Mash The Movie Backstory

Copyright Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

[@ricogo2447]

June 21st, 2024. Donald Sutherland just died. 54 years later Robert Altman's creation is still as good, as great and as contemporary as ever. One of the best movie ever filmed ...

ah, it's june

[@ricogo2447]

sorry, corrected

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

RIP Donald Sutherland 😚

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

RIP Donald Sutherland 😚

[@karlmckinnell2635]

This is one of those movies that inspired a generation of movie makers, a benchmark to aspire to.

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

Three days early and half a million dollars under budget--that's a director that everybody will hire!

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

No doubt about that.

[@Jimmietwotimes]

Oddly, Altman lost many jobs because "on-time and under budget", at that time, was considered "dialing it in" and "not working hard enough." Strange time in Hollywood from '66-'80, especially looking back on his films (not counting Popeye.)

[@MaxExpatr]

In 1943 my mother was a navy nurse serving on a small hospital ship in the Mediterraneas Sea. She never talked about the year served there. 25 years later she saw this film and said it was the closest thing to the real life situations on her hospital ship. Vaya con Dios

[@andrewmiller4573]

Rest in peace Donald Sutherland. You were such a great artist!

[@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw]

Donald Sutherland IS Hawkeye. The tv guy was OK I suppose but he lacked the edge. The whole tv show lacked the movie's hard edge. I understand it was watered down for tv, to be viewable by families, but really. What's the point, other than the obvious ? A money making cash in spinoff.

[@sartainja]

Amen.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

😚

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

​​​@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gwWell Alan Alda was a great humanist court jester,and he created a terrific character but he was a New York Italian,not a Maine lobster fishing doctor,and he never even tried to do the accent,and you never had blonde hair and glasses like Dr.Hooker a.k.a. Hornberger,the writer of the book,did,AND he what is a liberal which the doctor did not like which is the main reason he disliked the series,even though it paid him "a gallbladder a week." Donald Sutherland was Canadian and he didn't exactly have a Maine accent,but he looked like Dr.Hornberger and he came closer to the character in the book,and the politics weren't overt in their first book or in the movie anyway. The follow-up series of novels were more clearly reactionary and conservative. Another thing,despite the conservative politics of the writer Trapper John was clearly a pseudo hippie,and Elliott Gould was a hippie whereas Wayne Rogers was a tough guy from Alabama,but he and Alan still created compelling characters in their own right. One reason the TV series came to fruition is that they couldn't get Dr.Hornberger's first sequel novel M.A.S.H. Goes To Maine off the ground as a movie. Too bad, but at least Donald and Elliot ultimately got to do S.P.Y.S.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

😚

[@tomschmidt381]

Great behind the scenes about the making of the movie. I'm a Vietnam Vet discharged in 1969. MASH was one of the first movies I saw after getting out of the military and loved it.

[@bgrigg07]

Sadly, this video was brought to my attention with the passing of Donald Sutherland. Excellent video about a ground-breaking film.

[@owensweetland342]

THE BEST movie. The humor in the television version kept that show alive but the movie version takes the cake.

[@blabbermouth777]

Show never came close but the first three seasons were fun.

[@tbewin1z143]

@@blabbermouth777the way the movie treated hot lips disqualifies it as being great alone

[@blabbermouth777]

@@tbewin1z143 the doctors miss treated Hotlips, not the movie. These were not good guys and at that time woman were not treated well. Actually if Trump gets in office again you’ll see it again first hand. These were doctors trying to survive and blowing off steam.

[@tbewin1z143]

@@blabbermouth777 why did you even bring in Trump? Btw, Trump was president and women did just fine, they are having a bit of trouble paying their bills with "big guy" in office

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Very true.

