M*A*S*H Movie Review
1970 Robert Altman
The long-running television series is so deeply imbedded in the public imagination that the true nature of Robert Altman's anarchic film has been largely forgotten. Younger viewers who have not seen it and expect a longer version of the sitcom are going to be shocked, because in these more politically sensitive times, M*A*S*H could not be made. What studio executive would give the green light to a film with a black character named “Spearchucker,” a priest named “Dago Red,” and a dentist who attempts suicide because he thinks that he's becoming “a fairy”?
Seen with some historical context, Altman's scathing anti-establishment comedy is far from perfect, but the best moments are riotously funny (for all the wrong reasons) and the film expresses the rebellious mood of America in 1970 with absolute accuracy. It manages to do that without ever commenting directly on the war. Though the setting is Korea, it's really Vietnam. The only time Altman and writer Ring Lardner come close to making an overt political statement is in their funniest one liner. When by-the-book Maj. Margaret Houlihan (Sally Kellerman) says of Dr. Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland), “I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps.”
“He was drafted,” is the deadpan answer. In 1970, the line brought down the house.
War itself is really not a subject. The only gunshot in the film is used to end the climactic football game. The nameless broken bodies that are flown in to the hospital are the only evidence of the conflict. Altman shows war's destructiveness in those graphic wounds and the bloody operating rooms. Those moments had never been presented so realistically on screen. Audiences were horrified, and so any further comment would have been irrelevant. Altman's real targets are closer to home—organized religion and the military, both seen by the filmmakers as close-minded institutions, inimical to genuine human values. They're personified in the characters of Maj. Houlihan and Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall), both far removed from their TV incarnations.
As interpreted by Duvall, Burns is a more serious and sinister figure. He is such a forceful character that he would upset the shaky comic balance of the film if he didn't make such an early exit. “Hotlips” Houlihan is more troubling. She is transformed, presumably by the embarrassment of the shower scene, from a competent if narrow-minded nurse into a brainless cheerleader. The change may be due to over-enthusiastic improvisation on Sally Kellerman's part during the football sequence.
The protagonists are stronger characters, too. In the operating room, they're accomplished professionals. Outside, they're lecherous, sophomoric pranksters with a wide mean streak. Altman's direction is completely in tune with the doctors' knockabout attitude. He uses filters to give a rougher texture to the already rough surfaces of the MASH unit; long lenses that allow him to keep the camera at a distance to encourage ensemble improvisation; dialogue from one scene extended into the next; semilinear narrative. And within that often chaotic structure, the big scenes are masterful—the unforgettable microphone under the bed, the extended “suicide” sequence, complete with The Last Supper tableau, the use of the public address system as a cracked Greek chorus, even the nonsensical football game.
If, in hindsight, M*A*S*H seems harsher than it once did, it's still funny and original, and its anger is not misplaced.
Cast: Donald Sutherland (Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce), Elliott Gould (Capt. John Francis Xavier “Trapper John” McIntyre), Tom Skerritt (Capt. Augustus Bedford “Duke” Forrest), Sally Kellerman (Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan), JoAnn Pflug (Lt. Maria “Hot Dish” Schneider), Robert Duvall (Maj. Frank Burns), Rene Auberjonois (Fr. John Patrick “Dago Red” Mulcahy), Roger Bowen (Lt. Col. Henry Blake), Gary Burghoff (Cpl. Walter “Radar” O'Reilly), Fred Williamson (Capt. Oliver Harmon “Spearchucker” Jones), John Schuck (Capt. Walter “Painless Pole” Waldowski), Bud Cort (Pvt. Lorenzo Boone), G. Wood (Gen. Hammond), David Arkin (Staff Sgt. Vollmer), Michael Murphy (Capt. Ezekiel “Me Lay” Marston), Indus Arthur (Lt. Leslie), Ken Prymus (Pfc. Seidman), Bobby Troup (Sgt. Gorman), Kim Atwood (Ho-Jon), Timothy Brown (Cpl. Judson); Written by: Ring Lardner Jr.; Cinematography by: Harold E. Stine; Music by: Johnny Mandel. Producer: 20th Century-Fox, Aspen, Ingo Preminger. Awards: Academy Awards '70: Best Adapted Screenplay; American Film Institute (AFI) '98: Top 100; Cannes Film Festival '70: Best Film; Golden Globe Awards '71: Best Film—Musical/Comedy, National Film Registry '96; National Society of Film Critics Awards '70: Best Film; Writers Guild of America '70: Best Adapted Screenplay; Nominations: Academy Awards '70: Best Director (Altman), Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Kellerman). MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 116 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, Letterbox.