Johnny Got His Gun

Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed in a fate worse than death…

• Director: Dalton Trumbo
• Genre:Drama / War
• Runtime:106 minutes

Cast

Don ‘Red’ Barry : Jody Simmons (as Donald Barry)Timothy Bottoms : Joe Bonham Craig Bovia : Little Guy Peter Brocco : Ancient Prelate Judy Howard Chaikin : Bakery Girl

Joe Bonham (Bottoms), a young American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of World War I, lies in a hospital bed. He is a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, mouth and nose. He remains conscious and able to reason, however, rendering him a prisoner in his own body. As he drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend (Kathy Fields). He also forms a bond, of sorts, with a young nurse (Diane Varsi) who senses his plight.

At the end of the film, Joe tries to communicate to his doctors, via Morse code, and wishes for the Army to either put him in a glass coffin in a freak show as a demonstration of the horrors of war, or kill him. In the end, however, he realizes that the Army will grant neither wish, and will leave him to live the rest of his natural life as a state of living death.

In the film’s climax, his nurse attempts to euthanize him by clamping his breathing tube, but her supervisor stops her before Joe can succumb. This does not occur in the novel. The film ends with Joe weakly chanting “S.O.S. Help me.” Read more