M*A*S*H [Blu-ray]

M*A*S*H mobile army surgical hospital 3 miles from frontline, satire on war stress, football as war metaphor, golf meditation, gambling, alcohol, sex, intermittent electricity, lack of equipment or transfusable blood, missing unaccounted for addictive recreational chemicals, Congressional pressure to cater to political elites' children, witness PTSD.M*A*S*H stars Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman a brutal comedy of breathtaking frenzy with a hummable theme song.The Swamp is the tent of MASH surgeons emblazoned with Somerset Maugham's Moorish author icon on their front door. The Painted Veil dvd Edward Norton and Naomi Watts is Somerset Maugham's treatise on the war against infectious epidemics instead of assigning money men and resources to dismembering other human beings.MASH was released in 1970 amidst intense protests against the Vietnam War. Normal storytelling is imbedded in context: geography, era, surrounding sociopolitical atmosphere. War stories like MASH ignore these dicta and exist unchanged over centuries, merely altering the weapons which disable harm and cause human suffering if not outright death. The MASH unit attempts to repair patch up and reassemble human bodies in preparation for returning to the front, regardless of mental emotional balance.Loudspeaker pronouncements are copied from Army memos of what was recommended for speakers at the time. MASH reveals the damage to witnesses who try to cope with the outcomes of competition for land, jockeying for political supremacy, and powerplays, both in the Army and between countries.Bonus interviews in 2006 reveal film took 20 years to find a director and advocate for funding, then once made, was nearly not released because Director Robert Altman allowed ad libbing and extensive revision of the Ring Lardner script based on the book "MASH: A Story of Three Doctors," by Richard Hornberger, written as Richard Hooker.M*A*S*H ostensibly occurs during the Korean War though savage tragedy, suffering, loss of life and self-inflicted moral injury may be viewed as generic to all conflict.Both film and TV series with Alan Alda are arguments against war as a method of resolving differences of opinion.5* viewing for a film 53 years old in 2023, M*A*S*H has English subtitles for the hearing impaired

Yes, I think the TV show was better than the movie but they targeted different messages. The TV show was comedy to attract a mass audience. The movie was more of an anti-war statement that won a Golden Globe and was nominated for several Academy Awards. I'd bet that the movie had a smaller budget than the TV series did too. Is the movie MASH a critical world class piece of art? No but it's a period statement piece that should be judged for the time it was created and not by current standards. The movie is hap-hazard. The TV show was well thought out, orchestrated entertainment. To compare is apples and oranges.

I've been a fan of MASH (the movie, not the TV show) since I first saw it at about age 14 or 15 on DVD. Recently, I've been getting into the rest of Altman's movies, so when I saw the blu ray I knew I had to check it out. If you haven't seen it yet, MASH is a bit of a (pardon me) mash up of a war movie, medical drama, and Animal House. Okay, it's really just a lot like Animal House. Some reviews I've seen online have pegged this movie as being sexist and outdated, but the film is really about the attitudes of a bunch of really talented and really bored twenty something male doctors BS-ing and causing trouble. Unlike the most of Altman's other work, this is very much a guy movie. I used to think this movie was just effortlessly brilliant and an easy going good time with a bunch of funny actors just doing whatever they felt like. On subsequent viewing after all these years, I can see just how much Altman's distinctive style had already taken shape in his first film. The scene towards the ends of the movie in long shot with Hawkeye getting news from Radar is absolutely astonishing in how much it conveys with no words at all. Even though I still remembered all the jokes and cringed at the awkwardness of some of the characters, I still found myself laughing out loud at some of the more subtle moments.Of course, these little bits might have gone unnoticed had I not sprung for the HD version. Again, other reviews on the films picture quality range from decent to miserable and the real result is somewhere in between. Immediately after watching the disc, I popped in the old THX mastered DVD, upconverted by my blu ray player. I'll admit I was a bit surprised. The major problem with the blu ray is an excessive amount of blooming on any scenes with white clothing. They give off a glow a few centimeters out from the characters. I first thought this was haloing, but no, they were just really bright in comparison with the dark backgrounds. On the DVD, this effect was a lot less noticeable, but everything else picture-wise was worse. For one, the image was a lot darker, smudging out a lot of fine detail. The rest was lost in the digital noise and non-film related pixelated graininess. However, in stripping away the murk on the blu ray, it revealed Altman's almost vaseline-like filter on the camera and color timing intended to accentuate the drab military greens.The first thing I looked for on the blu ray was just how much grain they did or didn't leave on the image. Thankfully, they left most of it in, but it does get a little overwhelming at times, with it seeming to snow over background scenery. There's a lot more surface detail on fabrics and the stubble on the actors' faces stands out a bit more. There's a scene near the beginning of the movie with nurses looking into a tent giggling that was less apparent on DVD, since it was so quick and more difficult to read facial expressions. I'm once again going to repeat the mantra of almost every reviewer covering HD movies from the 70's - this is probably the best this movie is going to look. The main reason I bought this was just to see what 70s Altman movie can look like in high definition. I assure you that now I'm going to hold out for the HD version of Nashville, instead of buying the DVD.As far as sound goes... well, I honestly couldn't tell you if it was an improvement or not. I don't have a surround sound system to really put the track to test, but I don't think there can be that much of an improvement over the 5.1 mix on the original DVD. I do think I could follow the rapid overlapping better than I used to, but that probably just comes from repeated viewing, rather than a real technical achievement. All of the extras were ported over from the previous disc, which is good, since it was a fairly packed two disc set. However, there's no real new stuff to be had. Overall, I'm really just jonesing to see how McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, and Nashville hold up on the format. It may not look perfect, or even that good, but this disc shows just what a little TLC can do towards making great murky-looking 70s films watchable on HD sets.

This movie is timeless. Great stars, & great acting. The perfect ensemble cast to pull off a movie that I can still laugh at no matter how many times I watch it.

The disc was a great success. I had used DVD until now, but was delighted with this. The subtitles, placed helpfully across the screen (not just at the bottom) were a great help. People who have seen M*A*S*H before will know that its realistic style means that characters talk often all at once and over each other and these subtitles help to pick out the important dialogue from the rest of the noise. This is a very funny film with a serious anti-war message (war is mad; medical units are heroes). It provokes discussion so the documentary material after the film is also very relevant and interesting. Small wonder the film gave rise to an 11 year TV series.

Picture and sound quality are ok for a blu-ray but not amazing. There are some lengthy special features on the blu-ray which I found interesting, albeit there is some overlap between them.Remember this is the original feature film, not the TV series. The film came first and most of the actors from the film weren't in the TV series. Will you like the film if you like the TV series but have never seen the film? No idea?My personal opinion is that whatever you think about the film or its 'pitch' you will both appreciate and find objectionable some of the scenes but either way you get more more out of it.Its funny in places and there is some funny dialogue (most likely adlibbed) but for me it's just a good film not one of the all time greats.

One of the funniest films, ever! The film is much better than the TV series which superceded it! Made in 1970 it amazingly hasn't aged at all. The quality of filming, also remarkably fresh. Worth getting - if only to see the only enjoyable sequence EVER of American Football!This excellent film does not deserve to be forgotten!Also....excellent value/delivery!

This film came out around the year I got married 1970 and after all the years still is fantastic to watch and enjoy just like my wife.Picture quality is very good compared to the VHS video that I have had for some years. The extra disc on the two disc version is well worth the little bit extra that it costs as there are some good features on it.Great value for money for so much fun. If I am around in another thirty years I am sure I will still be watching it.

Fans of the tv show will probably be disappointed with this film if they have never seen it before. American schoolboy humour at it's worst.