M*A*S*H (1970) Directed by Robert Altman Screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., Based on the novel by Richard Hooker Produced by Ingo Preminger Music Composed by Johnny Mandel Cinematography by Harold E. Stine Edited by Danford B. Greene Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall [116 min] [USA] The personnel at the 4077 MASH unit deal with the horrors of the Korean War and the stresses faced in surgery by whatever means. The tone at the MASH is established by recent arrivals, surgeons Captains Hawkeye Pierce, Duke Forrest, and Trapper John McIntyre - the latter who Hawkeye knows hes met somewhere, but Trapper who wont divulge where - whose antics can be best described as non-regulation, and in the negative words of one of their fellow MASH-ers: unmilitary. The units commanding officer, Colonel Henry Blake, doesnt care about this behavior as long as it doesnt affect him, and as long as they do their job and do it well, which they do. Their behavior does extremely bother fellow surgeon, Major Frank Burns, and recently arrived head nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan, who obtains the nickname Hot Lips based on information they glean about her through underhanded means. Beyond their battles with Frank and Hot Lips, Hawkeye, Duke and/or Trapper help unit dentist Painless with a personal crisis, try to figure out if Hot Lips is a true blond, travel to Japan for a work and what they hope is a recreational trip, and hope to win big on a football bet against another unit in which they on the surface are the underdogs. rogerebert/reviews/mash-1970 Followed by M*A*S*H (1972) (TV Series)
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 17:11:08 +0000