make much sense since he was making anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000 annually, which included his royalties from Hogan's Heroes. In March 1981, close to three years after Crane's murder, his accountant pled no contest to stealing $75,000 from his client, was ordered to pay $108,000 in restitution to the estate and was sentenced to a year of jail plus five years of probation.

Ashley: 1:20:14

Despite this upsetting financial news, crane was in the process of making several positive lives. He had accepted the end of his marriage and was not interested in Patty's reconciliation attempts. He was also weeks away from signing a contract with ABC for a movie of the week and was preparing to move into a house with 27-year-old son. Robert Carpenter arrived in Scottsdale early evening on July 25, 1978, a day after his 50th birthday. Crane picked him up from the airport and drove him to his motel that was half a block away from the apartment that Crane picked him up from the airport and drove him to his motel that was half a block away from the apartment that Crane had rented. So this was kind of unusual. It was the first time they stayed in separate places. Usually, whenever Carpenter would come and visit, they would stay together, but this time Crane insisted that Carpenter get his own place.

Remi: 1:20:59

Is there any mention of a falling out between the two?

Ashley: 1:21:03

I'll get to that shortly, but this fact that they weren't staying together is kind of indication of Crane's intention to separate himself. Wednesday, june 28th 1979 started out like any other. Carpenter went with Crane to a photo shoot at 10 am, then spent the afternoon swimming in Crane's pool while Crane was with another woman. Both men went to the showing of Beginner's Luck that night. The cast would later recall that Crane seemed low-energy and as if something were bothering him. A group left the theater around 10 o'clock for drinks, as was their custom. First Crane needed to drop his car off at a service station, since his tire was flat. Upon inspection, after Crane and Carpenter left in Carpenter's rental car, the service attendant noticed that the tire valve was almost completely off, leaving him to think that it had been tampered with. He was so suspicious that he stopped work on the vehicle. Investigators would later suspect that the tire was purposefully flattened in an attempt to strand Crane alone in the parking lot. After drinks the two men briefly went back to Crane's apartment around 11 and left again for his favorite hangout spot around 1145, after a heated 20-minute phone call with Patty. While there they met a few women and plans were made to meet another at a different location.

Ashley: 1:22:21

Crane and Carpenter separated with their dates shortly after one. This is also something that was pointed out. That was unusual. Usually when they went to pick up women, they stayed together the whole night, but this time Crane insisted that he was going to go off with his date away from Carpenter. They both hung out separately with their dates for a bit, with both returning to their respective homes alone sometime around 2 and 2.30 in the morning. There's no question that Carpenter was the last person to talk to Crane, but no one will ever know how that conversation went. Per Carpenter. He called Crane to briefly talk about what happened when they separated. He also said he told Crane that he would get himself to the airport in the morning for his flight back home to LA, since he knew Crane had an afternoon speaking engagement scene is in the film with Willem Dafoe talking to Bob Crane on the phone and John is groping himself while he is talking to Bob on the phone, based on later interviews with Robert.

Ashley: 1:23:16

During Carpenter's visit to Scottsdale, crane called his son and told him that he was tired of Carpenter always hanging around and intended to sever their friendship, at least for a while. The fact that all meetings between the two after June 28th were crossed out in Crane's date book provided some cooperation of this. This led investigators to believe that the last conversation between the two men was far from a friendly one. The next morning Carpenter checked out of his motel around 8.30 in the morning. The motel manager later told police that he seemed agitated, nervous and in a rush. When he returned his rental car, he said it needed to be repaired due to issues with the brake and interior lights. Around 2pm Crane's co-star, victoria Berry, arrived at his apartment to check on him, since he missed a television luncheon at noon, which was unlike him. She was a bit surprised to find that the door was unlocked, since he was notorious for always locking the deadbolt and knob almost instinctively whenever he went in or out of his house. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was no sign of a struggle or forced entry. But that all changed when she went into the blood-ridden bedroom. Laying in the bed was a man with an electrical cord tied around his neck and beaten so badly that his face was unrecognizable. Police arrived at the scene 20 minutes later. They quickly determined the cord around Crane's neck was cut. From his video equipment they also noticed a long, thin stain of blood on the sheet, which almost looked like the murder weapon had been wiped clean. Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive, since nothing seemed to be missing and none of the neighbors that were home heard anything out of the ordinary.

