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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - J 2 Mins Read

    Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

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    Timothy Bottoms plays Joe Bonham, an average all-American boy, questioning the wisdom of going off to fight in World War I and possible death but never faltering when it comes to his turn to do his duty.

    He is hideously wounded in an explosion in the trenches (losing his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose) and although he is beyond saving as a contributing member of society, the medical profession patch him up as best they can, seeing him as a guinea pig and a challenge to their professional skill.

    While he lies there, only alive because his heart has not stopped beating, tubes and pipes performing all his bodily functions, he thinks back and his past life is recreated: scenes of family life, his sexual initiation and the awakening of true love.

    He has grotesque fantasy imaginings too, where his mutilated body is touted around as a carnival exhibit – “The Self-Supporting Basket Case” – for other men to gasp at the product of war. But who would say that the reality is any less ghastly?

    Full praise to Timothy Bottoms for his remarkable performance as Joe and to Diane Varsi as the compassionate nurse who realises that the vegetable she is caring for can feel and communicate in spite of everything. The scenes with Jason Robards as his father are also rewarding and Kathy Fields as the girl he loves oh so briefly, blends youthful curiosity with real emotional involvement.

    The directorial debut from Dalton Trumbo (he also wrote the screenplay from his own novel) is arguably the most poignant anti-war film of them all.

    Joe Bonham
    Timothy Bottoms
    Kareen
    Kathy Fields
    Joe’s Mother
    Marsha Hunt
    Joe’s Father
    Jason Robards
    Christ
    Donald Sutherland
    Mike Burkeman
    Charles McGraw
    Lucky
    Sandy Brown Wyeth
    Jody Simmons
    Don ‘Red’ Barry
    Ancient Prelate
    Peter Brocco
    Hospital Offical
    Kendell Clarke
    Corporal Timlon
    Eric Christmas
    Colonel/General Tillery
    Eduard Franz
    Little Guy
    Craig Bovia
    Bakery Girl
    Judy Howard Chaikin
    Orator 
    Dalton Trumbo (as Robert Cole)
    British Colonel
    Maurice Dallimore
    Second Doctor
    Ben Hammer
    Third Doctor
    Robert Easton
    Nurses
    Marge Redmond
    Jodean Russo
    Alice Nunn
    Diane Varsi
    Russ
    Larry Fleischman
    Redhead
    Anthony Geary
    Priest
    Ed Gilbert
    Captain
    Wayne Heffley
    Rudy
    Joseph Kaufmann
    Bill Harper
    Mike Lee
    Brigadier General
    Byron Morrow
    Swede
    David Soul

    Director
    Dalton Trumbo

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