On Special Edition DVD

On Special Edition DVD

Distributed by
Twentieth Century Fox Home EntertainmentPosted: April 22nd, 2002. YOURS TO OWN ON APRIL 29TH 2002

‘Tonight’s movie will be M*A*S*H*, a hearty mix of blood, guts andside-splitting comedy that will have you laughing all the way back to the frontline’. Those of you not fit enough to attend, M*A*S*H* Special Edition DVD isout to buy from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment from 29th April(rrp. £19.99)

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M*A*S*H*) 4077 is home to Hawkeye Pierce(Donald Sutherland), Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt) and Trapper JohnMcIntyre (Elliott Gould), jaded ace surgeons who have been unwillinglydrafted into the Korean War. Sickened by stitching up young men only to seethem sent back into battle, they do their utmost to keep mixing cocktails,seducing nurses and generally avoiding any semblance of army discipline. Thisall takes place to the displeasure of sanctimonious, stuffed-shirt militarytypes such as Major Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Major Margaret ‘HotLips’ Houlihan (Sally Kellerman) who do their best to stop the fun.

Hawkeye and Trapper John get the chance to travel to Japan on an emergencymedical mission to operate on a statesman’s son. Not wanting to miss out on agreat opportunity for some R&R, the pair take their golf clubs with them andmanage to get a few rounds in – both on and off the golf course.

When not working solidly for 80 hours, the surgeons at M*A*S*H* 4077 amusethemselves around camp with poker games, drinking, womanising and football games.When a visiting officer suggests a little wager between regiments, a match isorganised between the 4077th and the 325th Evac in which the hopeless doctorsof the 4077 draft in Dr. Oliver Harman “Spearchucker” Jones, a former profootball player as a ringer.

On paper the film looked as if it would be a disaster. Fifteen top directorswho had been approached to make the movie turned it down on the grounds thatthe script was nothing more than a series of sketches. Also, the unprecedenteduse of bad language, large amounts of blood in the operation scenes andgeneral social, military and religious irreverence also made everyoneconnected with the project nervous. Eventually Robert Altman, a strugglingmaverick eyed with great suspicion in the industry, was drafted in to direct. With Altman on board, production went ahead, despite a relatively small-scalebudget of $3 million, and the film went on to gross $80 million worldwide atthe box office.

M*A*S*H* Special Edition DVD comes fully kitted-up with a healthy dose ofextras. Altman provides the audio commentary on this 2 DVD set, alongside afeaturette “Backstory: MASH” and a stills gallery. Disc 2 features threehumorous and informative documentaries. “Enlisted” – The story of M*A*S*H*delves into the stories behind the making of the film. M*A*S*H* -Comedy UnderFire shows the truth behind life in a M*A*S*H* unit. The final documentary,M*A*S*H* Reunion sees cast and crew reliving their experiences of making themovie during a special 30th Anniversary screening last year.

The documentaries and commentaries show that M*A*S*H’s black sense of humourand nonchalant attitudes towards sex and morality remain as shocking and pertinenttoday as it was in 1970. As Altman recounts, the way the M*A*S*H surgeons andnurses worked and played during war reminds one that where there is pain youhave to pay for your laughs. M*A*S*H was an enormous hit. But the movie’sreal success is timeless. It looked at Korea, filtered it through the lens ofVietnam and changed not only the way we look at the war genre but at the world.

Special Features

• Robert Altman Audio Commentary
• ‘Backstory: M*A*S*H*’ Featurette
• ‘Enlisted’ The Story of M*A*S*H* documentary
• ‘M*A*S*H*: Comedy Under Fire’ documentary
• ‘M*A*S*H* Reunion’ feature
• Stills gallery
• Theatrical trailer
• Interactive Menus
• Scene Access
• Multiple Language Subtitles

News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2002.