Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Robert Duvall, Sally Kellerman, Tom Skerritt
Viewed: On TV
Most would be familiar with the long-running and very successful TV series, MASH, and its famous theme, "Suicide is Painless". Well, that MASH was a spin-off of Robert Altman's MASH, and the show borrowed its characters, setting and musical theme from the film. The movie MASH was gorier, more sexually explicit and the themes were heavier, but its zany spirit was much the same.
MASH, like the TV show, covers the various escapades of the men and women working in a MASH unit during the Korean War. Largely the focus is on Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce (Donald Sutherland) although, as in all Altman films, there is a strong ensemble cast to go with him. A war hospital is obviously an odd choice of backdrop for a comedy and but the gory surgical procedures shown just seem to make the silliness funnier. Most of the humour comes from the general unprofessionalism with which the unit is run and the don't-give-a-damn attitude of Hawkeye and his friend McIntyre (Elliott Gould). There are occasional moments of seriousness (they are surrounded by the dead and dying, after all) but MASH is largely determined to defy our expectations of wartime movies.
MASH does play like a sitcom thanks to its episodic format, semi-seriousness and wacky characters, hence the easy transition of the premise to television. Robert Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue is well-suited to comedy and his trademark tracking shots help convey the chaos of the unit. However, the casual misogyny of some of the characters makes the attempts at humour uncomfortable at times, or just plain unfunny. The occasional attacks on self-righteous religious fanatics seems justified enough, but the attacks on feminism (and hints of homophobia) made Hawkeye and co a little harder to admire.
MASH does seem to go on for a little too long, but it doesn't let up its black sense of humour. It's got some things to say about war and authority, too, lending the slight plot greater weight. Definitely would have had a bigger punch back in the 70s, but still well made, and mostly funny.
Rating: 7
Verdict: MASH is somewhat dated, but its still pretty funny and maybe a little bit shocking.
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