Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

M*A*S*H (1970) (Patreon)

Published:
2025-07-25 12:00:17
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

The AFI list continues to surprise with its diverse range of films. Today is #54 M*A*S*H (1970)

*******spoilers below*********

I don't know what to say! This movie had me laughing and cringing simultaneously. I think that's perhaps the point. It felt like a rollercoaster. One sec you’re cackling at Hawkeye and Trapper pulling a prank, the next you’re wincing at the blood in the OR (That never got old for me). Maybe that’s Altman’s genius? He makes you feel the absurdity of war while keeping it funny. How is he able to blend it so effortlessly? I will say, even though I feel some things may have been lost on me, I had some really good laughs and loved many of the comedic beats in this. The Golf Trip to Japan sequence is wild. The same goes for the football game; those shots are so perfectly timed, it’s like a slapstick masterpiece. The timing of the shots just cracked me up.

Another bold film from Robert Altman. Dude’s got a vision... some have told me, it's a little more digestible than Nashville for sure, but he definitely has a style. Finger prints all over his movies; overlapping dialogue, zoomed-in shots, and a vibe that’s both chaotic and controlled. And he doesn't care if you are ready for it... I felt like a fish out of water for most of it! What a mind he has, though. I think he must have inspired some people who followed him, and I like how he pushes the limits. This must have been wild to see in 1970! I do love the ensemble cast, and the social commentary, whatever I got from it.

Let me know your thoughts down below!!

xx

Enjoy,

Ames

Files

M*A*S*H (1970)

Comments

Robert Berry

Fun fact, this was the first time the word "fuck" was ever used in a major motion picture... (during the football scene). 😆

Joe R

Something about this movie just wasn't working as a comedy, it looked like a lot of unrelated scenes thrown together. They added the PA announcements in editing, and it made all the difference. This movie was about the Korean war, but this came out during the height of the Vietnam war. It showed us how bloody and absurd war is.

Toc

That was a fantastic reaction, I think MASH fans will be pleased!!

RFK Fan

Yesssss! Well said Ames. It’s true. This film never ages and you never get tired of watching it no matter how many times you’ve seen it Always the sign of a classic. Too many behind the scenes stories to name them all here but there’s a great short documentary about it you have to see. https://youtu.be/jmonLUSr6V4?si=KeaqenM5KDHU3Lmj Robert Altmans 15 year old son was given the task of putting lyrics to Jonny Mandel’s music for the LAST SUPPER scene and ended up earning millions in royalties as a result. For me? This film is such a great example of a smart comedy. So many hysterical moments that go by so fast you almost don’t catch them. Col. Blake getting complimented on his coat. “Thank you! My ….er. ..It was a gift” Fr. Mulcahey’s constant battle with morality realizing he’s in a camp with horny men and women. The comedic chemistry of Sutherland and Gould every bit as good as Newman and Redford here. Seeing a handful of NFL greats in the football sequence (Ben Davidson would go on later to do Conan the Barbarian) . Glad you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Carl Evans

Good early morning movie, reaction, and analysis! The TV show was outstanding. Very funny, irreverent, clearly anti-war, and sometimes touching. The final episode drew about 106 million viewers, making it the most-watched scripted television broadcast ever in the US.

Alan Jones

I've always felt that the TV series was slightly more conventional, and a bit toned-down, vs. the film. It was its own thing, like someone else's approach to the same source material. What made the series stand out was, after a season or so of silly, farcical, slapsticky humor, they decided to let the war in, and began to mix dark drama into the comedy. The usual turning point is an episode called "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet," in which the tragedy of war suddenly becomes personal, and you're left with a non-comic ending that took the series in a new direction. From then on, any tone was possible. Not every episode was a winner, but the batting average was high, and M*A*S*H became one of the most-watched TV series in history. Incidentally, the stars embedded within the title were not intended for the actual name of the movie, The offical title of the flim was MASH, same as the Richard Hooker novel on which it was based. But whover designed the poster art inserted asterisks as a design element, and that became mistaken fot the style of the title. By the time it reached the TV series, the stars were officiallly in, and whereas the film's title was MASH, the TV series title was M*A*S*H.

Greg In East TN

This is a great movie, as you have seen. I'm glad you liked it. It was really a Viet Nam protest movie, but it would have been in bad taste and considered "unpatriotic" to protest the war that is happening at that time, so they did the Korean war. You owe it to yourself to watch at least one episode of the TV series. It was really good. The last episode is the most-watched show ever (at least it was for a long time). When he held up a piece of toast as a "shingle," it was toast with chipped beef gravy, known in the army as sh*t on a shingle (yeah, I ate it all the time while I was in the army. it was really good). It's funny to us in the US that Canadians say "What a gong show!" I've heard it used on several Canadian TV shows that I've watched. There was actually a Gong Show game show on US TV back in the day. It was a Chuck Barris production. He also is the one that brought us the iconic Dating Game and the Newlywed Show. He was really a comical genius. When they were talking to the MPs in the Colonel's office, it was a great rendition of a noir film. I'm going to remind you again about Kelly's Heroes. It stars Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland. It rarely wins polls, but you need to watch it anyway. It is a war movie but has dramatic moments but is considered a comedy. It has an all star cast and I think you'd really like it. During the suicide scene, you mentioned the Lord's Supper. I'll remind you again of Mel Brooks' History Of The World. You owe it to yourself to watch it. There's a great Lord's Supper scene. If you keep going through the Star Trek series, you'll recognize the priest eventually.

