Film Vs. TV: A M*A*S*H Revelation

M*A*S*H 1970 Film Poster Distributed by 20th Century Fox. Source: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A while back, a friend asked to borrow our copy of the movie M*A*S*H. He was so excited. He watched the TV series diligently and remains a fan of it to this day. He was so excited to see the movie.

Now, normally I don’t lend things from my library. I’ve learned that’s the quickest way to create a permanent hole in my shelf. But I trusted this guy, so I lent him the movie.

He returned the movie with no expression on his face. I asked him what he thought. He answered, “It was… different.”

Yes. Yes, it was.

The movie M*A*S*H feels more like Animal House. The TV series “M*A*S*H” may have started out like the movie, but it ended with a sense of “Little House On The Prairie.” Between the two, we saw our culture shift.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

We’ll start with the TV series. The television viewing world buzzed with anticipation when CBS announced in 1972 it would launch a series based on the movie M*A*S*H (which was released in 1970). Many people, especially those of the younger generation (today’s Baby Boomers), eagerly anticipated the return of the wry humor of a cutting-edge war comedy in the style of “Hogan’s Heroes.”

The younger Baby Boomers probably had this expectation because, as the movie was R-Rated, they most likely didn’t see it.

Of course, when the television series debuted on September 17, 1972, they quickly discovered “M*A*S*H” was less like “Hogan’s Heroes” and more like “McHale’s Navy.” Whereas Colonel Hogan spent most episodes making fun of Nazis, (and the occasional British officer), Ernest Borgnine’s show featured the antics of the bumbling crew of PT-73 as they outwitted their hapless commander.

By the beginning of its fourth season, “M*A*S*H” had changed. Both Colonel Blake and Trapper John left after the third season. The frolicking Blake was replaced by the serious Colonel “regular army” Potter. Hawkeye’s partner in crime Trapper John was replaced by the solemn B.J. Hunnicutt.

Looking back, we can chart the beginning of the change in the second season with the introduction of psychologist Sidney Freeman. Freeman’s recurring role signaled the evolution of the show from a frat-boy sit-com to a dramatic ensemble constantly searching for (and sharing) their feelings.

We can’t place all the blame on Sidney. If there is one person to blame, it should be Alan Alda. He’s on the record of saying he wanted the show to move from a high-jinks comedy to serious drama. It was a good drama. The “M*A*S*H” series finale became the most watched television show ever. Airing on May 13, 1983, the show drew 105.97 million viewers. This record would hold until 106.5 million people watched the 2010 Superbowl (when Drew Brees’ New Orleans Saints beat Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts). While you cannot deny the TV series “M*A*S*H” certainly possessed a large audience, one wonders how many saw the television show as primarily a drama, rather than a comedy.

Drama wasn’t what made the movie M*A*S*H so enduring.

Of course, being released during the era of Vietnam War protests, the enemy wasn’t ridiculed, the army was. Before you roll your eyes, making fun of the army wasn’t exactly new. It became a commonly accepted trope a generation earlier during World War II. The book “Catch-22” wasn’t just reflective of the time of its release (1961). Although he used his own WWII experiences as the setting for the novel, author Joseph Heller (who began writing it in 1953) intended the story to be a criticism of the Korean War.

In fact, Heller was writing his book just as “The Phil Silvers Show” (where Silvers played the fun-loving Sgt. Bilko) was making television viewers laugh.

Ironically, the movie M*A*S*H and the movie Catch-22 came out in the same year. M*A*S*H was the third highest grossing film in 1970 (behind Love Story and Airport and just ahead of Patton). Catch-22 finished tenth, behind Tora! Tora! Tora!. For those keeping score at home, that’s four war movies in the top ten highest grossing films in 1970.

What most shocks long-time “M*A*S*H” TV show fans when they watch Robert Altman’s seminal movie M*A*S*H?

It starts at the very beginning. Remember the theme from the TV show? It was perfectly subdued. Like a magic flute, it called you to the show. Even to this day, when you hear that music, you know what to expect.

But what happens when the movie starts? You immediately learn that music also has lyrics… and those lyrics are, well, less than subdued. “Suicide is painless/It brings on many changes/And I can take or leave it if I please/And you can do the same thing if you please.”

Not exactly the uplifting theme you might expect from a dignified dramatic show. And it gets worse from there. Almost immediately, the farce begins. Not only that, but you also discover there’s a major character you never saw in the TV show. In the movie’s first scene Hawkeye (played by Donald Sutherland) meets his soon-to-be sidekick Duke Forrest (played by Tom Skerritt). It isn’t until much later in the film Trapper John (played by Elliot Gould) appears.

Unfortunately for Skerritt, the chemistry between Sutherland and Gould dominates the rest of the film. Either one or the other drive the plot for the rest of the story.

The Hawkeye and Trapper John’s MASH 4077 unit plays out like Otter and Boon’s Delta House. The cast of characters in both M*A*S*H and Animal House spend most of their time coming up with ways to thwart the establishment.

Which gets us to the final act of the movie M*A*S*H. The climactic scene involves a football game. A baseball game would have made more sense given the era the movie depicts (baseball was the more dominant sport in the early 1950s). But author Richard Hooker chose to make it a football game in his 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors from which the movie is based.

In the late 1960s, fast-paced football’s popularity surpassed (actually sped by) the slow-moving game of baseball. As if to put an exclamation point on it, the movie M*A*S*H included several professional football players in its cast.

If you believe things happen for a reason, consider this: It was a real-life football game that surpassed the TV series “M*A*S*H” as the most watched television broadcast in history.

Did that signal the beginning of the return of the alpha male?