Ashley: 1:24:54

The autopsy was started at the scene, which is highly unusual. While shaving a portion of Crane's head to get a closer look at the wounds, the examiner brushed a darker hair into the later discarded clippings. This process was captured on video, but it would be a dozen years before anyone realized that this hair had existed. A white, flaky substance was also found on Crane's inner thigh, which they presumed was dried semen, but it was not preserved or tested for unclear reasons. The examiner determined Crane died from blunt force trauma to the head and that the ligature was tied post-mortem. Since there were no defensive wounds or signs of forced entry, it was hypothesized that Crane was asleep when he was killed or that he felt comfortable enough with his killer.

Ashley: 1:25:40

While all this was going on, carpenter made a few phone calls. The first two were to the windmill theater asking for Crane. The third was to Robert to see how he was doing and the final one was to Crane's apartment. When police answered, carpenter said he was with Crane last night and last spoke to him around 1.30 am. He did not ask why police were at his best friend's home. Carpenter called the Scottsdale Police Department early the next morning seeking information about the case. At this point the death had been announced next morning, seeking information about the case. At this point the death had been announced. He left a message clarifying that he last spoke to Crane at 2.45, not 1.30, provided a long list of women he knew. Crane met in Arizona and theorized that a disgruntled ex-husband was responsible for his friend's death. Later in the day the results of the autopsy confirmed the cause of death and placed it around 3 o'clock in the morning.

Remi: 1:26:28

The results of the autopsy confirmed the cause of death and placed it around 3 o'clock in the morning. Did they reveal what the murder weapon was? Was it a tripod?

Ashley: 1:26:34

I'll get to that later. Initially they assumed it was a tire. Iron Police tracked down Carpenter's rental car and found it curious that there was nothing wrong with the lights, as he claimed, when he returned it. Although nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first glance, closer inspection revealed what appeared to be dried blood on the interior and exterior of the passenger door, on a seatbelt strap and within a three-inch long scratch about two inches below the passenger window. The scratch was thought to be caused by the murder weapon in a haste attempt to toss it out the window. In 1978, the only type of DNA testing available was blood typing, so this means they could determine what type of blood it was, but not who it belonged to. Interestingly, the blood type in the car was type B, which is pretty rare, as only about 11% of the population, including Bob Crane, have it.

Remi: 1:27:28

This is some pretty damning evidence.

Ashley: 1:27:30

Law enforcement quickly met with everyone who came into contact with the car, including past drivers, passengers and rental staff. Thankfully the car was brand new and only one person had rented it before Carpenter. No one that had touched it before him had blood or had type B blood. This put John Carpenter at the top of the suspect list. Law enforcement spent the next few days outlining Crane's movements and interviewing anyone who interacted with him that day. Carpenter's date that night could only provide an alibi for him up to about 2 am, which wasn't long enough to discount him as a suspect. They also interviewed the maid who cleaned Carpenter's room. After he checked out, she recalled seeing a bloody pillowcase and several hand towels in the bathroom, but didn't think much of it and washed them anyway. Carpenter willingly went to Scottsdale to be interviewed on July 2nd. Police stressed that he was not under arrest and only there to clear up some discrepancies about his stay with Crane. Carpenter provided a detailed account about the day of the murder, consented to a blood draw and offered to undergo a polygraph, which they declined because they didn't think they had enough information to know whether he was lying or not, since the results of the blood test wouldn't be done for a couple days and because all their evidence was circumstantial, they had no choice but to let Carpenter fly home. He initially agreed to another interview on July 14th, but once it became clear that he was their primary suspect, he invoked his right to remain silent.

Ashley: 1:28:59

Carpenter wasn't the only suspect police looked into. Patty was interviewed several times, given the nature of their relationship at the time of Crane's murder, although she did say they had a phone argument that night. She was miles away in Bainbridge Island, which is a little island off of Washington up near Seattle on a two-week vacation. Several people, including Robert, thought she may have had someone kill him for financial gain, as Crane's will left everything to her and their son and if the divorce was finalized she wouldn't get anything. While this is a compelling theory, no evidence was ever uncovered to support it.