[@koroba01]

I have a cousin who was based in Tupelo, MS that was a tent mate of H. Richard Homberger (pen name: Richard Hooker), my cousin was the basis of the character Duke. One interesting thing…when the movie came out my cousin took 6 weeks to convince his wife to go with him to see the movie, then it took 6 months to convince her that most of the antics shown in the movie did not happen (he was married at the time of his service in Korea). RIP cousin Grip.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

​ Donald,Elliott,Tom,and Fred were great. Alan Alda was a great humanist court jester,and he created a terrific character but he was a New York Italian, not a Maine lobster fishing doctor,and he never even tried to do the accent,and he never had blonde hair and glasses like Dr.Hooker a.k.a. Hornberger,the writer of the book,did,AND he what is a liberal which the doctor did not like,which is the main reason he disliked the series, even though it paid him "a gallbladder a week." Donald Sutherland what's Canadian and he didn't exactly have a Maine accent,but he looked like Dr.Hornberger and he came closer to the character in the book,and the politics weren't overt in their first book or in the movie anyway. The follow-up series of novels were more clearly reactionary and conservative. Another thing, despite the conservative politics of the writer Trapper John was clearly a pseudo hippie,and Elliott Gould was a hippie where is Wayne Rogers is a tough guy from Alabama,but he and Alan still created compelling characters in their own right. One reason the TV series came to fruition is that they couldn't get Dr.Hornberger's first sequel novel M.A.S.H. Goes To Maine off the ground as a movie. Too bad, but at least Donald and Elliot ultimately got to do S.P.Y.S.

[@HandyMan657]

I, like many of you, have no idea how many times I've watched the movie, and there is no way to determine how many times I've watched the show. Thank you, Mr. Altman and team.

[@just_kos99]

When MASH was re-released in the theaters, Mom came to my sister and me (the two youngest of 7) and said, "Come on, you're going to the movie." She bought the tickets since it was rated R, handed them to us and left. We loved it, of course. Sis was a major fan of the TV show already.

[@SeanRCope]

Influenced my life kinda, I grew up with the movie/show and in 87 I found myself a combat medic patrolling the S. Korean DMZ. Whistled the tune more than once over there…

[@johnking6252]

MASH , Catch-22 , Patton all came out around the same time after seeing all 3 and with Vietnam still lingering, they convinced me to not wait for the draft, so I joined....the Coast Guard 👍🇺🇲

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

😚

[@allonszenfantsjones]

My late husband was assigned to the Oakland Army Base while he did his tour. One of his jobs was run the movies for the guys who were being processed through the base. Often times I got to hang out with him up there in the booth. I will never forget when we showed MASH to a packed screening room. All those guys down there in their greens. When Father Mulcahey does his famous response to Hot Lip's question--"he was drafted", the room exploded. Thought they'd have to call the MP.

[@Cha-y412]

Robert Altman was an Officer in the US Army Air Corp and a combat bomber pilot in the Pacific in WW2. I think its safe to say that Robert Altman learned how to avoid more then a few land mines at a young age.

[@joelstein4657]

This is a wonderful movie. So much more believable than the historionic and melodramatic tv series.

[@reserva120]

Never seen a movie continue for 11 years- week in week out ! Have you ??? Think harder next time

[@garypaquin9571]

The writing and acting were so much better in the motion picture. The television show became a vanity project for Alan Alda and his woke politics.

[@octoman511]

RIP SALLY KELLERMAN DONALD SUTHERLAND AND ROBERT ALTMAN

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

😚

[@mrj1000]

as a side note, the theme song, suicide is painless, was written by johnny mandell and robert altman's 15 year old son michael, who was credited with the lyrics

[@stephenkehl7158]

… and Michael earned about $2 million in song royalty payments because of the song’s use in the television series, despite the lyrics not being used. His father only earned $75,000.

[@tomcooper6108]

I remember about 10 of us guys from our high school senior class went to the theater to see MASH. We snuck beer into the theater and popped the tops when the laughter was really loud. That was a great awakening for us seeing this film.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

What a great experience.

[@Trial212]

Wow! what a great behind the scenes look!! I had no inkling that there were so many obstacles to overcome.

