MASH (1970)

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Richard Hooker (novel)
Ring Lardner Jr. (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War | Drama

Tagline:

M*A*S*H Hysteria

Plot:

The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.

Plot Keywords:

Surgeon | Mobile Army Surgical Hospital | Korean War | Golf | Dentist

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 14 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Donald Sutherland	...	Hawkeye Pierce
Elliott Gould	...	Trapper John McIntyre
Tom Skerritt	...	Duke Forrest
Sally Kellerman	...	'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan
Robert Duvall	...	Maj. Frank Burns
Roger Bowen	...	Col. Henry Blake
Rene Auberjonois	...	Father John Mulcahy
David Arkin	...	Sgt. Major Vollmer
Jo Ann Pflug	...	Lt. 'Dish'
Gary Burghoff	...	Corporal 'Radar' O'Reilly
Fred Williamson	...	Dr. Oliver 'Spearchucker' Jones
Michael Murphy	...	'Me Lai' Marston
Indus Arthur	...	Lt. Leslie
Ken Prymus	...	PFC. Seidman
Bobby Troup	...	Sgt. Gorman

Also Known As:

M*A*S*H (USA) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content. (edited version)

Runtime:

116 min | USA:112 min (PG version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese | Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (cut US version) | Iceland:L | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Canada:14A (video rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Peru:18 | Singapore:PG | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:PG (cut) | USA:R (PCA #22275) | West Germany:16 | Canada:R (Nova Scotia)

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Aspen Productions (I)

Trivia:

Burt Reynolds turned down the role of Trapper John.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Hawkeye, in his diagnosis of the sick Japanese-American infant in Kokura, mispronounces "fistula," putting the emphasis on the last syllable.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lt. Col. Henry Braymore Blake: Radar.
Cpl. Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly: Yes, sir. I'll get ahold of Major Burns...
Lt. Col. Henry Braymore Blake: I want you to get a hold of Major Burns...
Cpl. Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly: ...Tell him to hold a couple day surgeons over into the night shift.
Lt. Col. Henry Braymore Blake: Tell him we're going to have hold a couple of surgeons over from the day shift out of the night shift.
Cpl. Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly: I'll put in a call to General Hammond in Seoul...
Lt. Col. Henry Braymore Blake: Get General Hammond down there in Seoul, tell him to send us those new surgeons right away.
Cpl. Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly: ...I hope he sends us those two new surgeons. We're sure gonna need'em.
[Leaves]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country (1993)

Soundtrack:

My Blue Heaven

Vulgar, Blasphemous, Mean Spirited--And Brilliant

Although M*A*S*H is probably his most audience-friendly film, Robert Altman's style of over-lapping dialogue and multiple themes provokes a divided reaction even in this early work: you either like it or you don't. Perhaps more significant, however, are expectations raised by the popular and long-running television series the film inspired: the series concerned likable characters playing situation comedy with a dramatic spin. Viewers who expect to see this repeated in the film will be disappointed--and very probably outraged as well.

Like most Altman films, M*A*S*H is character-driven, and there is no plot in any traditional sense. In general, the film concerns three surgeons (Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke, here played by Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, and Tom Skerritt) who are drafted to serve in Korea. Sharing a mutual fondness for martinis and a complete disrespect for all things military, they run riot through the M*A*S*H 4077, mocking the efforts of by-the-book military officers to make them toe the line and using the army's need of their skills to prevent higher authority from penalizing them for their antics. Most of the characters (including the three leads) are somewhat unsympathetic, and the film's comic elements are deliberately grotesque, mean-spirited, blasphemous, sexist, and vulgar.

Altman clearly intends us to read the Korean setting as a metaphor for Vietnam and the disrespect for an inept military authority as a metaphor for America's increasing disenchantment with military intervention in Vietnam. At the same time, the film's graphic surgery scenes provide us with a clear vision of the human toll war requires. Because the film mixes these points of view with comic elements, it is frequently described as an anti-war black comedy--but the film is so profoundly bitter that the word comedy, even when codified as "black," is rather misleading. There are certainly comic elements and even a few laugh-out-loud moments (most centering upon Margaret "Hotlips" O'Houlihan, brilliantly played by Sally Kellerman), but the tone of the film is so bitter that the laughter induced is very rueful indeed.

Seen today, M*A*S*H feels slightly uneven in execution and very much of its place and time--but even so the cast performs with an extremely compelling immediacy and Altman's dark and multi-layered vision makes a powerful statement. The DVD release features a superb restoration of the film, a rather dismissible director's commentary track, and four short documentaries re the film which are extremely interesting but often redundant. While I do recommend the film to newcomers, I offer the warning that response to the film varies considerably from individual to individual.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer