{"id":11153,"date":"2010-06-18T10:10:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T17:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11153"},"modified":"2021-01-27T13:28:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T20:28:58","slug":"johnny-got-his-gun-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11153","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Got His Gun (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m just like a piece of meat that keeps on living.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Johnny-Got-His-Gun-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Johnny-Got-His-Gun-Poster-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Johnny-Got-His-Gun-Poster-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Johnny-Got-His-Gun-Poster-91x128.jpg 91w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Johnny-Got-His-Gun-Poster-191x270.jpg 191w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Johnny-Got-His-Gun-Poster.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA WWI veteran (Timothy Bottoms) without limbs, face, or ears finds renewed hope when a kind nurse (Diane Varsi) attempts to communicate with him.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Donald Sutherland Films<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>Jason Robards Films<\/li>\n<li>Living Nightmare<\/li>\n<li>Veterans<\/li>\n<li>World War One<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn his review of Dalton Trumbo&#8217;s adaptation of his own <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johnny_Got_His_Gun\">1939 novel<\/a>, Peary provides some interesting historical context, noting that while the &#8220;film won several awards at Cannes,&#8221; it &#8220;died at the box office in the U.S.&#8221;, given that &#8220;those viewers who found it as devastating as the novel and became emotionally attached to it were far outnumbered by those who found it morbid and pretentious&#8221; (c.f. New York Times reviewer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1971\/08\/05\/archives\/pacifist-strategy-of-johnny-got-his-gun.html\">Roger Greenspun&#8217;s opinion<\/a> that it&#8217;s &#8220;a mess of cliched, imprecise sentimentalizing and fantasizing &#8230; [and] a stultifyingly bad movie.&#8221;) Peary goes on to conjecture that perhaps audiences in 1971 weren&#8217;t interested in anti-war films that didn&#8217;t deal specifically with Vietnam, and notes that &#8220;today, when so many films glorify war, Trumbo&#8217;s pacificism can better be appreciated&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Indeed, as a fan of the novel, I believe Trumbo does a remarkably effective job translating his seemingly unfilmable first-person narrative into a frightening cautionary tale. By interspersing color flashbacks and fantasy sequences into his real-time b&#038;w horror story of doughboy Joe Bonham &#8212; who became a &#8220;basket case&#8230; as the result of an explosion&#8221; on the final day of WWI, but retains full consciousness &#8212; Trumbo avoids miring the film in relentless gloom. Particularly intriguing are those fantasy sequences in which Bonham chats with an &#8220;ineffectual&#8221; Jesus Christ (Donald Sutherland), who agrees that his case is pretty hopeless. (Apparently these scenes were inspired by Luis Bunuel, Trumbo&#8217;s first choice to direct the film.) The movie&#8217;s final moments are truly chilling &#8212; be forewarned. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> This would make a compelling double bill (for viewers up to the emotional challenge) with Julian Schnabel&#8217;s similarly themed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0401383\/\"><em>The Diving Bell and the Butterfly<\/em> (2007)<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Memorable imagery<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-got-gun-imagery2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-got-gun-imagery2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11158\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Donald Sutherland as Jesus<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-got-gun-sutherland.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-got-gun-sutherland.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11161\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>An undeniably bleak and powerful narrative<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-got-gun-bleak.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-got-gun-bleak.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11160\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a powerful anti-war film. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good Show<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0067277\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/79837\/johnny-got-his-gun#articles-reviews?articleId=241079\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/johnny-got-his-gun-1971\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1971\/08\/05\/archives\/pacifist-strategy-of-johnny-got-his-gun.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2888gun.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just like a piece of meat that keeps on living.&#8221; Synopsis: A WWI veteran (Timothy Bottoms) without limbs, face, or ears finds renewed hope when a kind nurse (Diane Varsi) attempts to communicate with him. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Donald Sutherland Films Flashback Films Jason Robards Films Living Nightmare Veterans World War One Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: In his review of Dalton Trumbo&#8217;s adaptation of his own 1939 novel, Peary provides some interesting historical context, noting that while&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11153\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11153"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66389,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11153\/revisions\/66389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}