Boogie Nights..........

[Phil Phee]

You omitted to mention, of course, one minor point which fundamentally shapes any meaningful dialogue here:

The movie was set in the US

And - of course - the contemporary 'biz' did produce its casualties (at least Stateside).

Remember, too, 'our' Mary Millington was something of a victim.

[Jonone]

".. repetitive portrayal of nearly all the people in the film as drug-addicted, hair-trigger personalities"

Arguably that's a fair description of a segment of Hollywood which is, obviously, mainstream. If Hollywood has more than its fair share of 'drug addicted, hair trigger personalities' then isn't it a fair assumption that the porn industry would too, being that it was marginal ?

Boogie Nights is like Andy Warhol's factory. A magnet for fractured and fragile personalities and people more than willing to take advantage of them. It doesn't seem far-fetched to me.

[Dave Wells]

Well I for one (with nearly 30 years experience in the porn industry remember) think it is quite acurate in places. I for one am outcast now, unable to find work in the biz here and especially work with Sky, ITV or the BEEB. So I am chastised for being in porn !

[jimslip]

I too thought that Boogie Nights was quite accurate in it's overall tone. The film reflected the demise of film and the new world of video filming and how it destroyed porn's old school in the 1970's. Today, we are going through a similar revolution, this time with the destruction of the DVD market, the piracy and collapse of many contributors and players in the industry.

[max_tranmere]

turan, I imagine life in the porn business is quite an unhappy one. In the 70s and 80s it was very drug and crime ridden. Some of the biggest stars in the USA were heroin addicts and the Mafia was involved in a lot of it. I am puzzled as to why you are surprised that the 70s porn scene in the USA is shown in such a negative light in that movie. The way the movie describes it is accurate. The film is based loosely on the life of John Holmes, who was a porn star in the 1970s and 80s. He was almost a retard, he had barely any education, and was largely unemployable. He knew criminals and was apparently vaguely associated with a couple of murders. Read more here:

[Phil Phee]

Agreed. I believe Turan read things wrong. Again