3/4  A Fun Romp
The first time I tried to watch this Altman movie, I couldn't. However, the second time, I was much more successful and liked it, especially the football scene (even though I'm not crazy about sports). I like Elliott Gould too.

This was... (read full)

3.5/4  Give M.A.S.H a chance!
I think that in order to truly understand this film is to live in the time that it was created. The year was 1972 and the Vietnam War was coming to a close with a lot of political tension in the country. Not a big difference from today. T... (read full)

4/4  M*A*S*H Quick Review
Huge fan of the TV show and I love the movie as well. Perfect example of a good black comedy.

4/4  M*A*S*H Quick Review
Way better than the T.V. show and it dissapoints me how many people I know who haven't watched this film.

3/4  M*A*S*H Quick Review
I was never really big on the TV show, though I've probably seen most of the episodes at one point or another. I do like the film, though. It's definitely not a typical war film.

1.5/4  M*A*S*H Quick Review
Basically, I don't like the TV show and I do not like the movie. The concept of both is great, but to me, it never delivers. This movie is so cheesy at times I was literally saying out loud, "what were they thinking?"

5/5 A classic now on Blu-ray
  by bernie (Arlington, Texas)
"I have just left your fighting sons in Korea. They have done their best there, and I can report to you without reservation that they are splendid in every way.
I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye" -- Gen. Douglas MacArthur

This is the Korean War (1950-1953). We are visiting and passionate on the front line and observing the many lives of the very people that make the M*A*S*H (The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit possible. This film is touted as a thinly veiled Vietnam War satire.

Some great one-liners as "You forgot your shingle doctor "as he holds up a piece of toast with creamed chipped beef on it. Or as Frank Burns is being hauled off in a straight jacket, the loud speaker is playing "it's time to say sayonara" May military inside jokes and even the clichés have a basis in reality. Although this film takes place, in Korea, it draws a very close parallel to the environment I was in Vietnam and I suspect there have been other wars with other environments similar and may again in the future. It's the laughs that we clean out of these types of films that make those situations tolerable.

For many movies especially older ones Blu-Ray is really just a gimmick and does not really add to or subtract from the storyline or the acting itself. However occasionally the visuals and sounds of Blu-Ray can contribute to earlier movies that were designed before Blu-Ray was conceived; this is one of those movies. This review may be under a different version but it is for the Blu-ray version so be sure to listen to the commentary by the late Robert Altman, AMC Back history, Enlisted: The story of M*A*S*H, M*A*S*H: History Through the Lens, Remembering M*A*S*H: 30th anniversary, Theatrical Trailer, Portuguese Trailer, and Still Gallery.

Through early morning fog I see
The visions of the things to be.
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize, and I can see.....

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card, I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The sword of time will pierce our skin
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger, watch it brim..

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
"Is it to be, or not to be?"
And I replied, "why ask me?"

But 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

If you enjoyed this and other Robert Altman films you may like a more esoteric film by Robert Altman called Quintet ((1979).


Quintet ~ Paul Newman

4/5 A considerable improvement (I think)
  by Ron Heck
I've been a fan of MASH (the movie, not the TV show) since I first saw it at about age 14 or 15 on DVD. Recently, I've been getting into the rest of Altman's movies, so when I saw the blu ray I knew I had to check it out. If you haven't seen it yet, MASH is a bit of a (pardon me) mash up of a war movie, medical drama, and Animal House. Okay, it's really just a lot like Animal House. Some reviews I've seen online have pegged this movie as being sexist and outdated, but the film is really about the attitudes of a bunch of really talented and really bored twenty something male doctors BS-ing and causing trouble. Unlike the most of Altman's other work, this is very much a guy movie. I used to think this movie was just effortlessly brilliant and an easy going good time with a bunch of funny actors just doing whatever they felt like. On subsequent viewing after all these years, I can see just how much Altman's distinctive style had already taken shape in his first film. The scene towards the ends of the movie in long shot with Hawkeye getting news from Radar is absolutely astonishing in how much it conveys with no words at all. Even though I still remembered all the jokes and cringed at the awkwardness of some of the characters, I still found myself laughing out loud at some of the more subtle moments.

Of course, these little bits might have gone unnoticed had I not sprung for the HD version. Again, other reviews on the films picture quality range from decent to miserable and the real result is somewhere in between. Immediately after watching the disc, I popped in the old THX mastered DVD, upconverted by my blu ray player. I'll admit I was a bit surprised. The major problem with the blu ray is an excessive amount of blooming on any scenes with white clothing. They give off a glow a few centimeters out from the characters. I first thought this was haloing, but no, they were just really bright in comparison with the dark backgrounds. On the DVD, this effect was a lot less noticeable, but everything else picture-wise was worse. For one, the image was a lot darker, smudging out a lot of fine detail. The rest was lost in the digital noise and non-film related pixelated graininess. However, in stripping away the murk on the blu ray, it revealed Altman's almost vaseline-like filter on the camera and color timing intended to accentuate the drab military greens.

