An undisciplined masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (6 September 2014)

MASH is an occasionally mean spirited, but almost entirely hilarious comedy about army medical personnel whose days usually involve various degrees of bad behavior to keep sane during the Korean War. Cocktails, beer and pranks accompany most scenes and Sutherland and Gould lead a great ensemble full of wit and improv. For all of the on set drama between Sutherland and Gould butting heads with director Altman, none of that seeped into their performances, which are sharp and in perfect tune to the tone of the film. MASH is a mostly shapeless film, with some truly bizarre narrative detours that perfectly encapsulate just how unstructured, random and absurd days in this field hospital can be. Almost 45 years later and it still feels fresh, spontaneous and an undisciplined masterpiece.