All language subtitles for Seed.Money.The.Chuck.Holmes.Story.2015.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

(glass shattering)

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

- Is there anything
else I can get you?

- How 'bout another ginger ale?

- You sure you wouldn't like
something a little stiffer?

- I got something stiffer.

- Oh, you're here already.

- Well I can see what kind
of workout this is gonna be.

- I was just getting warmed up.

- Hi Kurt, I'm home.

(upbeat synth music)

- [Voiceover] Pornography's
a very important part

of the gay culture, and Chuck
was a very important part

of pornography.

He changed people's lives.

- [Voiceover] What he did
liberated many, many people,

at least on a very
basic, primal level,

to show that it was okay.

- [Voiceover] He
came from Indiana.

He knew exactly
what the story was.

He understood what
people wanted to see.

He understood what they
wanted to experience.

He understood what Middle
America was missing.

- [Voiceover] Dealing
in the gay porno world,

you deal with people
they have no concept

of being suave and debonair.

That's where Chuck
Holmes was different.

He seemed to have
a class about him

that nobody else did.

- [Voiceover] He was very
concerned about social change

for gay people and
understood that he could play

a unique role.

- [Voiceover] He felt
that he had to give back

or he would lose
everything he had.

- [Voiceover] No one mind
getting Chuck's money

but some of them minded
where it came from.

He's a pornographer, we don't
want that porno dirty money.

- [Voiceover] I think of
Chuck Holmes very much

in the same way I
look at Hugh Hefner.

Someone who admired beauty and
wanted to share that beauty

with others.

- In the beginning, Chuck Holmes

was a great collector of porn.

That's how it all started,
eight millimeter loops.

- It was extremely closeted

and they would have
these little parties,

like a Tupperware party, in
a Holiday Inn hotel room,

the customers would come.

They would buy them directly
while they were there.

- [Voiceover] I was
probably one of the first

in the business.

I was traveling the country,
checking into hotels,

meeting interested customers,

and in one of my encounters
back in Cincinnati, Ohio

I met Chuck.

He's, "Oh, I want to
get into that business,

"oh I'd love to get
into that business."

I said, "No, I don't think
you really want to deal with

"the feds and postal inspectors

"and all the other
shit involved."

"Oh, I want to get
into that business

"and I want to make movies."

Six or seven months later he
moved out to San Francisco.

(disco music)

(funk music)

♪ Taking a walk down
to the bookstore

♪ On a lonely boring day for me

♪ Can't wait to see
my latest boyfriend

♪ Under the covers
waiting to be free ♪

- Chuck came out of
the closet really fast.

I don't think everybody
understood like,

come to San Francisco
to come out,

but it was quite obvious
and that many, many people

were uprooting and coming
west and landing here.

Sexually it was on fire.

I was coming from the
Deep South and I was just

blown away by how
comfortable people were,

and how uninhibited they
were about their sexuality.

♪ Spending all of my cash
on jars of Vaseline ♪

- I think San Francisco
when I came here

is gayer than it is today.

South of Market there was a
bar called The Hungry Hole

that was glory holes where
you put your ass through.

That's fairly radical.

- We'd all come from very
oppressed backgrounds.

We went to San Francisco
because we had had it

with the rest of America.

We wanted to be free,
we wanted to have sex,

we wanted to be gay,
we wanted to be queer,

we wanted to take a
lot of drugs and party.

And porn was part of that.

Porn is freedom.

- The Supreme Court ruled
today that if anyone wants

to read dirty books or look at
dirty movies in his own home,

he may do so and it's none
of the law's business.

The law still may regulate

the spread of
obscenity in public,

but the court said a
person has every right

to satisfy his intellectual
and emotional needs

in the privacy of his own home,

that the law has no business
telling anyone alone at home

what books he may read or
what films he may look at.

- [Voiceover] Depending upon
one's own moral posture,

this film festival

means either more tarnish
on the city's growing

reputation as the smut
capital of America,

or a major break away from
inartistic pornography.

It would be difficult for
anyone to deny, however,

that erotica by
whatever definition

has become a commercial as
well as cultural phenomenon.

Mike Lee, Eyewitness
News San Francisco.

- I came to San
Francisco in '72.

I went to the BAR which
was relatively new

and I kind of admired
the fact that a gay paper

was being published.

I walked in the door and
said, "I'm a writer,"

and the editor, Paul Lorch,
said, "What do you write?"

And I said, "Theater
reviews with an emphasis

"on musical theater."

And he said, "I've got
somebody writing those,

"would you like to review porn?"

(sultry music)

It was his idea that it
was time to be legitimizing

gay men's sexuality in
its on-screen depictions.

- The big innovation of the
sexual revolution period

was theatrical, in other
words, in mainstream theaters,

in movie theaters, or
small storefront theaters.

The other way, and this
was more traditional

and it goes back to the
beefcake photographers,

there was a mail-order
business and this was really

the main way.

- Mail order was
selling directly through
ads in magazines.

They would send in
cash many times,

because they were afraid
to even have a record

as far as a personal check
paying for adult material.

- [Voiceover] Loops were the
kind of short little scenes

shown in peep shows.

That was in fact the
form that was used

in mail-order businesses.

- [Voiceover] It was a
small little reel of film,

not well focused and
not well lit, body hair

was not manicured, dirty
feet, they were just thrilled

to get anything that
was available out there.

There just wasn't
that much product.

- [Voiceover] They were
definitely headache-inducing

at all times because
the camerawork was bad,

the lighting was worse,
the editing was atrocious.

And the soundtracks
just were painful.

You really had to want
to see men having sex.

- [Voiceover] This is by
some the gay technique called

LIA for Legs In Air.

Frequently meaning simply
that an individual homosexual

enjoys such activity.

But where the name
came from is clear.

- Chuck didn't like dirty feet.

That's why he got in business,

that's what he always told me.

Says, "I used to watch
porn movies and see those

"goddamn models and
they'd have dirty feet.

"I said, I gotta do it better.

"There's not gonna be a
model with a dirty foot

"within 10 miles
of a Falcon movie."

