M*A*S*H (1970)

Synopsis
Although he was not the first choice to direct it, the hit black comedy MASH established Robert Altman as one of the leading figures of Hollywood's 1970s generation of innovative and irreverent young filmmakers. Scripted by Hollywood veteran Ring Lardner, Jr., this war comedy details the exploits of military doctors and nurses at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. Between exceptionally gory hospital shifts and countless rounds of martinis, wisecracking surgeons Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould) make it their business to undercut the smug, moralistic pretensions of Bible-thumper Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Army true-believer Maj. "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). Abetted by such other hedonists as Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt) and Painless Pole (John Schuck), as well as such (relative) innocents as Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff), Hawkeye and Trapper John drive Burns and Houlihan crazy while engaging in such additional blasphemies as taking a medical trip to Japan to play golf, staging a mock Last Supper to cure Painless's momentary erectile dysfunction, and using any means necessary to win an inter-MASH football game. MASH creates a casual, chaotic atmosphere emphasizing the constant noise and activity of a surgical unit near battle lines; it marked the beginning of Altman's sustained formal experiments with widescreen photography, zoom lenses, and overlapping sound and dialogue, further enhancing the atmosphere with the improvisational ensemble acting for which Altman's films quickly became known. Although the on-screen war was not Vietnam, MASH's satiric target was obvious in 1970, and Vietnam War-weary and counter-culturally hip audiences responded to Altman's nose-thumbing attitude towards all kinds of authority and embraced the film's frankly tasteless yet evocative humor and its anti-war, anti-Establishment, anti-religion stance. MASH became the third most popular film of 1970 after Love Story and Airport, and it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. As further evidence of the changes in Hollywood's politics, blacklist survivor Lardner won the Oscar for his screenplay. MASH began Altman's systematic 1970s effort to revise classic Hollywood genres in light of contemporary American values, and it gave him the financial clout to make even more experimental and critical films like McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), California Split (1974), and Nashville (1975). It also inspired the long-running TV series starring Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Burghoff as Radar. With its formal and attitudinal impudence, and its great popularity,

Cast

David Arkin	Sgt. major Vollmer
Indus Arthur	Lt. Leslie
Kim Atwood	Ho-Jon
Roger Bowen	Col. Henry Blake
Gary Burghoff	Radar O'Reilly
Dawne Damon	Capt. Scorch
Corey John Fischer	Capt. Bandini
Elliott Gould	Trapper John
Tamara Horrocks	Captain "Knocko" McCarthy
Sally Kellerman	Maj. Hot Lips
Jo Ann Pflug	Lt. Dish
John Schuck	Painless Pole
Tom Skerritt	Duke
Donald Sutherland	Hawkeye
Robert Duvall	Maj. Frank Burns
Carl Gottlieb	Ugly John
Michael Murphy	Me lay
Fred Williamson	Spearchucker
G. Wood	Gen. Hammond

Production Crew

Arthur Lonergan	Art Director
Jack Martin Smith	Art Director
Leon Ericksen	Associate Producer
Richard Hooker	Book Author
W.C. Heinz	Book Author
Harold E. Stine	Cinematographer
Johnny Mandel	Composer (Music Score)
Robert Altman	Director
Danford B. Greene	Editor
Dan Striepeke	Makeup
Herbert Spencer	Musical Direction/Supervision
Ingo Preminger	Producer
Jack Martin Smith	Production Designer
Ring Lardner, Jr.	Screenwriter
Stuart A. Reiss	Set Designer
Walter Scott	Set Designer
Michael Altman	Songwriter
Bernard Freericks	Sound/Sound Designer
Art Cruickshank	Special Effects
L.B. Abbott	Special Effects