Whenever you see great helicopter performances in 1970s and 1980s tv series and movies they were probably flown by veteran chopper pilots who learned their trade in Vietnam.
Director: I need a stupid song , I know I'll get my Stupid son to write a dumb song Son: writes a beautiful masterpiece of a song and makes more money than the director
@@2760ade Because this song was written in 1969, back when people had REAL problems. See, this kid actually grew up WITHOUT internet, texting, and streaming. He had to actually pay attention to all the shit that was happening around him. The only screen he had was a television screen, showing actual footage from the Vietnam War.
When you use the word today, please state the date in parentheses (which in this case is June 29, 2020) so that people will know which day that you are referring to.
If you are going to quote Henry Blake here is what he said "there are certain rules about war and rule one is young men die and rule two doctors can't change rule number one."
@@kimiisungstartedthekoreanw2771 Is that a Bad Thing. I think the Movie and to a lesser Extent- Although ostensibly about the Korean War, the Movie and TV Series were really about Vietnam. Only the Most Right Wing Person think that the Vietnam War was Right. Every Veteran I talk to about Vietnam thought it was Bad. Since there are a lot of Reboots now of older TV Series- They could do a Reboot of MASH, but it would be set either in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. I think they will probably never make it, because the Ruling Elite wouldn't like that.
@@kimiisungstartedthekoreanw2771 The book ( the actual source material ) was actually written by a Republican though. And in a later sequel Hawkeye mentions "beating up liberals". Just a little fun fact.
Anyone ever read the Book MASH, yes there was a book written by Dr. Richard Hooker who was a surgeon for the 8055th MASH in Korea (the 4077 is based on the 8055th)
I never read the Book, Have you? I read an Interview with Dr. Hooker and he seemed like he was a pretty Conservative, Hawkish Guy. One Book I did read that was made into a Famous and its Sequel was The Grauduate and its Sequel by the author of the Book was called- HomeSchool.
@@PeeboTyson_ I never read the Book altough I did learn a few years ago The MOvie was based upon the Book. Did you enjoy the book PeeboTyson. The Movie was written by Ring Lardner Jr who I think had been blacklisted in the 1950s. I haven't seen the MOvie in a few years, but I thought the Movie and maye even more the TV Series had a very Left-Wing, anti-War bent. It also was more speaking about Vietnam than about Korea.
@@HoldenNY22 Yes, I read the book. I enjoyed it very much. I never got to read any of the sequels though I want to. The last few were written by other authors but i understand the "beating up liberals" one was from one Hooker wrote himself, so Hawkeye's hatred ( or at least annoyance ) of liberals is "canon".
What an incredible opening scene, an inbound evac, a procession of Bell 47's in tandem, sedated bodies, blood dripping off of a dangling arm, touchdown to the manhandling of the litters, to triage... followed by an urgent dust off back to the FOB, and do it all over again... just like the way it really was, gave me goose bumps.
Yes she was!! She was the original Hot Lips Houlihan!! Two years before Loretta Swit inherited the role in the long running TV show!!! R.I.P. Sally Kellerman the best respected actress in the world you are now in movie and TV heaven 👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈💐💐💐💐💐💐👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼
This is one of those songs that really can get to you. Especially the way Altman did it in the movie. I recall in the mid 1980’s, going to rent this movie (on VHS) just to record this song on cassette so I would have a copy. I listened to it over and over until the tape broke.
I would agree. The full experience would be having both the movie and the series in ur collection. I have found u couldn't appreciate the series without appreciating the movie first. U couldn't appreciate the instrumental version of the theme with first the vocal version
@@kma5699 Exactly. He wouldn't. The father made up that story about his son making "a million dollars" in royalties, and other people embellished on top of his embellishments.
I tried watching the tv show for a couple of episodes and gave up. It was boring with no real opposition as in the film. The jokes were usually pretty predictable.
I happened to be in Sweden in 1976 and the TV series was airing on one of the channels. It was a treat for the Americans at our school to get 22 minutes of American English! The Swedish students always asked why the music was so sad. Since this was, for us, a rerun season, the one ending in Col. Blake's death, all we could say was, "Just keep watching."
Film dates 14 April - 11 June 1969, released in 1970 during the height of the Vietnam war. Robert Altman's 14 year old son wrote the lyrics. While Altman got $75,000 for directing his son made millions in royalties. 😎
What an emotional 180. From one of the most grim images of modern war to be imagined: dying soldiers harnessed to the skids of medical evac choppers along with a song glorifying the freeing nature of suicide right into a snappy dialogue skit that's not only funny but has the best punchline in the movie. "I gave everything to Radar!" No first three minutes of a film is like it. Though Lord of War comes close.
Riding in choppers out in the bush is exciting. Noise and lots of wind. It's like being in your own movie as that is what i felt flying over I Corps in 1969. What a rush to be a Marine in country then...
"The sword of time will pierce our skin, it doesn't hurt when it begins, but as it works its' way on in, the pain grows stronger, watch it grin." "The game of life is hard to play, I'm gonna lose it any way, The losing card I'll someday lay, so this is all I have to say" This is really Shakespeare qualify writing, and done by a 14 year old. When I was 14 I couldn't even write a grocery list !
Shakespeare doesn’t do this type of writing he’s mainly a playwright and the few sonnets that he did write were more in the descriptive nature. Also the rhymes were a bit forced in this song but it’s pretty good for a 14 year old.
When I took aircraft mechanics through a 2 year high-school, trade and tech program, the first helicopter we worked on is the ones in the MASH opening.. I don't remember the model number but I believe it was one of the "Bell" company ones. Thanks for posting.
They did? Before the pilot or later during the season or when? (Sorry, I'm too young to be familiar with the series, also raised in a post-Communist country where it wouldn't even be allowed to be on screen back when it was released in the States.)
While I was a kid in the late 90s my dad would watch the t.v. series. As an adult I started watching it again on ME t.v. about 6 years ago. When I finally rented the movie, I recognized those first few guitar chords. Then I heard lyrics...
The director’s son wrote the lyrics in about 15 minutes and still gets paid to this day because MASH tv show uses the theme even without the lyrics he still gets paid! Not bad for 15 minutes work!
I honestly think that Harry Morgan and his character, Col. Sherman Potter, should have been part of the series from the beginning. Sherman was a career Army officer, whereas his predecessor, Henry Blake, was more like a civilian in uniform.
G. Wood would reappear as Gen. Hammond in about two or three of the early episodes of MASH, including the pilot episode. The character did not last long in the series and other book/movie characters like Ho-Jon, Spearchucker and Ugly John would be gradually phased out as the first season progressed. Duke Forrest only got referred to in passing in one episode by Trapper as "the brain surgeon who fell down a lot". Neither the Painless Pole or Vollmer was ever seen or referred to in the series. There were several book characters who didn't even make it into the movie.
@@harrisoncaine6711 I contend this is bullshit, Altman just didn't want to take responsibility for a song that can be viewed as encouraging suicide. No one can blame a 14 year old for malicious intent !
I saw this movie when it came out - it's the most damning condemnation of war I've ever seen - the introduction brought tears to my eyes. It seems most of the critics never got the point of the film - they condemned it for laughing at war! They were so thick they never realised that when situations are so intolerable you have to laugh to keep sane!
40 years ago here in early 2023, the final ever TV show of MASH arrived on CBS aired. At that the time the most watched TV show in American history of just over 100 Million.
The TV show Trapper John MD was said to be a spin-off of this movie. The actor who played the title character, Pernell Roberts, looked more like an older version of Elliott Gould, who played the character in the movie, than Wayne Rogers, who played the character in the MASH TV show.
So dramatic to see the helicopters flying in. The portrayal of the doctors and nurses and orderlies skill and compassion as they take the patients to the OR is masterfully done.
Interesting (to me) observation: this version of the song is slightly different than the version of the recording on the soundtrack album - additional strings. The version on the album only features 2 string instruments (I'm not sure if it's violin & viola, violin & cello, or viola and cello. I'm too long out of music school to discern that)... anyway, there's a few points where the version used in the film here adds a small orchestral string section. It's the same exact recording otherwise, not a different take. The extra strings are an overdub. A subtle difference (unless you've been listening to the track obsessively, as I have lately), but not a bad choice for the opening of a film. I'm curious why the album version was pared down, but both work just fine.
Gene Reynolds, co-creator of M*A*S*H* and Lou Grant, passes away at the age of 96 Reynolds passed at the age of 96 on Monday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank He co-created M*A*S*H* with Larry Gelbart, and he also created other socially-conscious shows such as Lou Grant and Room 222, but he was best known as a director Reynolds was born April 4, 1923 in Cleveland, and raised in Detroit until his family relocated to Los Angeles in 1934, where he started his career as a child actor He made his acting debut in the 1934 Laurel & Hardy film March of the Wooden Soldiers and he was contracted to MGM from 1937 to 1940 He served in the Army during World War II, and when he returned home, he continued acting, in shows like Green Acres and Dragnet and various movies, but he also started writing
Robert Altman's son Mike wrote the lyrics to the song. The elder Altman later quipped that his son earned far more in royalties from the song than he did for actually directing the movie. The truly ironic thing about this is the royalties were, of course, generated from the song's use as the theme for the TV series, even though an instrumental version was used. (A TV theme song that repeatedly mentioned suicide wouldn't have gone over well in 1971.)
I never, ever believed that Robert Altman's 14 year old son wrote these lyrics. A 14 year old boy, wrote THESE lyrics, and "in five minutes" - ?! Bull. Do these lyrics REMOTELY sound like they would come from a 14 year old? If my 14 year old son was writing lyrics about suicide being painless, his ass would go straight into therapy. Plus, what's he written since this? These were ghost written. This was all about keeping the song copyright in the family. "My son made more money than I made directing the movie." 14 year old kids are NOT handed a million dollars - their parents are handed the money.
who would have thought this would work so well.. if they made this now it would just be a hendrix song and probably be sung by a 20 year old, and it's not just the lyrics that are great but the images on the screen/cinematography, the harmony, the guitar really nails it, and when the intro starts you see a chopper but then your eyes are drawn to the body strapped to it.. it's really something, people trying to stay alive as long as possible while a song about how cutting your life short ain't all bad..haha I mean if I'm suicidal then this is gonna make me think about those who WISH they had another chance to live, it's going to make me appreciate the heartbeat and legs and arms I still have, well let's hope it did that for a lot of people
my God this song's lyrics and beautiful music are so touching! my younger brother "OD'd back in 2000, just one year after our dear Mother passed...some harsh times
So was I. I remember first seeing this movie on FX about 15 years ago, and when I first heard the opening guitar notes, I thought, "oh, FX is airing M*A*S*H?" expecting the TV show. I was curious as to why the theme song was about suicide.
Per: www.legacy.com Johnny Mandel, an Oscar and Grammy winning songwriter, passed away at the age of 94 on June 29th, 2020... Mandel won an Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' in 1965 for “The Shadow of Your Smile,” the theme song to “The Sandpiper"... He also won a Grammy Award for 'Song of the Year' for his composition. In 1970, he composed the theme song to the movie “M*A*S*H,” which was again used as an instrumental version in the TV series inspired by the movie... Mandel wrote the scores to films including “The Americanization of Emily,” “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” and “Caddyshack.” Also an arranger, he won Grammy Awards for his arrangements of Quincy Jones’ song “Velas” and for Natalie Cole’s (1950 - 2015) 1991 duet with her late father, Nat King Cole (1919 - 1965), “Unforgettable"... May he R.I.P.
