Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould and Tom Skerritt in the Robert Altman movie ‘M*A*S*H’

The Robert Altman directed comedy drama M*A*S*H (1970) captures our attention this Memorial Day weekend in the United States. Set during the Korean War of 1950-1953, the movie tells the story of staff using a youthful brand of humor and practical joking in the face of the horrors of war to keep themselves sane. Writing credits rest with Richard Hooker and Ring Lardner Jr., with Hooker having written the 1968 book MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors.

(From left, Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce, Robert Duvall as Frank Burns and Tom Skerritt as Duke Forrest in the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H).

The movie begins in a South Korean Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or M*A*S*H outfit, circa 1951. Captains Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce and Augustus “Duke” Forrest, as portrayed by Donald Sutherland and Tom Skerritt, report to camp in a purloined army jeep. The pair do not take to the overly religious officer Major Frank Burns, as portrayed by Robert Duvall, so campaign to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, as portrayed by Roger Bowen, to move the incompetent surgeon Burns out of the Swamp, their tent. The move succeeds when they get newly arrived Captain John Francis “Trapper John” McIntyre, as portrayed by Elliott Gould, arrives to complement their preferred lifestyle.

(From left, Elliott Gould as Trapper John McIntyre, Sally Kellerman as Hot Lips Houlihan and Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce in the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H).

The “Swampmen” of Hawkeye, Duke and Trapper John, drafted into the army all, are prone to heavy drinking, pranks and womanizing. Frank Burns, along with head nurse Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, have enlisted and prefer a straightlaced, by the book approach to running 4077th. Burns and Houlihan begin a physically intimate relationship, which becomes the object of a series of bawdy pranks aided by Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly that socially settles the matter for how the two camps will coexist as a unit going forward. Sally Kellerman and Gary Burghoff portrayed Houlihan and O’Reilly, respectively.

(From left, John Schuck as The Painless Pole Waldowski, David Arkin as Wade Douglas Vollmer, Gary Burghoff as Radar O’Reilly and Roger Bowen as Henry Blake in the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H).

A bridge story for the movie had to do with Captain Walter “The Painless Pole” Waldowski, a dentist, becoming suicidal when experiencing a bout of impotence. This story, beyond suggesting the Johnny Mandel song Suicide is Painless, invoked an absolution and communion from Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy, a sleeping pill masquerading as assistance in ending Waldowski’s life and an evening with the attractive Lieutenant Maria “Dish” Schneider to convince the captain that he is well. John Schuck, Rene Auberjonois and Jo Ann Pflug portrayed Waldowski, Mulcahy and Schneider, respectively.

(Rene Auberjonois as Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy in the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H).

Hawkeye and Trapper John were granted temporary duty in Japan following the Waldowski story. Surgery on the son of a congressman leads to an unauthorized surgery on a local infant. With hopes for golfing lost and the hospital commander threatening disciplinary action, Hawkeye and Trapper resort to blackmail of a sexual nature to save themselves.

(From left, Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce and Fred Williamson as Spearchucker Jones in the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H).

A football game back in camp, as organized by Henry Blake and Brigadier General Charlie Hammond, leads to the final movie shenanigans. The 4077th is set to play the 325th Evacuation Hospital, with each hospital bringing in ringers. The 4077th brings in Captain Oliver Harmon “Spearchucker” Jones, a neurosurgeon who had played for the San Francisco 49ers. Betting incorporated with further shenanigans over when the different ringers played, or for how players became incapacitated, led the ballgame to end satisfactorily for Blake and the 4077th. G. Wood and Fred Williamson portrayed Hammond and Jones. Hawkeye and Duke leaving in the purloined jeep with their discharge orders brought the movie to a humorous close befitting the joke that opened the experience.

I grant the movie M*A*S*H as directed by Robert Altman 4-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, May 25, 2024

Top 20 Movie “Jaws.”

Everything started with the disappearance of a skinny-dipping blonde off the coast of Amity Island in coastal New England. Amity’s Chief of Police Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, had perhaps the second biggest boat for those whose careers were launched in the 15th movie on our Top 20 Movies in ranked order listing, Jaws (1975).

The movie Jaws offered perhaps the biggest career boost to highly influential producer, writer, director, and actor Steven Spielberg. At the time that Jaws was do to be made, Spielberg undoubtedly was on the rise. He was selected to direct the cinema worthy of the marketing buzz created for Peter Benchley‘s 1974 book Jaws. As the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) telling informs us, producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown had acquired rights for producing a movie from Benchley’s book. Spielberg, who has earned much influence in the film industry, was their directorial choice.

We as the audience get to know Amity police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) best. Much of Jaws is told from Brody’s perspective, and we wind up rooting for him as the hero.

Brody is pitted against two primary antagonists.

The first and obvious antagonist is the main attraction…the Great White Shark that brought people to the movie theater. Perhaps the iconic quote of the movie comes when Jaws (the shark) is battling Brody and fellow protagonist, boat-owner, and seaman Quint (played by Robert Shaw). Brody spoke the quote to Quint:

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

I personally admire the popularity and resonance of the quote, in addition for the context that prompted it. Part of that context is the second main antagonist.  Amity Island’s money-obsessed, safety-last Mayor Larry Vaughn, played by Murray Hamilton, partially responds to outside pressure from the business community in advocating for maintaining an open beachfront around the lucrative Independence Day timeframe. After all, this middle-of-summer period is when people travel to the tourist town of Amity Island for sand, water, lodging, and tourism.

In the midst of this, and after the death of the skinny dipping lady to start the movie, a boy is attacked by the shark we know to be Jaws. Richard Dreyfuss plays Matt Hooper, an oceanographer fascinated with sharks who hired Quint to hunt and kill that shark that had staked a claim to Amity Island.

The building tension and focus on the main story line of the killer shark, the reluctant mayor, and the struggle to kill a shark swimming around Amity Island is aided by a famous soundtrack created by renowned composer John Williams. In providing the compelling theme song to Jaws, Williams‘ music is as much of a character in the movie as the characters, the tension, and the shark.

In the heat of the fight to close the beach, the film Jaws and its director (Spielberg) are given a tip of the cap in the naming of Bryan Singer’s production company. Chief Brody responds to an elderly gentleman teasing Brody for not going in the water. As Mental Floss explains, the elderly man is Harry, he is wearing an ugly swimming cap, and the line itself is this:

“That’s some bad hat, Harry.”

Bad Hat Harry Productions goes on to produce House M.D. (2004-2012) and The Usual Suspects (1995).

Steven Spielberg has won Academy Awards for Best Director for Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Best Picture and Best Director for Schindler’s List (1993). He also won Best Director Golden Globes for both of those films.

As we are reminded by this Five Thirty Eight article, the opening of Jaws (1975) in June of that year is considered “the beginning of the era of the Hollywood summer blockbuster.” If you haven’t already seen this movie, you really should.

Matt – Friday, February 10, 2017