[@ripflip1112]

What was left out was side bar info that his son: MIKE Altman composed the theme , and earned MORE money that his dad did in movie tickets sales

[@amiblueful]

Those are some brilliant lyrics written by a 14 year old. It's too bad they couldn't keep them in the series openning. But Mike still got residuals for it!

[@soundsandvisionsHQ]

@@amiblueful The TV network wanted a "happier" version of the song to open the show, thus the new instrumental version that did not mention suicide.

[@maxpeck4154]

I grew up watching the series. I remember the family sitting down watching the last episode as a young kid. Once I saw the movie for the first time about 20 years ago that was it for me. A desert island movie for me. There's just something about it you can't put your finger on.

[@swampghost72]

Of course you can put a finger on it. Its great on its own level..Its own level being that the movie wasnt the typical war movie.It was a war movie shown with an intimacy that was never done. It wasnt about the war itself. It was about the realities of peoples lives in the middle of a war zone and them trying to live their best lives in a war..And the fact that it was about a medical unit that had to deal with the realities of war and wasnt about soldiers in combat.Once again that had never been done before..And furthermore it broke ground once again for the very same reasons as a tv series that had never been done before..mix all of those variables with very talented production and cast .It takes its place as one of the best ever.. I can go on and on..I agree with you. Its most definitely at the top of my list as a desert island movie/ series..The intimacy of the characters lives brings a level of comfort and realness to ours.There you go I put a finger on it for you lol...

[@philipcunningham4125]

My father fought and recd a purple heart in Korea. He really enjoyed watching the TV MASH. I never understood, comprehended why how he would like it, but he did.

[@blockmasterscott]

I've been watching this movie for close to 50 years now. Awesome flick.

[@amiblueful]

Thank goodness Robert Altman always stuck to his guns. He was a great director.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

It's too bad he didn't keep the ending in the book and the script though.

[@RichardHemmle]

Thank you. I saw this in 1970 in Scranton, Pa. while waiting during a 3 hour bus change.

[@slowery43]

and you think anyone shold care or be remotely interested huh? Wow

[@Greenjeeper999]

A strange and wonderful time filled with strange and wonderful movies.

[@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw]

"I wonder how a degenerate like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the army medical corps." "He was drafted." In Altman movies the movies the dialogue bursts forth, from an ongoing burble of background crowd speech. You get the feeling you're "overhearing" conversations in a crowded room. It's his style. In MASH it was brilliant and really worked. I'm not sure that I'm a 100% Altman fan. I hated Gosford Park. The Altman style didn't work in GP. It was completely unsuitable for that genre of movie IMHO. MASH on the other hand is simply a masterpiece.

[@richardgazinia5482]

You should see Altman's Nashville. I really like it but not everyone does. Make your own judgement.

[@user-ws2ud6sd5c]

Love this movie,it never gets old...

[@jasonrusso9808]

M*A*S*H & KELLY'S HEROES were filmed in 1970, two amazing movies with Donald Sutherland aka "Hawkey & Oddball"

[@DavidMcdonald-df8tb]

Two of the best movies ever ❤

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Good to know.

[@jasonrusso9808]

@@BarryHart-xo1oy god damn right

[@Martin-pt5on]

Saw double feature in 1971 as a six year old at Drive In

[@DavidMcdonald-df8tb]

I saw Kelly's Heroes as the second feature at a drive in when I was 6 years old with my friend and my dad around 1972. The first film was John Wayne in The Cowboys. I wanted to leave after it and was whining about it but my friend and dad said just wait, we here Kelly's Heroes is really good. I kept whining until about 30 seconds into it when I said hey this looks pretty good. It is still my favorite movie.

[@maxsothcott4484]

What an excellent piece of work about a groundbreaking and still incredibly important (and funny) film!

[@peterklopotowski2910]

I saw this film with my doctor- he loved it!

[@jllucci]

Mash and Catch 22 have to be the classics in editorializing the idiocy and insanity of war.

[@slowery43]

Dr Strangelove too

[@IrishmaninBerlin-nr7qq]

No mention of Robert Duvall.

[@Phillyfan45]

Frank Burns in the movie was more of an afterthought compared to the character in the TV series.