- A lot of them get
into their industry

because of their sexual
impulse and they don't have

much of a craft of an
impulse towards the craft

of the medium they've chosen.

Chuck seems to have had
a natural proclivity,

something in him, when he
found himself a gay filmmaker,

he wasn't a bad one at all.

- Chuck started Falcon
in 1970 out of his home.

It probably just seemed like
the business to get into

in the early days.

It was becoming legal.

When you're the first or one
of the first to do something,

you can make money on it.

- He had some friends who
were in it, and he always said

that, "I'm smarter
than those guys are,

"and they seem to be
making a good living,

"so I know I can do it."

- [Voiceover] Chuck
and I were very close.

At that time I was not
only shooting for myself,

I was also shooting
for Matt Sterling.

We met and he picked my
brain, he talked me into

shooting all the earlier films.

We both put each other on
payroll, started Falcon.

Right after Chuck and I
had met and started things,

Vaughn came into the picture.

He was the person who
went out and recruited

the mailing lists.

- [Voiceover] Just walking
talking and one day

he said, "What should
we call the company?"

I said, "I want a bird of prey."

He said, "Eagle?"

I said, "No."

Then he said, "Falcon,"
I said, "That's it,"

and that's the way we named it.

It was like just
spitting in the street,

it wasn't no big deal, it
was just three or four words

and it was named.

I said well I'm gonna set you
up, give you all the contacts,

I want $5,000.

And a little
percentage of whatever.

And we just started doing it.

- [Voiceover] This
is when it starts.

When Chuck gets that mailing
list is when you can first

start calling the adult erotic
gay industry an industry.

- Chuck was the business
brain behind everything.

He was the financial whiz.

John Travis was the camera
man, he was the creative aspect

of everything.

He was the original pioneer.

But Chuck knew how to
capitalize off this.

(upbeat funky music)

- [Voiceover] Sex sells.

It just blossomed overnight.

We just shot whenever
we wanted to.

Was nothing planned or anything.

We weren't making
films so people say oh,

they're having good sex
or they're showing how

sex should be done,
we were making them

because we enjoyed
it, we loved it,

and that's what we liked doing.

- They're renegades, you know?

They're out there
just shooting sex,

it's just it's real
guys having real sex.

Right on the side of
the road, (laughs)

in a boat, they're
just going for it.

- Back then there were
like seven models.

And every once in a while
you'd find that eighth model

walking on Santa
Monica Boulevard.

And they kinda all would swoop.

- [Voiceover] They'd
have another business

and they would kinda
attract models,

like Vaughn had a
company called Rugby.

And it was a really slick
little clothing store in Castro.

They printed a
really nice catalog.

They'd take photographs
of these guys.

Dick Fisk comes to mind.

But it was always like well,
we have this other business too

that you could make
some more money.

(upbeat funky music)

- [Voiceover] I just
went on the streets

and picked them up in
bars and cable cars

and walking and baseball
fields, I just went out

and picked them up.

Once you pick up a guy,
you know, you never know

what's gonna happen.

Is it gonna be sex
or is it gonna be no?

Most time it was yes.

And of course
(mumbles) to Falcon.

- Falcon consistently looked
for better and better models,

and they always used
beautiful locations

and outdoor scenes.

It was the consistency
that the customers

knew if they were
buying that brand

they were gonna receive
a wonderful product.

It was a new era and Chuck
really helped create that.

- [Voiceover] Chuck Holmes
may have had the largest sense

of scope in the way in
which he wanted his product

to get out nationally.

- [Voiceover] He was
very smart at marketing.

He knew what he liked,
he knew what sold,

he knew to continually
build up his mail-order list

and the name Falcon.

- [Voiceover] Chuck was so
competitive, he could move

at lightning speed,
he could have an idea,

he could have it
laid out in two days,

and he'd print it overnight
and he'd be in the mail

while his other friends were
still thinking about it.

- [Voiceover] Chuck was
mass-production machinery.

He wanted to make
'em and get 'em done,

boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Get 'em out there
on the marketplace.

- [Voiceover] Chuck
in his early career

was able to attain success
because he was able to deliver

in the brown paper wrapper
the films that magazines,

that gay America wanted to
see in a form that they could

actually accept it.

It was sensual, it was
sexy, it was not smutty,

it was not low-life, and
he was at the right place

at the right time.

(funky music)

- [Voiceover] Chuck Holmes
and Falcon Studio translated

the sexual life of gay
men in those large cities

into kind of a
historical record.

- They were very post-Stonewall.

They were reflecting
new gay freedoms.

The explosion of our
lives and our visibility

on the streets, in the
world, in bars that no longer

had their windows painted black.

You know, and the movies
quickly reflected this.

The clone look, the lumberjack
look, jeans, flannel shirts,

mustaches, facial hair.

It was the hippie
look filtered through

a notched-up masculinity.

(doorbell ringing)

- We had a rich
lexicon of our culture,

of the way we lived
and what we wore

and what we thought about
and how we dressed and talked

and filmmakers
could put that out

and kind of recreate or
document our culture.

- The porn stars
were really heroes.

At a time where it was
necessarily not easy to be gay,

and not easy to be out, not
only were they like gay and out,

but they were like really, like,

putting it all on the table.

You know, they were kind
of going the extra mile

for all of us.

- [Voiceover] Pornography was
still technically considered

a kind of prostitution,
it was sex for money.

Anybody who made pornography
at this point in time

had not only to worry
about being arrested under

prostitution laws, but still
had to worry about obscenity,

vice squads, it was a
dangerous occupation.

- Yesterday the Supreme Court
authorized wider restrictions

on the exhibition and
sale of obscenity.

Today a nationwide
crackdown was underway.

- [Voiceover] The explicit
portrayal of sex activity

has become a big, very
profitable business.

The vice squad
goes after it all.

- [Voiceover] What
you have to understand

is that it was extremely risky.

I mean, people got busted
for selling porn interstate

and went to jail.

They all hid, you know,
they all had noms de porn.

At the first hint of a
bust or any legal issue

they'd all pick up
their teepees and run.

- [Voiceover] The entire
industry was anonymous.

