History Film / Mash

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In the midst of the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar, the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, commanded by Lt. Col. Henry Blake (Roger Bowen), is tasked with patching up the wounded. Two fresh draftee surgeons, "Hawkeye" Pierce (Creator/DonaldSutherland) and "Duke" Forrest (Creator/TomSkerritt), arrive on the scene. Defying all conventions, they join with fellow surgeon "Trapper John" [=McIntyre=] (Creator/ElliottGould) to "fix up" the mood in the hospital with their brand of black humor.

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[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MASH_7171.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:310:"Goddamn Army."]]

In the midst of the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar, the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, commanded by Lt.-Col. Henry Blake (Roger Bowen), is tasked with fixing up the wounded. Two fresh draftee surgeons, "Hawkeye" Pierce (Creator/DonaldSutherland) and "Duke" Forrest (Creator/TomSkerritt), arrive on the scene. Defying all conventions, they join with fellow surgeon "Trapper John" [=McIntyre=] (Creator/ElliottGould) to "fix up" the mood in the hospital with their brand of black humor.

The film's plot is made up of various episodes dealing with their escapades in the Hospital, including the three surgeons' personality clashes with their erstwhile tentmate, Frank Burns (Creator/RobertDuvall), and with the newly-appointed head nurse, "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Creator/SallyKellerman); Hawkeye's romantic pursuit of nurse Lt. "Dish" Schneider (Jo Ann Pflug); the depression and "assisted suicide" of dental surgeon "Painless Pole" Waldowski (John Schuck); the drafting of the surgeons' Korean houseboy, Ho-Jon (Kim Atwood); Hawkeye and Trapper's trip to Tokyo to operate on a Congressman's son (and play some golf); and a football game against a team from the 325th Evacuation Hospital.

* FakeAssistedSuicide: "Painless Pole" becomes suicidal after discovering he is impotent. His comrades arrange an elaborate [[AttendingYourOwnFuneral living funeral]] for him, capped off by a putative suicide pill -- but instead of dying he wakes up in bed beside a willing nurse, who [[IntimatePsychotherapy cures his affliction]].

* PresentDayPast: Korea ca. 1950 looks and feels a helluva lot like [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]] ca. 1970. Once again, [[WordOfGod this was entirely intentional on Altman's part]].

* RandomEventsPlot: The film, rather than following a coherent narrative, is more of a series of episodes depicting a year in the life of the 4077th. For the most part, once a major subplot--the Painless Pole's "suicide", Hawkeye and Trapper's Japan trip, the football game--is wrapped up, its effect on the rest of the "story" is minimal. That said, the novel is if anything even ''more'' random and unstructured, and it's a testament to Ring Lardner Jr. that he managed to [[AdaptationDistillation distill it]] into something that at least had some slight organization.

* RandomEventsPlot: The film, rather than following a coherent narrative, is more of a series of episodes depicting a year in the life of the 4077th. For the most part, once a major subplot -- Painless Pole's "suicide", Hawkeye and Trapper's Japan trip, the football game -- is wrapped up, its effect on the rest of the "story" is minimal. If anything, the novel is even ''more'' random and unstructured, and it's a testament to Ring Lardner, Jr. that he managed to [[AdaptationDistillation distill it]] into something that at least had some slight organization.

* MoodWhiplash: The surgical scenes are graphic even by today’s standards, and were downright shocking by 1970 standards. They are a massive contrast to the wacky nature of the rest of the film. Of course, that's part of the point-- the characters engage in wacky hijinks ''because'' of the horrible things they have to see and do.

* MoodWhiplash: The surgical scenes are graphic by today’s standards, and were shocking by 1970 standards. They are a massive contrast to the wacky nature of the rest of the film. Of course, that's part of the point - they are wacky ''because'' of the horrible things they have to see and do.

In the midst of the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar, the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is tasked with fixing up the wounded. Two fresh draftee surgeons, "Hawkeye" Pierce (Creator/DonaldSutherland) and "Duke" Forrest (Creator/TomSkerritt), arrive on the scene. Defying all conventions, they join with fellow surgeon "Trapper John" [=McIntyre=] (Creator/ElliottGould) to "fix up" the mood in the hospital with their brand of black humor. The film's plot is made up of various episodes dealing with their escapades in the Hospital.

* MoodWhiplash: The surgical scenes are graphic by today’s standards, and were shocking by 1970 standards. They are a massive contrast to the wacky nature of the rest of the film.