Was crushed to learn he passed. Still, 94 is a good run, and he certainly had a magnificent career to look back on at the end. If he wasn't completely satisfied with his legacy, he was nuts. RIP.
and the next scene was-Col. Blake:"RADAR?" Radar: "YES SIR!" Blake: (with Radar talking at the same time) "BLEH-BLEH-BLEH-BLEH! MOVE 2 SURGEONS FROM THE NIGHT SHIFT TO THE DAY SHIFT, CALL GEN. HAMMOND IN SEOUL AND ASK HIM WHERE THOSE 2 NEW SURGEONS ARE-WE'RE SURE GONNA NEED THEM!" Radar"...SURE GONNA NEED THEM! " (turns and runs off. Sgt. Volmer runs up: "YES SIR?" Blake: "I GAVE EVERYTHING TO RADAR!" Volmmer"Oh..." (turns around)
I remember last summer as my mother was entering her final weeks and days prior to her passing last 25 August I had the opportunity to watch a “MASH” marathon on Sundance Channel as well as see the “MASH” movie which I’d seen MANY times but considering what I was going through with my mother’s passing watching “MASH” brought me a LOT of comfort.
Loved this TV series and the hautingly beautiful music, though didnt always understand the humour. At tje time however didnt realise it was about the Vietnamese War. 😢
Oh man, I was a teenager in the 80s before I even knew that there was a movie and a BOOK??????????? I remember renting the movie in the 80s and just being blown away. Awesome book, I've read it maybe 5 times.
No he's right, the movie became much more famous despite the nominations the movie received. But Spencer is also right, the movie is superior to the show.
0:32--In its obituary for Sally Kellerman in 2022, The New York Times spelled the name of the movie without the asterisks--that is, "MASH." Yet in a brief reference to Loretta Swit and the television series in the obit, the Times added the asterisks--"M*A*S*H." Roger Bowen, who played Henry Blake in the film, and McLean Stevenson, who assumed the role on the series, both died the same week in 1996.
When I was a kid, I saw a high school put on the MASH play; it shockingly to me, as a child,not a comedy I realized that, when the opening song (obviously with lyrics) was sung
Hear a good question a 14 year old boy wrote this witch is so true think about what a great song he done it’s 2023 do you think that people today could write something like this now and this has stand the best of all time think about it
I love this sad meaningful song I've just learned now it was a boy at the tender age of 14 who graced the world with this beautiful contribution to the world of pure talent in song and music,sorry to add this part but it's what I'm enjoying now as I say adios to you all ❤❤❤
this song makes me think of my comrades at police academy . soldiering of any kind builds a bond that lasts a life time. and now when I train karate I feel the same . life is tough and changes but we have a choice . and thats the greatest gift not only mash gave people but we have . choice is everything to live how we please!
Would have loved if they had used this for the TV show... But, you don't get to play that on broadcast television, too powerful and with so much heart and meaning.
Gary Burghoff reprised the role of Radar O'Reilly on M*A*S*H for 7 of the show's 11 seasons and left by the 5th episode of the 8th season. G. Wood, who appeared in this movie, appeared in the pilot episode of M*A*S*H.
If you are going to quote Henry Blake here is what he said "Look all I know is what they taught me in command school, there are certain rule about war and rule one is young men die and rule two doctors can't chage rule one."
The song is legendary, the Altman classic is damn good, but the series is a award winning epic! #Hawkeye btw Idk Hammer's first movie was this, i'm referring to Fred Williamson.
This was the first R-rated movie I ever saw my mom and dad took me when I was about 11:00 or 12:00 and just fell in love with it one of the best movie theme songs ever written and the whole visual sequence of that song with the two helicopters if you watch them they're almost doing kind of dance very very grateful the book is closer to the movie than it is to the TV show and a very good book it is
Look closely @ the football game, you can see automobiles passing in the background as the game was filmed in Griffith Park in LA. Plus in the early days of the TV show, you can pick out power lines on top of the mountains. RIP Johnny Mandel, passed away a few days ago.
This song has been in my life for a long while, helped me in situations when needed, shows me there may be hope yet, and whilst it is, I don't need to take suicide as a resort M*A*S*H* (Hopefully I don't bold/italicize some letters from the Asterisk in MASH) But, MASH has also been apart of my life for a while, one of the greatest biggest shows and probably most seen I've watched It's great, sad, funny at times, and shows the side of war people are afraid of, there's a lot to it I didn't name and didn't really say, but it is great and I do recommended the series to anyone new
The real Hawkeye Pierce H. Richard Hornberger, 73, Surgeon Behind 'M*A*S*H' By LAWRIE MIFFLINNOV. 7, 1997 H. Richard Hornberger, a surgeon who wrote the novel ''M*A*S*H,'' the inspiration for the film and long-running television series of the same name, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Portland, Me. He was 73. The cause was leukemia, said his son William. Dr. Hornberger spent most of his life as a thoracic surgeon in small towns on the Maine coast, but his experiences as a captain in the Army Medical Corps during the Korean War led him to write three novels after returning from combat. He worked for 12 years on the first, ''M*A*S*H,'' which was rejected by many publishers, his son said, before William Morrow issued the book in 1968. Rejection stopped there. The 1970 movie, directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., was the third-highest grossing film that year and spawned the CBS series, which ran from 1972 until 1983 and was one of the most popular shows in television history. Dr. Hornberger modeled the character of Capt. Benjamin Franklin (Hawkeye) Pierce after himself, his son said. Partly for that reason, he disliked the television series and almost never watched it. ''He liked the movie because he thought it followed his original intent very closely,'' William Hornberger said. ''But my father was a political conservative, and he did not like the liberal tendencies that Alan Alda portrayed Hawkeye Pierce as having.''