The first thing I looked for on the blu ray was just how much grain they did or didn't leave on the image. Thankfully, they left most of it in, but it does get a little overwhelming at times, with it seeming to snow over background scenery. There's a lot more surface detail on fabrics and the stubble on the actors' faces stands out a bit more. There's a scene near the beginning of the movie with nurses looking into a tent giggling that was less apparent on DVD, since it was so quick and more difficult to read facial expressions. I'm once again going to repeat the mantra of almost every reviewer covering HD movies from the 70's - this is probably the best this movie is going to look. The main reason I bought this was just to see what 70s Altman movie can look like in high definition. I assure you that now I'm going to hold out for the HD version of Nashville, instead of buying the DVD.

As far as sound goes... well, I honestly couldn't tell you if it was an improvement or not. I don't have a surround sound system to really put the track to test, but I don't think there can be that much of an improvement over the 5.1 mix on the original DVD. I do think I could follow the rapid overlapping better than I used to, but that probably just comes from repeated viewing, rather than a real technical achievement. All of the extras were ported over from the previous disc, which is good, since it was a fairly packed two disc set. However, there's no real new stuff to be had. Overall, I'm really just jonesing to see how McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, and Nashville hold up on the format. It may not look perfect, or even that good, but this disc shows just what a little TLC can do towards making great murky-looking 70s films watchable on HD sets.

5/5 great movie
  by Robert L. Sheremeta (Rochester, N.Y. United States)
This a classic, this the best MASH, the TV version was too touchy feely, this is dark humor at it's best. Hilarious.

3/5 great film, poor blu-ray
  by Regis Louis (France)
the image is far as good as other classics from the same period. Its clean but contrast and definition are poor and colors are not brilliant.

4/5 Altman's Classic, Sutherland's Funniest, Decent Blu-ray Transfer
  by Alexander M. Walker (Chicago, IL USA)
M*A*S*H may be the ultimate tool for reigniting a passion for Donald Sutherland's career. As he got into his later years Donald took on increasingly drab roles that had him sporting the bushy white moustache and leaving all the real work to the younger starlets he was inevitably paired up with. In the days of M*A*S*H, Donald Sutherland was that younger star - that bright burning talent that electrified each cell of film with a presence and humor without which the film would have been insufferable. Donald Sutherland ought to credit M*A*S*H as his acting opus and yet it begs the question whether or not Robert Altman was the only director who ever knew how to get a truly brilliant performance out of him. Sutherland never gave a better show in the years after and most certainly never in his films before M*A*S*H.

If you've never seen the movie, there's a good chance you're still familiar with the film's basic premise: soldiers make merry amidst the depressing conditions of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (thus the name M*A*S*H) during the Korean War. Created as a thinly veiled jab at the politics of the Vietnam War. Sutherland plays the roguish Hawkeye Pierce with Elliott Gould and Tom Skerritt backing up his antics as Trapper John McIntyre and Duke Forrest, respectively. The three play all sorts of shenanigans with the lesser folks in the camp and run afoul of more than a few (Frank Burns played by Robert Duvall among them). Sex and alcohol play the butt of many of the film's jokes but it stays quite whimsical and carefree for the first half until it devolves into a whole different animal ending finally with a football game. It's an odd twist and turn for the plot to take but Altman directs Sutherland and the rest through it in such a way that it's all tragic and hilarious at the same time.

The transfer of the film to Blu-ray wasn't a perfect process and the film quality still leaves a little bit to be desired. However, the slightly below par Blu-ray visuals are nothing to gripe about in comparison to the film's poorly remastered audio which frays and distorts a few too many times to forgive. It's nice to have this comedy classic on the new format, but more work should have been put into the presentation if they really wanted it to be a viable hi-def contender.

Blu-ray Extra Features:

While Fox didn't take the hi-def presentation of the Blu-ray format to heart, they did at least remember that they could cram a boatload of extras onto the disc without sacrificing anything. And so, the disc comes packed with most all of the extras that have ever graced previous releases of the film. Among them are "The Complete Interactive Guide to M*A*S*H" which is the only one that even comes remotely close to utilizing the capacity of Blu-ray for a more immersive experience in the disc's back-end. The AMC pseudo-documentary "Backstory: M*A*S*H" presents an excellent viewing experience and will entertain any fan of the film (or series, despite the actor discontinuity). Chances are though that your average M*A*S*H fan already bought the disc on DVD and has either seen this featurette multiple times on TV or from their own personal collection. It's still nice to have it on the disc, but you can't help but feel the average avid fan of the film won't be too impressed by its non-hi-def presentation. Then we come to the typical collection of featurettes which are retrospectives (because it didn't occur to people in 1969 that people would care enough to want lots of supplementary footage). The featurettes are again interesting, but are not unique to this Blu-ray release; so again you'll be hard pressed to rationalize the purchase. There's a cast reunion which is interesting for about the first 40 seconds and then wears out its welcome. The last little nugget is a truly terrific commentary from Robert Altman. The man made a lot of great films and his perspective on M*A*S*H isn't to be missed.

Now, if you've never seen it before you're missing out on a truly great comedy experience. Should you put down the $20 for the Blu-ray or opt for the bargain bin $5 copy? For a $15 step up it's worth considering - even more so if you're a longtime fan who already owns a copy. In which case weigh the extras offered on your DVD version against the ones collected here and be the smart consumer that you are. But again, newcomers - check it out, DVD or Blu-ray either way it's a great film.