In a park on Christmas Eve John wakes up to discover the worst: his lucky sneakers have been stolen, along with the money that was hidden in them. Not only does he have to pay the not especially refined Jimmy the Warlock his $300 back, but he also wants to fulfil his greatest dream: to celebrate his coming of age, his 21st birthday, in a $300-a-night luxury hotel. And his birthday is on Christmas Day. Help comes in the person of Donner, who can at least afford an appartment with someone else, and has just gone on the game – or, as they like to say, entered the entertainment business. All they have to do is to rob, rather than satisfy, a couple of johns. Instead of giving them money, Donner's parents offer the two boys jobs in a Camelot theme park in the middle of Missouri. The next day they set off, needing another $300. Things being as they are on the game, the boys have to suffer more from violent contemporaries than they can make up for in material profit. But Donner helps John more than he realises, and differently to the way John is ready to accept. A happy ending seems inevitable, until the friends argue over one last john...

• Although writer/director Scott Silver has been working on Johns since 1992, Bruce La Bruce got in a few months earlier with his film Hustler White. The two films' storylines and atmospheres are, however, fundamentally different. Johns, which looks more expensive, appeals to a wider audience with the universal theme of a friendship. Although the whole plot revolves around gay sex, no one from the gay scene will want to identify with the johns portrayed in the film. Whilst on other levels the story continually shows a certain gay flair, it is not specifically gay. In Johns life on the game consists of violence, theft, and utterly sick clients, combining reality and cliché, even if this reality is only partly true and the rest is not reflected. This is no criticism, since there is no call here for completeness and the interpretations are even too authentic, such as that of the doddery old man with the hearing aid, who can hit out quite abruptly. The conflict in the film, which examines the possibility or otherwise of friendship between prostitutes, is in itself a rarity in this genre. This is a true Christmas story which deliberately avoids a Christmassy feel, thanks mainly to veteran cameraman Tom Richmond's view of a hot, dirty, faded Hollywood Christmas. Truly a Midnight Cowboy of the 90's, as the Los Angeles Times judged it.

• Gays will find in Johns a film which does not perfectly fit in with the usual offerings of their festivals, international fans of this film genre can at last look forward to something unusual, and the more broad-minded members of the general public can savour a more demanding Christmas story. With the right publicity, Johns need not remain undiscovered by a wider audience.

Prostitution in Hollywood, Part II: Quiet Days in Hollywood
Prostitution in Hollywood, Part III: Star Maps
Prostitution in Hollywood, Part IV: Skin & Bone
Prostitution in Hollywood, Part V: Hustler White