M.A.S.H. the TV Series ... Great! M.A.S.H. the Movie ... humph!

Rating: 4/10 (21 May 2008)

The story (or at least the little vignettes of it) were simple, the characters could have been multi-dimensional (yet simple), and the environment could have added to that overwhelming need for comedy, but instead Altman did nothing to connect these simple ideas. Perhaps it was pioneering to see surgeons during the Korean War at work, but it added nothing to the overall film  no comedy, no insight, no charm  just a way to prove to the viewers that these men were actually men of medicine. "M.A.S.H." had all the inner-workings of a great comedy, the scene was set, and the overhead announce had his funny lines, but, sadly, this film never quite found its stride. From the actors to the continuity to the muddled themes, "M.A.S.H." was genuine for its time, but watching it now, in 2008, it feels dated and overwhelmingly tiresome.
What a treat it was to see the groundlings of such great actors like Donald Sutherland, Eliot Gould, Robert Duvall, and even Tom Skerritt. To see these infamous character actors in their youthful prime is worth one star already, but that may be it. We cannot fault Altman for not giving these characters souls, because they did. Hawkeye had his whistle and martini, Gould had his brutal honesty, and well, Frank had his religion and his "Hot Lips", but alas, our guys never took them further. These characters were strong in their individual moments, such as when Hawkeye is borrowing the Jeep at the beginning of the film, but, like the others, he suddenly falls flat and uncharismatic throughout the rest of the film. Duvall's Frank was another character that could have been a staple through the rest of the film, but again, just jumped without reason and walked off the screen. While we were not hoping for other war films just to be reinvented, we were hoping for some form of structure with our characters that would allow us to see their growth, see their souls, and give us a reason to follow them into the operating room or, oddly, onto the football field. They had jokes that would make us laugh, words that would inspire, and goofiness that would only befit Altman, but there was something desperately lacking with our guy near the front line. Sutherland was fun, but as I watched, he was Donald Sutherland in a G.I. outfit. It was Duvall pre-"The Apostle". It was Tom Skerritt being, well, Tom Skerritt. This was the ultimate shortfall for this cast. They could not shake their own personalities  their own selves for these roles. Concluding with this feeble football game that came from nowhere (supposedly fitting in with the tangents of war), that gave us no emotional throwback for these characters  we were left with shells of what could have been.
Not knowing the original "theme song" to this film, the "suicide" song set the wrong tone for the beginning of this film. Sure, the morbid nature seemed to fit with what was happening in the operating room, but during the off chance that we knew what was happening in there, it just didn't seem to fit. Then, when the dentist has his moment of sanity, we are returned to that same song. It felt like one big cliché that Altman didn't want to acknowledge. While the television music could not be shaken from my mind, this little ditty needed to be erased completely. Aside from the song, mentioned before, there was just no story to this Korean caper. "M.A.S.H." would have been a stronger outing as smaller stories within one connecting story instead of trying to just keep it all continuous. At one moment we are listening to Hot Lips and Frank, in another we are fighting for a Korean boy to not join his national army, and then to wrap it up, we are playing in a cliché football match-up with an outcome everyone expected. It felt like Altman had the ideas; he just didn't know how to connect them all cohesively. The thought probably being that he could connect them through the surgery room banter was not worth the printed reel, while the guy doing the announcements at camp was not a close enough second place. I wanted to like the quirkiness of the characters; I wanted to see the juxtaposition of the tragedy of the war, with the comedy of the doctors. I wanted to see Sutherland use humor to alleviate the blood of war  alas  this never happened. I chuckled once during the big Hot Lips shower scene, and that was it. There was a level of brevity with Altman's war-torn camp, but at times it felt more along the lines of apathy. Nobody cared, nobody had heart, nobody showed emotion except for Frank, and he was less than a secondary character.
Overall, I cannot say that I was impressed with the praise that Altman has received for this film. "M.A.S.H." may have been a pioneering film for the time, but over the years it has become more and more chaotic, and less meaningful. Altman's control over his characters and story is non-existent, as he just added short story over non-connective short story in hopes to make at least a two-hour long feature film. Add in Sutherland's semi-annoying whistle, and we have monumental film that seemed avante-guard for the time, but now just feel misleading. Remember, this was pre-"M.A.S.H." the television show, which was a defined comedy/drama show. Looking back at the film, it did work in simple 30 minute segments, so perhaps Altman was thinking television while he made this  that would make stronger sense for the continuity issue. Either way, "M.A.S.H.", with the cast and director had bigger hopes in my eyes, but was let down in the long run. Time has nearly corrupted this film, and even with our current war standings  it just doesn't relate.
Grade: ** out of *****