Film Notes
     "It's set during the Korean War, in a mobile army surgical hospital. But no one seeing M*A*S*H in 1970 confused the film for anything but a caustic comment on the Vietnam War; this is one of the counterculture movies that exploded into the mainstream at the end of the '60s. Director Robert Altman had labored for years in television and sporadic feature work when this smash-hit comedy made his name (and allowed him to create an astonishing string of offbeat pictures, culminating in the masterpiece Nashville). Altman's style of cruel humor, overlapping dialogue, and densely textured visuals brought the material to life in an all-new kind of war movie (or, more precisely, antiwar movie). Audiences had never seen anything like it: vaudeville routines played against spurting blood, fueled with open ridicule of authority. The cast is led by Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, as the outrageous surgeons Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre, with Robert Duvall as the uptight Major Burns and Sally Kellerman in an Oscar-nominated role as nurse "Hot Lips" Houlihan. The film's huge success spawned the long-running TV series, a considerably softer take on the material; of the film's cast, only Gary Burghoff repeated his role on the small screen, as the slightly clairvoyant Radar O'Reilly." (Robert Horton, Amazon.com)
     Film was based on a series of novels by the pseudonymous "Dr. Richard Hooker," a real doctor whose tour of duty in Korea served as the basis for the books. Television spin-off was a critical and commercial success for 11 seasons on CBS while becoming a favorite in syndication. The series was even farther removed from the original source material than the movie was. Although initially something of a black comedy and an ensemble piece similar to the film, M*A*S*H would eventually become a gentler, more socially conscious and humanistic show revolving around lead Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce while performing directing and writing duties as well. Wayne Rogers played Trapper John for three seasons before leaving due to difficulties in contract negotiations and his general unhappiness with the direction of the show. Rogers had initially agreed to the series with the understanding that he would co-star with Alda and felt that he had essentially become no more than Alda's sidekick. Gary Burghoff reprised his role as Radar O'Reilly, the only actor from the movie to do so. Other characters taken from the film were Lt. Col. Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson), Maj. Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit), Maj. Frank Burns (Larry Linville), and Father John Mulcahy (William Christopher. The series final episode "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen," in which Hawkeye finally had a nervous breakdown and the Korean War ended, was seen by the largest audience ever for a single television program. Just as Hooker's novel produced several stateside sequels, M*A*S*H produced the sequel After M*A*S*H, starring several of the series' regulars for a cople of uneventful seasons. Episodes of M*A*S*H, including the finale, are available on videocassette. Dr. David Sachs served as the film's medical advisor. Color by DeLuxe; shot in a widescreen process. Released in USA February 1970. Reviewed in the Monthly Film Bulletin July 1970. Originally rated R by the MPAA, with a running time of 116 minutes; re-released in 1973 with an MPAA PG rating (running time: 112 minutes), and new title music by Ahmad Jamal.