Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H” is an uproariously funny anti-war masterpiece on par with the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup.” Set at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War in 1951, but released to theaters in 1970, Altman’s movie was unmistakably commenting on the ongoing meat grinder that was the Vietnam War.
One second you’re howling at the decidedly un-pc antics of Army surgeons Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and “Trapper” John McIntyre (Elliott Gould), and the next you’re cringing as blood spurts from the wounded soldiers they’re endeavoring to save.This sui generis classic did not feel like grist for a TV sitcom spinoff (à la “The Odd Couple” or “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies”), but somehow series creator Larry Gelbart was able to strike an authentic, network-friendly balance between the rebellious behavior of Hawkeye and company, and the soul-deadening savagery of war.
The CBS series aired for 11 years, seven years…
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