Our Finest Hour serves as the fourth and fifth episodes of Season 7 of M*A*S*H, and episodes #150 and 151 overall. The original broadcast was an hour-long episode, later split into two half-hour episodes for syndication. Written by Ken Levine & David Isaacs, Larry Balmagia along with Ronny Graham and David Lawrence, Our Finest Hour was directed by Burt Metcalfe and originally aired on CBS on October 9, 1978.
Synopsis[]
An hour-long series retrospective. Reporter Clete Roberts returns to the 4077th to interview the staff. Unlike "The Interview," scenes from previous episodes are included.
Detailed summary[]
Date: October 9, 1952: Reporter Clete Roberts returns to the 4077th, to again interview the medical unit. Roberts stated on camera that he decided to make a return trip to the 4077th, citing the uniqueness of the people and their extraordinary survival record.
Amidst new interviews with the staff (including new arrival Major Winchester), we are treated to clips of previous episodes from the preceding six seasons, featuring departed characters Trapper John, Henry Blake, and Frank Burns.
Winchester offers that he tries to blot out the memory of what transpires at the 4077th as it happens, trying especially hard to forget some of the people he's met...knowing deep down that he never shall.
Father Mulcahy tries to say something nice about Winchester, since he was not at the 4077th when Clete Roberts came by the first time. The best, most polite answer he can muster is..."He's a very good doctor."
The final clip is from Season One's "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet", and Clete Roberts, talking directly to the camera, hopes that some day soon these people will be able to go home, and that "neither they, nor any others, will have to assemble for such a purpose again."
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- The title is from Winston Churchill's World War II speech about the English efforts against the German attacks on their homeland: "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"
- “Our Finest Hour” edits clips of the following past installments: "War of Nerves", "Adam's Ribs", "Some 38th Parallels", "Dear Mildred", "Change of Command", "Crisis", "The Late Captain Pierce", "Fallen Idol", the Pilot, "As You Were", "Movie Tonight", and "Abyssinia, Henry". Father Mulcahy's speech about surgeons warming themselves over a patient's open wound is spliced from the Season 4 finale, "The Interview".
- This is the only episode of the series to feature the entire series cast, including former cast members McLean Stevenson, Wayne Rogers, and Larry Linville (who portrayed Lt. Col. Henry Blake, "Trapper" John McIntyre, and Maj. Frank Burns, respectively).
- The syndicated 2-part version of “Our Finest Hour” was substituted in the place of the original hour version on 20th Century Fox's seventh season of M*A*S*H on DVD in December 2004, as its original master materials were damaged over time. The DVD offers viewers a choice of watching the episode in two half-hour parts, each with their own set of opening and closing credits, or as one episode with a single set of credits.
- The original hour long version has a few extra or extended scenes , notably Frank Burns as "Garbage Officer" ("Movie Tonight"), Hawkeye and Trapper in Gorilla suits ("As You Were") and Potter, Hawkeye and BJ singing "The Long, Long Trail" ("Change Of Command"). In addition several scenes have longer run time in the original version than the syndicated one.
- Some scenes appear to be different takes or do not have music / dialogue present in the source episodes.
- The original broadcast episode was made up of the specially shot footage and scenes taken from:
- Season 1, Episode 01: "MASH: The Pilot"
- Season 1, Episode 17: "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet"
- Season 1, Episode 19: "The Long-John Flap"
- Season 2, Episode 03: "Radar's Report"
- Season 2, Episode 09: "Dear Dad...Three"
- Season 2, Episode 10: "The Sniper"
- Season 2, Episode 11: "Carry On Hawkeye"
- Season 2, Episode 12: "The Incubator"
- Season 2, Episode 14: "Hot Lips And Empty Arms"
- Season 2, Episode 15: "Officers Only"
- Season 2, Episode 16: "Henry In Love"
- Season 2, Episode 17: "For Want Of A Boot"
- Season 2, Episode 20: "As You Were"
- Season 2, Episode 21: "Crisis"
- Season 2, Episode 23: "Mail Call"
- Season 3, Episode 01: "The General Flipped at Dawn"
- Season 3, Episode 03: "Officer Of The Day"
- Season 3, Episode 05: "O.R."
- Season 3, Episode 06: "Springtime"
- Season 3, Episode 09: "Alcoholics Unanimous"
- Season 3, Episode 11: "Adam"s Ribs"
- Season 3, Episode 14: "Private Charles Lamb"
- Season 3, Episode 15: "Bombed".
- Season 3, Episode 16: "Bulletin Board" (under 2 second clip of an IV being set up)
- Season 3, Episode 24: "Abyssinia, Henry"
- Season 4, Episode 01: "Welcome To Korea"
- Season 4, Episode 02: "Change Of Command"
- Season 4, Episode 04: "The Late Captain Pierce"
- Season 4, Episode 07: "Dear Mildred"
- Season 4, Episode 09: "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler"
- Season 4, Episode 10: "Dear Peggy"
- Season 4, Episode 24: "The Interview"
- Season 5, Episode 05: "The Nurses"
- Season 5, Episode 07: "Dear Sigmund"
- Season 5, Episode 10: "Hawkeye Get Your Gun".
- Season 5, Episode 18: "Hanky Panky"
- Season 5, Episode 19: "Hepatitis"
- Season 5, Episode 21: "Movie Tonight"
- Season 5, Episode 23: "Post Op"
- Season 6, Episode 01: "Fade Out, Fade In"
- Season 6, Episode 02: "Fallen Idol"
- Season 6, Episode 04: "War Of Nerves"
- Season 6, Episode 05: "The Winchester Tapes"
- Season 6, Episode 09: "Images"
- Season 6, Episode 12: "Comrades In Arms"
- Season 6, Episode 21: "Movie Tonight"
Recurring cast/Guest stars[]
- Clete Roberts as himself
Through newsreel footage:
- President Harry Truman as himself
- General (later President) Dwight Eisenhower as himself
- Senator (later Vice-President) Richard Nixon as himself
Through archival footage:
- Larry Linville as Major Burns
- Wayne Rogers as Trapper John McIntyre
- McLean Stevenson as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake