MASH (1970)

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

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

Release Date:

6 April 1970 (Brazil)

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:

Ignorance | Army Nurse | Acronym In Title | Alcoholism | Entire Title Is Capitalized Acronym

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 14 wins & 19 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Aug. 27	2:00 AM	AMC
Wed. Aug. 27	8:30 AM	AMC

Cast

Donald Sutherland	...	Capt. Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce
Elliott Gould	...	Capt. 'Trapper John' McIntyre
Tom Skerritt	...	Capt. Augustus 'Duke' Forrest
Sally Kellerman	...	Maj. Margaret 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan
Robert Duvall	...	Maj. 'Frank' Burns
Roger Bowen	...	Lt. Col. Henry Blake
Rene Auberjonois	...	Father Mulcahy
David Arkin	...	SSgt. Wade Douglas Vollmer
Jo Ann Pflug	...	Lt. Maria 'Dish' Schneider
Gary Burghoff	...	Cpl. Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly
Fred Williamson	...	Capt. Oliver Harmon 'Spearchucker' Jones
Michael Murphy	...	Capt. Ezekiel 'Me Lai' Marston IV
Indus Arthur	...	Lt. Leslie
Ken Prymus	...	Pvt. Seidman
Bobby Troup	...	SSgt. Gorman

Also Known As:

M*A*S*H (USA) (alternative spelling)
M.A.S.H. (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Cephede eglence (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
M.A.S.H. (Spain) [es]
M.A.S.H. - Armeijan liikkuva kenttäsairaala (Finland) [fi]
M.A.S.H. - arméns rörliga fältsjukhus (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
MASH (Argentina) [es]

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:

Iceland:L | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (cut US version) | Canada:14A (video rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | 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 | West Germany:16 | Canada:R (Nova Scotia)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Aspen Productions (I)

Trivia:

In the opening titles, when a soldier carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher and when when the soldier trips and falls down, it wasn't scripted. It was actually an accident by the actor who tripped over something. Robert Altman decided that instead of editing it out, to use it to foreshadow the dark humor theme as the movie's first small, but real, laugh.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Margaret's surname is scripted as "Houlihan". The 'O' was added due to a slip of the tongue by G. Wood and Roger Bowen, the only two people who refer to her as "O'Houlihan" in the whole movie.

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:

Spoofed in Gimme an 'F' (1984)

Soundtrack:

The Washington Post March

The father of black comedies.

I enjoyed "MASH", the classic t.v. series and I'll say the same for the movie version, which is also a classic.

It's a great and wildly funny tale of two rebelling surgeons, "Hawkeye" (Donald Sutherland) and "Trapper John" (Elliot Gould), who both turn the camp into a zoo when they're not working on wounded American soldiers during the Korean War. How they get rid of another surgeon, Major Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) is good and make the life of the camp's head nurse, Major "Hot Lips" O'Houlihan (Sally Kellerman) a living nightmare is even more hilarious.

The movie was directed by Robert Altman, who deserved an Oscar as does as Sutherland and Gould.

Overall, "MASH" is the father of black comedies.