MovieChat Forums > MASH (1970) Discussion > I have trouble with this movie.

I have trouble with this movie.

posted 8 years ago by collinskocik-33106
5 replies | jump to latest

I don't want to rehash what a lot of people here have said, but like many people, I sought out this movie having fallen in love with the TV series. It quickly became obvious that the movie was very different--it didn't have the heart or sentiment or tears and emotion of the TV series. Fine. It's different. No problem. So I tried to approach it on its own terms.

The problem is, I'm not sure I "get" it. I think, in part, a person of my generation (born 1974) cannot truly appreciate, on an emotional level, what this movie communicated to a war-weary generation watching their friends blown up on prime-time TV and fearful they could be drafted at any moment. I can understand it intellectually, but not emotionally.

That said, I can appreciate that it's a brilliantly-made movie, and it's highly entertaining--though not really laugh-out-loud funny.

What bothers me is the characterization of the main characters. Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke come across, at least to me, as cruel, mean-spirited jerks. The kind of guys that made high school a living hell. The camp bullies.

In the TV series, Hawkeye can be obnoxious...but he knows when to stop. And Margaret knows how to bite back. But in the movie, they keep kicking her after she's down. I take no pleasure in the shower scene; the poor woman is horribly mistreated. And I can't shrug and say "it's a comedy," because it's all played real.

Is that how they're supposed to come across? Was their behavior more acceptable to a 1970 audience? Or am I just missing the point?

I want to like this movie--actually, I DO like the movie--I just don't think I'm quite on its wavelength.

[–] Sunny_Nelson 8 years ago

it's all played real.

That's it right there. Altman's films don't really seem to play strictly for laughs, they are often a look at human behavior, good and bad.

The TV series took the ideas from the book and film and made a more cohesive and heart-felt production, which obviously worked, yet I think there were times when the series could have learned a thing or two from the film, especially in later seasons when we get "funny tent / sad tent" episodes and actors barking their lines like they're doing a vaudeville routine instead of talking to each other.

I like both versions a lot, but I can see how the original film would seem odd to today's audience.

[–] collinskocik-33106 8 years ago

they are often a look at human behavior, good and bad.

That's a good comment. That makes sense to me. I watched the movie again yesterday and noticed there are definitely different sides to the characters; they can be quite compassionate when they want to be.

[–] Druffmaul 8 years ago

I prefer to look at it in the context of the time it was written and made. This was back in the days before we were admonished to not condemn people for being ass holes and pieces of sh it, but rather to try and understand why they're ass holes and pieces of sh it, and to think that being an ass hole piece of sh it is A-OK. Their primary targets were Frank Burns and Hot Lips, and as far as I'm concerned, they were rotten people who had it coming.

[–] WilliamCutting92 8 years ago

How about Frank Burns? I felt like he was pelted on because he prayed in the tent. Hence they kick him. Other than telling that other guy he killed a GI cause he brought the wrong needle, he really didn't do anything wrong. Guess he didn't fit in with the dirtbags.

[–] shieldsdraeger 8 years ago

MASH is very much a reflection of the time it was made. It captured the spirit of the
times, at least among the 60's counterculture. It was a time when the baby boom
generation was questioning all the institutions of their parent's society. Religion,
patriotism, racism, authority in general.

Hawkeye and Trapper John are cruel at times, but only toward authority figures. They
punch up or across(since they are officers too). Not down at enlisted persons. This
is much in the spirit of WWII comedies that made fun of officers and sided with the
grunts. They taunt Major Burns for his overt displays of faith and his "it's God's
will or somebody else's fault" attitude when he loses a patient. But they seem to
be genuinely upset when he has his mental breakdown. The Duke Forest character is a
gentle tweak at the latent racism in the south. The shower scene is cruel, but
Margaret is a gung-ho advocate of military discipline and thus a target. The attitude
toward women in general is patronizing, but this is before the rise of the woman's
movement. And this film was a reaction to the Vietnam War and the draft.

Altman did everything he could to make the audience think that this was Vietnam, not
the Korea of the novel. The studio forced him to add the crawl at the beginning
setting it in Korea(typical studio risk aversion). Altman took a principled stand
against the series. He objected to Koreans as "the enemy". "White Boots Marching
In A Yellow Land" as Phil Ochs sang. I don't have such strong objections to the
series. It was still basically "anti-war", but the characters were toned way down.
And it had too much respect for authority. But it did have heart.