Neither the performers
nor filmmakers

were credited or
wanting to be known.

- [Voiceover] You had
to be very careful.

No one knew where they
were gonna shoot that day

until they were going
there, it was a secret.

It was like the McCarthy
hearing for making sex films.

- They were after Chuck
Holmes for a long time

because he was noted
for fisting movies.

- He was indicted along
with Matt Sterling.

The trial was actually in Texas.

Chuck says is that they
showed, I believe it was

an interracial scene.

(funky music)

The prosecutor said, "Ladies
and gentlemen of the jury,

"this could be your son!"

And one of the women in
the jury box threw up.

Chuck hired Michael
Kennedy and Tom Steele.

These are people who
defended the Chicago Seven.

They went to the judge
in chambers and said,

"Judge, we feel like we're
not getting a fair trial."

And the judge said, "Fair trial?

"Fair trial, Michael?

"Hell, not too many years
ago we would've taken

"those old boys out behind
the courthouse and hung 'em!"

That's what the legal
climate was like.

Chuck delayed it, and
he had it moved finally

to San Francisco.

Matt Sterling who wouldn't
spend the money went to prison.

Chuck was lucky, but
he was also smart.

- [Voiceover] I decided
to discontinue shooting

for myself because I just
didn't want to deal with

the entanglement of the
feds and postal inspectors.

I let Chuck take the brunt.

- People said look, I'm
tired, he would be a buyer

and buy these rights out, you
know, it's like a card game,

people folded, yeah,
I'll buy you out.

- [Voiceover] One reason
why Chuck Holmes thrived

the way he did was that he was
able to avoid going to jail

in a way that some of
the other directors

were not able to do.

He basically built on that
and acquired their materials.

(upbeat music)

- [Voiceover] Chuck
loved to go skiing

and it would cost a lot of
money, so one year he said

let's just shoot a couple
scenes so we can write it off.

- [Voiceover] On the
Other Side of Aspen

he was extremely involved,
he wanted to get everybody

outfitted, a whole
lot of my ski clothing

is in that original movie.

In those days they
probably had sex at night,

I would imagine.

Either as a group or in groups.

- [Voiceover] They
wanted to pull together

three of the leading
performers of each generation.

Generations were very short
at this point in time.

Of the gay porn performers.

They had Casey Donovan who
was the very first famous

gay porn star, they had
Al Parker from the second

generation, and then Dick Fisk
from the third generation.

- [Voiceover] He shot a few
scenes and he brought it back,

and he showed it to Matt
Sterling and showed it to me,

and we said hmm, we can
make this into something.

I said well, do we
need an opening scene?

And Matt Sterling
wrote the whole thing

and it just blew 'em away.

- Well there you are.

- Hi, how are you?

Been running.

- Wow, you're really sweating.

- Yeah, a lot.

- You have a good time?

- Yeah, I had a great time.

Been thinking about this
little trip I took to Aspen.

- At that point they realized

that they had something
a little different

than they had intended
and it was really almost

a feature movie.

Once Chuck Holmes realized
this, he decided he was going to

market it that way, and
sent out a brochure,

asked for the people
on his mailing list

to mail in reservations.

It was such a huge
success that everyone

decided to imitate that.

It even was more important
than anyone realized

at the time because once the
video revolution occurred,

what you sent home
was not a clip,

you sent out a movie
with four scenes.

It produced the biggest
success of his career.

(upbeat funky music)

- [Voiceover] Falcon
Video pack number three.

- [Voiceover] When young
businessman Craig Ryan

realizes that the cabbie who
picked him up at the airport

is the incredible Al
Parker, he gives into

the bearded stud's
blatant come on.

Along a deserted country
roadside, the two men

get naked and nasty together.

Even Parker's impressed
when Ryan fucks himself

with his own thick cock.

- It almost happened
overnight that all of a sudden

video was the big thing.

Everybody was buying machines,
everybody was getting tapes,

people were sharing tapes,
and film just faded out.

- Everything that was
on eight millimeter

got transferred over so we
kept getting additional sales

without having to
manufacture anything new.

- I was getting like FedEx
packages every Monday morning

like stuffed with
pounds of cash!

I couldn't believe how
much money there was.

I mean, it was wild.

We got advance checks here
and advance checks there,

Chuck certainly took
advantage of that, man.

He was on the edge of that.

- Before you even finish
making your movie,

you would have 10,000
units sold at $35 a pop.

Falcon was noted for
having more than that,

and his mail order was
so incredible and vast.

He'd make a fortune
any movie he made.

- [Voiceover] He didn't
hit the door in a hotel

or on a cruise ship that he
wasn't handing out $100 bills

to the help.

Bump, bump, bump, bump,
bump, bump, bump, everybody.

They knew he was coming.

Hello Mr. Holmes.

- One of the first things you
did when you got with Chuck

is you got a Rolex, okay.

And he, Chuck gave me two
Rolexes, a Tiffany watch,

a lot of jewelry over the years.

He started to refashion
you in his image.

I had a Rolls Royce that
towed us to and from

the clubs at night, and
another one to bring

other boys home or to
follow us shopping.

He told me, I'm gonna
spoil you so rotten

that no one else'll
ever have you.

And I was like, bring it.

- [Voiceover] I had a
lot of famous friends.

And just with Chuck he really
got a lot of kick out of it.

Steve Robel of 54
and David Geffen.

Hosten, I'd take him
to Hosten's house.

He got so much joy out
of that type of stuff.

Chuck wanted a new way of life,
he wanted to be a big-shot.

(calm funky music)

- You take a look
at the Falcon models

of 1980, '81, '82, they're
all picture perfect.

Falcon had the most
beautiful models there were.

They wanted the most
perfectly beautiful faces

with the most beautiful
bodies and the biggest dicks

possible, and they wanted
them to do everything.

And then some.

- Long ride, you guys, did
you check that pothole?

I just about busted my
nuts coming over that.

- Well I think we
should go inside

and get on with this
initiation, okay?

- Alright.

- Yeah, let's go.

- If you really go back to the
first eight millimeter loops

they're all hairy
and with mustaches.

In the '70s that was the image
that reflected masculinity.

