M*A*S*H (1970), dir. Robert Altman

The main characters are jerks, but Altman’s otherwise crazy-good comedy, which is about Vietnam without ever referencing it directly, stands up better if considered for the sum of its parts. Here is a movie that reflects a particular view on war; specifically, a war many of its participants don’t feel like taking part in. Under those circumstances, Altman and Ring Lardner, Jr., the screenwriter, seem to argue that mixing the willing and unwilling together only leads to conflict and chaos.

“M*A*S*H” centers around the doctors and nurses of the 4077 in Korea, which is stationed near the front and sees heavy casualties. The movie opens with the arrival of two new surgeons: Capt. Benjamin Pierce (Donald Sutherland), who goes by the nickname “Hawkeye,” and Capt. Forrest (Tom Skerritt). Although exceptional in the operating room, they don’t exactly behave like military professionals, but this is tolerated by their commanding officer Colonel Blake (Roger Bowen).

Soon Hawkeye and Forrest are joined by even more of a wild card: Dr. “Trapper John” McIntyre (Elliott Gould), who actually carries his own jar of olives on the outside chance he’ll be offered a dry martini. Together, they launch a reign of frat-boy-style terror intended to defy the restrictions of the army, or at the very least, help distract them from their present circumstances; namely, the parade of wounded they frequently operate on under less-than-ideal conditions.

The pranks threaten to go overboard at times, but the entire movie resembles an anarchic free-for-all. Characters are veritable cartoons (Does Hawkeye ever take off his hat, and how often do we see him or Trapper John without a drink in their hands?), and there’s more off-beat, wacky touches than can be kept track of. Col. Blake, for example, is practically a one-man comedy highlight reel, but the most irreverent sequence in the film involves a suicidal dentist and a visual reference to the Last Supper.

And let’s not forget the use of Johnny Mandel’s “Suicide is Painless” over the opening credits, during which a gurney containing a wounded soldier is accidentally dropped. It may seem in poor taste, but when there’s a song in the background stating that killing the self is preferable to going off to war, one gets the feeling the accompanying visuals are meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

Meanwhile, characters who are the butts of jokes almost always deserve it. That is certainly true for Major Frank Burns (Robert Duvall), a moral hypocrite and bully. The treatment of chief nurse “Hot Lips” O’Houlihan (Sally Kellerman), on the other hand, borders on cruelty – it’s not like she can just transfer to another post in the war, can she? But the character herself is a commissioned officer, and represents everything Hawkeye, McIntyre, and other draftees neither want nor need. For her, the strict disciplinarian is the ideal, and she threatens everybody’s fun with an official complaint regarding Col. Blake’s lack of leadership.

Altman and Lardner, however, make the argument that the moment General MacArthur dropped off American soldiers in Korea prior to retiring, the military had no head. In the case of the 4077, Cpl. “Radar” O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff) appears to be the man in charge, usually one step ahead of Col. Blake, who knows more about football than military leadership. But other authority figures fare no better, the most offensive being the misogynist C.O. of an army unit who challenges the 4077 to a pigskin match, whose leadership style is best described as belittling everyone around him.

Yes, there is a climactic football game, but that implies “M*A*S*H” actually builds to something, when really it’s relatively episodic. Indeed, the progress of time isn’t kept track of by obvious means, and although documentary-like sequences in the operating room ensure we never forget the specter of war, on the whole, there is no discernible “Raising of the stakes” one finds in a typical screenplay.

Quite the opposite happens, in fact; the beginning and middle are concerned with the physical and mental health of American soldiers and foreign civilians, but by the end, the 4077 somehow finds itself competing on a football field for a pot of money. For a while, the movie seems to be an entirely different film set somewhere in the mid-west, as opposed to the Korean theater where our armed forces are supposed to be defending the American way of life. But it befits the rest of the movie’s wackiness, and what’s more American than football and gambling?

Overall rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)