Flawed but powerful, Dalton Trumbo's adaptation of his disturbing 1939 antiwar novel won three awards at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival but met with mixed reviews at home. The film centers on Joe Bonham (Timothy Bottoms, in his film debut), a young American soldier who loses his legs, arms,
and face when a bomb explodes near him on the last day of WW I. Deaf, dumb, and blind, he is kept alive by doctors who assume he is a vegetable and keep him in a locked room, intending to use him for medical research. Joe, however, can think and, in time, feel. To maintain his sanity, he roams a
vast mental landscape in which memories and dreams commingle with meditations on the ...
Released:
1971
Rated:
GP
Length:
111 mins