Ashley: 1:29:35

During her interviews, patty shared that she suspected jealousy or retaliation as a motive, potentially at the hand of the man Crane thought was tailing him in 1973. This was an interesting one, as police took all the photographs and videos found in Crane's house on the day of his murder. A few lucky detectives had the pleasure of going through each and every one in an attempt to identify every woman in them. Throughout this process, they learned that several women didn't realize they were being filmed at the time, leading police to speculate about what would happen if one of them somehow found out and confided in a loved one. A final theory with a similar motive was that one of Crane's hookups did the deed herself. Per Robert, any woman who showed up at Crane's house, regardless of the hour, would probably be let inside. Additionally, an anonymous caller claimed to have seen a woman and her son leave Crane's apartment around 6.30 in the morning. The description matched Patty and Scotty, as well as Brenda Broyles, the woman Crane had a sexual relationship with in 1973, and her son, since Patty had a pretty airtight alibi that left Brenda. Police spoke to her on August 1st, but she really didn't have much information to give. Shortly after she left her kid at her grandparents' house and disappeared, there was no sign of foul play and only her vehicle was missing. Her skeletal remains were found by a group of hikers in an Arizona desert in September 1986, but she couldn't be identified because DNA testing was still in its infancy. Her body wasn't identified until 2007 and the murder remains unsolved.

Ashley: 1:31:14

Out of all these theories, detectives were convinced Carpenter was their man, but the DA refused to press charges due to insufficient evidence. As weeks turned to months, the relationship between the two offices soured. To make matters worse, the police were being accused of conducting an incompetent investigation, which, to be honest, it kind of was, but really to no fault of their own. In 1978, the Scottsdale Police Department didn't have a homicide division since murder was so rare, meaning they were ill-equipped to handle a high-profile case like this one. During a meeting in early August, the DA said they would charge Carpenter only if they secured a confession or found the murder weapon with his fingerprints. Despite multiple searches of the Arizona Canal and sewer drains, nothing was ever found.

Ashley: 1:32:01

By September 1979, over a year since Crane's murder, the case was at a complete dead end. In 1980, a popular Phoenix attorney running for election used the cold case to his campaigning advantage by vowing to take another look at it if he won. Shortly after he was elected as lead district attorney in January 1981, he instructed the police department to comb through the evidence once more. He also added a former Washington DC investigator who helped identify JFK's assassin. The case was again shelved six months later. There was virtually no investigation for the next eight years. Meanwhile, carpenter ended his relationship with his younger girlfriend and reunited with his wife, diane, once again.

Ashley: 1:32:44

In late 1989, a newly elected DA promised to try to solve a list of cold cases, and Cranes made the cut. The investigation seemed more thorough than the last, with law enforcement essentially reconstructing it based on what was preserved. The blood was retested in November, but results were inconclusive as it wasn't refrigerated for over 10 years. Most of the witnesses were re-interviewed, with the exception of Carpenter, who was instructed by counsel to not talk to anyone about the case.

Ashley: 1:33:15

In September 1990, scotty did an interview on A Current Affair. During it he performed a song he wrote for his rock and roll band called Dear Dad. As a result of the appearance, a man came forward with new evidence, claiming he was moved by the performance and wanted to help. This man said he was working for a moving company whose team arrived at the apartments around 3am to ensure they got started right at sunlight so they could be done with their day by 1pm. Although that sounds crazy early, apparently at the time of this it wasn't uncommon for these movers to want to get started as soon as the sun came up, so they could be done before it got to the hottest point of the day, and this did happen in the summer, so it would have been really, really hot.

Remi: 1:34:02

I've worked as a mover. That's not uncommon at all comment at all.

Ashley: 1:34:09

While waiting to get the job started, he allegedly saw someone with bloody hands peek his head through Crane's curtains, exit carrying a jacket in one arm and drove away in a white car after he asked them to move their van. Although employment documents did show that this mover was at the apartment around this time, another mover's statements about what was seen wasn't entirely consistent. While sifting through evidence in July 1990, the task force found a photo of the scratch on Carpenter's rental car and noticed what looked like a teeny, tiny piece of human tissue caught within the groove of the scratch. Three medical experts examined the blown-up photo and opined that it appeared to be brain tissue and was consistent with the injuries Crane suffered. Meanwhile, a criminologist was doing everything he could to try to identify the murder weapon by matching it with the head impression and the sheet smear. One by one, he ruled out that a tire, iron crowbar, fire, poker or golf club were used. It wasn't until he was given a tripod that he landed on something that seemed to match almost perfectly.

