M*A*S*H (1970)

So is M*A*S*H a "war movie" or an "anti-war movie?"  It's been called both, and I think they're right on both counts.  Robert Altman's 1970 masterpiece which spawned the spinoff TV series comes at you from both directions, dead serious and dead funny. All at the same time.

It follows the doctors of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH!) in Korea during the war.  Some of which were drafted and wind up there by fate, others are "regular army clowns" who seem to live for this stuff.

Now, if you've never seen the movie, but only seen the TV series, you need to take everything you think you know, and just throw it out the window.  About the only common traits the two have is the name, the location, and the characters' names.  And Radar.  He'd be the only actor that stuck around for the series.

There are lots of things which make MASH an incredible movie.  Not the least of which are the performances from a stellar ensemble cast.  Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Robert Duvall, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, and yes even the infamous Gary Burghoff.

MASH jumps between hilarious episodes, filmed with brilliant vision by Altman (my favorite is the "Last Supper" table) and the dead seriousness of their situation.

While watching this, you also realize how much of this you probably couldn't get away with in a movie today without having the riot act read to you. It's damn funny, but given the climate of today you don't really want to laugh in case someone sees you.

One of the problems though, is a lot of the humor is so subtle and "dry" that its lost on a lot of folks.  There's a lot of things that if you're not paying close attention, you'll miss the point.  The style is a bit disjointed and irregular, and could also put a few people off.  Once you get used to the strange cuts and angles, and realize what's going on, you'll get the hang of it.

It's been called an "anti-war" movie, and I suspect that's for a few reasons, probably more to do with the period it was made (at the height of Vietnam) and the way it belittles Army life as a series of mishaps connected by madness.

Of course, in a way, all good war movies *are* "anti-war" to some degree.

That is all.

Technorati Tags: korean war, war movies, m*a*s*h, mash, 4077th, review

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M*A*S*H (Widescreen Edition) List Price: $14.98 Sale Price: $5.97 You save: $9.01 (60%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Description

This classic American war comedy received an Oscarr nomination for Best Picture and spawned one of the most popular shows ever to run on television. It focuses on three army surgeons (Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould and Tom Skerritt) who develop a lunatic lifestyle in order to handle the everyday horrors they encounter in the Korean War. Sally Kellerman, Gary Burghoff and Robert Duvall co-star in this disarming mix of slapstick, merciless fun and tragedy.

It's set during the Korean War, in a mobile army surgical hospital. But no one seeing M*A*S*H in 1970 confused the film for anything but a caustic comment on the Vietnam War; this is one of the counterculture movies that exploded into the mainstream at the end of the '60s. Director Robert Altman had labored for years in television and sporadic feature work when this smash-hit comedy made his name (and allowed him to create an astonishing string of offbeat pictures, culminating in the masterpiece Nashville). Altman's style of cruel humor, overlapping dialogue, and densely textured visuals brought the material to life in an all-new kind of war movie (or, more precisely, antiwar movie). Audiences had never seen anything like it: vaudeville routines played against spurting blood, fueled with open ridicule of authority. The cast is led by Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, as the outrageous surgeons Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre, with Robert Duvall as the uptight Major Burns and Sally Kellerman in an Oscar-nominated role as nurse "Hot Lips" Houlihan. The film's huge success spawned the long-running TV series, a considerably softer take on the material; of the film's cast, only Gary Burghoff repeated his role on the small screen, as the slightly clairvoyant Radar O'Reilly. --Robert Horton

DVD Information

Binding: DVD
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Original Release Date:
Actors:

• Donald Sutherland
• Elliott Gould
• Tom Skerritt
• Sally Kellerman
• Robert Duvall

Reviews

Related posts:

1. Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
2. Too Late The Hero (1970)
3. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 10:56 pm and is filed under 1970s, Korean War Movies, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.