Every once in a while a movie comes along that‘s almost perfect and Johnny Got His Gun is one of those. Based on Dalton Trumbo’s (screenwriter Spartacus, Exodus, Roman Holiday) 1939 novel and screenplay, and directed by Dalton Trumbo, this anti-war movie is a work of beauty.

Johnny Got His Gun is the story of Joe Bonham (Timothy Bottoms – Land of the Lost), who is injured by a mortar round, on the last day of WW1. Joe (Johnny is a slang used to describe the American soldier at that time) is horrifically disfigured with the loss of not only his limbs, but his face is affected as well with the loss hearing, sight and the ability to speak. So what we have is a man trapped in his own mind, unable to tell if he’s if he’s awake or dreaming, whose only contact with the world is through sponge baths, and having his food and waste tubes opened and closed.

The movie is based on the memories and delusions in Joes mind. This is what makes the movie beautiful. There are three points of view; reality, memories, and delusions, and each has a different look. Reality is shot in stark black and white, reality filmed in color, and his dreams are also in color but obviously staged and there’s more whimsy and symbolism.

The reality parts are centered on Joes “life” in the hospital, and you can hear his thoughts as he narrates about his existence, and the memories and delusions. He is treated much like a coma patient, tubes in, tubes out, and an occasional sponge bath. No one realizes at first that he is conscious much less able to communicate with them. At one point he is put in a storage closet because he won’t know the difference. Here’s one instance where the memories play an integral part in the story. Joe is thinking that he just needs a way to communicate that he is aware and in need of attention, so memories start in which he remembers a time in his youth where he learns Morse code and viola, communication.

His delusions take many forms including a couple of conversations with Jesus Christ (Donald Sutherland), and the meeting with a young girl he feels he knows for some reason, but you’ll know who she is because of the scene with his girlfriend. Some delusions are products of his impending insanity, like the circus sideshow he imagines he will become, and others are fanciful, musical remembering such as his last day of work.

Special Features

Dalton Trumbo: Rebel in Hollywood Documentary (2006)
New Interview with Timothy Bottoms
Metallica Music Video “One“
Rare behind the scenes footage with commentary by Timothy Bottoms and Director of Photography Jules Brenner
1940 radio adaptation of Johnny Got His Gun starring James Cagney
Johnny Got His Gun article from American Cinematographer (1971)
Original Theatrical Trailer

 

This is an amazing and disturbing flick that successfully walks the worlds in Joes’ mind and his reality. Meant to be an anti-war vehicle, this film is much more than that. The late 1960s and early 1970s spawned several films that were meant to be ’moral’ vehicles, but became much more. Johnny Got His Gun is one of those movies. A hit in the final days of the Viet-Nam era it surfaces periodically. It received a limited revival in the 80s due to Metallica’s song One. Now, with the release of this enhanced version, Johnny Got His Gun can finally get the credit it deserves. The special features are wonderfully entertaining and informative, and the move to DVD has enhanced the visual and audio aspect.

This movie will make you happy, this movie will make you cry, and this movie will amaze you. And this movie will make you think.

ComicsOnline gives Johnny Got His Gun 5, I’d give it more if I could, stars out of 5.