Mash (1970) ***1/2

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2005)

Though I never gave the TV show enough of a chance (too young to appreciate it at that time I suppose), I quite enjoyed the movie. A funny black comedy with well-defined characters and well-chosen actors to play them. I thought I'd never relate to anyone other than Alan Alda to embody the witty persona of Hawkeye Pierce, but a young Donald Sutherland fit the bill to a tee. Likewise for Robert DuVall as the morally preachy Frank Burns who turns hypocrite when lusting after the equally stuffy 'Hot Lips' Houlihan (a role played to perfection by Sally Kellerman). This was also the first time I recall enjoying Elliott Gould in anything.
MASH succeeds as an unconventional twist on the Korean War by concentrating on the insubordinate antics of the men and women caught up in its horrors as workers at a U.S. Medical Unit. While it's effective enough as the dark comedy it is, I think it might have benefited even more by contrasting the quirky humor with occasional sharp doses of biting reality and real-life tragedy. If director Robert Altman tried to do that via the bloody surgical sequences, it doesn't come off quite as strong today. The somber title theme, "Suicide is Painless" is a tune that will stick in your mind even after the movie ends.