Was it a good Book. I saw some interview a few years ago that the Author of the Book was a Conservaitve. I was surprised by this. I don't remember the Movie that Well. I think it was a little Meaner than the TV Series. I know the TV Series has a very Left-Wing Anti-War Bias which I think is a good thing. I think although the Movie and TV SEries are both Set in Korea, they are really about Vietnam.
![M*A*S*H Theme ~ Instrumental [Extended] (Suicide Is Painless)](/img/1.gif)
Whenever you see great helicopter performances in 1970s and 1980s tv series and movies
they were probably flown by veteran chopper pilots who learned their trade in Vietnam.
I bet alot few flew in Korea also. Most likely a few ww2 pilots as well.
@@DoubleD56 There weren't a lot of helicopters in WW2. It was in Korea where they were first used in any scale.
@James_Knott right in just saying some of those pilot may have been ww2 between either flying airplanes or in some other sort of aviation roll also.
My Father was an aircraft mechanic in Korea.
@@MichaelJ7777I thank your Dad for his service to our country. 🇺🇸
Director: I need a stupid song , I know I'll get my Stupid son to write a dumb song
Son: writes a beautiful masterpiece of a song and makes more money than the director
Creativity is play, there is no hubris in this song, just the sincerity and lightness of a 14 year old meditating on life
Director: D'oh!
Never believed that a 14 wrote this, you need to be older and more jaded to write something this pessimistic about life!
@@2760ade Because this song was written in 1969, back when people had REAL problems. See, this kid actually grew up WITHOUT internet, texting, and streaming. He had to actually pay attention to all the shit that was happening around him. The only screen he had was a television screen, showing actual footage from the Vietnam War.
@@ExplorerDS6789 lmao shut up boomer
So sad to hear about the loss of Johnny Mandel today, June 29, 2020, R.I.P to a brilliant Composer!!!!
This comment was how I found out. Just had the song in my head due to a recent event in my life. (Nothing relating to actual suicide or depression.)
I didn't know. Out of all the people we've lost this year losing him is the one I regret missing.
Yes
Live long prosper
Johnny Mandel
When you use the word today, please state the date in parentheses (which in this case is June 29, 2020) so that people will know which day that you are referring to.
Great song
If you are going to quote Henry Blake here is what he said "there are certain rules about war and rule one is young men die and rule two doctors can't change rule number one."
Rob Mecklin The TV show and movie were both bad left-wing projects.
And the less said about AfterMASH, the better.
@@kimiisungstartedthekoreanw2771 Is that a Bad Thing. I think the Movie and to a lesser Extent- Although ostensibly about the Korean War, the Movie and TV Series were really about Vietnam. Only the Most Right Wing Person think that the Vietnam War was Right. Every Veteran I talk to about Vietnam thought it was Bad.
Since there are a lot of Reboots now of older TV Series- They could do a Reboot of MASH, but it would be set either in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. I think they will probably never make it, because the Ruling Elite wouldn't like that.
@@kimiisungstartedthekoreanw2771 The book ( the actual source material ) was actually written by a Republican though. And in a later sequel Hawkeye mentions "beating up liberals". Just a little fun fact.
@@PeeboTyson Cool! :D
"War isn't hell. War is war and hell is hell, and of the two war is worse!"
--Hawkeye.
How do you figure Hawkeye?
@@Fez4277 "Only sinners go to hell. Everyone goes to war." Paraphrased
Must of missed that scene in the avengers
RubenLopezL Pierce not Barton.
@@RubenLopezL M*A*S*H not Marvel
Robert Altman's opening sequence masterfully sets up the entire movie. It's brutal, absurd, and deliberate. Like war itself.
BLOODY MURDER
War is stupid I’m a former soldier and I can say that
Follow Hawkeye, Trapper, Duke, Dago Red, Radar, Hot Lips, Painless, Dish and Staff Sergeant Vollmer as they put our boys back together again.
Anyone ever read the Book MASH, yes there was a book written by Dr. Richard Hooker who was a surgeon for the 8055th MASH in Korea (the 4077 is based on the 8055th)
I never read the Book, Have you? I read an Interview with Dr. Hooker and he seemed like he was a pretty Conservative, Hawkish Guy.
One Book I did read that was made into a Famous and its Sequel was The Grauduate and its Sequel by the author of the Book was called- HomeSchool.
@@HoldenNY22 Yes, he was a Republican and in a later book he wrote, a sequel to MASH, Hawkeye mentions "beating up liberals".
@@PeeboTyson_ I never read the Book altough I did learn a few years ago The MOvie was based upon the Book. Did you enjoy the book PeeboTyson.
The Movie was written by Ring Lardner Jr who I think had been blacklisted in the 1950s. I haven't seen the MOvie in a few years, but I thought the Movie and maye even more the TV Series had a very Left-Wing, anti-War bent. It also was more speaking about Vietnam than about Korea.
@@HoldenNY22 Yes, I read the book. I enjoyed it very much. I never got to read any of the sequels though I want to. The last few were written by other authors but i understand the "beating up liberals" one was from one Hooker wrote himself, so Hawkeye's hatred ( or at least annoyance ) of liberals is "canon".
@@PeeboTyson Was the Book a Very Right Wing, Pro-War, Kill the Commies Book? It had Hawkeye, but did it also have Trapper JOhn, Radar, etc? Thanks
My Dad was in this war.
I cry every time I hear this song.
Mine was too. He made it back. My mom's brother was killed in Nam.
My uncle was but he came home. Sorry about your Dad.
@@shawnmichaelduncan5951 May he rest in peace Shawn.
Bro your dad was on mash?
@@TheDrawesome2 Bro that's out of pocket.
RIP Johnny Mandel. One of the BEST theme songs ever. EVER.
Copy that.
Yeah the directors brat didn't really write this. Mandel really did.
What an incredible opening scene, an inbound evac, a procession of Bell 47's in tandem, sedated bodies, blood dripping off of a dangling arm, touchdown to the manhandling of the litters, to triage... followed by an urgent dust off back to the FOB, and do it all over again... just like the way it really was, gave me goose bumps.