Clay F

I enjoyed this rewatch. Loretta Swit, who played Hot Lips (Major Margaret Houlihan) in the TV series died 2 months ago at age 87.

Cliff Adams

Personal observations... when this was released, I was in my first year in the Air Force. Every base had at least one movie theater (at the time, it cost a quarter to see a film). The service which provided movies to Army and Air Force bases would not show this film for more than a year after it was released. (Too close to commentary on the Vietnam war... that's why there's the crawl about Korea at the beginning.) Both Sutherland and Gould tried to get Altman fired as director, they did not like his style. During the football game, beyond Fred Williamson (Spearchucker), who played with the Raiders and the Chiefs, many of the ringers on the opposing team were pro football players... #88 was Ben Davidson of the Raiders, another was Johnny Unitas of the Colts, Tim Brown of the Eagles, Fran Tarkenton of the Vikings, Jack Concannon, Tom Woodenshick, Joe, Kapp, and Noland Smith... Bud Cort's first film... the great Bobby Troup (who wrote the song Route 66) as the jeep driver who repeated God damn Army... and many performers who would work with Altman more than once like Rene Auberjonois, John Schuck, Michael Murphy, and others BTW, Mike Altman was the 14 year old son of the director, and he has made more money than any other single person from this film. His dad wanted him to write the stupidest lyrics to a song... and between the film and the TV series, he's made millions.

SteveW

Though I have watched the entire TV series twice, I feel like the first five seasons are really the best, and keep the feel of the movie better. From season six onward, the show just got too dramatic for my taste. That said, your reaction has me looking forward to watching the first five seasons of M*A*S*H* again. :)

Kinokind

Ames, you understood the film exactly, when you said: "What's the fucking point? What is the point?" The film is about the madness of war and ordinary people trying desperately to remain sane within it. What would you do if there was a virtual conveyor bring maimed and dying boys to you every day, and it was your job to try to save them? Despite Hooker's book being about Korea, this film was made during Vietnam, and relied on the preface to claim that it was about Korea (a move that was made to mollify the studio). Except for the set decoration, this could be about any modern war. I was a kid, but I remember Vietnam. It was a different world then. Your neighbor's son had been drafted, and everyone was praying he'd come back. Some didn't, and those who did were often never the same. The newspapers had casualty reports every day and pictures of bodies on the front page. They didn't worry about offending people then. Perhaps that's why the protests grew so large. In the film, Great pains were taken to make the operating room scenes as accurate as possible, and there are reminders that death is imminent throughout. This is the first time I ever notice that during their last poker game, in the background we see a jeep passing with a sheet-wrapped body in the back. That's why their behavior is excusable. Necessary, even. Because without it, they'd all crack. I remember seeing this on a rerelease in the theater. The main thing I'll never forget is my friend, Dave, grabbing my arm, pointing at the screen, and saying "Look!" at Altman's version of the Last Supper. And that's when I thought, "this guy's a genius". (also, Nashville). Finally, some years ago my sister was studying at the University of Michigan, and I went up to visit her in her swanky girl's dorm. It was actually a beautiful old building designed, presumably, for the future brides of law students, with oak panelling and chandeliers. You had to check in at the reception desk, which was usually no problem, but on this day there was slight chaos. The area was busy, with people milling about and various C-stands, road cases, lights and the trappings of film production. And Robert Altman. He was a visiting scholar teaching a master class in film production, and they were using one of the paneled rooms as Richard Nixon's office for the student film. This was after MASH and Nashville, so he was, by this time, THE Robert Altman and I recognized him - not ten feet from me. There is no punchline to this story, and I've never seen the Nixon film, but I'll never forget seeing Altman there.

Michael T

M*A*S*H is irreverent, insensitive, subversive, certainly NOT politically correct — and it's also hilarious.

Greg In East TN

I've seen D. Sutherland in a lot of movies (You really should check Kelly's Heroes with Clint Eastwood and other A-listers of the time). D. Sutherland really makes that movie hilarious (with some drama parts). MASH is the only movie I've seen him that he sounded Canadian. He usually has NO accent. But when he was talking to the Korean Doctor in Seoul, he said "So I guess he's unfit for duty, eh?" He said "eh?" several times.