Curator Watchlist
A landmark anti-establishment war comedy with inventive ensemble filmmaking, loose-jointed energy, and a sharp eye for military absurdity. It’s also very much a product of its era: the sexism and casual cruelty are hard to ignore, so the film lands best as a historically important, uneven satire rather than a… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Wed · 1h 56m
Director: Robert Altman
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.
Robert Altman
Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
A landmark anti-establishment war comedy with inventive ensemble filmmaking, loose-jointed energy, and a sharp eye for military absurdity. It’s also very much a product of its era: the sexism and casual cruelty are hard to ignore, so the film lands best as a historically important, uneven satire rather than a universally easy recommendation.
M*A*S*H is one of those movies that feels like a turning point in American film comedy: shaggy, rude, anti-authority, and constantly testing how far a joke can be stretched before it curdles. Altman’s overlapping dialogue and ensemble looseness give it a lived-in, chaotic rhythm that still feels fresh, and the film’s reputation as a key 1970s breakthrough is well earned.
At the same time, the movie’s rebelliousness comes bundled with a lot of ugly behavior that the film often treats as charming. Its treatment of women, in particular, can be abrasive enough to overwhelm the satire for some viewers. If you’re watching for historical importance, tonal audacity, and the early shape of Altman’s voice, there’s plenty to admire; if you’re looking for a comedy that has aged gracefully, this is a tougher sell.
The result is a film that is significant more than it is consistently pleasurable. It’s worth seeing as a cultural artifact and as a blueprint for later ensemble comedies, but it’s best approached with clear expectations about how rough its humor can be.
Tasha Robinson (1★) · 1435 likes
Groundbreaking, era-defining, and culturally significant in its time. Also hateful, sexist, racist, and endlessly pleased with the protagonists for their bad-boy behavior of bullying the entire military (and especially, endlessly, women) and getting away with it. I hated the whole experience of watching this, in spite of the incredible cast, the haunting opening song, and the chance to see Robert Altman developing his voice. Roger Ebert's 1970 review said the film is "true to the unadmitted sadist in all of
Karsten (3★) · 712 likes
sometimes you just gotta watch M*A*S*H
Patrick Willems · 669 likes
I wonder if, years later, Robert Altman watched American Pie and felt a huge swell of pride knowing this kind of movie wouldn’t exist without him
Aaron (5★) · 559 likes
“I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps!” “He was drafted.” To show it is to sell it. That’s the thrust of the oft-quoted notion, attributed to François Truffaut, that it’s nearly impossible to make an anti-war film. The depiction cannot help but ennoble and romanticize, even if the intent is to do anything but. The solution? Don’t show the war at all. Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H, which contains… more
Matt Singer (2.5★) · 488 likes
1970s audiences were so dazzled by the formal innovations and the undeniably chummy vibe that they barely registered (or willfully overlooked) the grotesque sexism running through this film. The same exact story could serve as the basis for an exposé about rampant misogyny in the Army — but M*A*S*H is a raunchy comedy that treats unrepentant abusers as plucky, underdog heroes who are rightly sticking it to a priggish, pompous system. And then it ends with ... a wacky football game? Complete with slide whistle sound effects?!?
Altman’s most famous ensemble mosaic, expanding the overlapping-dialogue style into a sprawling portrait of American performance and power.
A loose, revisionist take on American mythmaking with the same lived-in texture and anti-romantic edge.
A sharper, more enduring anti-war satire that turns institutional madness into precision-engineered comedy.
A nearby-era military absurdist comedy that shares the same distrust of authority and bureaucratic logic.
A dark institutional satire that channels similar cynicism about systems, incompetence, and human decay.
A classic service-comedy with a strong anti-bureaucratic streak and a more old-school comic structure.
For viewers drawn to ensemble interplay, romantic friction, and a lightly anarchic comic tone.
Another Altman-adjacent study in drift, irony, and a hero moving through a world that refuses to behave.
A later Altman showcase for social satire, ensemble maneuvering, and coolly observant cynicism.
A war film that balances absurdity and brutality more earnestly, with a stronger sense of comradeship and damage.
A wartime caper that turns military operations into a sly, anti-authority adventure with broad comic energy.
For a more meditative, philosophically anti-war experience that replaces satire with lyrical dread.
anti-war satire, military bureaucracy, ensemble chaos, black comedy, counterculture rebellion, misogyny and gender politics, institutional absurdity, Vietnam-era disillusionment
anti-war satire, black comedy, ensemble cast, 1970s cinema, military farce, counterculture, overlapping dialogue, satirical comedy, war drama, Altman style