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Dom Robinson reviews
Johnny Got His Gun
"Each man faces death by himself... Alone."
Distributed by
Arrow Film Distributors
- Cert:
- Cat.no: FCD 163
- Running time: 106 minutes
- Year: 1971
- Pressing: 2004
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 20
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras:
None
Director:
Producer:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
Joe Bonham: Timothy Bottoms
Kareen: Kathy Fields
Joe's Mother: Marsha Hunt
Joe's Father: Jason Robards
Christ: Donald Sutherland
Fourth nurse: Diane Varsi
Orator (as Robert Cole): Dalton Trumbo
I first came across Johnny Got His Gun
through Metallica's 7-minute 1989 single inspired by this film, "One", the longform
video for this which featured clips from the film. Heart-breaking and massively thought-provoking
though the video was, it took until now to get to see the film as it wasn't the kind of war film
that would crop up on TV like the others.
The words "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori", aka "it is sweet and right to die for
your country" appear during the film, yet for Private Joe Bonham (Timothy Bottoms)
an incident out on the battlefield, on the last day of the First World War, leaves him somewhere
inbetween life and death. He's lying in a hospital bed, kept out of the way of most people who might
pass through, and has no arms, no legs, he cannot see, talk or hear. Yet, despite all that, the
horror for him is that he's still 100% conscious.
Timothy Bottoms, here in his debut movie role, may be the main actor of the piece, but just because
of his injuries, it doesn't mean he only spends his time completely covered up with blankets and
bandages, as it jumps back non-chronologically at past times in his life, such as the girl he knew
before going to war. All the scenes in the current time are in black-and-white, while all flashbacks
and dreams are in colour. You'll soon find that, like Joe, it'll take you some time to wonder what's a dream
and what's a flashback, or is it all a dream? Those who have seen 1990's Jacob's Ladder will
feel in familiar territory.
It's difficult to say more about this film, but I can say without giving anything away, that the
issue is dealt with great sensitivity.
It's also incredible how Timothy Bottoms narrates his thoughts, done as a voiceover but it comes
across perfectly as the way its presented with the thoughts emitting into the room where he lies,
yet no-one can hear him but us. And as he realises his plight, and tries to figure a way out of it,
this cuts right through you. Out-bloody-standing.
There are two standout quotes from this film. One being that from Jason Robards, as shown
above this review, and another from one of the many men who see Joe in hospital to assess his
position: "This young man will be as unfeeling, as unthinking as the dead... until the day
he joins them.", except that we know he's wrong. How Joe can ever get that across to them
is another matter.
It's just a shame that for prolific writer Dalton Trumbo, known for
his screenplays for Papillion and Spartacus, this was the only
film for which he also became the director. Five years later, he died of a
heart attack.
Knowing that it was filmed in 1.66:1 and zoomed in slightly to 1.85:1, you can see this in evidence
on some scenes that look a little too zoomed-in as if the director had gone all 'Tony Scott' and
zoomed in for the sake of it. Perhaps Arrow could've released it instead as a 1.66:1 ratio within
a 16:9 anamorphic frame? This has been done before on other films and worked perfectly well.
The picture occasionally goes out of sync, but not too much and it doesn't happen too often.
There is also some blocking on dark scenes, of which there are quite a few but, again, this doesn't
happen a great deal.
The sound was made in mono and is presented as such here, but then it's not the kind of film that
would suit a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix given the subject matter, and all the dialogue comes across
perfectly apart from at least one scene where it appears to be intentional as Joe is saying goodbye
to Kareen before he goes to war.
Subtitles are noticeable by their absence, there are 20 chapters and the menu features
some military war drumming against the film's logo but the menu is static and there
are absolutely no extras whatsoever which is disappointing. It could be that no interviews were
made at the time, in 1971, and some of the key cast/crew members have now passed on since.
Would've been nice if some effort had been seen to have been made.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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OVERALL
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
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