* LastSupperSteal: Painless's "last supper" looks very much like [[Art/TheLastSupper Leonardo's original]], with Painless in Jesus' place at the table and Hawkeye, Trapper, Duke, Murrhardt, Bandini, Ugly John, Radar, Judson, Seidman, Boone, Vollmer, and Ho-jon as the disciples. They are even making similar gestures to Jesus and the disciples in Leonardo's mural.

** When it comes to taking orders, Radar is always one step ahead of Henry while Vollmer is about two steps behind; several times during the film, Radar anticipates Henry's orders before he even starts saying them, then Vollmer shows up to take those same orders just as Radar goes off to carry them out.

* TheAllegedCar: "Goddamn Army Jeep!"

* BaldOfAwesome: General Hammond sports this look.
* BerserkButton: "Would you say that she was a moaner, Frank?"

* BreakingTheFourthWall: "Attention. Tonight's movie has been ''M*A*S*H''..."

* BadassMustache: Worn by Trapper John.

* NarrativeProfanityFilter: In-universe, when Col. Blake (who's just returned from a visit with Gen. Hammond) spots Hawkeye and Frank Burns talking in the mess tent (after Burns's lovemaking with Houlihan was broadcast to the whole camp the night before) and asks Radar to tell him what they're saying. This ends up helping Hawkeye, as when Burns snaps, Radar's "translation" makes it look like he attacked Hawkeye for no reason.

-General UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur\\

-UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower''

* ConfidenceBuildingScheme: Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski suffers a case of impotence and becomes suicidal in the belief that he's a latent homosexual. Hawkeye and the other Swampmen "assist" by giving him an elaborate last supper complete with musical accompaniment, even having Father Mulcahy perform the Last Rites, before giving him a suicide pill. In reality, the pill is just a sedative... and when Painless wakes up, he's in bed with a willing nurse. Next morning, Painless is in high spirits again, his confidence restored.

* FeedbackRule: The P.A. announcements are routinely interrupted by loud feedback. And, when Frank and Hot Lips' lovemaking is broadcast to the entire camp, it's eventually accompanied by a delayed echo effect that alerts the pair to what's happening.

* FeedbackRule: The P.A. announcements are routinely interrupted by loud feedback. And, when Frank and Hot Lips' lovemaking is broadcast to the entire camp, it's accompanied by a delayed echo effect that eventually alerts the pair to what's happening.

* DuelingMovies: Released the same year as that other anti-war satire movie, ''Film/CatchTwentyTwo''.[[note]]''Catch-22'' -- based on an acclaimed novel, and featuring a big budget, a hot director in Creator/MikeNichols, and an all-star cast -- was supposed to be a huge success, while ''M*A*S*H'', with its episodic nature, and based on a book that was only mildly popular, had trouble getting to the screen; Altman was only hired as the director because they couldn't get any of the directors they actually wanted to sign on. Instead, ''M*A*S*H'' became a massive hit, launching both Donald Sutherland and Robert Altman's careers, while ''Catch-22'' was savaged by the critics, ignored by the public, and most of the people involved had their careers at least temporarily damaged.[[/note]]

* DuelingMovies: Released the same year as that other anti-war satire movie, ''Film/CatchTwentyTwo''.[[note]]''Catch 22'', based on a famous novel, was supposed to be a huge success, while ''M*A*S*H'', with its episodic nature, and based on a book that was only mildly popular, had trouble getting to the screen - Altman was only hired as the director because they couldn't get any of the directors they actually wanted to sign on. Instead, ''M*A*S*H'' became a massive hit, launching both Donald Sutherland and Robert Altman's careers, while ''Catch 22'' was savaged by the critics, ignored by the public, and most of the people involved had their careers at least temporarily damaged.[[/note]]

A 1970 comedy film [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] [[{{Literature/Mash}} Richard Hooker's novel]], ''M*A*S*H'' was the first major hit for its director, Creator/RobertAltman, and the inspiration for the long-running [[{{Series/Mash}} television series]] a few years later.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MASH_7171.jpg]]

In the midst of the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar, the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is tasked with fixing up the wounded. Two draftee surgeons, "Hawkeye" Pierce (Creator/DonaldSutherland) and "Duke" Forrest (Creator/TomSkerritt), arrive on the scene. Defying all conventions, they join with fellow surgeon "Trapper John" [=McIntyre=] (Creator/ElliottGould) to "fix up" the mood in the hospital with their brand of black humor. The film's plot is made up of various episodes dealing with their escapades in the Hospital.