TV shows based on movies usually end up being mere footnotes in the history of the films they spawned from. The Ferris Bueller's Day Off TV show spin-off, that Minority Report TV show (God, I forgot that even happened until I started writing this review), the Napoleon Dynamite TV show, all relics of far more popular features. But there are exceptions to this rule and TV shows based on movies are no exception. Mr. Belvedere and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for instance, are both more well-known in the modern era for their TV offshoots rather than the movies they originated from and it's likely that the same can be said for the TV show inspired by Robert Altman's 1970 film MASH.
The MASH TV show is a heavily acclaimed program to this day and (at least from my vantage point) has generated more conversation in the present-day pop culture scene compared to the original MASH movie. Of course, it's not hard to imagine the MASH TV show being more well-liked than the MASH movie given how the latter sets a low bar of quality to clear by being thoroughly unpleasant to watch. MASH, the film, chronicles the exploits of surgeons stationed in the Korean War, particularly a trio known as Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland), Trapper John (Elliot Gould) and Duke (Tom Skerritt).
There isn't much in the way of an overarching story or character arcs to be found in Ring Lardner Jr.'s screenplay, based on a book by Richard Hooker, which plays like a precursor to direct-to-video Disney films like Tarzan & Jane by having a story seemingly comprised of four episodes of a not particularly good TV show stitched haphazardly together. There's one stretch of the story involving the three main characters trying to get rid of a controlling doctor played by Robert Duvall, another where they try to "help" a surgeon planning suicide because he's discovered he's possibly gay, another storyline where they get into hijinks in Japan and, finally, one subplot dealing with a football game between a rival Army surgeon faction.
The biggest problem with MASH is not this episodic story structure but rather that it isn't very funny, which is a tiny bit of a problem for a comedy. A sight gag where the surgeons replicate The Last Supper painting with whatever ramshackle materials they have on their medical base is probably the most inspired joke in the whole thing. Otherwise, the attempts at jokes just rely on "boys will be boys" gags fixated on the mayhem the three lead characters get into. Much of this kind of humor is obnoxious rather than funny, particularly since this kind of humor doesn't seem to be up the three lead actors alley. I'm not sure any performer could have made these grating gags tolerable, but I am very much sure that humorous performing raunchy antics are not Donald Sutherland's strong suit as a performer.
Sutherland's a brilliant performer in so many ways, but he never makes Hawkeye's intended loosey-goosey attitude genuine, he always conveys too much internal tension to make the performance believable. Sutherland's performance intends to channel Jeff Bridges as The Dude but instead he creates a performance with all the discontent edge of Jeff Bridges yelling "Tony Stark made this in a cave!" The character as written is already riddled with flaws but a miscast Sutherland exacerbates those flaws tremendously. At least Sutherland's lead performance comes from communicating an ill-suited personality, Elliot Gould and especially Tom Skerritt are unable to convey any sort of distinct attitude in their forgettable performance. Even more of an issue for the comedy than the lackluster lead performances, though, is any of the numerous gags done at the expense of Major Houlihan (Sally Kellerman).
You ever see one of those clickbait lists online with a headline that reads "[Insert Number Here] Movie Villains Who Were Actually Right"? Houlihan should be at the top of any of those lists. Though framed as the villain of the movie because she's a lady who wants the boys to not do "manly" things like order random women to come have sex with them, Houlihan just kept eliciting my sympathies throughout the entire film as she's constantly dehumanized and sexually harassed by her co-workers in scenes clearly meant to be played for laughs at her expense. Obviously, MASH pretty much comes up empty when it laughs and since that's really all the movie has to offer (there's not much in the way of commentary on the Korean War or the behavior of its protagonists), it's a shockingly disposable movie considering its directed by an esteemed filmmaker like Robert Altman. Spend your time watching some episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead.
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