I believe the story was
Calvin Klein came out with his

famous billboard underwear
billboard I believe in 1979

or 1980, and they were friends,

and that whole image changed.

It went from machismo
to clean-cut.

(sultry music)

- [Voiceover] Calvin Klein had
sent me a box of underwear,

100 pair Calvin Klein underwear,

and I liked the way
the guys look in them,

and I started using them.

It was not planned,
it was just something

I liked the way it
looked visually.

- [Voiceover] Chuck was not
a creative person at all,

he was a business person.

What Vaughn brought was
the sheets and the art

and the pictures
and the orchids.

Vaughn could sell it.

I mean, when you talked
to Vaughn he's like,

"Oh girl, just imagine
white crisp linens

"on tan skin, ooh, girl."

He'd sell to Chuck and
Chuck could almost,

he almost hypnotized
Chuck by that, you know.

"Ooh, girl, yeah, okay, do it."

He'd convince him to
spend the money for it.

- [Voiceover] I picked the
guys and I picked the clothes,

cut their hair, plucked their
eyebrows and shaved them.

Scrubbed their feet
and bleached 'em

so they'd have nice white feet.

Tanned them up and
oiled them down

and then Matt Sterling
saw it, he said,

"This is gonna change
the way we shoot film."

- The thing I remember about
Chuck and his productions

was he was really methodical
about manufacturing

the fantasy.

And the guys had to be
a certain kind of guy.

They were always very
white and very muscular

and very tanned.

- Right at this time
the formula is gelling.

Beautiful people in
beautiful surrounding.

The models are getting
more attractive

and there's some money
rolling in where we can

spend a little more
money on the productions.

They were all just beautiful
people, the boy next door.

There was no dog meat.

(chuckles)

- He is the first producer
that wanted to depict

good, clean, all-American fun.

Collegiate-looking
guys, brand new socks,

pure white underwear.

It was a new look that
kinda brought the industry

above-ground, and
made it clean and fun

and wholesome almost.

- I think they were
the first one ever

that you knew that
that was a class act,

if you can say anything's
a class act in pornography.

- The standards of everybody's
movie were based on

Falcon movies.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Well you know it
takes a lot to win

♪ Long nights spent at the gym

♪ We're on the way
with a winning streak

♪ Working hard
gonna reach our peak

♪ Can't stop now

♪ Can't slow down

♪ Well it's spring
training look out

♪ We've got the will to win

♪ Well it's spring
training yeah now ♪

- Hey, thank Phil
for introducing me
to Kathy last night.

Man, she was a real
hot piece of ass.

- Over the half the
guys in Phil's office

have been trying to
get it on with her.

- I know she's hot for my dick.

- I could understand why.

I was just on my way into the
sauna before you came over.

Why don't you join me?

You'd feel a hell of a
lot better afterwards.

- What the fuck, why not?

Alright.

- [Voiceover] Falcon was
just a reflection of Chuck.

His fetishes, his likes
and dislikes with guys,

how he wanted gay to be
portrayed in his movies.

Falcon was really just
right out of Chuck's brain.

It was Chuck.

- He was very uber about
masculinity and about boys

and about men and about
keeping things male.

- He struggled
with his being gay.

Not so much being gay
or saying I'm gay,

but having a presence
that was flamboyant

beyond being appropriate.

He never wore tore-off
jeans, he never wore anything

that would give
away the sexuality.

- You know, you really
do have a hot body.

- Thanks, I try to
keep it that way.

- Have you ever had
a blowjob before?

- Two chicks have done it
before, really turns me on.

- Have you ever
had a guy blow you?

- No.

Have you?

- Well, maybe.

A few times.

Could I give you a blowjob?

- Sure, why not?

- The image of that masculine
basic, plain, athletic man

was purposely created
to combat the image

that society had of gay men in
the '60s and the early '70s.

He was taking that fringe
element and dressing it up

and cutting its hair and
teaching it to speak well

so that the general population
would overlook the gayness

and pay attention to the person.

To assimilate easier.

- They would get 'em
out of the Midwest.

They would go to great
expense, do model searches

through people all
over the United States.

The smaller the town, wherever.

Fly 'em in, build 'em up.

(funky music)

- Falcon would put 'em
through the car wash.

The idea being that
you take somebody

and you beautify them
and they work out and add

a little toning the
body, the makeup,

and before you're done,
you've got the perfect

car-washed Falcon star.

Seemed like in a lot of
cases they all looked alike.

- Kevin Williams, Kurt Marshall.

That was the iconic
look of Falcon.

That was the Falcon look.

Everybody was looking for
the next beautiful blond.

(phone ringing)

- Hello?

- Hey Brian.

Yeah, how's it going?

What's going on?

Hey how 'bout coming
over to party?

- Hey, my buddy
Kurt's here with me.

You've never met him
before, but he's real hot.

You'll like him for sure.

Anyhow, we'll be right over.

Bye.

- They would strip all
the color out of my hair

and then just add
a beige toner to it

so it would basically
be stripped to white

and then we would just add
a shade of ash to my hair.

And it was different
versions of that,

flipped off to the
side so it looked like

I had this big mop.

- I had to remain shaved
and even though I made

two or three movies a year
I had to be shaven down,

every day, and in San
Franciso you try to get a date

(laughs) with no
hair on your body.

(laughing)

- They had this very
lockstep, lockdown concept

of what masculinity is,
how it should be portrayed

and how it should be
packaged, you know,

for poor Joe in Iowa that's
gonna pay $69 for a VHS.

- [Voiceover] You know
if I would bring in

a fabulous black model,
a black model couldn't be

just in the cast.

There had to be a reason
for the black model

to be in the cast.

The black guys were
never to get fucked.

And the white boys
were to never lick

the black guy's ass.

That's what he wanted.

- Hey.

- Hello.

- What brings you over here?

- (mumbles)

- Wait, what do you mean?

- Fuck my wife, fuck this
tour, I wanna fuck you.

- [Voiceover] How does
that depiction of sexuality

reflect gay men, what
does it say about us,

what does it say
about the filmmaker?