[@gavinthor4479]

I thought that was really odd as well.

[@johnsciara9418]

This was the first "R" rated movie that my friend and I saw, we were 14 at the time. I've seen the film a number of times, and to me the football scenes seemed to slow the film down, but only felt that way after my first viewing. Watching this feature, brought back many memories from the film. My Army Reserve Unit, the Commander and I would be the only ones who understood the phrase "Pros from Dover" Most everyone else were too young to understand the reference. Side note, Robert Altman's son, Michael Altman wrote the lyrics to the song "Suicide is Painless" His son's royalties from that song were greater than the salary that Robert Altman earned from being the director

[@giorgiopalmas7934]

I remember seeing it with a buddy whose dad brought us. I remember the opening credits had a jazz soundtrack by Ahmed Jamal or Grover Washington.

[@donbrown1284]

I saw MASH in Switzerland during a summer bicycling trip through Europe in 1970. It's the only time I've seen a film with THREE sets of subtitles: in French, German and Italian. Took up half the screen.

[@thomasswafford250]

Altman's son ultimately made more money than his dad off of M.A.S.H. He kept getting royalties for the use of his song, and over the years it came to more than his father's pay for directing the movie. My sister saw it at the theater and said they said the funniest things, but you had to listen to catch the lines.

[@78tag]

I was born in '51, by the time this movie came out I was ripe for an eye opener. I narrowly missed the corruption of the Vietnam draft. I am not anti-military - far from it. I lost friends there and still support the guys who were used by the corrupt US government. Some bought into the politics, others were just fulfilling what they thought was their "duty" to America, and others were just plain forced into it. This movie, "The Magic Christian", and "Getting Straight" didn't change my opinion of life - ti gave me an opinion on life. It has never changed. We are now seeing the political scene as I saw it back then. That is not a statement on my intellect - it is a reflection of what the people in the know were trying to tell us back then.

[@valkillion6869]

Love Donald Sutherland, the True Hawkeye.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

Alan Alda was great in his own way but he wasn't really the character Dr.Hooker created.

[@danielmace3030]

We are the pros from Dover.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

And we are here to operate 😚

[@shawnyoung8752]

Underrated scene. ' How do want your steak?. The movie is like a serious like stripes.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

@@shawnyoung8752 You mean the movie with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis?

[@marytompkins-bv2iw]

The music & the movie of my generation that went to the real war in VietNam.

[@-.Steven]

Sally Kellerman was gorgeous.

[@annieh5479]

The book MASH was a great read, but couldln't be made into a movie (Trapper John being suspended from a helicopter dressed as Jesus or, "the fastest ride in the East) - the movie MASH was visual. A wonderful movie.

[@paulhowson8744]

Oddly Robert Downey Jr. Did hang from a helicopter looking like Jesus in the movie " Air America " in the 1980s.

[@noomJ]

The Book was a Little Chaotic

[@DeanHarringtonimages]

AbsoluteGreatFilm!

[@carrickrichards2457]

Awesome story. Glad to know more about it.

[@bach27]

Such an iconic movie and show. That song instant recognition.

[@josephmosesso466]

Brilliant breakdown of a truly iconic film. Thanks for the great work you all did putting this together

[@angelotro]

9:05 "he was drafted"😂😢

[@paulwee1924dus]

MASH was good "Kelly's Heroes" was even BETTER.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

They were both good,and S.P.Y.S.

[@PaNNgz]

Thanks for putting this up man.

[@MrUndersolo]

Watching the movie almost ruined my interest in the TV show. It was so over the top and silly that I would not give the series a chance. Still one of the best comedies of all time! #RIPDonaldSutherland

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

The series was the most popular show on TV at the time, despite you not watching it😂

[@bdflatlander]

I saw M*A*S*H in The Bruin Theater in Westwood Village in 1970 with my parents and younger brother when I was 17. I thought it was one of the best and certainly one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. I have watched M*A*S*H multiple times over the years and it holds up well through repeated viewings.

