Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes (1998)

Directors:

Wesley Emerson
Alan Smithee

Writers:

Martin Brimmer (writer)
Rodger Jacobs (written by)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

Friends, enemies, acquaintances, and family of porn star John Holmes recall their experiences with him, from his childhood to his eventual death from AIDS in 1988. |

Plot Keywords:

Porn Star | Death | Interview | 1970s | Lie

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Bill Amerson	...	Himself
Denise Amerson	...	Herself
Sean 'Duke' Amerson	...	Himself
Juliet Anderson	...	Herself (as Aunt Peg)
Paul Thomas Anderson	...	Himself
Tom Blake	...	Himself (as Det. Tom Blake)
Bunny Bleu	...	Herself
Martin Brimmer	...	Interviewer (as Rodger Jacobs)
Paul Cambria	...	Himself
Bob Chinn	...	Himself (also archive footage)
David Clark	...	Himself
Ron Coen	...	Himself (as Hon. Ron Coen)
Misty Dawn	...	Herself (also archive footage) (as Laurie Holmes)
Mitchell Egers	...	Himself
Don Fernando	...	Himself
Larry Flynt	...	Himself
Al Goldstein	...	Himself
Annette Haven	...	Herself
Bobby Hollander	...	Himself
Jim Holliday	...	Himself
John Holmes	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sharon Holmes	...	Herself
Ron Jeremy	...	Himself
Gloria Leonard	...	Herself
John Leslie	...	Himself
Vonda Lia	...	Herself (as Vonda Lia Ph.D.)
William Margold	...	Himself
Sharon Mitchell	...	Herself
Kitten Natividad	...	Herself
Richard Pacheco	...	Himself
Ann Perry	...	Herself
Candida Royalle	...	Herself
Mike Sager	...	Himself
'Reb' Sawitz	...	Himself
Dawn Schiller	...	Herself (as Dawn)
Ilona Staller	...	Herself (as Cicciolina)
Joel Sussman	...	Himself
Kenneth Turan	...	Himself
Bob Vosse	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, language, drug use and some violent images. (edited version); Rated NC-17 for explicit sexual content.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Germany:16 | Australia:R (DVD rating) | Australia:X (original rating) | USA:NC-17 | USA:R (edited version)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cassel Productions

Quotes:

[last lines]
Sharon Mitchell: I know where he is, I can always push play.

Movie Connections:

Features The Treasure Box (1980)

A Whole Wadd of Trouble

This award-winning documentary clears the air about the life and times of one of the most important yet complex movie actors in the twentieth century, Mr. John Curtis Holmes.

Holmes rose from humble beginnings to super stardom in his role as the infamous Detective Johnny Wadd. Women wanted to have him, and, in a twist of the porn industry, men were his biggest fans as they wanted to BE Johnny Wadd. But this is only scratching the surface of his massive endowment of talent and complexity.

Cass Paley does a yeoman's job of digging into the entirety of John's life. His troubled and oft-violent childhood. His marriage to a straight-as-an-arrow woman. His rise to the top of the Porn industry, all the while serving as a police informant against it. His descent into a drug addled paranoia and how this ultimately led to one of the most brutal quadruple-murder scenes ever handled by the L.A.P.D. His final years as a porn oddity and his untimely demise from AIDS.

With John Holmes, there was a LOT that met the eye. But there was much, MUCH more that did not meet the eye, and in telling that story, Paley has constructed an American masterpiece.

Buy this DVD. Borrow it. Steal it. I don't care how you get it, just WATCH IT.

If you have a loved one who has been experimenting with drugs, MAKE them see this movie. It will scare the hell out of them to the point that they will never want to SEE a drug ever again.