 The surgeons of the 4077 deliver even more hilarious hijinks on Blu-ray! Starring Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse. Storyline: The personnel at the 4077 MASH unit deal with the horrors of the Korean War and the stresses faced in surgery by whatever means. The tone at the MASH is established by recent arrivals, surgeons Captains 'Hawkeye' Pierce, 'Duke' Forrest, and 'Trapper' John McIntyre - the latter who Hawkeye knows he's met somewhere, but Trapper who won't divulge where - whose antics can be best described as non-regulation, and in the negative words of one of their fellow MASH-ers: unmilitary. The unit's commanding officer, Colonel Henry Blake, doesn't care about this behavior as long as it doesn't affect him, and as long as they do their job and do it well, which they do. Their behavior does extremely bother fellow surgeon, Major Frank Burns, and recently arrived head nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan, who obtains the nickname 'Hot Lips' based on information they glean about her through underhanded means. Beyond their battles with Frank and Hot Lips, Hawkeye, Duke and/or Trapper help unit dentist Painless ... Written by Huggo Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Casey Broadwater on September 4, 2009 -- I'm going to do something terribly cruel. Ready? Okay, here we go. Think of the M*A*S*H theme song. Hum it out loud. Picture the helicopters if need be. Got it? Good. Now, feel free to flood my inbox with all-caps curses when you inevitably can't get the song out of your head. Since receiving the title for review purposes I've had the same problem—whistling the tune in the shower, singing "Suicide is Painless" over and over again, and generally driving my wife up the wall. Director Robert Altman's then 14 year-old son penned the infectious—and I mean infectious— tune and, ironically, ended up making far more money on royalties from the song than his father made directing the film for Twentieth Century Fox. But that seems par for the course for Robert Altman, whose relationship with the traditional moviemaking system was always marked by box office disappointment and mutual distrust. It was hard for studios to get a handle on the noted cinematic maverick, and for the director's biting opinion of Hollywood, just check out 1992's The Player. Altman's I'll-do-it-my-way reputation began early. After years of churning out commercial and industrial films, the auteur got his big screen break in 1970 with M*A*S*H, a controversial anti-war comedy that would rattle the conservative industry and establish many of Altman's directorial trademarks. M*A*S*H is based on a little-read, semi-autobiographical novel by Richard Hooker and was adapted for the screen by the formerly blacklisted Ring Lardner Jr. When Altman got the script—15 directors passed on the project before he signed on—he decided to use it as a rough outline rather than a rubric, a fact that later angered Lardner, even though he eventually won an Oscar for his contributions. The fact is, Altman had a different, more improvisational vision for the material. Like war itself, M*A*S*H, as a film, is barely organized chaos. The narrative—what narrative there is—is a free-flowing, nebulous series of loosely connected vignettes. Set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital on the back lines of the Korean War—a thin front for Vietnam—the story follows the exploits of surgeons "Hawkeye" Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and "Trapper" John McIntyre (Elliot Gould) as they nonchalantly flout Army conventions and escape mentally from the horrors of war by generally acting like buffoons. Like most Altman productions to follow, M*A*S*H features a large, ensemble cast, mostly comprised of cinematic newcomers. In fact, if you watch the credits you'll notice about twenty-five "Introducing…" tags. Tom Skerritt plays "Duke," a not-so-genteel southern surgeon, Sally Kellerman is Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, the straight-laced but easily unbridled head nurse, and Robert Duval is Major Frank Burns, a lusty, anger-prone holy roller. And these are just the major players. The countless smaller parts are just as well-defined and nearly everyone involved gets a few appearances in the spotlight. The teaming cast of characters here gave rise to two of Altman's most distinguishable traits as a director—his use of overlapping dialogue, and the sudden wide-to-tight zooms (and vice-versa) that he would use to narrow in on specific