SORRY missed this: 10:15 PM -- MASH (1970)

[elleng]

10:15 PM -- MASH (1970) > 12:30
The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor to keep their sanity during wartime.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
C-116 mins, CC,

TCM


According to Johnny Mandel and Robert Altman, the film's famous theme song was intended to be the "stupidest song ever written". After attempting to write the lyrics himself, Altman said he found it too difficult to write "dumb enough", and instead gave to the task to his fourteen-year-old son. Mike Altman allegedly wrote the lyrics in five minutes, not even expecting to be paid, since he was the director's son. Because of its inclusion in the subsequent television series, he continued to get residuals throughout its run and syndication. His father was paid $75,000 for directing, but his son eventually made about $2 million in song royalties, with payments continuing, from first syndication through the present day/2020, as M*A*S*H (1972) continues in syndication around the world

[montanacowboy]

1. Watching

God I love that flick

[benld74]

2. Suicide is Painless

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 game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say
Suicide is painless (suicide)
It brings on many changes (changes)
And I can take or leave it if I please
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger
Watch it grin
Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can…


https://m.

[Ron Obvious]

10. I'd say that's pretty good for a 14 year old!

Though perhaps a trifle over-remunerated at $2 million.

[Laffy Kat]

12. You can certainly pick-up a 14-year-old boy's angst.

It's sad.

[Marie Marie]

3. Interesting story - huge MASH fan here. thanks for sharing that elleng.

[Staph]

4. Come hang out at the Classic Films group!

We post this kind of trivia from time to time, and we'd love to have more films fans to chat with!

[hunter]

5. Copyright law is strange. The transition from sheet music to records and movies was awkward...

... and what constituted a "performance" was ill defined.

Movies were originally printed out as books of individual frames for copyright purposes. The music and lyrics were printed out as sheet music.

The rules for purely instrumental music were different than those for music with lyrics, especially with regards to collecting royalties, so most television show themes had lyrics, even if those lyrics were never used in the show.

Mostly these "stupid" lyrics were used to deny studio musicians and composers full royalties to each performance of the "motion picture."

Here's the lyrics for the original Star Trek theme, lyrics by Gene Roddenberry:

Beyond
The rim of the star-light
My love
Is wand'ring in star-flight
I know
He'll find in star-clustered reaches
Love,
Strange love a star woman teaches.
I know
His journey ends never
His star trek
Will go on forever.
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.

[Paladin]

6. That classic line from the chaplain: "He was drafted."

Fifty years ago, that got a 5-minute round of applause in Austin TX. I was there. No telling how many times I've watched that movie, since then---I never thought the TV series was anywhere nearly as good.

[CTyankee]

7. The sexism of this movie ruins it for me. I'm surprised I haven't ready anything here about that.

The early episodes of the TV series were too. Major Margaret Houlihan was not respected as the professional she was. She existed to be the butt of sexist jokes by Hawkeye and Trapper John.

the women's movement is responsible for the immensely better later episodes of this series.

The movie is hopelessly dated in its sexism, ruining whatever performance and production values existed. It is not worth watching. Out in the trash.

[AngryOldDem]

8. Some later Margaret episodes

They dropped the ”Hot Lips” nickname altogether.

Here are some eps I remember off the top of my head that were progressive not only for the early 1950s, but for late ‘70s-early ‘80s TV.

1) She thought she was in line for a promotion, but it was only if she slept with her superior officer. She threw him out of her tent.

2) She divorced her husband and resolved to become totally independent.

3) She broke up with an infantry boyfriend who expected her to become a stay-at-home wife after leaving the military. He couldn’t understand why she wanted a career.

4) She stood up to Potter when Potter wanted to evacuate the nurses.

5) She evolved from a parody of a shrewish, rigid prude into a compassionate, thoughtful human being.

I didn’t much care for the later episodes of the series (got too preachy for my taste), but I watch the show quite often. Margaret’s evolution is striking, and well done. I have the series on DVD, and a copy of the movie came with it, which I really have no desire to watch because of its datedness.

[CTyankee]

9. Yep. The earlier episodes were just garbage. Unwatchable (well maybe not for Trump)...

but I mean for "human beings."

[Paladin]

11. Alan Alda's obnoxious, over-the-top sanctimony ruined the TV series for me.

It's not worth watching. Out in the trash.

[AngryOldDem]

13. It got to be a bit much in the last couple of years.

You had crusaders Alda and Mike Farrell to thank for that. Plus, the writing wasn’t as sharp toward the end, either. They probably could have wrapped it up about two seasons earlier. They came very close to not knowing when to quit.

The series finale, as I recall (and I was a HUGE MASH fan from 1972 into college), was a big disappointment (as most are). I may go back and watch it to see if I still feel the same. I suspect I will.

[CTyankee]

14. Hubby and I were addicted. Had to watch every night (reruns). My kids the same way.

We all just loved the show so much and the characters so much we just couldn't let go. It was an addiction.

[CTyankee]

16. His "sanctimony" is debatable.

The sexism was not.

[AmyStrange]

15. Remember, the movie was based on a book by Richard Hooker...

-

"Richard Hooker is the pseudonym of Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr. who was born February 1, 1924 and died November 4, 1997. He was an American writer and surgeon. His most famous work was his novel MASH (1968). The novel was based on his own personal experiences during the Korean War at the 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. It was written in collaboration with W. C. Heinz... "

[SNIP]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82472.MASH

You can dislike the sexism (I also hate it), but it was a fact of life back during the Korean War, and besides, there were a lot of strong woman characters in the book, movie, and TV series. Margaret herself got stronger as the series went on.
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[CTyankee]

17. The women's movement in this country changed "MASH" and lots of other Hollywood films and

TV shows. Women weren't gonna put up with that shit any more. Hollywood changed as a result.

[AmyStrange]

18. It didn't change what happened in the past, but...

-

fortunately it's helping to change things now, but there's still a gender gap in both pay and other economic areas.

Just out of curiosity, does it bother you when they show war movies that have practically no woman in them? When you think about it, that's sexist too, but also a fact.

ETA: As a matter of fact, the only reason there were any woman in the show at all was because it was a MASH unit.
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[CTyankee]

19. More and more so. I see those war movies through a different lens, so to speak, now.

I don't know why they don't tell more of the valiant women's stories. Perhaps they will start doing it.

[AmyStrange]

20. You're right. They should...

-

Throughout history, women have fought in most of the wars, pretending to be men.

I’d like to see some movies about that.
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