Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

I chose this film on the basis of its apparent popularity (mixed across sites) without looking at the subject matter. When I read the Netflix jacket, it sounded like it would become the most depressing movie I'd ever seen. Normally I take a while to give my overall opinion in a review, but this time I might as well tell you up front: I was right. What follows the jump cut is not for the faint of heart.

Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

In the 1980 Sam Shepherd play True West, aspiring screenwriter Lee calls this the last great western, but his description makes it sound awkward if not ridiculous. When I noticed that the movie was popular anyway, I decided to find out whether he was accurate or just foolish as usual.

In modern New Mexico, cowhand Jack (Kirk Douglas) deliberately goes to jail in order to bust out a friend, Paul (Michael Kane), only to find that Paul would rather stay. Jack breaks loose within the day and flees to the mountains on horseback while authorities, most notably Sheriff Johnson (Walter Matthau), hunt him.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

AFI's celebration of Dalton Trumbo prompted me to give this some priority, a few months after my last war film viewing. The casting of Robert Mitchum and the direction of Mervyn LeRoy helped intrigue me.

The reportedly mostly true story follows Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) and his men on the first U.S. Air Force mission of retaliation for Pearl Harbor. The titular period of bombing comes in the middle of the piece, after much preparation. What follows is an effort to stay alive after crashing in China, in an area pretty well hemmed in by the Japanese.

Gun Crazy (1950)

In light of last year's Trumbo, AFI is playing a bunch of movies with screenplays written by Dalton Trumbo. Thanks to the blacklist, GC and some others did not put him in the credits at the time. (I wonder how Millard Kaufman felt about being Trumbo's front.)

From early childhood, Bart (played by John Dall in adulthood and up-and-comer Russ Tamblyn at 14) loves guns but not violence against living things. His obsession still gets him in trouble, particularly when he burglarizes a closed gun shop. After special education and service in the U.S. Army, presumably without seeing battle, he meets a female sharpshooter in a traveling show, Annie (Peggy Cummins). He matches her skill and joins the show until they both have a falling-out with the manager. Despite multiple warnings against it, Bart marries Annie, unaware that she has a history of armed robbery and will pressure him into it to support her greed.