Somehow this movie slipped past me. I'd seen it at the video store numerous times but I don't guess I ever looked at the description on the back of the box.I had a little cash to blow over the weekend and I was looking for something to watch that I hadn't seen before. I read the back of the box and was surprised to find that the subject of the film was none other than the legendary actor from "the Golden Age of Porn", the unmistakable John C. Holmes. More specific, Holmes involvement in the murders of four of his friends, which was brought about as retaliation for a botched robbery that was set up by...you guessed it...Holmes, himself.
I read about the Wonderland Avenue murders a long time ago, back when John Holmes was still alive (before 1988). The article, in Hustler magazine, may not have been one of the most reliable sources on such serious subjects, but I had a pretty good feeling this story was dead-on factually accurate.
Not that I was ever a fan of Johnny Wadd, but had I been I would have apostatized around that time. Everyone knew what a liar and a cheater he was. Everyone knew that he travelled overseas to work in porn films when he could no longer work in the States due to his status of HIV positive. He, himself, knew that he could very well by transmitting the disease to the other actors he worked with. All he cared about, and apparently all he EVER cared about in his life was getting whatever was in it for him. Be it drugs, money, sex, acceptance, status...et. al.
So when Val Kilmer tries to play him up for a little sympathy it's an uphill battle. He channels Holmes fairly well, but he tries too hard to get the audience to like a man that, from all accounts, was extremely unlikeable,
Decent movie, but the best is on the Special Features disc. Here you will find a full length (no pun intended) documentary on Holmes. Entitled "WADD" it traces Holmes history from pre-porn days throughout his illustrious career and then to the downhill slide that culminated in his death of AIDS related complications. Deep insight is provided here not only by his associates and former co-stars but by his ex-wife (?) and his mistress as well. It is worth watching just to hear Sharon Mitchell say something along the lines of what a generous, gentle, polite man he was, then in the same moment listen to Juliet (Aunt Peg) Anderson say he was the rudest, most inconsiderate bastard she ever worked with (paraphrasing those sentiments, as I do not have the means to obtain actual quotes. Just trust me on this).
And let me tell you this...those porn girls ain't gettin' no younger. Speaking of Sharon Mitchell...whenever she was on screen the name on the bottom corner said "Miss Sharon Mitchell"...MISS??? None of the other gals felt it necessary to reveal their marital status. Mitchell has always been an acquired taste...Sometimes you would get in the mood for the rare butch heterosexual woman. Sharon was the one. She bore a VERY faint resemblance to Princess Diana. Here, on "Wadd", she puts her two cents worth in at the altar of "good John" and you can't help but wonder how many bottles of Maybelline she must have gone through covering up whatever it is she felt obliged to cover up.
Al Goldstein. What a sleaze ball. I'm sorry, that sounds harsh, but this guy rubs me wrong in so many ways, from his turd green cigar to the way it feels like he's some kind of authority of all things pornographic. He's got an opinion on Johnny, you know that's for sure. In this fascinating documentary he is given yet another soapbox to stand on so he can try to prove he's still relevant to the bottom-feeding, dope monster porn star scene, with his squirrely little rag he calls "Screw" and that just about says it all, don't you think?
It guess it probably says a lot about me that I recognize so many of the commentators. Or if not the commentators, at least the girls in all the movie clips that are sprinkled liberally throughout the movie. "That's Ginger Lynn...there's Amber Lynn", I'm thinking. "Is that Seka? I didn't know he did a scene with Veronica Hart!" I find myself fascinated by the idea that there were girls who very much wanted to work with him while there were almost as many who were afraid of being penetrated by such a massive penis. That you can sometimes tell which is which in the movies: the willing ones all have the nicely relaxed look of radiance that associates them with orgasm after orgasm. The less eager bunch could be spotted by expressions of pain, sometimes slight, sometimes so dreadfully prolonged.
Alas, this is the kind of babble that generally arises when the subject of the "Golden Age" is brought up. All to say that "Wadd" is one of the great documentaries of all time. Wow. Isn't that a little hyperbolic?
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