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M*A*S*H (film)

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MASH70filmposter

Film poster for 1970 film *M*A*S*H*.

MASH is a 1970 satirical dark comedy anti-war film directed by Robert Altman, loosely based on the novel by Richard Hooker. Nominally about an outfit of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, the film stars Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, and featured Robert Duvall, Sally Kellerman, Tom Skerritt, Roger Bowen, Gary Burghoff, Bud Cort and Fred Williamson. MASH went on to inspire the hit 1972-83 CBS television series M*A*S*H.

The film won the 1970 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated for five Academy Awards and won an Oscar for its screenplay. It was deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected in 1996 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1998, the film was recognized by the American Film Institute (AFI) as one of the 100 greatest American films; two years later, AFI recognized it as one of the ten funniest American films.

Unique touch[]

Unlike many war films, MASH delivers an anti-war message with a light touch through moderate anarchy, bizarre conversation, and the boredom, stress, and resentment of the draftee physicians. The film famously juxtaposes gory operating room procedures with absurdist and often silly humor; occasionally these two elements co-exist within the same shot.

The film's plot is episodic, which results in several considerable changes in it's tone throughout. In this way, as well as others mentioned above, it is said to be similar to the book Catch-22. MASH is marked by Altman's trademark sound editing style, in which each scene contains several simultaneous or overlapping conversations, as well as his unusual use of zoom.

Criticism[]

Some of the film's critics disliked the limits on war carnage in favor of camp existence, and also for a certain callous attitude, notably in the treatment of the characters Major Burns (Duvall) and Major Houlihan (Kellerman)

Plot Summary[]

And Then There Was..... Korea[]

In 1951, two new surgeons, Captains "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Duke" Forrest, arrive in a stolen Jeep at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. They prove to be womanizing, heavy-drinking, mischievous rule-breakers; upon their arrival, Duke unsuccessfully flirts with Nurse (Lt.) Maria Schneider who shows him her wedding band, but she later starts an affair with Hawkeye. The two new arrivals in camp also prove themselves to be top-notch surgeons, and begin to clash with their tent mate Major Frank Burns, a sanctimonious and inferior surgeon. Hawkeye and Duke pressure the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Henry Blake, to have Burns removed from "their" tent. They also cajole him into applying for a specialist thoracic surgeon, or "chest cutter", to be assigned to the 4077th.

The Chest Cutter and the new Head Nurse[]

The new chest cutter arrives in camp but initially reveals very little about himself; all Duke can get out of him is that he is from Boston and has been in the army two months. Hawkeye is convinced he has seen the new man somewhere before. It is only after surgery during an impromptu football game that Hawkeye recalls a game he played in college in which he scored the game's only touchdown after intercepting a pass from the opposing team's quarterback; the new thoracic surgeon was that quarterback: Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre.

The camp's new Head Nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan. is flown into camp and greeted by Henry who mistakenly refers to her as "O'Houlihan" several times. In Post-op, Trapper sees Frank Burns unjustly blame Private Boone, an orderly, for a patient's death. Henry gives Margaret a tour of the camp, and just as they arrive in the room where Trapper is confronting Burns he punches him knocking him to the floor. Henry confines Trapper to the Swamp and then apologizes to Margaret saying "We try to remember we're a military organization", "to which she coolly replies, "I should certainly hope so".

Later in the Mess Tent, Margaret gets into a discussion with Hawkeye to get his opinion about the nurses that work with him; Hawkeye has no problem with the nurses, but when Margaret voices Major Burns' dissatisfaction, Hawkeye calls him an idiot. She then remarks on how everyone, even the enlisted, refer to Hawkeye by his nickname rather than his rank; and when she asserts, "that informality is inconsistent with maximum efficiency in a military organization", Hawkeye becomes annoyed with her pedanticism and, calling her a "regular army clown", gets up and leaves.

Chief Surgeon Trapper[]

While Henry is away visiting General Hammond at the 325th EVAC, Trapper, having just been appointed by Henry to be the 4077th's new Chief Surgeon, leads the camp in a big celebration in the form of a wild party. Frank and Margaret are appalled by the anarchy and write a letter to the general, but it doesn't take long for them to give in to their own repressed passions; later that night when Frank pays Margaret a visit in her tent the two engage in a wild tryst, which is monitored in the darkened orderly room by Trapper, Duke, Radar and a few others thanks to Radar planting a microphone underneath Margaret's cot just before they start having sex. Dago Red arrives at the office door and invites himself inside thinking they're listening to an episode of The Bickersons on the radio, but then awkwardly excuses himself when he realizes otherwise. When they hear Margaret growling to Frank to "Kiss my hot lips!", Duke latches onto the phrase, and Trapper decides that everyone else in camp should hear them going at it, and with the flip of a switch, their noisy tryst is broadcast over the PA. Hawkeye hears it while in surgery and quips that, "Frank Burns is doing a bit of dilatation and curettage", but when Margaret hears her own voice feeding back over the speaker, she immediately stops and gives Frank the bum's rush out of her tent.

