M*A*S*H is a 1970 American satirical black comedy war film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner Jr., based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The film depicts a unit of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. It stars Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, and Elliott Gould, with Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, René Auberjonois, Gary Burghoff, Roger Bowen, Michael Murphy, and in his film debut, professional football player Fred Williamson. Although the Korean War is the film's storyline setting, the subtext is the Vietnam War – a current event at the time the film was made. After having a panel screen the film, the Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service initially banned M*A*S*H from being shown at Army and Air Force base theaters because it "reflected unfavorably" on the armed services. M*A*S*H became one of the biggest films of the early 1970s for 20th Century Fox. It won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, later named the Palme d'Or, at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1996, M*A*S*H was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Academy Film Archive preserved M*A*S*H in 2000. The film inspired the television series of the same name, which ran from 1972 to 1983 on CBS. Gary Burghoff, who played Radar O'Reilly, was the only actor playing a major character who appeared in both the film and the television series. Altman despised the TV series, calling it "the antithesis of what we were trying to do" with the film.
Plot In 1951, the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in South Korea is assigned two new surgeons, "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Duke" Forrest, who arrive in a stolen Jeep. They are insubordinate, womanizing, mischievous rule-breakers, but they prove to be excellent combat surgeons. Other characters include the bungling commanding officer Henry Blake, his hyper-competent chief clerk Radar O'Reilly, dentist Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski, the pompous and incompetent surgeon Frank Burns, and the contemplative Chaplain Father Mulcahy. Irritated by Frank's religious fervor, Hawkeye and Duke get Blake to move him to another tent so newly arrived chest surgeon Trapper John McIntyre can move in. The three draftee doctors (the "Swampmen", after the nickname for their tent) have little respect for military protocol, and pass time with pranks and heavy drinking. Frank, a straitlaced by-the-book military officer, bonds with Margaret Houlihan, the 4077th's head nurse and they develop a love affair. Radar and the Swampmen sneak a microphone into her tent and broadcast the pair's sexual encounter over the public address system, earning Houlihan the nickname "Hot Lips". The next morning, Hawkeye goads Frank into assaulting him, and Burns is removed for psychiatric evaluation. Later, when Houlihan is showering, the Swampmen pull the tent sides off and expose her, in order to settle a bet over whether she is a natural blonde. Houlihan confronts Blake for his weak leadership and threatens to resign her commission; Blake bluntly tells her she can do so. Painless, described as "best-equipped dentist in the Army" and "the dental Don Juan of Detroit", fears an incident of impotence has turned him homosexual and he announces his intent to commit suicide. The Swampmen agree to help, stage a feast to evoke Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, arrange for Father Mulcahy to give absolution and communion, and provide him with a "black capsule" (actually a sleeping pill) to speed him on his way. Hawkeye persuades the gorgeous Lieutenant "Dish" Schneider – who has remained faithful to her husband and is being transferred back to the United States for discharge – to spend the night with Painless and allay his concern about his "latent homosexuality". The next morning, Painless is his usual cheerful self, and a smiling Dish departs for home in a helicopter. Hawkeye and Trapper are ordered to Japan to operate on a Congressman's son, which they exploit as an opportunity to play golf. When they also perform an unauthorized operation on a local infant, they face disciplinary action from the hospital commander for misusing Army resources. Trapper uses anesthetic gas to sedate the commander. Using staged photographs of him as he awakens in bed with a prostitute, they blackmail him into keeping his mouth shut. Blake and General Hammond organize a football game between the 4077th and the 325th Evac Hospital and heavily wager on the outcome. At Hawkeye's suggestion, Blake applies to have a specific neurosurgeon – Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones, a former professional football player for the San Francisco 49ers – transferred to the 4077th as a ringer. Hawkeye also suggests Blake bet half his money up front and keep Jones out of the first half of the game. The 325th scores repeatedly and easily, even after the 4077th drugs one of their star players to incapacitate him. Hammond confidently offers high odds, against which Blake bets the rest of his money. Jones enters the second half, which quickly devolves into a free-for-all, and the 4077th gets the 325th's second ringer thrown out of the game and wins with a final trick play. Not long after the football game, Hawkeye and Duke get their discharge orders and begin their journey home – taking the same stolen Jeep in which they arrived.
Cast
Production
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