Ashley: 1:35:15

Carpenter was 63 years old when he was arrested for first-degree murder on June 1st 1992. Nine days later he was charged with three counts of lewd conduct with a child, which meant he would stay in California before being extradited to Arizona to stand trial for murder. These charges were unsurprising to many, as there was talk about how Carpenter had a history of sex acts with females much, much younger than him. It was also well known that he had started dating Rita when she was just 15. In this case, the victims were Rita's 10-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old friend. In November he pled no contest to one count of sexual battery of a child and was sentenced to three years of probation. He was extradited to Arizona in December 1992 and bailed out while awaiting trial the following May. Bob Crane's murder trial kicked off in the fall of 1994. Although the newly discovered brain tissue from the car hadn't been preserved, the judge ruled the photograph and expert opinions admissible, which I cannot believe. The initial police department missed a piece of brain matter inside that group.

Remi: 1:36:26

Bob said it himself in the movie his murder investigation was not very well handled.

Ashley: 1:36:32

It sounds like they tried, but they made so many other errors they didn't rope off the crime scene at all. The day after they let his son come in and just take whatever stuff he wanted of Bob's personal effects, and none of the blood was stored correctly, which again you can't really fault them, because there just wasn't a lot of knowledge about how this stuff should be stored. But all of these errors really add up and, in my opinion, make it so. That's why it was never quote unquote solved. During the trial, the prosecution put forth their theory that Carpenter murdered Crane out of jealousy and rage when Crane told him that he was ending their relationship with Robert being a key witness to this.

Remi: 1:37:17

This seems like the most likely thing to have happened.

Ashley: 1:37:20

The theory was that Carpenter did call Crane, and then Crane invited him over to talk, and while he was either laying in bed or asleep in bed, that's when Carpenter murdered him.

Remi: 1:37:33

Was it revealed? They said this in the DVD but they said the tripod was missing from the murder scene and that's how they had known that it was the murder weapon or something like that, because it was actually Bob Crane's tripod. It was like in his house.

Ashley: 1:37:50

I don't think police even knew that it should or shouldn't have been there, so I'm not sure if it was.

Ashley: 1:37:55

But what the defense argues is that the only reason that they settled on a tripod being the murder weapon was because it was speculation based solely on Carpenter's occupation, and really nailed home the fact that it was never found.

Ashley: 1:38:10

But per the scientists doing the investigation, the tripod matched the blood smear that was left on the sheet and also fit perfectly into the like mock head that they made to try to match it. In addition to pointing out that the murder weapon was never found, the defense really labeled the case as circumstantial and based on inconclusive evidence. They presented testimony that the pair were actually on good terms and highlighted several other potential suspects, including disgruntled lovers, angry husbands or boyfriends and an actor who had sworn a vengeance after a violent argument with Crane in Texas several months earlier. So, as Greg Kinnear put it, there were a lot of people that probably wouldn't care much if Crane had died. Additionally, they disputed that the photo showed brain tissue and highlighted all the errors in the investigation, including how evidence was mishandled and lost. After two days of jury deliberation, Carpenter was acquitted on October 31st. Happy Halloween 1994.

Remi: 1:39:17

With how everything was laid out in this trial. That is not surprising. You only have to convince one juror that has a reasonable doubt. This is not an airtight case because of Bob's history going around with all these women who clearly could have vendettas, or have husbands who have vendettas, or he had a lot of enemies.

Ashley: 1:39:38

And in a couple interviews after with some potential jurors. That's what they said they're like. All you have are these theories of what you think happened and a blood smear and a scratch on a car that you can't directly tie to Carpenter in any conclusive way. As a result of the accusation and his arrest, carpenter was fired from his job. He maintained his innocence until he died from a heart attack on September 3rd 1998. After the trial, robert spoke publicly that Patty may have been involved in instigating the crime, since the entire estate was left to her. The DA responded saying she was never characterized as a suspect and his office fully believed Carpenter was the sole culprit. In addition to Scotty and Patty unsuccessfully trying to sell the rival movie script, they also launched Bobcranecom, which remained active until May 2017.

Remi: 1:40:34

I did not realize it had stayed active for that long. This was the website I was talking about earlier with the photos.

Ashley: 1:40:43

Oh yeah, and it's way worse than that. It was marketed as a memorial site, but it also included a paid section featuring photographs, outtakes from Crane's sex films and an autopsy report that Scotty said proved his father didn't have a penile implant as stated in the movie. The photographs and videos from the private archive could be purchased at a monthly subscription fee of $19.95.

