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Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes

Play trailer 1:49 Poster for Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes NC-17 2001 1h 50m Documentary Biography Play Trailer Watchlist
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This revealing documentary looks at the sordid life of 1970s porn star John Holmes. The film examines his modest rural beginnings and details his initiation into the porn industry, where he rose to a remarkable level of fame, thanks in large part to his "Johnny Wadd" film series. Unfortunately, Holmes couldn't handle his success, a point driven home by interviews with his friends and family, and this led to numerous problems, including drug abuse and even involvement in a murder case.
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Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes

Critics Reviews

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David Noh Film Journal International 11/13/2001
Some real emotion pierces through. Go to Full Review Shane Burridge rec.arts.movies.reviews 01/01/2000
Equal doses of humor, poignancy, horror and fascination Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Michael C Dec 20 Beautiful and such an extraordinary human being John Holmes is!!! What an amazing documentary!!! See more Jay H 11/22/2023 Wow; John Holmes was a real piece of garbage. See more 01/15/2005 [img]http://www.moviezine.se/filmbilder/006/taking_lives.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.sanity.com.au/coverscan/545000/540850.jpg[/img] Yeah . One of these movies was about a porn star who had a big dick. The other was fucking shit and ruined the song 'Bad' by U2. See more 04/14/2004 Quite depressing actually, but I learnt so much more about John Holmes than I knew before, not that I really knew anything but I recently saw Wonderland. It was a well made doco, although I hated the cuts to his movies when explaining real life events. That was all a little too weird, I mean it made it all seem not serious and it was so serious. What a life this guy had. Porn and drugs don't make a good mix! See more Read all reviews
Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes

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Cast & Crew

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Cass Paley

Director

Misty Dawn

Self

Larry Flynt

Self

Al Goldstein

Self

John Holmes

Self

Ron Jeremy

Self
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Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes

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Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes

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Movie Info

Synopsis This revealing documentary looks at the sordid life of 1970s porn star John Holmes. The film examines his modest rural beginnings and details his initiation into the porn industry, where he rose to a remarkable level of fame, thanks in large part to his "Johnny Wadd" film series. Unfortunately, Holmes couldn't handle his success, a point driven home by interviews with his friends and family, and this led to numerous problems, including drug abuse and even involvement in a murder case.
Director
Cass Paley
Producer
Cass Paley
Screenwriter
Rodger Jacobs
Distributor
Lionsgate
Production Co
Cassel Productions
Rating
NC-17 (Explicit Sexual Content)
Genre
Documentary, Biography
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 12, 2001, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 12, 2025
Runtime
1h 50m
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