The next morning in the Mess Tent, Trapper and Duke make fun of "Hot Lips", while Hawkeye quietly teases Frank about the night before, goading him to the point where he leaps over the table to attack him. Frank is eventually sedated, restrained with a strait jacket, and permanently shipped out of camp as the PA plays Sayonara.

Suicide is Painless[]

Dago Red secretly tells Hawkeye that "Painless Pole" Waldowski, the camp dentist, has consulted him about a problem, but feels unable to divulge any details because he heard them in confession, so Hawkeye visits Painless himself, who reluctantly mentions that he suffered a "lack of performance" with a visiting nurse and now, believing he may have latent homosexual tendencies, wants to commit suicide. Hawkeye tells this to the other surgeons in the Swamp, and when Painless arrives, Trapper suggests the "black capsule", which he says is a fast-acting poison. At a farewell banquet that imitates The Last Supper, Painless takes the capsule- which is actually just a sleeping pill, and falls asleep in a coffin. Hawkeye persuades Maria to sleep with Painless and cure him of his "problem" before she leaves for home in the morning. The stunt works, and at daybreak Painless is back to his old self again, while Maria flies off home- wordlessly breaking the fourth wall with a growing smile of satisfaction on her face.

Is "Hot Lips" a real blonde?[]

Duke announces that he is partial to blondes, prompting Hawkeye to declare that Duke is attracted to Margaret, which Duke denies, suggesting that she probably isn't even a natural blonde and is wiling to back up his words with a $20 bet with Hawkeye. Since the only way to find out the truth is if they all see it together, they develop an elaborate plan to isolate Margaret in the showers, and on cue from Trapper, counterweights are used to raise an entire side of the shower tent exposing Margaret naked to the entire camp. In angry hysterics, Margaret storms to Henry's tent and screams at him to have Duke, Trapper and Hawkeye court-martialed, threatening to resign her commission if he doesn't. Henry, still in bed with his mistress, dismisses her complaint and calls her bluff, and she leaves in total defeat.

(By the way, Duke wins the bet.)

Ho-Jon[]

Ho-Jon, a local teen who works in the camp, is conscripted into the South Korean Army and is taken to Seoul for his physical. Hawkeye attempts to disqualify him by giving him drugs to elevate his blood pressure and heartbeat. But the physician is not fooled and refuses to disqualify Ho-Jon, accurately claiming that while working at a medical post the youngster may have come into contact with drugs. The doctor insists on keeping Ho-Jon under his observation until his symptoms clear, and Hawkeye reluctantly has to let him go. Near the film's end, as Hawkeye and the others are playing poker in the Swamp, they notice a jeep pulling away with a shrouded body loaded onto the back, presumably the remains of Ho-Jon.

The Pros from Dover[]

Trapper is ordered to proceed to Kokura, Japan, to operate on the GI son of a U.S. Congressman. Seeing an opportunity to play golf, he takes Hawkeye to assist. Billing themselves as "the pros from Dover", the doctors mischievously invade the hospital and order the patient into surgery within the hour; the anesthetist turns out to be "Me Lay" Marston, an old friend of Hawkeye's. During surgery, the hospital's snobbish commander, Colonel Merrill, barges in to the OR and demands an explanation, but Hawkeye warns him that if he infects the patient they will tell the Congressman who did it. The surgery is successful, but Hawkeye and Trapper are cornered by the MPs and escorted to Merrill's office. Merrill threatens them with court-martial, but they remind him that they just bailed him out by saving the Congressman's son's life; with this leverage, Hawkeye and Trapper leave, but will return to check up on the patient.

That night, while relaxing at Dr. Yamachi's New Era Hospital and Whorehouse, where Me Lay moonlights as a doctor, Hawkeye and Trapper are alerted to a Japanese-American baby with a serious medical problem. Taking advantage of their status as medical heroes, they go to the military hospital to operate, but are stopped by Merrill until they incapacitate and anesthetize him, then take blackmail photos of him with one of the doxies from the whorehouse.

After their return from Japan, Hawkeye and Trapper immediately go on duty for several hours. Afterward, they trudge back to the Swamp only to find the door locked; Duke tells them to give him a couple of minutes, but when they find him sneaking Margaret out underneath the back of the tent they both make fun of the new couple.

