John Holmes shot Wadd on a Sunday

Classic porn company VCX will re-release one of John Holmes’ signature movies, 1971’s Johnny Wadd, in September. I reviewed the movie for an upcoming issue of the adult trade publication XBiz.

You should watch this movie for several reasons, all of them having to do with how different (and similar) shooting porn was in California three decades ago.

Johnny Wadd director Bob Chinn gives a great interview on the DVD. Holmes, then 26, walked into Chinn’s office looking for a production job, and Chinn sent him away with an assistant.

“Then my assistant calls me and says, ‘you should look at this guy’s cock,'” Chinn said. “I said, ‘That’s the last thing I want to do.’ But I saw it, and hired him. We shot the movie the following Sunday.”

Chinn said that, because shooting porn was illegal, he would have to keep filming locations a secret from the actors lest they get picked up by the cops. The performers would arrive at a public place and then be shuttled to the location. The camera was never placed on a tripod outside, so that people could make a break for it if necessary. The film was never kept in one place for a long time.

“It was the producers or directors who were most likely to be arrested,” Chinn said. “They’d be charged with conspiracy to commit prostitution, or conspiracy to commit oral intercourse.” The conspiracy charges were why the actors were kept in the dark as long as possible.

My favorite line of the movie comes from the woman in the picture above. Protesting her desirability she says, “I ain’t so hard to take!”

I won’t give away the movie or the review of the movie (XBiz has to eat), but one other thing Chinn said about Holmes reminded me of a story I heard recently.

A contemporary director told me about a (with luck) former porn actor who modeled himself the “real-life Dirk Diggler,” the Boogie Nights character based loosely on John Holmes.

“This guy would show up late to a set and then tell me he had to be done in an hour,” the director said, “and then he’d want more money if I needed him to stay longer, even if he arrived late. He was an asshole.”

Chinn said that Holmes had been hired for $50 for the $750-budgeted Wadd, but when he showed up that Sunday he demanded $75.

“He put us 25 bucks over budget,” Chinn said.

Previously: Slaves of Satan
See also: VCX