Between exceptionally gory hospital shifts and countless rounds of martinis, wisecracking surgeons Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre make it their business to undercut the smug, moralistic pretensions of Bible-thumper Maj. Frank Burns and Army true-believer Maj. "Hot Lips" Houlihan. Abetted by such other hedonists as Duke Forrest and Painless Pole, as well as such (relative) innocents as Radar O'Reilly, Hawkeye and Trapper John drive Burns and Houlihan crazy while engaging in such additional blasphemies as taking a medical trip to Japan to play golf, staging a mock Last Supper to cure Painless's momentary erectile dysfunction, and using any means necessary to win an inter-MASH football game.
Did you know? Mike Altman, the fourteen-year-old son of director Robert Altman, wrote the lyrics to the theme song "Suicide is Painless". 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. Read More
Mike Altman, the fourteen-year-old son of director Robert Altman, wrote the lyrics to the theme song "Suicide is Painless". 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.
The film's famous theme song was intended to be the "stupidest song ever written". Robert Altman said he found it too difficult to write "dumb enough", and instead gave the task to his fourteen-year-old son Mike, who allegedly wrote the lyrics in five minutes.
According to Tom Skerritt, the dialogue was about 80% improvised. In order to create a different kind of atmosphere, Robert Altman cast some of the parts from improvisational clubs who had no previous movie experience.
The surgery scenes were almost dropped due to their graphic nature. However, two women who were visiting the set told the producers that the operating scenes should be kept in because they were what made the movie.
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