R.I.P. Donald Sutherland who today went to play on the greatest stage there is my prays are with your family 😢
Gone but never forgotten. Rest in peace Sally Kellerman 1937-2022
Yes she was!! She was the original Hot Lips Houlihan!! Two years before Loretta Swit inherited the role in the long running TV show!!! R.I.P. Sally Kellerman the best respected actress in the world you are now in movie and TV heaven 👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈💐💐💐💐💐💐👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼👼🏼
@@shaheedturner3652 Rodney Dangerfield's English professor too.
This is one of those songs that really can get to you. Especially the way Altman did it in the movie. I recall in the mid 1980’s, going to rent this movie (on VHS) just to record this song on cassette so I would have a copy. I listened to it over and over until the tape broke.
I love this song, especially when the violins kick in at 1:22 as the helicopter takes off again. Masterful movie.
🎻
the fact that a fourteen year old boy wrote this amazes me
Just the lyrics. His dad wrote the melody.
@@johne7345 Johnny Mandel did the melody
@@majorlagg9321 Yes -- I realized that after I posted. Thank you for the correction.
He also was paid more money for his writing credit than his dad made for directing the movie.
@@ec1628 Did the 14 year old Altman son make more than the actual composer of the song Mandel? That's what I really want to know.
A masterpiece of a song leading into a masterpiece of a film that leads to THE masterpiece of TV. I love M*A*S*H
I would agree. The full experience would be having both the movie and the series in ur collection. I have found u couldn't appreciate the series without appreciating the movie first. U couldn't appreciate the instrumental version of the theme with first the vocal version
Look up, "hyperbole."
I just had a thought. Why would the son be receiving royalties for the song once it became instrumental and no vocals at all?
@@kma5699 Exactly. He wouldn't. The father made up that story about his son making "a million dollars" in royalties, and other people embellished on top of his embellishments.
I tried watching the tv show for a couple of episodes and gave up. It was boring with no real opposition as in the film. The jokes were usually pretty predictable.
I happened to be in Sweden in 1976 and the TV series was airing on one of the channels. It was a treat for the Americans at our school to get 22 minutes of American English! The Swedish students always asked why the music was so sad. Since this was, for us, a rerun season, the one ending in Col. Blake's death, all we could say was, "Just keep watching."
What was their reaction to Blake's death?
It was a comic drama that’s for sure. I remember the show more than the movie seeing I was not born till 1975.
Film dates 14 April - 11 June 1969, released in 1970 during the height of the Vietnam war. Robert Altman's 14 year old son wrote the lyrics. While Altman got $75,000 for directing his son made millions in royalties. 😎
What an emotional 180. From one of the most grim images of modern war to be imagined: dying soldiers harnessed to the skids of medical evac choppers along with a song glorifying the freeing nature of suicide right into a snappy dialogue skit that's not only funny but has the best punchline in the movie. "I gave everything to Radar!"
No first three minutes of a film is like it. Though Lord of War comes close.
the soldiers aren't quite harnessed to the choppers landing skids lol
Riding in choppers out in the bush is exciting. Noise and lots of wind. It's like being in your own movie as that is what i felt flying over I Corps in 1969. What a rush to be a Marine in country then...
Watched this 5 times in a row, genuinely beautiful and haunting filmmaking
"The sword of time will pierce our skin, it doesn't hurt when it begins, but as it works its' way on in, the pain grows stronger, watch it grin." "The game of life is hard to play, I'm gonna lose it any way, The losing card I'll someday lay, so this is all I have to say" This is really Shakespeare qualify writing, and done by a 14 year old. When I was 14 I couldn't even write a grocery list !
Shakespeare doesn’t do this type of writing he’s mainly a playwright and the few sonnets that he did write were more in the descriptive nature. Also the rhymes were a bit forced in this song but it’s pretty good for a 14 year old.
Yeah, and to think, his dad told him to make it sound like the worst song ever written.
Indeed!
@@imadeanaccounttocomment7800 ~ For 14, or 64, it was exceptional.
Wach it grin
As a veteran it's very emotional seeing the medvac transporting and dropping off the wounded then taking off to pickup more casualties. 😞😔😢🥺😢
Thank you for serving our country God bless you
That's one of my favorite show on television. All the actors are great. I have a great laugh from all of them. Great song. Blessings!
"If you don't have them arrested by the MP's, I'm going to resign my goddamn commission!"
"Well, goddamn, Houlihan, resign your goddamn commission!"
Col. Blake gave zero fucks.
😭 "My commission!"
"More wine, dear?"
We then got the TV. version of Blake that was spineless.@@cosmonautchimp3649
When I took aircraft mechanics through a 2 year high-school, trade and tech program, the first helicopter we worked on is the ones in the MASH opening.. I don't remember the model number but I believe it was one of the "Bell" company ones. Thanks for posting.
bell 47. the military called it the OH-13 i think.
Came here because Kobe Bryant last fly was over those mountains. RIP
That is so right.
Deep song!! No wonder they changed the theme song to an instrumental!!! Love M.A.S.H.! 💘
They did? Before the pilot or later during the season or when? (Sorry, I'm too young to be familiar with the series, also raised in a post-Communist country where it wouldn't even be allowed to be on screen back when it was released in the States.)
@martinledermann1862 The lyrics were never used on television. Executives would be terrified of broadcasting them.
@@Benjiesbeenbetter. Damn, what a pity (though was to be expected I guess)
While I was a kid in the late 90s my dad would watch the t.v. series. As an adult I started watching it again on ME t.v. about 6 years ago. When I finally rented the movie, I recognized those first few guitar chords. Then I heard lyrics...
Written by a 14-year-old boy. He eventually made more money from this song than his father did directing the film.