[@horsedoconfb]

I was an undergrad pre med when the movie was released and in medical school about the time that the TV series came out. Honestly, I think the movie ruined medicine for a generation. The movie seemed to take the position that you could be a total a$$hole towards patients and use nurses for your personal pleasure as long as you were a "good doctor". A lot of my classmates and fellow physicians took that idea and ran with it. That was the general theme of the TV series for the first couple of seasons, but the writers must've figured out that audiences would tolerate watching total jerks for a couple of hours, but they didn't want people like that in their living rooms every week. So they humanized the characters and made them more compassionate. To my mind the TV series went a long way towards redeeming the characters portrayed in the movie. You really can't be a good doctor unless you're also a good person .

[@marketads1]

The speakers! Such genius.

[@robvangessel3766]

Not too long ago, I looked at the pilot episode of MASH. I remembered reading how Robert Altman hated the tv series. Had I only seen the pilot, I would've agreed with him.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

I don't understand why. The pilot was like anything in the movie. It didn't get start getting overly liberal until the later seasons which is why Dr. Hooker hated it.

[@robvangessel3766]

@@KenMcMunn-bp5xv Robert Altman on the series: ""I didn't like the series because that series to me was the opposite of my main reason for making this film - and this was to talk about a foreign war, an Asian war, that was going on at the time. And to perpetuate that every Sunday night for 12 years - and no matter what platitudes they say about their little messages and everything - the basic image and message is that the brown people with the narrow eyes are the enemy." The pilot episode - with the Spear Chucker shit, and the such - is a LOT like that, imo. The increasingly liberal tone you mentioned started long before the later seasons, and that's FINE by me! What doesn't work for me - Altman's criticism aside (because on many episodes I would disagree with him) - is when the platitudes get too obvious and when Hawkeye's monologues take over half the scripts. Not everything needs an explanation. Also, I mainly stick to the seasons with Trapper, Henry Blake, and Hawkeye. Once Trapper and Henry are gone, the character contrasts diminish. Winchester is the only replacement character I liked a lot in the later seasons.

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

@@robvangessel3766 Yeah. It always threw me when Wayne Rogers left the show,although I completely get why he did. They kept diminishing his character and giving everything good to Alan Alda,and McLean left because of the shabby way the other actors were treated,but the book and the movie were about Hawkeye and Trapper. Mike Farrell was a good actor but B.J. was a little bit too PC for me. Potter was touching though,but he pissed me off the way he always treated Klinger and a lot of other people.Winchester was the best replacement character. BUT I never saw the TV show as saying the yellow people were the enemies. I never got what Robert Altman meant by that. The show said everyone suffered in a war, and I never saw Spearchucker as a white racist gag. His character was in the book and the movie,but the guy who played him in the series was the one who played Judson in the movie,the one who was told to call the guy's mother Gladys as a counter insult in the football game after the guy called him a c@#$. The book might be a little condescending as spearchucker reveals his family has a past connection to Duke's family I think through the slave era,but then situations like that were often true, and he didn't get his name as a racist double entendre,but because of his javelin throwing.

[@ianhilmer2673]

He said “aboot”😊, R.I.P. Donald Sutherland🫡🇨🇦

[@KenMcMunn-bp5xv]

RIP 😚

[@elviejodelmar2795]

DTG: 1970 . LOCATION: 8th Field Hospital, An Khe, Vietnam. MISSION: Obtain a doctor's signature needed for application for graduate school. SCENE: GP Large tent, doctor's quarters. They had a still and offered me a martini and while one of them signed my paper, another told the story about a Vietnamese boy he had treated for pancake syndrome. I asked, "Pancake syndrome?" He answered, "Ya, he was run over by a 2 1/2 ton truck." MASH was a window onto the reality of the madness and black humor of war.

[@pantone41]

There are MASH people and there's everyone else. Btw, not a single frame of or mention of Robert Duvall?