- I'm gonna fuck
that lilywhite ass.

- Hey come on man,
don't hurt me!

- This is a really
personal medium.

They were filming
their sexual fantasies,

filtered through
what they thought

the little old man in
Peoria wanted to be seeing.

- [Voiceover] What set Falcon
apart was that very clean,

squeaky clean college
student image.

That squeaky clean kid becomes
Piggy when the doors close.

And it's that juxtaposition
that made Falcon work.

- Chuck didn't care
about anything but sex.

He didn't want to see kissing,

god damnit, they're
kissing too much.

Make 'em fuck that hole and
I'm gonna see it open up.

God damnit, they're
talking too much.

Who cares about the
goddamn seagulls

on the fucking
beach in the water?

God damnit, this is bullshit.

- Little woop-do-woo and
gets you right to the action,

'cause Falcon was
very anal oriented.

Finger that butt
and slap that butt.

A lot of butt, a lot of fucking.

Chuck would love it if on film

we could get some dildos going.

Like someone started talking
about these artistic cocks

and he said no, they've
got to look like aliens

plunging, plunging.

He was just ooh ooh ooh, honey.

(laughs)

Ooh.

He loved it.

- Chuck always said to me, he
goes, "Honey, it'll stretch

"a mile before it tears
an inch, believe me."

- [Voiceover] Chuck's
surgeons would come to me

and they'd say, "What's
wrong with him?"

He must have some
psychological problem,

he must have something
going on with him

that's really wrong.

I looked at myself and I
looked at Chuck, and I said,

"There's nothing wrong with
him, this guy's normal.

"He's got wishes and
dreams and aspirations

"and all kinds of ideas that
don't fall into the box."

- Having sex was a
political statement,

because we were allowing
ourselves the privilege

of having sex unfettered
by straight people's

expectations of our sexuality.

(doorbell ringing)

(curious music)

- Chuck breathed a
lot, a lot of energy

into his relationships.

When Chuck fell in love
with someone, it was 110%.

As generous as he
was, he would not,

he wasn't willing to
allow the men in his lives

a lot of room to
express themselves.

I had a complicated
relationship with Chuck.

He was like my lover
brother father buddy.

It was always
extremely complicated.

Everybody knows Chuck as an
extremely sober individual,

and who would campaign
against alcohol.

He didn't like drinking at
all, much less drug use,

but the truth of the matter
is Chuck had quite a sexing

and drug episode in his life
that I had engaged in with him

and it amplified itself.

And so there were a few years
there that I didn't see him

all the time.

- I'm having a wild party at
my condo at the Aspen Club.

Why don't you come on over?

- Sounds pretty good.

- Hey you guys, you won't
believe this hot guy

I ran into on the
slopes this afternoon.

I literally ran into him.

He's back in the back
room, he wants to come up.

He's wearing a mask and
you guys won't mind.

My friend.

- Hey Kurt.

Hey everybody.

Hey guys.

- [All] Hey, how are
you, how's it going?

- [Voiceover] Every weekend
they would have a sex party,

I mean every weekend.

And it would last until Monday.

So I'd have to come
drag him out of the bed

on Monday morning to go to work.

- [Voiceover] Chuck was lucky
if he could bounce a check.

He would spend all the
he had coming in Falcon

chasing boys and going
to New York, and drugs,

he spent up all the money,
didn't have anything left.

Had to make payroll.

Had to pay the rent.

Did he have to make a new
film, there was no money.

- [Voiceover] Falcon
was in disarray.

They had orders that
were six months old.

And at this time they were
only making two or three

movies a year.

- [Voiceover] I just
couldn't take it anymore,

it was just too much.

I was not going anywhere,
and everything was just

going deeper so I left him.

- When I saw Chuck in
the mid '80s, '84, '85,

I could tell that by
his general appearance

that he was not too well.

- We left this meeting,
we went out to the car,

we got in his Porsche and he
said to me, he started crying.

They had diagnosed him with
KS, he had KS on his ankle.

That's when I first became
aware about his HIV status.

I'm sure he was positive
long before that.

It was the first time that I
had ever seen him frightened,

because he wasn't
that kind of person,

but also that I really became
aware that he was, you know,

fallible, you know, and that
he wasn't just a superhero.

- I come from a generation
that had a lot of sex

in very casual and free
ways all over the town,

all the time.

(disco music)

Having to switch
rapidly to a sex life

that was prescribed in
any way was difficult.

We were used to being
very freewheeling,

that was part of who we
were, that was part of our

statement of identity.

So it was hard to
put the brakes on.

- You could have heard a
pin drop down the Castro.

Everyone pretended that
they were never found

bottom-up on Dory Alley or
any other seedy location.

People fled for the
closets, they all ran back

into the closet, they ran back
into straight relationships,

everybody abandoned
being out in public.

This is how I saw it.

- I think that when AIDS
happened it was devastating

to this business.

I think it scared the
shit out of everybody.

When we found out how
it was being produced

and of course when we then
found out all of our actors

were dying, I mean I think it
changed the industry a lot.

Some people went out of business
I think because of that.

It pretty well got me
where I didn't want to be

in the business anymore.

I didn't want to take
somebody else's life.

- Oh man, it was just
a very scary time,

and here I am still groveling
down below at the camera

and stuff dribbling on me,
it was like (chuckles).

- Chuck would never speak to it,

like what was going
on in our community

in a general sort of way.

He would do it very quietly.

But if you got him on an
incident like that poor guy

whatever, Chuck would
break down and cry.

But he had kind of a rigid
front around it otherwise.

(typewriter clacking)

He used nonoxynol-9,
that spermicidal thing,

and he would have all
these notices, you know,

precautions have been taken
that maybe you don't see

and occasionally in some
of the movies you'd see it.

You'd see somebody
squirt something in,

and in fact many people would
always say, "What was that?"

They'd think it was a bump
or something, you know,

a booty bump.

- They were doing everything
but using condoms.

They were dancing
around that issue

by squirting nonoxynol-9
up the boys' butts.

- [Voiceover] He could
recite a lot of studies.

It's 99% effective
and blah blah blah.

