Yes. A crank will work with many different BB axle (spindle) lengths. For example, if you have a 130mm OLD hub, and choose a MTB crankset intended for a 135mm OLD hub, you'd want to used a BB that is 5mm shorter than recommended - as long as everything cleared the frame. Another example which Sheldon Brown referred to; if you have your bike set up so that you use the big ring across the whole cassette, and the small ring in just the big (low) cogs at the back, you might want to center the big ring to reduce the maximum angle, with the knowledge that if you tried the small ring - smaller sprocket combinations the chain will hit the big ring for sure.

The recommended BB axle length for a given crank set is a combination that will work for 90+% of riders; but it may not be the optimal for any given rider.