@@CorsetGrace And justly so in my opinion! :D
Haha, I had no idea about the song title or lyrics! I just liked the instrumental. Now the can of worms is opened
The director’s son wrote the lyrics in about 15 minutes and still gets paid to this day because MASH tv show uses the theme even without the lyrics he still gets paid! Not bad for 15 minutes work!
Yep. $2,000,000+ and counting. He’s made $40,000 a year for 50 years. Five minutes writing and had he chose to he could’ve retired at 14.
I honestly think that Harry Morgan and his character, Col. Sherman Potter, should have been part of the series from the beginning. Sherman was a career Army officer, whereas his predecessor, Henry Blake, was more like a civilian in uniform.
What a great opening
The actor G. Wood,who was introduced in the M*A*S*H* movie.appeared in the pilot episode of the series of the same name in 1972.
G. Wood would reappear as Gen. Hammond in about two or three of the early episodes of MASH, including the pilot episode. The character did not last long in the series and other book/movie characters like Ho-Jon, Spearchucker and Ugly John would be gradually phased out as the first season progressed. Duke Forrest only got referred to in passing in one episode by Trapper as "the brain surgeon who fell down a lot". Neither the Painless Pole or Vollmer was ever seen or referred to in the series. There were several book characters who didn't even make it into the movie.
As were Speakchucker Jones and Radar who were in the film played by the same actors as in the tv show
@@scottknode898 Spearchucker in the tv series was Corporal Judson in the movie
It's still jarring to see Ugly John (John Orchard) as one of the burned, incoherent and half-dead survivors at Ice Station Zebra.
RIP Sally Kellerman, her ideas were the original inspiration for "Hot Lips".
This is the Saddest Songs ever Made.
And yet a 14 year old made it
He made more for his writing credit than is dad made directing the movie.
@@harrisoncaine6711 I contend this is bullshit, Altman just didn't want to take responsibility for a song that can be viewed as encouraging suicide. No one can blame a 14 year old for malicious intent !
@@philippecuenoud2949 ?
@@harrisoncaine6711 !
My dad raised me on mash for over 30 years I have loved mash and I always will the movie and the TV show I was watching since I was 7 back in 1992
I saw this movie when it came out - it's the most damning condemnation of war I've ever seen - the introduction brought tears to my eyes. It seems most of the critics never got the point of the film - they condemned it for laughing at war! They were so thick they never realised that when situations are so intolerable you have to laugh to keep sane!
I always thought it was one saddest songs I have ever heard.
Insanity in the service of health...
Biden should watch it before he starts WWlll.
40 years ago here in early 2023, the final ever TV show of MASH arrived on CBS aired. At that the time the most watched TV show in American history of just over 100 Million.
The TV show Trapper John MD was said to be a spin-off of this movie. The actor who played the title character, Pernell Roberts, looked more like an older version of Elliott Gould, who played the character in the movie, than Wayne Rogers, who played the character in the MASH TV show.
I was amazed to find out a 14-year-old boy wrote the lyrics. Talented.
After having 4 surgeries related to Crohn’s disease. 3 of them life or death emergencies, this song speaks to me.
We have to salute those who spent so much energy to save those who served too.
So dramatic to see the helicopters flying in. The portrayal of the doctors and nurses and orderlies skill and compassion as they take the patients to the OR is masterfully done.
Interesting (to me) observation: this version of the song is slightly different than the version of the recording on the soundtrack album - additional strings. The version on the album only features 2 string instruments (I'm not sure if it's violin & viola, violin & cello, or viola and cello. I'm too long out of music school to discern that)... anyway, there's a few points where the version used in the film here adds a small orchestral string section. It's the same exact recording otherwise, not a different take. The extra strings are an overdub.
A subtle difference (unless you've been listening to the track obsessively, as I have lately), but not a bad choice for the opening of a film. I'm curious why the album version was pared down, but both work just fine.
The album version uses drums also.
I had my first major surgery 2 days ago and before being rolled into the OR and put under I was singing this in the waiting area.
🤣😅😅
Gene Reynolds, co-creator of M*A*S*H* and Lou Grant, passes away at the age of 96
Reynolds passed at the age of 96 on Monday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank
He co-created M*A*S*H* with Larry Gelbart, and he also created other socially-conscious shows such as Lou Grant and Room 222, but he was best known as a director
Reynolds was born April 4, 1923 in Cleveland, and raised in Detroit until his family relocated to Los Angeles in 1934, where he started his career as a child actor
He made his acting debut in the 1934 Laurel & Hardy film March of the Wooden Soldiers and he was contracted to MGM from 1937 to 1940
He served in the Army during World War II, and when he returned home, he continued acting, in shows like Green Acres and Dragnet and various movies, but he also started writing
The song should have been played at the final episode of the tv hit series mash ,it would have made it special
I totally agree
Yes and amen
It would had been an nice callback to the film at least if they used the lyrics.
Robert Altman's son Mike wrote the lyrics to the song. The elder Altman later quipped that his son earned far more in royalties from the song than he did for actually directing the movie. The truly ironic thing about this is the royalties were, of course, generated from the song's use as the theme for the TV series, even though an instrumental version was used. (A TV theme song that repeatedly mentioned suicide wouldn't have gone over well in 1971.)
I never, ever believed that Robert Altman's 14 year old son wrote these lyrics. A 14 year old boy, wrote THESE lyrics, and "in five minutes" - ?! Bull. Do these lyrics REMOTELY sound like they would come from a 14 year old? If my 14 year old son was writing lyrics about suicide being painless, his ass would go straight into therapy. Plus, what's he written since this? These were ghost written.
This was all about keeping the song copyright in the family. "My son made more money than I made directing the movie." 14 year old kids are NOT handed a million dollars - their parents are handed the money.
@@rongermanjr You're Right. I wouldn't believe anything that Damn Jew Jesus Christ said.
