Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes (1999)

Movie Info

A devil in diguise?

John Curtis Holmes believed he was something more and that he could go places.  John thought he was going to be a big star…literally.  With a notable “member”, Holmes under the name of John C. Holmes became a pornography superstar.  As the years passed, Holmes’ demons began to catch up with him and consume him.  Remembered by his family, coworkers, and friends, John C. Holmes lived a life few can imagine and this is his story.

Produced and directed by Cass Paley, Wadd:  The Life & Times of John C. Holmes is a documentary of pornography star John Holmes (August 8, 1944-March 13, 1988).  The documentary made the festival rounds and received positive reviews.

Johnny Wadd: Action Star!

John C. Holmes (born John Estes) was a legend that has inspired other works.  Much of his life was wrapped up into Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 film Boogie Nights (Anderson appears here in this documentary), but other books and films like Wonderland (2003) also developed around Holmes.  While the drama Wonderland is much more polished and clean and focuses on the Wonderland slayings, Wadd:  The Life & Times of John C. Holmes is a much broader and more in depth look at Holmes and his history.

In many ways the documentary pulls no punches.  It portrays Holmes as an enigma more than anything.  He is a guy who is friendly, he’s a guy who is non-threatening and goofy, he is a bad man, and he is a sociopath that isn’t afraid to use anyone or endanger people.  The film portrays Holmes in all ways. While many of Holmes’ big problems seem to stem from his drug abuse, the John Holmes portrayed in the documentary didn’t seem like the most stable person before getting involved in drugs.

What happened on Wonderland?

The movie interviews a lot of people in Holmes life, and those people give wildly contrasting stories.  One person will say they were Holmes best friend and the next person will say that John had no friends.   The most interesting person in the story probably is John Holmes’ ex-wife Sharon who knew Holmes before and during his time in porn.  Her portrayal of Holmes seems the least “masked” version of Holmes and paints the saddest picture of a guy who never thought he was bigger than his big “attribute”.  She is in such contrast to everyone else in the film and especially John’s other wife Misty Dawn who seems like a user but at the same time in a toxic relationship with Holmes.

The fall of Holmes to drugs is probably the saddest aspect of the documentary.  You see a person on top of the world fall to a lowly depth which led to the murders of multiple people in Laurel Canyon and the risk to others because of his selfish reaction to being diagnosed with A.I.D.S.  You can forgive someone like Holmes who is screwed up in many ways, but some of his actions were unforgivable.

What is John hiding?

Unlike something like a story of a famous artist, musician, or actor, Wadd feels different and fresh.  It feels like it is pulling back the curtain on an industry that not a lot of people see or understand.  The admiration of the people for John C. Holmes in the film is often just for what he could do and how he brought something different to their industry instead of who he was as a person (at least as presented in the documentary).  It is also interesting to watch Wadd while comparing it to events and scenes in movies like Boogie Nights which borrowed some almost identical dialogue from some of Holmes’ interviews in the creation of Dirk Diggler.  Call him John Homes or by his alias Johnny Wadd, John C. Holmes was an original and the documentary is worth checking out.

Related Links:

Boogie Nights (1997)

Wonderland (2003)