[@MichaelBoyce-tm2vw]

Suicide Is Painless the instrumental is the beginning of the TV series

[@dvolonino]

RIP Mr. Sutherland, it was a pleasure to have worked with you.

[@user-ct8tk9nh8z]

M*A*S*H the movie was infinitely better than the preachy TV show.

[@stargate121]

Hot Lip's deterioration from confident, self-assured woman at the beginning of the movie to Duke's side piece at the end is truly depressing.

[@JoyJacques]

I love MASH but the depiction of her character is something that has not aged well.

[@danielmaher7108]

I am glad SOMEBODY mentioned that. I first saw the movie when I was 11, and even then I was offended at the film's treatment of women. Hot Lips is an uptight, priggish person,but also a very good nurse, something that even Hawkeye admits. Did she really need to be humiliated like that? That being said, the acting is really good, especially Donald Sutherland's (R.I.P.) performance as Hawkeye.

[@josephforest7605]

@@danielmaher7108 It was just a movie , I was in the military and you would have not dreamed of treating an officer ,the way Hot lips was treated . If a military person , did in real life what they did to her in the shower , they would be facing the military police , a dishounorable discharge and perhaps time in a military jail .

[@jeehoonlee5150]

Kellerman's performance always impressed me. On a more recent watch, I grasped that her story arc is tragic, how someone can be crushed by society. I think it fits into the cynical and dark observational humor of the entire movie.

[@jeehoonlee5150]

@@danielmaher7108 Compared to the TV show, I think that was part of the point. She was a fully human character, not a caricature. I like how Altman finds moments of humanity inside of odd moments in his movies. For contrast, in Gosford Park, the scene where Helen Mirren's character was trying to keep her composure in the midst of her personal tragedy while inside of a rigid social structure she was trapped in where she could not really express her feelings....it's incredibly powerful. Society can be cruel, and people can be cruel to each other in a myriad ways.

[@billmalec]

Politically conservative and I love the movie. So there...

[@lordgodkingbufu2158]

surprised it neglected to mention the cannes win

[@matchavez8530]

Yeah well it's an award given to a war movie by a country that has been conquered by literally everyone who has ever tried. Screw cannes

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@matchavez8530 What?

[@matchavez8530]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver do you want me to type it again?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@matchavez8530 You won't make sense then either.

[@matchavez8530]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver yeah it's my fault your not smart enough to understand. Anyone who replies "what?" To a written message isn't that smart

[@delavalmilker]

From a fan of both the movie and the TV series, thanks for posting this fascinating documentary!

[@jasonrusso9808]

Korea and Vietnam were very similar despite the time between 1950 & 1969. Korea WAS Nam before Nam. Against the conventionality of the 1950's, it truly was rebellious in the way the soldiers were. A bit like his brethren of WWII but different too.

[@donaldcampbell3043]

MASH is in my top 20 favorite movies, and the novel is one of my favorite books.

[@MinionofNobody]

This is one of the rare instances in which the movie is better than the book. The book is entertaining but too episodic. That episodic nature worked pretty well for the movie.

[@jamesfalato4305]

Twasn't/Tisn't about Rebellion with Authority... Tis about normal folk surviving their part in Insane War Conditions to save lives and hang onto their sanity as Best They Can...

[@thomasdawson1439]

This gives a real insitee the the genius of Altman. The irony of the Sreenplay Oscar going to the writer and Altmans explanation exposed his true intent with the film, it was all about the 'feel', so eloquent.

[@esquad5406]

Best line in the whole movie. G&d damm army.

[@thefettfan3994]

Definitely one of the top five movies of the entire twentieth century! Without any doubt whatsoever!!

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

Are you sure?

[@user-sg3xd4dj1p]

No mention of Robert Duvall as Frank Burns??????

[@bobashby3106]

I was in the Army overseas when the film came out. The Army did not allow the film to be shown in on-base theaters; clearly its jaundiced view of the military did not escape the attention of the brass. I wasn't able to see it until I returned to the U.S. One thing I have always been curious about: the dentist character who is the center of the suicide scene never appears in the TV series, and while the series used the tune of the movie's theme, the lyrics never appeared in the series either. Does anyone know the backstory of those decisions?

