Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this classic film is excellent -- and also shows the marks of its time (1970) and the era in which it was set (the Korean War in the 1950s) with considerable sexist, racist, and xenophobic behavior. Hawkeye and Trapper John sexually harass Hoolihan because she disagrees with their free-wheeling behavior. Duke calls a black neurosurgeon a "negro boy" and Hawkeye and Trapper John speak gibberish Japanese. There's also considerable sex and brief nudity, as well as lots of surgery-related blood and gore.
Families can talk about the role of satire in American culture. How is this film a satire of war? What's fun about satire and what's not? What other movies use biting satire to make an important point? Do they do it as well as this movie does?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
If the TV show House has taught young viewers anything, it's that doctors can be misanthropic, callous, bullying -- and hugely entertaining. House and lots of other medical shows owe their lives to the doctors of the original M*A*S*H*, a rollicking if unenlightened war satire by Robert Altman.
Surgeon "Hawkeye" Pierce (the divine Donald Sutherland) arrives in Korea after being drafted and with little respect for the military institutions that will control his life for the next several months. He steals a Jeep, kids around with Duke Forrest (an un-mustachioed Tom Skerritt), and joins forces with renowned "chest cutter" Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould) to run roughshod over the military and its rules. They make short work of by-the-book officers like Frank Burns (a young Robert Duvall) and head nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Hoolihan (Sally Kellerman), mostly by forms of humiliation that would today be considered sexual harassment. In short, they don't let being located in a war zone stop them from having fun.
It's easy to see why this blockbuster film became such a great TV show. Its series of wacky antics -- the pseudo suicide of a well-endowed dentist, the golfing in Japan, the football game -- resemble nothing so much as a series of TV shows. There's no plot other than undoing the rigidness on which the military depends. While this is all fun, it's also likely to be offensive to many viewers. The extreme sexism and sexualization of the female nurses, the homophobic comments about a man who thinks he might be gay, and the condescending attitudes about people of color may be accurate for their time, but are likely to mar some people's enjoyment of the film.
People who enjoy this film may also like the TV show spin-off, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Odd Couple. Or they may like other Altman satires, such as The Player.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentLots of bawdy talk about brothels, masterbation, penis size, and lots of sexual comments about the female nurses on base. The guys rig it so Hoolihan exposes herself to the whole camp. Burns and Hoolihan have sex and their sounds are broadcast across the camp, Hawkeye has sex with a married nurse and encourages her to have sex with a man who thinks he's gay to "cure" him. Col. Blake is shown in bed with a much younger nurse. |
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ViolenceLots of emergency room blood: spurting blood, bloody body parts, sawing body parts. A doctor wants to kill himself because he thinks he's gay. Trapper John hits Burns. Burns attacks Hawkeye. Some football violence, including tackling and players being carted off the field on stretchers. |
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LanguageConsiderable swearing, including "f--k," "hell," "son of a bitch," "ass," "dammit," "bitch," "goddamn" and "tits." |
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Social BehaviorTrapper John and Hawkeye are sexist: Trapper John calling Hot Lips a "sultry bitch" and demand she be stripped naked and brought to him. He also asks for a nurse "who knows how to work in close without getting her tits in my way." Duke doesn't want to share his bunk with a black man, calling him a "negro boy." When one character thinks he might be gay, they call him a "fairy" and a "raging queen" and joke that he's okay because "he hasn't started raping anyone yet." They both speak gibberish Japanese when they land in Japan. They drug the star football players to win. They gamble and Hawkeye steals a Jeep. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoConsiderable drinking and some smoking. Hawkeye and Trapper John drink martinis. Hawkeye talks about drinking gin and scotch separately. It's implied that characters are using speed. Everyone drinks beer. Football players are high. |
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