The Game[]

General Hammond pays a visit to talk with Henry about Margaret. When Hawkeye and Duke mention that she is a stickler for regulations and even forbids them from playing football, Hammond is inspired to invite the 4077th to play a "friendly" game of football against his own team, the 325th EVAC. Hammond then suggests they could make it more interesting by wagering money- five or six thousand dollars. As he goes to say so to Henry, Hawkeye comes up with a plan: First, have Henry apply for a specific neurosurgeon: Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones, a former pro football player for the San Francisco 49ers. Then, they bet half their money up front and keep their ringer (Jones) out of the first half of the game. Hawkeye reasons that once the other team has racked up some easy points and become confident enough to offer good odds to bet the rest of the money, the 4077th brings in Jones for the second half. But Hammond has more strings to pull than the 4077th, and is able to recruit some ringers of his own.

The game gets underway, and even though the 4077th fights back with illegal injuries and by drugging the 325th's running back, the 325th runs up a 16-0 lead (two touchdowns each with extra points, and a safety) by the end of the first half. Henry goes to Hammond to press the bets, and as expected, Hammond confidently ups the odds, and Henry throws in the last of their betting stash.

Jones enters the game at the start of the 2nd half, catching the ball on the ensuing kickoff and running it all the way back for a score; the 4077th manages to score a second touchdown but they fail to kick the extra point either time. The contest devolves in to a free-for-all with players on both sides having to be carted off the field due to varying injuries, and the 4077th gets Hammond's other ringer ejected from the game. With only seconds left, the 4077th is still trailing 16-12, and Jones comes up with a "center-eligible play", in which the center (Vollmer) takes the ball back from the quarterback (Trapper) on the snap, and then hides the ball under his jersey to run for the winning touchdown while everyone else chases a phantom ball. The play succeeds, and the 4077th wins 18-16.

Some time after the football game, Hawkeye and Duke get their discharge orders and begin their own journey home- in the same stolen Jeep they arrived in. As they depart, leaving Trapper and Jones behind, Vollmer gets on the PA and announces the closing credits for the film.

Cast[]

Trivia[]

  • In the director's commentary on the DVD release, Altman says that this was the first major studio film to use the word "fuck" in its dialogue, the word being spoken by John Schuck during the football game near the end of the film. (as they are about to run another play, Schuck's character "Painless" Waldowski says to his opponent facing him at the line of scrimmage, "Alright, bub, your fucking head is comin' right off.")
  • MASH was the original title of the 1953 film Battle Circus starring Humphrey Bogart, a film also about life in a MASH unit.
  • During principal photography, Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould spent a third of their time trying to get Robert Altman fired. Altman later commented that if he had known, he would have resigned. Gould later sent a letter apologizing; Altman cast him in some of his later works, but never worked with Sutherland again.
  • In a few shots of the "speaker" at night, the moon is visible in the background. On the same night when these scenes were shot, American astronauts landed on the moon.
  • Gary Burghoff was the only regular cast member to reprise his role for the television series. G. Wood, who plays General Hammond, also appeared on the TV series, but only for three episodes.
  • The movie was one of the first films to be released on home video when 20th Century Fox licensed fifty motion pictures from their library to Magnetic Video.

Errors and Explanations[]

Internet Movie Database[]

Character error[]

  • Margaret's surname is scripted as "Houlihan". The 'O' was added due to a slip of the tongue by General Hammond and Henry Blake, the only two people who refer to her as "O'Houlihan" in the whole movie.
  • Hawkeye, in his diagnosis of the sick Japanese-American infant in Kokura, mispronounces "fistula," putting the emphasis on the last syllable.

Factual errors[]

  • An announcement is made that "Yom Kippur cannot be held on Friday due to extenuating circumstances, but those who wish to observe may do so on Sunday". Yom Kippur never falls on either a Friday or a Sunday; an "alternate" day for the holiday that could actually occur would be Saturday.

Revealing mistakes[]

  1. When Hawkeye and Trapper John are in Japan, a "Japanese" nurse speaks in heavily American accented, awkward, and mispronounced "Japanese".[1]

Movie Mistakes[]

Corrections[]

  • The driver who was supposed to drive Hawkeye to the camp, after Hawkeye and Duke have gone off with the stolen jeep and after he has poured his coffee over his commander, can't help laughing so hard that he has to cover his face at the end of the shot.
  • When Hawkeye and Duke arrive at MASH and drive by the mess there are four nurses, two sitting on each side of a longish table, together with someone else. When Hawkeye and Duke enter the mess the nurses are placed 3+1, and the other person is gone.
  • Ho-Jon, Burns's Korean boy, can hardly read but speaks almost accent-free American English.

External links[]

Sources[]

  1. ↑ IMDB entry
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