[@jlrva3864]

The character of Painless the Dentist was in 2 episodes of the series. Since the title of the theme song is "Suicide is Painless", no doubt CBS executives wouldn't allow the lyrics to be used in the opening credits of the TV version.

[@billwendell6886]

Do vid on Altman's booze and cocaine fueled ( with songwriter Harry Nilsson ) Popeye shoot. One of the producers of MASH film was involved with the Bat Bomb WW2 secret weapon, he wrote one of the books on it. Glue incendiary bombs to bats and turn them loose in Japanese cities. Test run burned a brand new secret training base to the ground. Because their version of Frank Burns used real bombs instead of dummy rounds. That needs to be a movie.

[@squatch545]

R.I.P. Donald Sutherland.

[@dornravlin]

Robert Altman’s , a boss

[@CasperLCat]

Sally Kellerman’s shower scene, in retrospect, wasn’t as explicit as viewers remembered. A lot of the film was that way - Altman triggered sensations in the viewer’s mind, more powerful than what was actually shown.

[@MichaelBoyce-tm2vw]

Alan Alda took over Goulds role. Loretta Swit took over Sally Kellermans role.

[@MichaelBoyce-tm2vw]

Gould went on to Getting Straight in 1970.

[@thack57]

I always thought it sad that this movie was all but forgotten after the success of the spin-off series. However if the the Altman estate does another Anniversary edition maybe a whole generation that never watched the show might be encouraged to see this exceptional ORIGINAL FILM THAT SPAWNED THE SERIES! Or maybe 'In a world of shi**y movies maybe it's time again to see a movie about a COUPLE of CUT UPS!' 😏. 🙄(Yeah, I know. There goes my career in advertising.)

[@muskerp]

same year as catch 22 so was it really such a shock to the public or the industry?

[@carljan57]

A classic of irreverence, wit and the horror of war.

[@cityman1111]

Uhhhhhhhhhh, wasn't Robert Duvall in this?

[@sonnymacklin5269]

A few here notice no mention of Duvall. But his Burns was excellent. Straight laced, square and unlikeable. Only a real actor sells that like he did. Ironically, he was only recognizable for 60's TV shows prior as The Godfather was still a couple years out from production... Things worked out for Mr Duvall...😉

[@thelonerick]

This was not about the Vietnam War it was about the Korean War

[@iainhughes8110]

MASH was set in the KOREAN war- NOT the VIETNAM war!!

[@billd01rfc]

No one, anywhere said it was set in Vietnam. Not in the video, nor in the comments. But thnx for input Capt Obvious.

[@iainhughes8110]

@@billd01rfc Listen again to the first two minutes narration, Smartarse!

[@billd01rfc]

Nothing in the first two minutes, or anywhere else, claims that this movie is wet in Vietnam. If you can post a transcript of the words that say this is set in Vietnam, good luck.

[@fazole]

Too bad this film overshadowed "Catch 22" which is even crazier in its commentary...and funny.

[@markrandle4368]

honestly I can't stand the movie, love the book, read it ever few years & tv show was stellar.

[@ericsilberstein667]

Any interviews with Richard Hooker.

[@willedelman7960]

I read a long time ago Hooker was a conservative and supported the Viet Nam War. But I haven't read anything like that since. EDIT I went to Wikipedia for a bio of the author. It does say he was a conservative. Does not mention his views on Vietnam. He did reportedly like the movie and Sutherland, but didn't care for Robert Alda's Hawkeye in the TV series. But there are no direct quotes. It is all from second hand sources, people claiming they knew him.

[@robertfratczak5753]

My wife was born on April the 18th 1969.

[@slowery43]

Wow that is totally and completely not even a little interesting in any way.... we truly couldn't care any less

[@grouchomarxist666]

The film was good, but the TV show quickly devolved into a preachy vehicle for Alan Alda to strut his sanctimony. The TV show lacked the graphic OR scenes, which made the film gritty and real. Television sucked in the 70s and 80s. The Sopranos saved the small screen in the 90s. Mad Men took it to another level a decade later.