@@HoldenNY22 hey don’t call my brother Jesus Christ a damn Jew
I cried when I saw Radar's teddy bear in Hawkeye's cot after Radar went home.
That was fake MASH.
Matthew Taylor same here
I couldn't stop crying ☹️. I loved Radar
@@porflepopnecker4376 imagine gatekeeping MASH haha.
May Radar’s teddy bear stand for all those who fight a war as boys and go home as men.
In the buy or rent ad, they list the film as being released in 1966, but the film was released in 1970.
who would have thought this would work so well.. if they made this now it would just be a hendrix song and probably be sung by a 20 year old, and it's not just the lyrics that are great but the images on the screen/cinematography, the harmony, the guitar really nails it, and when the intro starts you see a chopper but then your eyes are drawn to the body strapped to it..
it's really something, people trying to stay alive as long as possible while a song about how cutting your life short ain't all bad..haha I mean if I'm suicidal then this is gonna make me think about those who WISH they had another chance to live, it's going to make me appreciate the heartbeat and legs and arms I still have, well let's hope it did that for a lot of people
this movie had its TV premiere on CBS in 1974, 2 years after the network began airing the sitcom version
my God this song's lyrics and beautiful music are so touching! my younger brother "OD'd back in 2000, just one year after our dear Mother passed...some harsh times
Hi Buddy. I feel for you. I have the bad times at the mo too.Cheers my friend
It's funny you refer to the lyrics as beautiful when the writer was told to make them "intentionally stupid".
My sincere sympathy for your loss.
I’m 21 but I’m so glad I’ve watched this show and experience this song both are beautiful and show the true horrors and sadness that comes with war
First learned it was a movie in July 1982. _Very_ surprised to learn the theme had lyrics!
They could not use the songs lyrics for the tv show, so they used the instrumental version for the tv show.
So was I. I remember first seeing this movie on FX about 15 years ago, and when I first heard the opening guitar notes, I thought, "oh, FX is airing M*A*S*H?" expecting the TV show. I was curious as to why the theme song was about suicide.
I think it works better as an instrumental theme.
What a way to start a scene. I love it.
First movie to ever drop the F bomb, if im correct.
The cost of freedom is high. Least we forget
You are so right and this was one of kind
@@jerrypaugh3133 Finest Kind...
You are 100% correct
Painless: "All right, Bub, your fuckin' head is coming right off..."
This movie made me more interested in the TV show than I was previously. What a great Altman film.
Love how the word "pierce" is part of the lyrics at 1:19...
Per: www.legacy.com
Johnny Mandel, an Oscar and Grammy winning songwriter, passed away at the age of 94 on June 29th, 2020...
Mandel won an Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' in 1965 for “The Shadow of Your Smile,” the theme song to “The Sandpiper"...
He also won a Grammy Award for 'Song of the Year' for his composition. In 1970, he composed the theme song to the movie “M*A*S*H,” which was again used as an instrumental version in the TV series inspired by the movie...
Mandel wrote the scores to films including “The Americanization of Emily,” “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” and “Caddyshack.” Also an arranger, he won Grammy Awards for his arrangements of Quincy Jones’ song “Velas” and for Natalie Cole’s (1950 - 2015) 1991 duet with her late father, Nat King Cole (1919 - 1965), “Unforgettable"...
May he R.I.P.
Was crushed to learn he passed. Still, 94 is a good run, and he certainly had a magnificent career to look back on at the end. If he wasn't completely satisfied with his legacy, he was nuts. RIP.
Such a haunting song.
and the next scene was-Col. Blake:"RADAR?" Radar: "YES SIR!" Blake: (with Radar talking at the same time) "BLEH-BLEH-BLEH-BLEH! MOVE 2 SURGEONS FROM THE NIGHT SHIFT TO THE DAY SHIFT, CALL GEN. HAMMOND IN SEOUL AND ASK HIM WHERE THOSE 2 NEW SURGEONS ARE-WE'RE SURE GONNA NEED THEM!" Radar"...SURE GONNA NEED THEM! " (turns and runs off. Sgt. Volmer runs up: "YES SIR?" Blake: "I GAVE EVERYTHING TO RADAR!" Volmmer"Oh..." (turns around)
And with this movie began an era of television greatness!
I remember last summer as my mother was entering her final weeks and days prior to her passing last 25 August I had the opportunity to watch a “MASH” marathon on Sundance Channel as well as see the “MASH” movie which I’d seen MANY times but considering what I was going through with my mother’s passing watching “MASH” brought me a LOT of comfort.
so sorry for your loss and bless your heart Lauren. I hope you are OK now.
@@ihl8608 Thank you for your concern my friend. PLEASE pray for my friends who have relatives that are in TERRIBLE shape health wise. God bless.
We watched M*A*S*H on TV a lot. Yup that's our favorite show
The TV show is quite different from the movie. I'd recommend watching it, if you can.
Loved this TV series and the hautingly beautiful music, though didnt always understand the humour. At tje time however didnt realise it was about the Vietnamese War. 😢
I wish that the movie got just as much attention as the show does
Oh man, I was a teenager in the 80s before I even knew that there was a movie and a BOOK??????????? I remember renting the movie in the 80s and just being blown away. Awesome book, I've read it maybe 5 times.
The movie is soooooo much better than the TV series.
DomozoveoGZ The movie got plenty of attention, including multiple Oscar nominations and one Oscar. You just don't know your history.
No he's right, the movie became much more famous despite the nominations the movie received. But Spencer is also right, the movie is superior to the show.
@@spencerwelchii573 I thought the TV series was great it won a boat load of Emmys
0:32--In its obituary for Sally Kellerman in 2022, The New York Times spelled the name of the movie without the asterisks--that is, "MASH." Yet in a brief reference to Loretta Swit and the television series in the obit, the Times added the asterisks--"M*A*S*H."
Roger Bowen, who played Henry Blake in the film, and McLean Stevenson, who assumed the role on the series, both died the same week in 1996.
