posted 09-19-2002 10:11 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by povertyrich:
M*A*S*H was great until Trapper John and Henry left. Then it was pretty good until Frank Burns left, then it was not too good until Radar left, then it sucked.

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Amen to that. After Radar left there was no real reason to watch it. The show turned into nothing more than a venue for Alda's anti-war rants.
Some people have said that MASH jumped the shark when Klinger stopped wearing womens clothing and when B.J. grew that awful mustache.

posted 09-19-2002 10:27 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Laggard:
Amen to that. After Radar left there was no real reason to watch it. The show turned into nothing more than a venue for Alda's anti-war rants.
Some people have said that MASH jumped the shark when Klinger stopped wearing womens clothing and when B.J. grew that awful mustache.

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posted 09-19-2002 11:16 AM            

The movie was fantastic. The first time I saw it was at the Bagdad Theater in Portland. It was one of those old, giant movie palaces. There were only 15-20 people in there so it echoed a lot, making those surreal surgery scenes incredibly freaky. The book by Richard Hooker was pretty good, too. Sort of a lesser Catch 22.

That was my problem with Winchester, Laggard. As soon as Burns left, so did the satirical qualities of the show. It became a morality show, then. Trapper was my favorite. He and Hawkeye keep me laughing.

posted 09-19-2002 12:27 PM         

just picked up season 2 dvd, good stuff.
just watched 5 o'clock charlie the other day, probly one of the better frank burns episodes

posted 09-19-2002 12:35 PM         

The movie is fantastic. Elliot Gould, Sutherland, Tom Skerrit, Robert Duvall, Ho Jon, they all kick ass.

"You know, she's so uptight, she won't even let us play football!"

posted 09-19-2002 12:42 PM            

The scene where Hawkeye interrogates Burns about Hot Lips' prowess in bed is the best. Followed by the best line in the movie:

posted 09-19-2002 04:44 PM            

M*A*S*H
Irreverance as the last line of defense against the insanity of war--that’s one explanation (or rationalization) for Robert Altman’s breakthrough 1970 hit. Another is that the counterculture needs winners, too. Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould play Korean War captain-surgeons elbow-deep in blood and guts at a makeshift U.S. army hospital unit near the 38th parrallel. Finding their skills in hot demand, they permit themselves a life of outrageous behavior and almost surreal decadence while off duty (the war rudely impedes their golf game).

It's hard to resist the anti-bureaucratic gall of these wooly Grouchos, who are at once more honest and ironic than the brass and peons around them, like adolescents on a permanent pass from God (whose devout they gleefully mock) or like the director tearing up the script as he goes.

Still, the movie's hip agenda for some reason requires the sexual humiliation of Major "Hot Lips" Hulihan (Sally Kellerman), the recruitment of a black football ringer named "Spearchucker," and the training of a Korean boy-Friday to make the heroes martinis. It took conservative critic John Simon to point out that M*A*S*H is no more antiwar than it is anti-surgury--Sutherland’s Hawkeye seems more annoyed than devastated when his man-servant is conscripted. Perhaps tempering the streak of smug Playboy humor (as the subsequent, cozy TV series did) would have signaled a victory for the ultimate enemy in any war: reality.

Best and most emblematic line: "Shhhh, we’re putting."

posted 09-19-2002 05:34 PM            

Spearchucker: "I threw the javelin in college."