Review of M*A*S*H (1970) by Paul Z — 22 Mar 2009

MASH is, purely and simply put, a great whoopee cushion on a condemned man's electric chair of a movie. It appears to be heartless and mean-spirited, but it is quite derivative of laughter. Really, that's a testament to the film itself. The film is about medics and nurses during the Korean War who, when they're not sewing a mutilated kid's limbs back on or something to that effect, are constantly making targets for pranks and practical jokes out of nurses and authority figures and even potential patients. There is a sadness lurking behind this hilarious comedy that comes through in Robert Altman's lyrical dryness and cinematic stoicism despite what manic things happen on screen, and that sadness is derived from the fact that these ironically cruel and coldly funny doctors can only survive the tragedy of the war, the details of which they stare in the face every day even closer than the soldiers themselves on the battlefield, seeing every nook and cranny caused by every bullet, bomb, knife, grenade, and whatnot, if they betray their feelings and project completely carefree personas.

Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould are a great male comic buddy team, the likes of which I haven't really seen in awhile. I haven't watched any Abott and Costello films or Eddie Murphy cop films lately, but I used to all the time, and Gould and Sutherland reminded me of how simultaneously corny and fun a comic duo can be to watch. I simply love watching them together, as they are funny in the most basically goofy and masculinely physical way. Tom Skerrit is their third banana, just as able a comedian but with not as much screen time together as Sutherland and Gould do, as they form a terrific, very real guy-to-guy chemistry with each other that captures that very truthful ambiguity between close bonding and arm's-length buddy-ol'-pals that we all experience.

A great counterpart for them on screen is Sally Kellerman, the unamiable nurse with an affinity for the truly bad person that Robert Duvall cleverly and realistically plays. Kellerman is the constant butt of their purposely sexist and humiliating high jinks and gags, and in one scene near the middle of the film, she explodes with tearful anger to a commanding officer, hilariously and pathetically unleashing her completely unladylike, ungraceful, manneristically unattractive pure form, which is a brilliant touch.

MASH is yet another wonderful gem from the 1970s, a decade ripe with enough of the greatest and most important American films of all time to last through decades that need that compensation. And for those seeking comparison between MASH the movie and MASH the television show, I love the television show and grew up on it on account of my mother, who was once a fanatical viewer of it. I think the show is hilarious and very very sharply written, especially in the middle to later episodes. But I think the show was more like an after-school special when it came to delivering the message that MASH initially conveys, whereas MASH the film sends it in a more refined and artistic way where we pick up on it by experiencing the nature of the characters. For those looking for a comparison between MASH the film and Catch-22 the film, two war satires based on controversial novels both adapted in 1970 that went through a friendly competition for success, I will tell you sincerely that I love both of these films equally, but if you're looking for a more intense and fast-paced film, see Mike Nichols' Catch-22. MASH is wry, cold and cynical, and it works beautifully that way.