Come to find out
years later it wasn't.

Okay, 'cause what it did
was it irritated or inflamed

the lining and it could actually
contribute to conversion.

- I would talk to
Chuck and I would say,

"You need to use condoms,
Chuck, you have to use condoms."

- And remember that
was one of the big

bones of contention with
Falcon was they were sort of

the last ones the come on
board with using a condom.

- The feeling was that
the consumer wouldn't buy

a product that depicted condoms.

It was performers actually
who kind of insisted on it,

but there was great resistance.

As there was among the populace.

- [Voiceover] I would hope
that he would look around

and say I can't promote
this, I can't contribute

the people looking at
my movies and thinking

it's okay to not use condoms.

I did not let up.

- [Voiceover] This was very
serious, it was a health crisis

so we talked about it
all the time and I think

the only time we really
wouldn't talk about

but when people started
showing up very thin

and I just said, you know
what, I don't feel comfortable

with this, I just
can't do this anymore

and I don't feel comfortable
doing it anymore.

- I had to argue
with him about it.

He said, "We can't go to
condoms, we go to condoms,

"we're gonna go out of business,

"people aren't gonna buy it."

I just couldn't convince him,
so I knew what would do it.

Because Chuck, for all
his being the grand wizard

was also a coward and
I told him, I said,

"You know what, honey?"

I said, "Act Up's
gonna come down here

"and you're gonna
come to work one day

"and Act Up's gonna be
standing outside that door,

"and you're gonna get
called out on this."

And that, at that
point, he decided

we could start using condoms.

(synth music)

- [Voiceover] Coming
through this AIDS epidemic

I think a lot of people
were afraid to have sex,

even safer sex, and
porn was one of their

only sexual outlets.

- You'd be amazed at
the amount of people

that have come to me, like,
wow, you saved my life.

I think porn was a
safety mechanism.

(upbeat synth music)

- Business was growing.

I told Chuck, I said, "We
need to get people in here

"full time, we need to
get serious about this,

"and stop being weekend
porno hobbyists."

I had brought professional
filmmaking people,

young kids who really
had something to prove,

we really had ideas.

- I was Steven's assistant,
Steven and I were very close,

he was like my big brother,
and we would literally

pow-wow every day,
ideas, scripts,

I was constantly involved
with his everyday,

and I think Steven
wanted me very close

so that we could
produce together.

- [Voiceover] We added
lines, the Mustang line,

the Jocks line, the
Falcon International line,

a novelty line.

- The duplication lab
ran 'round the clock,

24 hours a day, hundreds of
titles were we duplicating

in just one day.

- It was at a time where
people were watching more porn,

we were making movies
like a production line.

We had just entered
distribution nationally

and internationally,
it was exploding.

We'd have $40,000 days.

(applause)

- [Voiceover] Chuck
loved the gay porn world.

He loved being the
hefe of the porn world.

- [Voiceover] I think he
made a complete turnaround

of his life.

He had gotten sober and
very serious about it,

watching his weight,
health conscious.

- [Voiceover] He was the kind
of image you would look up to.

You could tell he was
a very successful man,

he carried himself well,
he was real confident.

He had whatever he wanted.

(chuckles)

I mean, he owned Falcon.

- Incredibly lucky.

I started in this business
sorta accidentally in 1972,

my friend Jack Nouveau,
better known as Matt Sterling,

and John Travis down there.

We had just told
(mumbles) to me.

(laughs)

Some of us go way back to
the days of Peter and John

when there were no snakes
and reptiles on the earth.

But be that as it may,
we're all lucky to be here.

Some of the best have
gone on before us.

I think we've got a
few more licks in us

and I want to thank
you, thank you.

(cheers and applause)

- He taught me so
much about what to be

and what not to be.

You know, he was a very
lonely person, very lonely.

And not satisfied.

Early on I thought money
brought satisfaction.

Chuck taught me that
that's not the case.

He lived on the hill and
he had all the money,

and he was not a happy person.

We would travel on
planes or go places

and people would say,
"What do you do?"

"Videotape replication."

And for most people that
would be like, okay, great,

anyway, it's nice out isn't it.

You know, it would
keep 'em off track.

And I would always
question like,

what is videotape
replication, what is that?

Making tapes.

Yeah, but what kind of tapes?

You know, someone's
gonna ask you.

Well they haven't
yet Mary, so quiet.

He was never really
comfortable with what he chose

as his career.

- He had to test
the water before

you told somebody
what you were doing.

You know, it wasn't
completely open.

He used to tell his
society friends,

"I'm in the mail
order business," and
they'd say, "What?"

and he'd say, "Well I
sell, you know, tchotchkes

and things like that,"
so people around town

used to call him
Crystal Holmes because

she'd sell crystals
and things like that.

For a laugh, they
all knew what he did.

- I don't know if Chuck was
proud to be a pornographer.

I don't think he was
embarrassed by it,

it certainly afforded him
a lucrative lifestyle.

I don't think that he ever
felt accepted by society

because of society's
negative feelings towards

the porn industry.

- [Voiceover] He would come
through the main entrance

and all the officers
were lined up.

It was like an ice
storm came through

because each person
would be like

doing something personal and
then as soon as they saw him,

oh, hello Mr. Holmes.

- [Voiceover] He really,
really cared about

everybody that worked for him,
even though he was a tyrant

at the office and people
were afraid of him.

He would storm
around that office.

If he was in a bad mood and
he came into that office,

a paperclip on the floor could
send him into a flying rage

of monumental proportions
that shook the ground

that that office was on.

- Guards, him.

- Oh no, no, no!

- He had that type A
personality and he never felt

like he achieved enough.

- [Voiceover] We had gone
to see Eva Peron's tomb.

Chuck came home and she's
gonna build a mausoleum.

Chuck Holmes is gonna build
a mausoleum for himself,

and I said, "Why?

"Who's gonna come see it?"

And we had this discussion
he says oh I'm gonna build

ooh, green marble and
ooh, ooh, ah, I'd say,

"No one's gonna come to see it,

"you're gonna be dead and gone,
except for a handful of us.

"We don't have kids."