Wow! This is such an amazing song, that I've always loved, but never understood that it was about taking your life rather than having to go to war.
When I was a kid, I saw a high school put on the MASH play; it shockingly to me, as a child,not a comedy
I realized that, when the opening song (obviously with lyrics) was sung
I've been using the "pros from Dover" reference from this movie for decades. The theme (with lyrics) brings it all back, all these years later.
Beautiful and sad at the same time
Almost brought tears to my eyes
Robert Altman's teenage son wrote this. Ordinarily, a father might be concerned if his son was writing a song called "Suicide is Painless..."
ADORAVA !!!
Um dos melhores seriados de tv !!
Saudades mil
This is for those mobile army surgical hospitals thank you for taking care of our wounded vets
Anyone here after hearing about Donald Sutherland’s passing? 😢
He died? Damn -.-
Like a week or so ago.....@@cutterboard4144
So many! Donald will never be forgotten..
He was a big Commie Liberal like most Hollywood types
Finest kind, Hawkeye! 🎵🖖
Hear a good question a 14 year old boy wrote this witch is so true think about what a great song he done it’s 2023 do you think that people today could write something like this now and this has stand the best of all time think about it
That is wa written by a 14 year old boy... Brings tears to my heart
I love this sad meaningful song I've just learned now it was a boy at the tender age of 14 who graced the world with this beautiful contribution to the world of pure talent in song and music,sorry to add this part but it's what I'm enjoying now as I say adios to you all ❤❤❤
This song is so beautiful and this till a really story and one my favorite song of all time
January 25,1970 MASH premieres in New York City. 50 yrs ago!
Don't figure out my age, but I remembere the premiere date.
This is a beautiful example of "natural voice" singing, like the original Mac the Knife.
By the way, whoever embedded the movie link in the description needs to update it. MASH came out in 1970, not 1966.
this song makes me think of my comrades at police academy . soldiering of any kind builds a bond that lasts a life time. and now when I train karate I feel the same . life is tough and changes but we have a choice . and thats the greatest gift not only mash gave people but we have . choice is everything to live how we please!
Would have loved if they had used this for the TV show... But, you don't get to play that on broadcast television, too powerful and with so much heart and meaning.
#Blackblooded Another imbecile is heard from.
Happy 15th anniversary to this video, which introduced me to this amazing song
This song brings me comfort in 2022.
Gary Burghoff reprised the role of Radar O'Reilly on M*A*S*H for 7 of the show's 11 seasons and left by the 5th episode of the 8th season. G. Wood, who appeared in this movie, appeared in the pilot episode of M*A*S*H.
The version heard under the opening credits was sung by uncredited session vocalists John Bahler, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin, and Ian Freebairn-Smith.
I listen to this song a lot of times
If you are going to quote Henry Blake here is what he said "Look all I know is what they taught me in command school, there are certain rule about war and rule one is young men die and rule two doctors can't chage rule one."
This show brings back so many memories
The song is legendary, the Altman classic is damn good, but the series is a award winning epic! #Hawkeye btw Idk Hammer's first movie was this, i'm referring to Fred Williamson.
This was the first R-rated movie I ever saw my mom and dad took me when I was about 11:00 or 12:00 and just fell in love with it one of the best movie theme songs ever written and the whole visual sequence of that song with the two helicopters if you watch them they're almost doing kind of dance very very grateful the book is closer to the movie than it is to the TV show and a very good book it is
Look closely @ the football game, you can see automobiles passing in the background as the game was filmed in Griffith Park in LA. Plus in the early days of the TV show, you can pick out power lines on top of the mountains.
RIP Johnny Mandel, passed away a few days ago.
This song resonates so strongly within me -beautiful ❤
Rip donold sutherland
This song has been in my life for a long while, helped me in situations when needed, shows me there may be hope yet, and whilst it is, I don't need to take suicide as a resort
M*A*S*H* (Hopefully I don't bold/italicize some letters from the Asterisk in MASH)
But, MASH has also been apart of my life for a while, one of the greatest biggest shows and probably most seen I've watched
It's great, sad, funny at times, and shows the side of war people are afraid of, there's a lot to it I didn't name and didn't really say, but it is great and I do recommended the series to anyone new
The real Hawkeye Pierce
H. Richard Hornberger, 73, Surgeon Behind 'M*A*S*H'
By LAWRIE MIFFLINNOV. 7, 1997
H. Richard Hornberger, a surgeon who wrote the novel ''M*A*S*H,'' the inspiration for the film and long-running television series of the same name, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Portland, Me. He was 73.
The cause was leukemia, said his son William.
Dr. Hornberger spent most of his life as a thoracic surgeon in small towns on the Maine coast, but his experiences as a captain in the Army Medical Corps during the Korean War led him to write three novels after returning from combat.
He worked for 12 years on the first, ''M*A*S*H,'' which was rejected by many publishers, his son said, before William Morrow issued the book in 1968. Rejection stopped there. The 1970 movie, directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., was the third-highest grossing film that year and spawned the CBS series, which ran from 1972 until 1983 and was one of the most popular shows in television history.
Dr. Hornberger modeled the character of Capt. Benjamin Franklin (Hawkeye) Pierce after himself, his son said. Partly for that reason, he disliked the television series and almost never watched it.
''He liked the movie because he thought it followed his original intent very closely,'' William Hornberger said. ''But my father was a political conservative, and he did not like the liberal tendencies that Alan Alda portrayed Hawkeye Pierce as having.''
Was it a good Book. I saw some interview a few years ago that the Author of the Book was a Conservaitve. I was surprised by this. I don't remember the Movie that Well. I think it was a little Meaner than the TV Series. I know the TV Series has a very Left-Wing Anti-War Bias which I think is a good thing. I think although the Movie and TV SEries are both Set in Korea, they are really about Vietnam.