Remi: 1:41:12

purchased at a monthly subscription fee of $19.95. All of which are photos of women who did not consent for these to be distributed on any level. This is insanely illegal and insanely disrespectful to these women.

Ashley: 1:41:20

Yeah, I'm not sure how long you were able to purchase this stuff, but the site itself was up from 2002 to 2017. But I don't know if that included the subscription aspect. From what you said, probably not. They probably weren't able to do that for very long, but it was a website you could visit.

Remi: 1:41:41

It is illegal to record people without their consent and then distribute it for money. I think that may have been the thing that got him in trouble. Maybe putting it up there for free he was allowed to. I don't know that law, but it's completely fucked up, no matter what.

Ashley: 1:41:58

A few years after the site was removed, a spokesperson for Crane's second family said Scotty regretted his actions, destroyed the entire media collection and was focused on trying to get his dad inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. Patty died of lung cancer at the age of 72 in 2007. Before her death, she moved Crane's body from his original resting place without telling his first family so she could be buried next to him.

Remi: 1:42:26

Are they buried in Los Angeles?

Ashley: 1:42:28

I believe so yeah.

Remi: 1:42:30

Okay, I think his grave is in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I could be wrong, though, so don't quote me on that.

Ashley: 1:42:35

In November 2016, the Maricopa Attorney's Office permitted Phoenix TV reporter, john Hook, to submit the blood samples from the rental car for retesting using a more advanced DNA technique than what was available in 1990. The lab that did the testing also helped with the John Bonnet, ramsey and OJ Simpson cases. Two sequences were identified, one from an unknown male, but the other was too degraded to reach a conclusion. This test used up all the remaining DNA from the car, making further testing impossible. The murder of Bob Crane remains unsolved to this day, and that is the true story of Paul Schrader's autofocus Remy. Do you think Carpenter did it?

Remi: 1:43:21

I absolutely think that Carpenter did it. I think that there is reasonable doubt, of course, because of, again, all the situations that Bob put himself in, but to me it seems pretty obvious that John was the one who perpetrated this. What do you think?

Ashley: 1:43:39

I definitely think John Carpenter did it All the stuff with that rental car. With all that blood on the seat. There should be no reason that there would be Bob Crane's blood on the outside of it. There shouldn't be a big scratch with blood and brain tissue inside it.

Remi: 1:43:56

That seems like a smoking gun to me. But again, you have to convince every single person on that 12-person jury and there's a lot of room for different interpretations.

Ashley: 1:44:06

A lot of room for different interpretations. I think if that piece of brain tissue had been preserved and they were able to show that it was Bob's, there might have been a better chance of getting a guilty verdict. But since all you had was a picture and two or three experts saying, like well, it looks like brain tissue, there was no way to confirm what it was. I agree, I definitely think Carpenter did it. I think there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that really does point to him. But unfortunately, I do think the jury in this case made the right call. I don't think there was enough to say beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it.

Remi: 1:44:46

Well, with that should we jump into the next part of our show, which is our objection of the week. Your honor, I object, and why is that, Mr Reed?

Auto Focus Clip: 1:44:56

Because it's devastating, to my case, overruled, good call.

Ashley: 1:45:00

And for everyone joining us for the first time. Our objection of the week is the most unnecessary change made between the true story and the movie, A change that was made that doesn't really change the story or wouldn't have changed the movie much at all if it was kept accurate, but for some reason it was changed anyway.

Remi: 1:45:21

I will go first the fact that in reality Hogan's Heroes ended on April 4th and in the movie ended on July 4th. That is the most meaningless change that I found. I almost put the Hilda Helgo thing because he had sex with both women and for some reason they didn't have that mentioned. But yeah. April and July, why? That doesn't make any difference at all.

Ashley: 1:45:43

That's a really good one. I'm already going to say you won Mine that I landed, on, which I didn't have very many.

Remi: 1:45:49

And that is because they are covering two very different areas. I really only had three written down and normally I have a whole sheet, but again, yeah, there wasn't tons to compare the two to.

Ashley: 1:46:01

Mine was that in the movie Crane kind of stumbled upon John Carpenter doing some video stuff and that's how they met, when in reality it sounds like Dawson introduced them to each other because Hogan's Heroes had a pretty open set. But I like yours better.

Remi: 1:46:17

Well, he was working on Dawson's trailer. That's when they happened upon each other. But yeah, it was more of a happenstance and less of a introduction.

