The album cover of M*A*S*H Original Soundtrack Recording proudly announces, “One of America’s funniest bloody films—also one of its bloodiest funny films” (Time magazine).
Nowadays Robert Altman’s 1970 black comedy is perhaps most famous for being the inspiration for one of television’s finest and most beloved series, yet the film itself was well received at the time, its style becoming an Altman hallmark. Perhaps it depends on your starting point. Like many coming from the TV show to the film, I found M*A*S*H (the movie) disconcerting and less enjoyable than I’d hoped, though seeing Gary Burghoff’s Radar in the original was a delight.
The film makes good use of its ensemble cast—Robert Duvall, Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland amongst them—but for those who don’t know gridiron from a waffle iron, the long final American football sequence is rather trying. (Rugby pun intended, cue groans). Elsewhere the inherent sexism/misogyny of the times sometimes makes for uncomfortable viewing, particularly the storyline about Hawkeye and his sidekick helping a character put his fears of ‘latent homosexuality’ to rest by manipulating a married (and hitherto faithful) nurse to sleep with him.
Musically, the excellent Johnny Mandel theme (“Suicide is Painless”) is a highlight. Elsewhere, much of the incidental music comes courtesy of a re-imagined Radio Tokyo, though this is interspersed with substantial chunks of film dialogue. While making sense to those who know the movie, these extended excerpts don’t hold up well to repeated listens and ultimately make this particular soundtrack more of a curio than a candidate for repeated listens.
A few bonus factoids.
- Robert Altman has claimed that M*A*S*H was “the first major studio film” to use the word fuck in its screenplay.
- The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 1970.
- The Academy award for Best Screenplay—Based on Material from Another Medium (in this case the Richard Hooker novel M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors was won by Ring Lardner for M*A*S*H.
Now, as the closing credits roll, it’s over to you. Which version gets your vote: 1970 Film or the TV series?
Did you scour these ‘inserts’ to count how many of the albums you owned? Come on, own up.
vinylconnection.com.au 
Some interesting observations on how the film in particular has aged. I find the same with the TV series but think over exposure contributes too. I wonder how they sit wth those watching for the first time.
A timely write up because I sense that what is perceived to be funny is changing fast.
Or perhaps it is me just hoping to see the back of ugly homophobia, misogyny and racism.
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In Beechworth for a couple of days (on the way back from Canberra) I visited their rather good ‘community book shop’. Could easily have come away with more than I did, one ‘pass’ a 1935 British publication entitled ‘Great Humorous Stories’ (or similar). I was very tempted, sharing an interest in how humour has changed over ninety odd years. But shelf space being at a premium (in the book sections, at least) I returned it to the shelves.
Re M*A*S*H, my observation is that the earlier series have aged less well, being more incident than character driven. But then, I haven’t made my way terribly far through the gigantic boxed DVD set.
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I love Robert Altman but MASH isnt one of my favorites. It’s a really interesting and unusual movie, and I liked all the actors and stuff, but it’s just not one of the ones I think about when I think of Robert Altman. But the part of your post that really excites me is the album inserts. This is because they are so familiar to me because of my parents’ record collection, a lot of which had this Cleaver
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Continued… I fucked that up. A lot of the albums in our house had that paper sleeve or else the one that came with Columbia Records and I remember them so vividly cuz I used to read them all the time. They were usually all torn up and ripped and sometimes my parents Scotch taped them up. But to answer your question. We had about six or seven of the ones showed in the picture. And they are Chicago X, Janis Joplin Greatest Hits, Parsley Sage, Barbara Joan Streisand, Santana, Tapestry,and Piano Man.
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Good score. I think I only had three. Tapestry, Chicago and the Santana debut.
I think I might need to do a post on those inner sleeves, eh?
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Remember those Columbia Records sleeves that were made to look like a newspaper? And it looked like all different news articles, but they were really about somebody’s new album and stuff. I used to read those all the time when I was a kid.
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Yeah, they were great.
