M*A*S*H (1970)

M*A*S*H
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Ring Lardner Jr. from a novel by Richard Hooker
1970/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

Hotlips O’Houlihan: [to Father Mulcahy, referring to Hawkeye] I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps!
Father Mulcahy: [looks up from his Bible] He was drafted.

Altman perfects his style complete with overlapping dialogue and organized chaos. I enjoyed my re-watch a lot but the misogyny, sexual objectification, and misanthropy throws kind of a pall on the proceedings.

The story is set near the front lines of the Korean War.   Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) arrives at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital to take his turn doing combat surgery under very harsh circumstances.  The irreverant, bad boy Hawkeye gets on the nerves of bible-thumping Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall).  Soon Burns has an ally in by-the-book nurse Maj. Margaret (Hot Lips) Houllihan (Sally Kellerman), chief nurse at the hospital.  When ace surgeon Trapper John McIntyre (Elliot Gould) arrives he is a perfect match for Hawkeye and the two mercilessly rag Burns and Hot Lips.

Time marches on.  When the hospital’s well-hung dentist believes he has turned gay after an episode of impotence, he plans suicide.  Hawkeye and Trapper John plan a resurrection.  The film ends with a crazy football game in which each team brings in its own ringer.  With Roger Bowman as Lt. Col. Henry Blake; Gary Burghoff as Cpl. “Radar” O’Reilly;  Bud Cort as Pvt. Boone; and David Arkin as the voice on the PA system.

This is a cleverly made and written film.  The perfect anti-war film for 1970.  As the years have passed, its cynicism and objectification of women has become more evident (all the nurses are eyed as potential sex partners).  This may have been the first time I’ve seen the movie with subtitles and they definitely added to my understanding of the dialogue.  Despite my little quibble, I would class this as a must-see movie.

The film is much more cynical than the TV series would ever be.

M*A*S*H won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actress (Kellerman); and  Best Film Editing.