Ashley: 1:46:25

Well now, I'm very excited for this one. We're going to do our verdict.

Narrator: 1:46:31

At the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will deliver a verdict based on the film's accuracy. If the film is an honest portrayal of the events, then it will earn a not guilty verdict. If the adaptation is mostly factual but creative liberties were taken for the sake of entertainment, the film will be declared a mistrial. But if the film ultimately strays too far from the truth, I will kick things off here.

Remi: 1:47:01

Again reiterating that the film and the book cover very different parts of this story and the book cover very different parts of this story, but from what I was able to gather between the two, it seems like the story is pretty well told.

Remi: 1:47:16

So I am going to barely give this film a not guilty verdict. I almost went with a mistrial because one provided so much additional information in his personal life and the other provided so much additional information in his personal life and the other provided so much additional information about his murder, and I kind of feel like the book and the movie are a pair together. But the stuff that was in both of them I would say was accurate enough and something that I didn't mention during my part during the scene where Bob is murdered, they purposefully chose to have the man playing the assailant not be Willem Dafoe. It was played by a different actor because there is that doubt you really don't know for sure. You're pretty positive, but they wanted to have a different person doing it, to have a different body language, just so you wouldn't know for sure in your mind while you were watching it. And including that I thought was pretty on point as well for how this story ends. And yeah, I'm giving it a not guilty, but barely.

Ashley: 1:48:22

So I'm also giving it a not guilty verdict. But, like, with no doubt, like I didn't even consider a mistrial, I think this film is not guilty all the way. On your point of how the movie is focusing more on Bob Crane's life, and then I had a lot of details about the aftermath, that makes sense because the movie is about Bob Crane's life, not necessarily about his death and everything that came after. So I think that's kind of why it ends with his death, because they really wanted to tell the story of this man, not necessarily the story of this man's murder.

Remi: 1:48:58

I would have given it a mistrial due to leaving out things. Basically, I think a lot of the information that you shared about what happened after his death should have been addressed more than a final paragraph monologue and then the credits roll. I think that there was more to the story that was left out, but I think the stuff that was included is accurate.

Ashley: 1:49:20

And I also want to point out that the book this movie was taken from it actually ends before the trial. By the time this book was published, carpenter had really been, he had been arrested and bailed out. This book came out in 1992 and this happened when he was bailed out in like mid-1992. So that's when the book ends. I had to do other resources to find everything that happened after.

Remi: 1:49:46

Well, there you go, two not guilty verdicts for autofocus. A very interesting life story of Bob Crane, a man I really had never known, his career or anything like that. It was before my time, but yeah, very fascinating story about this man. What do we have coming up in two weeks, ashley?

Ashley: 1:50:07

In two weeks we are kicking off part one of our two-part season three finale with the story and movie Below about George Jung, who trafficked first marijuana and then got himself into trafficking cocaine for the Medellin cartel. Our second episode is going to be American Made, which is a movie featuring Tom Cruise with a similar drug trafficking story, and the connection between both of these films are it was two Americans that got themselves into the drug trade with Pablo Escobar's cartel. So we're not going to be talking about Pablo Escobar. We'll reiterate this at the beginning of next week. It's really focusing on these two people and their different experiences. There's no fucking way we could go over all of this and Pablo Escobar. There would just be an insane amount. If you want to know about Pablo Escobar, watch Narcos.

Remi: 1:51:08

We were not even able to find a movie that would have given the story of Pablo Escobar justice. So, yes, we will be focusing on the American drug traffickers, who, in the film Blow is played by Johnny Depp and American Made, is Tom Cruise, which is probably one of the only times we'll be able to discuss Tom.

Ashley: 1:51:29

That's true. We did want to do one with Pablo Escobar and then maybe link it to Blow or something like that, but there really is no movie. I think there was one with, like, javier Bardem, but we like did a little digging into it and it's not really about him, it's more of his relationship with his wife. So there just really isn't a movie yet that details Pablo Escobar as well as Narcos does.

Remi: 1:51:54

And Narcos is too big of an undertaking for us to tackle. But thank you, as always, for joining us. If you enjoy our show and like what you hear, please leave a five-star review, like comment, subscribe. If you leave a fun, fun, nice comment for us, we will gladly read it on the air and we, of course, appreciate everyone taking the time to listen to our show. We also have a instagram and a tiktok at criminal adaptations and everyone court is adjourned.