← M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H poster

M*A*S*H · reception & legacy

1970 · Robert Altman

How M*A*S*H has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A genuine sensation in 1970 — it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and was a huge box-office hit that helped kick off the New Hollywood — but it's since been overshadowed by the TV series it spawned, and modern rewatches have complicated its reputation.

What's debated

The perennial fight is whether its anarchic irreverence has curdled: fans defend it as anti-war satire at its most fearless, while others argue the humiliation of 'Hot Lips' Houlihan is plain cruelty that hasn't aged a day well.

Its footprint

Its cultural shadow is enormous mostly by proxy — the TV series it launched ran eleven years and its finale is still one of the most-watched broadcasts in American history — while the film's own theme, 'Suicide Is Painless', and the deadpan PA announcements remain instantly recognizable.

Where it stands

A New Hollywood cornerstone and the film that made Robert Altman, now the 'actually, the movie is much darker than the show' pick for cinephiles introducing friends to Altman.

★ Did you know? Stars Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould were so unnerved by Altman's loose, overlapping-dialogue methods that they tried to get him fired mid-shoot — Gould later apologized and became one of Altman's most frequent collaborators.