M*A*S*H was released 55 years ago this week. Acclaimed as one of the great comedies of the 1970s, and the film that made the career of director Robert Altman, the making of story might make you think your head is coming off… 1/46 - ThreadSky

alltherightmovies.com • 31 days ago

M*A*S*H was released 55 years ago this week. Acclaimed as one of the great comedies of the 1970s, and the film that made the career of director Robert Altman, the making of story might make you think your head is coming off…

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alltherightmovies.com•31 days ago

M*A*S*H began life as a novel, MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, written by Richard Hooker and published in 1968. Hooker was the pen name of H. Richard Hornberger, himself a former military surgeon who served in the Korean War.

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alltherightmovies.com•31 days ago

Not long after the book's publication, Hollywood came calling. Ingo Preminger, a producer at 20th Century Fox, bought the film rights. It was a shrewd and quick move, made before the novel had become a massive bestseller.

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alltherightmovies.com•31 days ago

With anti-Vietnam war sentiment growing in the US, Preminger sensed the time was right for a war satire. Preminger hired writer Ring Lardner Jr. to write the screenplay, a decades-old relationship dating back to when Preminger had been Lardner’s literary agent.

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alltherightmovies.com•31 days ago

The first choice for director was George Roy Hill, just one of an incredible fourteen filmmakers initially offered the job. Others included Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lumet, and William Friedkin. But they all turned it down.

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alltherightmovies.com•31 days ago

Robert Altman was mostly known as a TV director at the time, and far from the studio's first pick. However, having directed every other episode of the debut season of World War II TV drama Combat!, he had relevant experience and was hired by Fox.

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alltherightmovies.com•31 days ago

For the lead role of Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce Jr, Altman wanted Donald Sutherland. This was despite the studio favouring James Garner, who had served in the Korean War. Sutherland lobbied hard and Altman's persistence paid off.

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bobukraine-1.bsky.social•31 days ago

Robert Duval was great as Frank Burns. . .

feveronthefreeway.bsky.social•26 days ago

When I first saw it, fell out of theater seat laughing

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