[@davedillon1372]

What Alda did to that ensemble was a crime. He got rid of everyone else except for the ones that were new, maybe desperate or fading (Potter literally counted his paces- face away from the camera - at this piece of tape, he turned Right: L,R,L,R,L up to 'Good Ol' Hawk' stops, looks UP to his face & says "Darn You Hawkeye!!" What a surprise. Laughs for the entire family when it was down to the bottom of the barrel (& Hollywood Squares only had so many squares available: Farr, Swit, a few others but I don't mean to be cruel. Someone said 'Wayne Rodgers said he started to feel like he was there to get Alda's drinks for him'. Perfect! I respect that original movie, the original TV cast until Alda's EGO took over & everyone else was either happy to be the set-up factor - the 'Who's there, Hawk?" part of not going to be back next season if not earlier (especially once his swagger as Co-Exec Producer took over). What a shame. Little by little, joke by joke - stay tuned for the Alan Alda show! A cash cow by predictable action as folks were trained to sit, watch, absorb the stupidity & unbelievability it wound up keeping. Sad. Safe for any time of the evening. SADLY.

[@user-qm7nw7vd5s]

Never saw it. All I know is the TV version, with that canned laughter, is so awful, I cannot imagine watching the full length film…

[@jlrva3864]

The actors hated the canned laughter and repeatedly asked for it to be eliminated. By season 4, the laugh track was gone. Funny thing, I didn't notice until they mentioned it in an interview.

[@andyburk4825]

The series when shown in the UK lacked a laugh track iirc.

[@stephenreeds3632]

Looking back, MASH was a dreadful film. The frat house behaviour of the "heroes", the intolerance of anyone with different views, the attitudes towards and treatment of women, the treatment of being "cured" of homosexuality was reprehensible. Childish trash.

[@sukuntee]

Clips of the movie mash feels too harsh for me. Ive very much prefer the tvshows.

[@STho205]

It was harsh...not just the gritty gore of the OR which was out of frame on the show, but what they did to Hotlips and Frank. They broke her, marking her unfit for command and Frank was taken away to an insanity hospital, driven literally mad. The soft peddled that ending for Larry Linville being just heartbroken. I was 9 so I didn't see the movie till college. My parents would not let me see it, though I did see Patton, Tora Tora Tora and even Catch 22 (the other MASH) as a minor.

[@shawnyoung8752]

So you can't handle reality? Maybe 2000s reality shows are for you. Kardashians are classy and Trump is a genuine billionaire. U r a clown

[@slowery43]

you live in a bubble and are oblivious to what the movie was about.. no surprise sadly

[@shawnyoung8752]

@@sukuntee so reality is too much for you? Yet the Kardashians are watchable? In the TV Mash. A episode I didn't hear the bullet? Had Hawkeyes friend who was a writer get shot on Frontline. Hawkeye could save him and had Col. Blake tell him.' I am just a Dr. From Bloomington Illinois. In officer training school they taught us rule #1 was young men die in battle±!! Rule # 2 is you can't change rule #1. What do you think happened in wars from 2000 years ago? We have always figured the way to efficiency kill others. So the blood squirting out of soldiers neck is hash? In Salem Massachusetts they burned people alive cause they didn't agree ith religious leaders.

[@jimbo92107]

MASH wasn't all that great. I only saw it about eighteen times...

[@jeffsframe9927]

600 k isn’t that bad for the director

[@bradwilliams1691]

Worst movie ever!

[@danielmaher7108]

Why is it that no one mentions how incredibly sexist this movie is?

[@billd01rfc]

Because it is patently obvious . . . a story based on experiences in the Korean war in the early '50s . . . made in the late '60s . . . society was slightly different then . . . of course it was sexist

[@noomJ]

​@@billd01rfcThank You

[@slowery43]

know how I know you're a sensitive, over dramatic snowflake?