6.6 /10 1 Votes6.6
64% Metacritic Cinematography Willie Boudevin Release date 1998 (1998) Director Cass Paley | 6.8/10 IMDb Directed by Cass Paley Edited by Christopher Rowland Initial release 9 September 1999 Initial DVD release 2 July 2002 Written by Rodger Jacobs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Produced by Cass PaleyChristopher RowlandRodger JacobsMike Sager Starring John C. HolmesRon JeremyLarry FlyntMisty DawnAunt PegPaul Thomas AndersonMike Sager Cast Similar Movies about murder, Documentaries | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes is a 1998 documentary produced and directed by Cass Paley, about adult film icon John C. Holmes. It was the winner of Best Feature Documentary at the 1999 South by Southwest Film Festival held annually in Austin, Texas.
Contents
Overview
Documentary about the enemies, friends and family of adult film icon John C. Holmes and their memories of him. It discusses the creation of the Johnny Wadd film series directed by Bob Chinn. It also covers the romantic relationships of John Holmes with first wife Sharon Holmes, his underage mistress Dawn Schiller, and his second wife, the porn actress Misty Dawn. Finally, it covers Eddie Nash and Wonderland murders, as well as Holmes death from AIDS. It is narrated principally by journalist Mike Sager, whose Rolling Stone story "The Devil and John Holmes" inspired the films Boogie Nights and Wonderland. It has been reformatted in HD for redistribution by The Sager Group.
Interviews
Critical reception
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Often, there's a conspiracy aspect to lost legends, but terrific films do fall through the cracks. Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes, which played the Toronto film festival and then slipped away, is the ultimate searching - and shocking - exposé of the porn world."
Richard Corliss of Time magazine said of the film, "Like Holmes, Wadd is seedy, twisted, a bit on the long side--and creepily fascinating."
Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "Wadd leaves us to ponder the difference between Holmes's special 'gift' and, say, another star's beautiful singing voice. When you come right down to it, they're pretty much the same thing, but distributed to different parts of the body."
Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide commented, "Holmes's story isn't pretty, but it's fascinating, in no small part because the people Paley interviews offer a glimpse into a brief time when making porn was an act of rebellion that attracted a diverse and eccentric group of filmmakers and performers."