Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/71977-johnny-got-his-gun-1971/

20 March 2009
by Bill Gibron

The life and uneasy times of Dalton Trumbo - scribe, novelist,
screenwriter, director, and notoriously unrepentant member of the
Hollywood blacklist of the '40s and '50s - are so fascinating, so
full of the American Dream and its rancid, reciprocal nightmares,
that it's almost impossible to judge his art without them. For many
Trumbo is the ultimate rebel, a man who stood up to McCarthy and his
witch hunt heathens and suffered mightily for his art. For others, he
was the unfortunate victim of a sanctimonious Senator with a mandate
from an equally reactionary public. It cost Trumbo 11 months in
prison (for contempt of Congress) and two Academy Awards (for Roman
Holiday, and The Brave One).

Even his most important effort, 1971's Johnny Got His Gun, was
undermined by the still brewing gap between Vietnam-era patriotism
and counterculture protest. By the time of his death in 1976, his
work was actually being mocked and marginalized. Michael and Harry
Medved even nominated Donald Sutherland's work as Jesus Christ for
one of their ultimate dishonors in the infamous Golden Turkey Awards
book. But thanks to Metallica, who raised awareness of the big screen
adaptation of Trumbo's own National Book Award winner with their
video "One", a new generation of fans have grown curious about the
maverick's only stint behind the lens. Thanks to Shout! Factory and
their new, near definitive DVD version of Johnny Got His Gun, a
veiled motion picture mystery is finally revealed for all the world
to see - and it's a glorious sight to behold.

Gun centers on young Joe Bonham. In anticipation of his being drafted
into the First World War, he volunteers. After spending a night with
his girlfriend Kareen, he heads off to Europe. One night, a stray
artillery shell explodes in his bunker, and Joe is literally blown
apart. He loses both arms, both legs, and most of his face. Barely
living, a team of Army doctors decide to turn Joe into a kind of
uneasy experiment. In a sealed off part of a military hospital, they
keep the vegetative soldier in a kind of isolated limbo. What they
don't know is that Joe is still alive INSIDE - thinking, feeling,
desperate to communicate - but unable to do anything other than move
his head. As his mind sorts through the memories of his past, he's
desperate to explain his plight to the outside world. Sadly, it
doesn't look like anyone cares to - or knows how to - listen.

Though some could argue over its heavy-handed obviousness and lack of
subtlety, Johnny Got his Gun remains a very strong, very disquieting
cinematic statement. It gets under your skin and slowly burrows into
your personal principles. Trumbo has often said that his is not a
purely anti-war film, and he's right. The pointlessness of combat is
stressed early and often, but the movie moves beyond the boundaries
of such a discussion to include thoughts about such big picture
issues as the meaning of life and the quality of same. Considering
that Trumbo first wrote this material back in the early 1930s, it's
some far reaching stuff. But thanks to the tenuous time in which the
movie was made, there is an aura of subversive rebellion that just
can't be shaken.

As the star and sole significant character onscreen, Timothy Bottoms
has an arduous task indeed. Add to this the fact they he must play
many of his scenes from behind a surgical mask which covers his
entire face, and connecting with an audience would seem almost
impossible. Yet thanks to Trumbo's words, plus his own inner ability
to channel sense memory, Bottoms is brilliant here. As a matter of
fact, the scenes where he is confined to a bed have more passion and
power than the moments of "reality" we witness. It's as if Trumbo
purposely made the color sequences (reflecting the photographic
aspects of the past) slow and deliberate in order to add emphasis to
Joe's current plight. The switch between the two cinematic schemes is
crucial to Johnny Got His Gun's success. Without them, the past
wouldn't be so pastoral, the present so painful or important.

Indeed, what Trumbo appears to be saying with Johnny is that the
human will is stronger than almost anything - except the human mind.
As Joe lays in his critical state, doctors and nurses divining ways
to make him part of their professional career arc, he discovers that
life is not worth living if there's no purpose. Fantasy sequences
suggest that our hero could be part of a traveling freak show, his
hideous façade reminding mothers not to send their children off to
war. At the same time, however, we get the stern men of science who
are convinced that Joe is simply inert. When they learn otherwise,
their reaction is almost as shocking. While it's hard to get away
from the absurdity of battle, and the reasons for Joe's predicament,
these passages represent Johnny's main thematic resonance.

Shout! Factory should be commended for rescuing this film from
cinematic obscurity and giving it a new, necessary polish. The visual
elements are excellent, clean and crisp with only an occasional lapse
in quality or completeness. There are some image continuity issues
toward the end, and we see a few bits of splicing damage here and
there. But considering the rarity and unusual nature of this film,
the 16x9 letterboxed presentation is excellent. Even better, the DVD
is loaded with wonderful added content, the most important of which
is an hour long documentary about Trumbo's time in Hollywood, making
Johnny. With input from the man's son, cinematographer Jules Brenner,
and actress Marsha Hunt, it's quiet revealing. There's also some rare
behind the scenes footage featuring commentary, a new interview with
Bottoms, a look at the original trailer, a copy of Metallica's "One"
video, and an audio only presentation of James Cagney (!!!) as Joe in
the 1940 radio adaptation.

Yet there is still a cloud of unfair ridicule surrounding Johnny Got
His Gun, a reputation unearned by legitimate critical means. Some
will still point to Sutherland and smirk (though he's actually very
good as the '70s ideal of an emotional Messiah) while others will see
the blatant drum beat of the film's 'War is Hell' sentiments and
shout "so what?". Truth is, time out of the limelight has not been
kind of Trumbo's labor of love. Without actually seeing it,
assumptions have become assertions - and then facts. The reality is
something far more complicated. While it's not a work of real
visionary power, Johnny Got His Gun's ideas will literally blow you
away. This is not a mess or misstep. This is a minor masterpiece.

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