Johns (1996)

Director:

Scott Silver

Writer:

Scott Silver (written by)

Release Date:

31 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

It's the day before Christmas, the day before John's 21st birthday. He's a prostitute on Santa Monica Blvd in L.A....

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Money | Friend | Friendship | Christmas

Awards:

1 win

Cast

David Arquette	...	John
Lukas Haas	...	Donner
Tony Epper	...	Santa Claus
John C. McGinley	...	Danny Cohen
Keith David	...	Homeless John
Wilson Cruz	...	Mikey
Joshua Schaefer	...	David (as Josh Schaefer)
Sydney Lassick	...	Al
Christopher Gartin	...	Eli
Ruth Silver	...	Tourist Mom
Alanna Ubach	...	Nikki
N'Bushe Wright	...	X-Mas Junkie
Richard T. Jones	...	Mr. Popper (as Richard Timothy Jones)
Richard Kind	...	Paul Truman
Elliott Gould	...	Manny Gould

Also Known As:

Johns (France) [fr]
Johns (Brazil) [pt]
Johns (Spain) [es]
Johns - katu antaa (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content and language, and for some violence and drug use.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 | Australia:MA | France:-12 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:18 | USA:R (PCA #34057)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bandeira Entertainment

Trivia:

Filmed in 20 days in and around Hollywood.

Quotes:

Donner: I am not a prostitute. I am an entertainer. I do not go in for violence.

A Night Of Ease And Comfort

Johns is a bargain basement version of Gus Van Sant's classic My Own Private Idaho, a story about two gay prostitutes trying to get enough money so that one can fulfill his fantasy of a night stay at a five star hotel with all the fringe benefits of room service. By the way that particular plot device dates all the way back to Paramount's If I Had A Million where Wynne Gibson gets that million dollar check and the first thing she does is register in a swank hotel where she served as a fringe benefit just for a night's sleep alone.

Johns even begins the way My Own Private Idaho ends where some people stole the shoes off of a sleeping narcoleptic River Phoenix. In this case David Arquette is sleeping in a park and someone robs his lucky Puma sneakers off his feet. They're more than good luck to him, he keeps his money there.

The footwear get replaced, from his next client Arquette steals a pair of golf shoes that the client had in the back of his car. Making that money back won't be so easy as Arquette owed a drug dealer as well.

David Arquette is the veteran street kid and new to the scene is Lukas Haas who as too many are in real life, kicked out of his house because he came out as gay. Lukas is kind of crushing out on David. Arquette likes him well enough, but like Keanu Reaves vis a vis River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho, he's a hard case who can't let anything that will soften him insofar as dealing with the mean streets and those who walk them.

Johns is a decent enough film, that rises and succeeds on the performances of leads Arquette and Haas. The two are appealing on many different levels.

This is not a feel good movie, but a rather stern look at an underside of gay life that we don't want to acknowledge. But if someone sees it who is prevented from disowning his child because of his or her sexual orientation, the film will have been worth being made.