He turned the corner later
on and realized that he could

donate money and that would
give him a living legacy.

It was very important to him
that people remember him.

(upbeat music)

(whistles blowing)

(cheering)

He got involved in
politics first and foremost

because he needed to
protect his business.

He was really politically
motivated around

we couldn't have these
goddamn republicans in office

because I'm gonna go to jail.

(cheering)

I think I saw everything change,

and I think it
changed for many of us

was the promise of Bill
Clinton becoming president.

We needed a president who
would speak about AIDS,

who would say the word
AIDS, who would maybe come

to our defense and
perhaps our rescue.

That's when I saw him really
begin to contribute heavily.

He really was very, very
shy about getting into it,

and when he met Vincent
Fria and (mumbles)

and a couple other people,
they encouraged him,

saying your money's as good
as anybody else's here,

and we need you.

You're a good leader,
you're a good organizer,

you can talk people into
things that nobody else

can talk 'em into, you
can get people on board,

we need you.

And when he finally got that
message, my God, it was on.

Because he had
self-doubt around it.

I think that he was
always frightened by,

or he was frightened by
that someone was gonna

return his check.

- I'm Chuck Holmes,
I'm from San Francisco,

and I'm glad to be
here in Washington.

This is the first time I've
ever marched for a cause

in my life, I waited a
long time, 48 years almost

and I'm here and
I'm glad to be here.

The spirit's very high,
everyone's very motivated

and yet very civilized.

I know those people, it's
not rowdy, it's very safe.

We're just glad to be here.

I hope America wakes up
and gets our message.

- He was part of an
emerging, very elite,

successful group of
gays that had taken it

upon themselves to really
immerse themselves in politics

and use their power
and wherewithal

to advance gay candidacies
and gay issues.

- He was one of those guys that
just melted into the crowd,

took everyone in,
made 'em feel welcome.

He could sit next to anyone
and have a conversation

about anything and
really what he did was

never really the subject
of the conversation.

- Chuck and I met in a very
particular and singular

capacity, I as a
volunteer fundraiser,

he as a very generous donor.

(applause)

Chuck's name was at the
top of the list of donors

and so it was my job to,
of course, get to know

who this individual was
and make him my friend

so I could continue to
encourage his significant

contribution to the
Human Rights Campaign.

- [Voiceover] Chuck, how do
you feel about this weekend?

- Very excited
about the weekend,

it's a big part in our
movement for our equal rights

for gays and lesbians, and
I expect a million people

and hopefully we'll turn
the tide for the country,

or begin to turn the
tide in a big way.

- [Voiceover] You're
a big supporter of

the Human Rights Campaign Fund?

- I do the best I can.

(laughing)

- [Voiceover] And who
are your friends here?

- This is Steve
(mumbles) co-chair of
the board of directors

of the Human Rights Campaign
Fund, Melinda Cuthbert,

board of governors of the
Human Rights Campaign Fund,

and Tim McFeely our
executive director.

- The depth of his
generosity made him

a significant player.

Chuck was a strategic thinker,
certainly had an opinion,

always had an opinion,

and was very welcome
as a board member

of the board of directors.

- Chuck had the
reaches to get to

the David Geffens of the world,

the Jim Hormels of the world.

He would pick up the phone
and say hey Jim, it's Mary,

and that was Chuck's
favorite thing

and he'd get $100,000
out of him like that.

(snaps)

- Chuck was a
full-service activist.

He loved to go out and
be the Great Gatsby

and have a good time
and hit the town

and go to countless parties.

He at the very same time was
working and being focused

and he understood
the power he had

and he wanted to apply
it in a concentrated way

for as long as he could.

That his talents and
wherewithal would allow.

(applause)

- I'd watch him at these events,

I'd hear people
like Angelo Alioto,

people who were
running that year.

You gotta meet him, he's
got money, he's got money.

Shake his hand,
meet him, meet him.

God, crazy, you know.

And Chuck lived off that.

You know, he had made it.

It fortified whatever
negative impression

people would ever think
about his business.

Lot of the people that
were his close friends

who were big in
the political arena

were his good friends,
he loved them a lot

and they loved him back,
but there were a lot of

other people who
were just hangers-on.

- A lot of the people at
the Human Rights Campaign

and other organizations
he belonged to

thought of him as
just a person in porn

who made a lot of money.

(applause)

And I think Chuck always
knew that part of the reason

these people enjoined him
was partially the money.

- There wasn't so
much an issue with HRC

and taking money from Chuck.

Where a lot of the issues
came in were in the candidates

that we gave money to.

So some candidates chose
not to accept funds

knowing that they were
coming from Chuck Holmes

because of his relationship to
the gay pornography industry.

One of the first openly
lesbian candidates to run

for Congress was Tammy
Baldwin, and I remember

a bunch of us in San
Francisco putting together

and hosting an event for her,
and his check wasn't accepted.

I mean, it was later given back.

(cheering)

- Let me say a few words
about this tremendous victory

that's happening all across
this country tonight.

Our community was there, this
is the first time in history

that any presidential candidate

asked for our support openly.

They've always wanted our money,

they'd prefer it if it
could pass sort of secretly

but Bill Clinton was
proud to have our support.

Some of the most prominent
people in our community

were there with Bill Clinton,

President-Elect Bill
Clinton, excuse me.

(cheering)

- He gave major doning
level to see Clinton

before he was elected and
they wouldn't allow him in

because of what he
does for a living.

And that crushed him,
I mean, that really,

I remember he came
home from that trip

and all he got was a
little glass thing,

you know, and he goes,
"Well, all I needed

"was a fucking glass trinket.

"I couldn't even see
the goddamn president."

- I knew that some
prune-faced people

might have thought
twice about wanting to

connect up with Chuck, but
it was so full of hypocrisy

because everyone I know
has been very happy

to enjoy his hospitality
and of course Chuck ran

a legal, legitimate business.

You know, the community
slowly has gotten over

its own homophobia, perhaps.

- This is the 1998 gag reel.

This is one of the few shots
where you get to see me.

The old man's been let out
of the barn one more time.

No, I didn't want to tell them

that you've made my office
into a mushroom growing ground.

