Johnny Got His Gun is a 1971 anti-war film based on the novel of the same name written and directed by Dalton Trumbo and starring Timothy Bottoms, Jason Robards, and Donald Sutherland.

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 --- a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. He remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories, unable to distinguish whether he is awake or dreaming. He remains frustrated by his situation, until one day when Joe discovers a unique way to communicate with his caregivers. Written by Anonymous

I remember experiencing this movie in my teens in the 70's. It overwhelmed me emotionally as a first person account of the horrors of war from the perspective of a quadriplegic WW1 soldier with the additional lack of eyes, ears, face and mouth with which to communicate, but sadly, with a functioning brain in tact. Imagine a man entombed within what is left of his own body.....that is the core of this anti-war film. In a series of flashbacks we learn the war experiences led up to his present state of helplessness, his day to day physical sense of time passing slowly in the hospital and of his attempts to communicate with his caretaker nurse. When a critical breakthrough occurs and the female nurse takes pity on his plight, she is prevented from helping him to find release from his agony. His agony becomes ours in the end. A truly remarkable perspective on the horrors of war, in a film written and directed by Dalton Trumbo, a member of the ten most unjustly alienated writers in Hollywood during the blacklisting era of the 1940's. Written by Clay

A young American soldier (Joe) in WW I is wounded by a landmine. He loses his arms, legs and eyes as well as his ability to hear, speak or smell. Lying in hospital, he is not able to distinguish if he is awake or if he is dreaming. Trying to find out, he relives his story in strange dreams and memories. One day, Joe finds a way to communicate with the doctors... Written by Thorsten Pfeiffer

The story of a young American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of the First World War. The film takes place in the mind of a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining consciousness, 20 year-old Joe Bonham slowly discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him forever trapped within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles valiantly to find some way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code he breaks through and pleads with his caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war. Written by Wesley Horton