MASH

 “Just Thinking”

Through early morning fog, I see 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 opening lines from the MASH theme song.

I have been wanting to write a story about MASH, the 1970 movie, the television show 1972–1983 and the 1968 novel written by Richard Hooker. With the passing of Loretta Swit (TV’s Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan) this week it seemed like a good time and a good topic.

Seeing MASH as an 11-year-old, I remember enjoying it very much, but as I saw it several more times over the years, I began to enjoy it more as I better understood the whit and sarcasm that populated the dialog throughout the film. The movie takes place during the Korean war and follows a team of irreverent and unorthodox surgeons at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. There were several great actors in MASH, Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce, Elliott Gould as Trapper John McIntyre, Sally Kellerman as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Robert Duvall as Major Frank Burns and Tom Skerritt as Duke Forrest. 

The football game is a classic part of the movie, the boys from Mash put a ramshackle team together to compete with the Generals pride and joy team. I can’t help but mention the cameo appearance by one of my favorite Raiders, Big Ben Davidson who played on the Generals team while the MASH unit recruited Capt. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones. A former player (Fred “The Hammer” Williamson) that they kept out of the game to pump up the wagers and cut him loose in the second have to secure their victory.

The scene in the movie when Hawk Eye and Trapper John traveled to a Tokyo, to perform surgery on a wounded congressman’s son. The two doctors saw this as an opportunity to use their medical credentials and bluff their way onto an exclusive golf course for a couple rounds before reporting to the hospital. They then go straight to the hospital still dressed in the golf wear including spiked golf shoes to successful perform the surgery on the wounded soldier. When confronted, about who they were, Trapper John says “We’re the pros from Dover.” Hawkeye then says, “We figure to crack a few heads, do a little brain surgery, and be on our way.”

Being just 11 when I first saw the movie, my favorite scene was when the guys drop the side of the shower tent while “Hot Lips” is showering, exposing her naked body while group who had lined up chairs in a cheering section, while heckling her with lude comments.

The popularity of the film’s satire, offbeat tone, and improvisational style paved the way for the MASH’s transition into the long running TV series that spun off from the movie. The series became a main stay for family viewing, many of its fans had never seen the movie. The cast of TV’s MASH have become some of the most beloved in television history.

Alan Alda as "Hawkeye" Pierce, Wayne Rogers as "Trapper" John, Mike Farrell as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt, McLean Stevenson as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake, Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman Potter, Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns, David Ogden Stiers as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, Loretta Swit as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Gary Burghoff as Corporal "Radar" O'Reilly, who was in the movie and the TV show, William Christopher as Father Francis Mulcahy and everyone’s favorite, Jamie Farr as Corporal Klinger.

I read MASH the novel in High School, I often read books after seeing the movie, Lonesome Dove, The Shining, Jaws the Godfather. I enjoyed visualizing the movie characters as I read the book, like the Movie and the TV show the book was very entertaining.

Let me know what you think.

@ChuckBarberini - #ChuckBarberiniRealEstate - @ChuckBarberiniRealEstate

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