Johnny Got His Gun - Adaptations

Adaptations

On March 9, 1940, a radio adaptation of Johnny Got His Gun was produced and directed by Arch Oboler, based on his script, and presented on the NBC Radio series "Arch Oboler's Plays." James Cagney played Joe Bonham on that broadcast.

In 1971, Trumbo directed a film adaptation of the novel, starring Timothy Bottoms as Joe Bonham. In 1982, Johnny Got His Gun was adapted into a stage play by Bradley Rand Smith, which has since been performed worldwide. Its first off-Broadway run starred Jeff Daniels.

In 1988, the heavy metal band Metallica wrote the song "One" based on the book and used clips from the film in the video.

In 2008, actor Benjamin McKenzie earned critical acclaim for his solo performance (as Joe Bonham) in the "live on stage, on film" version of the 1982 Off-Broadway play based on the novel, McKenzie's first starring role in a feature film.

In early 2009, the 1971 film made its U.S. DVD debut, produced by Shout! Factory. The DVD included the original, uncut film, plus a 2005 documentary (Dalton Trumbo: Rebel In Hollywood), new cast interviews, Metallica's music video "One," behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by stars Timothy Bottoms and Jules Brenner, the 1940 radio adaptation, and the original theatrical trailer.

In October 2010, a special educational DVD of the 2008 film version starring McKenzie became available free of charge to every high school library in the U.S. The educational DVD contains both a pre-screening and post-screening discussion guide for students, in addition to a 15-minute featurette on the making of the film, the original movie's theatrical trailer, and a history of the original novel.

In the Italian anti-war comic strip Sturmtruppen, a young soldier called "Sigfrid Von Nibelunghen", who voluntarily enlisted before coming of age due to the pro-war propaganda he was subject to at school, suffers the same fate as Joe Bonham. In the end, when he considers the harsh reality of his condition against the idealized vision of war and heroic death he had been led to believe, he simply thinks to himself "I fear that I have been duped".