Mash

M*A*S*H with David Edelstein

Directed by Robert Altman
/ 1970
116 minutes

Robert Altman’s irreverent black comedy — the inspiration for the celebrated TV series — follows a Korean War medical unit whose staff includes Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould), a pair of iconoclastic surgeons who blithely defy military conventions. The cast includes Robert Duvall, Tom Skerritt, Fred Williamson, René Auberjonois, and Oscar nominee Sally Kellerman. In addition to Kellerman’s Academy Awards nod, “M*A*S*H” was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing, and Ring Lardner Jr. won for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Intro and discussion by David Edelstein, contributor to "CBS Sunday Morning" and former film critic for New York magazine, NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Slate, New York Post, Village Voice, and Boston Phoenix. Edelstein's obituary of "M*A*S*H" director Robert Altman provides some helpful background for the discussion.