For example, Cadinot did not spend time in a reformatory, the setting of Tough and Tender, yet the film nevertheless derives from his own experience: "It is a transposition of my vacations as an adolescent in religious camps," he explained. "The universe was, for me, similar (like a concentration camp, and the product of hierarchy among the teen-agers). The same with the time I spent in the Boy Scouts."

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The time Cadinot spent in the Boy Scouts is used to good effect in Hot on the Trail (1984), a film that is notable for its fetishization not only of youth and genitalia, but also of underwear, especially jockey style briefs.

Cadinot made more than sixty films, usually limiting himself to directing no more than four a year. In 1992 he bought and restored a farm, which he subsequently utilized as his studio. "It is very satisfying to have this studio now," he commented, "to live with the actors for many days, to discuss with them and understand their personalities, which helps me to develop scenes. Here, there is space for more than a dozen people and each youth can do whatever pleases him, whether it is staying with the group and having fun or having some privacy."

Cadinot's films earned an international audience and numerous accolades. In 1997 Cadinot was honored with a Venus Award as Best Director at the International Erotic Film Awards in Berlin, the first time the organization recognized gay erotic films. In 2002, he won an AVN award, the adult Oscars in Los Angeles, for his entire body of work, and another Venus for C'est La Vie (2001). He completed his autobiography, Premier, but it has not yet been published in the United States.

On April 23, 2008, Cadinot died, following a heart attack.

Gay male pornographic film and video, which dates from the release of Wakefield Poole's The Boys in the Sand in 1971, has provided gay men an all-too-rare positive image of gay sexuality.