portions of his frequently hectic frames. The motivation behind the layered dialogue is simple, but undeniably clever. One, it's natural—people talk over one another all the time. More importantly though, by presenting the audience with a cacophony of sounds, Altman is forcing us into an active participation in the film, making the audience mentally dissect the dialogue to determine what is and isn't relevant. It's the cinematic equivalent of poking us to make sure we're still paying attention. The zooms—which seem almost Bollywood-influenced at times—have an effect not unlike haiku, giving us a keyhole view into a larger world. And both techniques, along with the disjointed narrative, serve as ways to highlight the disordered wartime jumble at hand. Interestingly enough, while M*A*S*H was being made, Fox was also producing Patton and Tora! Tora! Tora!, two films that arguably glorify and patriotize war. The always-leftist Altman settled on the complete opposite approach for M*A*S*H, serving up one anti-establishment dig after another and using black-as-coagulated-blood comedy to underscore the patent absurdities of war in general, but more specifically the unnecessary, politically driven conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. Altman notes in his commentary track that much was made of the film's crude humor upon its release, but his firm opinion was that there is nothing more obscene or low-brow than the needless destruction of young men at war. The film's gory surgical scenes stand in stark contrast to the hijinks that occur outside the medical tent, and keep the film from being, as Altman says, "like reading a joke book." While the film is definitely pointed, it's impossible to overlook just how funny it is, even today. Altman encouraged his actors to improvise and truly "live" the characters, and the result is a film that's filled with small, hilarious, impossible to script moments. Even the more staged scenes, like the "last supper" for Walter "Painless" Waldowski (John Schuck)—the "best-equipped dentist in the Army," if you catch the double entendre—feel like they were tossed together with genius, off-the- cuff intuition. M*A*S*H is a great anti-war film and a stellar comedy to boot, but I have to admit to being one of the few people who have a preferential soft spot for Mike Nichols' Catch-22, which was also released in 1970. Still, it's great to finally have M*A*S*H on Blu-ray, where it looks and sounds great, even if the dated source materials make it less than objectively impressive today. If you're thinking to upgrade from the DVD, I wouldn't hesitate, but do note that most of the special features are the same. On the other hand, if you're one of those few holdouts who have yet to see the film, click the Amazon link above and have your debit card at the ready. M*A*S*H deserves a spot in any discerning Blu-ray collection. Highly Recommended. Cast Notes: Donald Sutherland (Hawkeye Pierce), Elliott Gould (Trapper John McIntyre), Tom Skerritt (Duke Forrest), Sally Kellerman ('Hot Lips' O'Houlihan), Robert Duvall (Maj. Frank Burns), Roger Bowen (Col. Henry Blake), Rene Auberjonois (Father John Mulcahy), David Arkin (Sgt. Major Vollmer), Jo Ann Pflug (Lt. 'Dish'), Gary Burghoff (Corporal 'Radar' O'Reilly), Fred Williamson (Dr. Oliver 'Spearchucker' Jones), Michael Murphy ('Me Lai' Marston), Indus Arthur (Lt. Leslie), Ken Prymus (PFC. Seidman), Bobby Troup (Sgt. Gorman). User Comment: Bill Anderson (anderson@nehp.net) from New Hope, Alabama USA, 31 January 1999 • No, not the very wonderful TV series. The Robert Altman film with Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye, Elliott Gould as Trapper John, and Radar as Radar. This is a dark comedy, but it's a delight from beginning to end. And even more effectively than the TV show, the movie illustrates the complete insanity of war. (But even the movie doesn't depict Jesus on the cross hanging from a helicopter. For that you'll need to read the book.) Like most Altman films, this one is episodic. It's also gritty, grim, bloody, offensive, and charming. And Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) is not a character watered down and humanized for television. This is an example of a film so rich in detail (like Altman's "Popeye," come to think of it) that it demands multiple viewings. Summary: A classic war-is-hell movie. IMDb Rating (12/05/13): 7.6/10 from 44,413 users IMDb Rating (09/17/10): 7.8/10 from 29,154 users
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