Where they just keep
me in a dark shed,

but that's the truth.

(dramatic piano music)

- Chuck worked, he
was a workaholic,

he worked all the time, he
would say, "I'm ram tough,

"I'm the original ram tough
model and they broke the mold

"after I came along."

And it was true in many ways.

He was not, he was not sickly.

Now this is somebody
who had early on

a lot of health issues,
he was diabetic,

he had high blood pressure,
HIV, he had a liver that,

in the end is what failed him.

- A lot of the early HIV
therapies were very, very toxic

and had the possibility and
probability of liver disease.

I think he was run
from pillar to post

with all the magical therapies.

His anxiety and his basic
personality forced him

to go to that leading
edge if you will.

People with liver disease
tend to ride along for a while

and then just plummet.

- He had chronic hiccups,
all day, all night.

And the only way to stop them
was to inhale amyl nitrate.

You're talking about a six
foot three, six foot four man,

very lithe and lanky, now
having a very tight belly,

just from distention,
not from fat.

Walking around hiccuping.

(hiccuping)

All day.

- They wanted to
remove the spleen

which would stop the
hiccups, and I remember

the day he went in
for the operation,

the doctors came
in and they said,

"We are not gonna do this
operation, you will not survive.

"You will not come off the
table, you're in no condition.

"Stop everything, go home."

- We used to call him Mare,
because it was French for Mary,

you know and he use to say,
"I'm the old gray mare."

It was a term of endearment
so if we really wanted to say,

say oh Mare, that's
how we talked to him,

and it just made
him kinda misty-eyed

when we called him Mare.

When he was passing away,
those last few weeks

he was in the hospital, I
got to tell him several times

I said, you know Mary, we
fought hard over all these years

for a lot of things,
and I have to tell you

now that I've been in
business for myself

is that you were usually
right, and he was.

- [Voiceover] It's
strange how people die.

I got a call from his houseboy.

He was very ill, said Chuck
was expecting a visitor.

Stan, his distributor.

He got up that
morning, got dressed,

he started feeling a
little tired so he said

he would lay down.

- I remember this long, dark
hallway to Chuck's room.

The door was closed,
and that's rare,

and I thought this is
weird, so I opened the door,

and as I opened the door,
I see all these people

in a V facing him in his bed.

And he was in black
sheets, pale white,

and as I walked through the
door, he goes (inhales).

One breath, I'm not kidding
you, it was one breath.

And I see all the blood
drain out of his face.

He's dead.

I hold his hand and I sat
there and I just said to him,

I said, "Chuck I just want
to thank you for everything

"that you've done for me,
and I just love you so much."

And it holds me up thinking
that when you see on TV

that people float up when
they die and look down,

that he might be
looking down on me.

(crying)

And that was when this little
bitch came out the bathroom,

was hiding out in the
bathroom, wanted to hear

my conversation, and I was
like, one of the money hangers,

like one of these people who
was there just hanging on

for his wealth, like he
probably got all the cats

and the dowry and then
gave the cats back

because he got
the money and ran.

All these people were
just sucking him.

And so that was it and then
I walked out of the bedroom

and I walked in the living
room and everyone's talking

about the paintings
and where they're going

and what they're doing
and who's gonna get this

and who's gonna get that and
I'm like, whoa, you know?

You fucking assholes.

He's not even fucking cold,
and you guys are all fucking

dividing everything up.

Falcon was a glass castle.

It was not a reality.

After he died, the
glass castle shattered

and all the air from
the world came in.

- He was incredibly secure
and he was as secure

as he was vulnerable.

He was filled with
enormous self-love

and with enormous self-loathing.

He forgave immediately, and
he carried a grudge forever.

He wanted to control everything

and he knew he had no control.

And he always doubted,
let's say that he knew

he was a success, but he
kept waiting for someone

to come and tap him on
the shoulder, and say,

no, no, it wasn't meant to
be you, you weren't supposed

to be the success, out,
you're the impostor.

- [Voiceover] I read
the headline in the
January 31st issue,

"Center to be named after
Falcon Studios founder,"

And I was filled with disgust.

It is no wonder that
right-wing advocates

and the Christian movement
consistently criticize

and damn the GLBT community
when by this action

it justifies their claim
that we are all about sex.

So he contributed a million
dollars toward the center.

Big deal.

I for one will not
contribute another dime.

- There were some
people who thought

Chuck Holmes was
buying respectability,

but you'll always
have those prudes

who can't face up to the
fact that people have sex,

and didn't think that a
person who made his fortune

in the sex industry should
have his name put on

a public building.

I think it's good that
the Chuck Holmes name

is attached to a business and
that people have to confront

whenever it comes
up that that money

and the honor being given
to him is going to a person

who was involved in
gay men's sexuality.

That's good.

- [Voiceover] Just think
of the numberless people

that walk in the
building or have already

and will in the future
and I think it's important

to create more than a
Wikipedia paragraph, perhaps.

- What we brought,
and what this business

continues to bring
is a gay connection

to people who lead private
gay lives or closeted lives

out in the Midwest,
people who have families

or for whatever their
circumstances are.

I got a letter from
an elderly woman.

She said please take my
husband's name off your

mailing list, I thought
now I'm gonna get it.

And she said I'd like to
thank you for all the years

of enjoyment that you
brought my husband.

He was on your mailing
list for 10 years

and bought all your movies.

He two years ago moved
to the nursing home,

took all his movies with him.

This is a woman who had
nothing in common with us,

no investment to be kind,
but she so loved her husband

despite something she
couldn't understand

that she was
gracious in the end.

That was a wonderful moment
for me, and I thought,

we reach more people
like this than you know.

- The one thing none of us
should ever, ever forget

is this, the image
of that young man

making his way to San
Francisco in search of strength

and dignity and self-esteem,

and because of his own life,
Chuck never, ever forgot

the need for each
and every one of us

to do all things to make a
better life in this country

and in this city for young
gay and lesbian people.

And I think what we all
know in this room today

is that a young gay
person could do very well

to grow up to be Chuck Holmes.

(cheers and applause)

(funky dance music)