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On that insert it says that the Nce Price records were $6.99, but when I started buying albums some time in the 80s, Nice Price were $4.99. I still have my copy of Notorious Byrd Brothers with the orange Nice Price sticker still on it. And it’s $4.99
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A major part of that discrepancy would be the difference in currency values, $US versus $AU. The LP above was a 1973 Australian re-issue.
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Oh. That would explain it then.
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It’s been decades since I saw the film. Like maybe when VCRs first came out in the 1980s. I’m a little scared to watch the film OR the show. I worry that all the aged (and offensive) humor will erase fond memories. Interesting Australian POV about the football scene. Until my daughter started playing rugby 6 years ago, I would never have gotten your pun. Americans are as oblivious to rugby as you are to american football.
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Sure. Sport is a great connector but also sometimes unknown and strange territory. 😅
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I have never made it through a he movie but can only assume it would cause some cringing in the household, the series was much loved by me and my dad so I will not return it for fear of changing those memories
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I share that fondness for the series, Neil. I believe the later seasons hold up better.
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While I recognized the name Robert Altman right away, once I started looking at his filmography on Wikipedia, I realized that except for “Nashville,” none of his pictures sounded familiar. Part of the issue could be different film titles in German. While living in Germany, I watched many more movies (including American movies) than I do nowadays, so it’s quite possible it watched one of Altman’s movies.
It’s similar with M*A*S*H. I definitely know the title but don’t recall either watching the movie or the TV series. As I’m writing this comment, I’m listening to the soundtrack. I agree it’s a bit odd the album includes all these dialogues from the film. Maybe true fans of the picture will enjoy it.
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Altman’s adaptation of a selection of Raymond Carver stories is worth seeing. It’s called ‘Short Cuts’.
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I love this movie…love it. I’m a fan of Altman as well…I thought Nashville and The Long Goodbye was good also off the top of my head. The movie was much darker than the tv series but I do like both.
As for your question…the movie version.
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Cheers Max!
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I came to the movie after the series and much prefer the latter. I agree with the comments re: language/tone/attitudes toward women not holding up well. The final episode of M*A*S*H the series aired when I was a senior in college (1983) and was – and perhaps still is – the most watched television show, other than a sporting event like the Super Bowl, in history. My favorite Altman film is Short Cuts, from 1993 (which has some great stuff on its soundtrack).
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Altman did really well adapting Raymond Carver’s stories into Short Cuts, didn’t he?
Yes, I’d read that about ‘Goodbye Farewell Amen’. What an emotional ride that was/is!
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He did, indeed. I loved how he wove them together….brought characters from several stories into the same world.
Just last night I watched a movie written and directed by Alan Alda (“The Four Seasons”; good, not great). He’s such an appealing performer; his Hawkeye Pierce was a highlight of the series.
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For sure. Hawkeye became the main character, which is why his crisis in G,F,A was so powerful, don’t you think?
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I loved the movie. Never watched the tv show.
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Well, that surprises… even shocks… me. Sorry, CB, the bromance is off.
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My tv only got one channel (small town) that aired the Aunty Jack Show continually. Give me a break.
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You got ‘The Aunty Jack Show’. That’s instant re-instatement. Otherwise She’d be round at my place to rip my bloody arms off.
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I knew that would get me reinstated. That was worth a chuckle.
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I’ve seen a few episodes of the TV series and the movie and preferred the series, mostly because Alda could sometimes channel a few touches of Groucho-like humor. I think the only Elliott Gould movie I’ve ever liked was “The Long Goodbye,” he was also in a spy spoof with Donald Sutherland and I kind of hated it, that may have prejudiced me against MASH.
I know Loudon Wainwright III appeared on the show a few times, maybe that’s why I thought he wrote the theme song.
Kind off-topic, but in high school I ran across a copy of “MASH goes to Maine,” a sequel where the doctors reunited after the war, and remember it being really well-written and fun,
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Yeah, there was more than a dash (moustdache?) of Groucho in the Hawkeye DNA.
A sequel? Fascinating. Possibly unknown beyond the East Coast of the USA?
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