Johnny Got His Gun

UPC: 826663113129

Studio: Shout Factory

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language]

Summary: The author of the famous late 1930's antiwar book Johnny Got His Gun wrote and directed this film adaptation. It concerns a nameless young soldier (Timothy Bottoms) in a veteran's hospital in the World War I period. The young man has had his face blown off, he is without the use of any of his senses save touch, and also has no arms or legs. He is in a coma at the beginning of the film, and his doctors doubt that he will regain consciousness. This is also what they hope. A nurse, while changing his dressings, discovers that he is awake and responsive. The unrelieved awfulness of his situation is apparent to many. However, in order to keep the "good order" of the military, the regular Army general commanding the hospital will not allow the boy to be seen or his family notified, nor will he permit anyone to perform a mercy killing. Interspersed with this horror are flashbacks of the youth's life before the war. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Category: War

Awards: New Star of the Year - Male – null Special Jury Grand Prix – Cannes Film Festival New Star of the Year - Male – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: cc

Dalton Trumbo: Rebel In Hollywood
New interview with Timothy Bottoms
Metallica Music Video "One"
Rare behind-the scenes footage with Commentary by Timohty 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

Johnny Got His Gun

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 04/28/2009

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 106 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Johnny Got His Gun
1. Titles & Credits [2:20]
2. He Lives [3:41]
3. Kareen [11:29]
4. Dark & Still [8:26]
5. Christ [2:55]
6. Help [2:04]
7. Remembering [3:42]
8. Small [3:45]
9. Don't Panic [4:18]
10. Thinking & Dreaming [5:36]
11. Vibrations [3:00]
12. Telling Time [7:06]
13. Pale Moonlight [6:37]
14. Sunlight [5:15]
15. The Pole [5:39]
16. Christmas [7:10]
17. Old Men's Arms [5:52]
18. My Head [8:45]
19. Over & Over Again [7:27]
20. End Credits [1:02]

Lucia Bozzola

Though he wrote the novel in 1939, when Hollywood Ten survivor Dalton Trumbo finally got to transform Johnny Got His Gun (1971) into a film, it had become all the more timely. A relentlessly grim antiwar allegory about a World War I soldier left with only his mind intact, Johnny Got His Gun spoke to the Vietnam era disgust with the hollow homilies about democracy and duty that only lead to personal annihilation. Trumbo's thought-provoking message about the deleterious effects of social and military myopia, however, is undermined by his own weaknesses as a first-time director. Though the central black-and-white images of Timothy Bottoms' faceless, armless, and legless Joe carry undeniable power, underscored by a padre's well-spoken assessment of the military's dehumanizing don't ask/don't tell attitude, Joe's color flashbacks and fantasies are a muddled, pretentious mess. The performances, including Jason Robards as Joe's father, Donald Sutherland as Jesus Christ, and Kathy Fields as The Girl, are similarly a mix of touching emotion and stilted theatrics. Regardless, Johnny Got His Gun won a prize at Cannes and remains a strikingly antiestablishment document. Health problems prevented Trumbo from directing again before he died in 1976. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Judy Howard Chaikin  Actor 
Anthony Geary  Actor 
Charles McGraw  Actor 
Tom Tryon  Actor 
Craig Bovia  Actor 
Kathy Fields  Actor 
Joseph Kaufmann  Actor 
David Soul  Actor 
Peter Virgo Jr.  Actor 
Kenneth Clark  Actor 
Ben Hammer  Actor 
Byron Morrow  Actor 
Gigi Vorgan  Actor 
Don "Red" Barry  Actor 
Maurice Dallimore  Actor 
Marsha Hunt  Actor 
Marge Redmond  Actor 
Sandy Wyeth  Actor 
Robert Cole  Actor 
Wayne Heffley  Actor 
Alice Nunn  Actor 
Bruce Watson  Actor 
Eric Christmas  Actor 
Ed Gilbert  Actor 
William Mims  Actor 
Diane Varsi  Actor 
Timothy Bottoms  Actor 
Robert Easton  Actor 
Jason Robards, Jr.  Actor 
Jodean Russo  Actor 
Milton Barnes  Actor 
Peter Brocco  Actor 
Eduard Franz  Actor 
Kerry MacLane  Actor 
Donald Sutherland  Actor 
Jerry Fielding  Composer (Music Score) 
Dalton Trumbo  Director 
Dalton Trumbo  Screenwriter 
Bruce Post Campbell  Producer 

Country: USA