*MASH* 4077 Makes Me Cry

[RosarioLuv]

"What happened to Heart?"

I just finished watching MASH, the episode where Radar goes home. I wonder if there's anyone else out there like me who was originally turned off whenever the MASH opening came on with the song and the grainy film of the chopper carrying wounded....when I was a kid that show just seemed "old," and whenever I heard it I thought, "yuk, tsk, I guess it's time to go to bed."

But somehow MASH has grown on me over this year especially, and I've really come to fall in love with the characters like they were a real family of friends that I knew. There's something to be said about oldschool drama. No CGI graphics, no fanatastic soundtracks or special effects, but true genuine heart and passion on the part of the actors. That's something rare these days, where character development is believable because the cast really does get to know each other through the show.

I mean, the missing element in modern movies is heart...person-to-person heart. I miss that. People didn't have to try; they were just natural at it. It was a more humble time, where reality was nitty-gritty what-you-can-hold-in-your-hands-and-see-with-your-eyes real. Modern theatre has become too dependent on gigantism, the spectacular, the unimaginable....things that only come out of dreams, surrounded by so much extraneous "creativity," there's no room for what is real at the center, at the heart of the story, and more importantly, at the heart of each character, each hero.

There are no more heroes these days. Just off-the-wall stories saturated with dense settings filled with intricate props....it's just too much of all the amazing extra things and not enough of the simple basics, the truly "human" element. I miss that.

Anyway, this episode of MASH wasn't the first to make me shed some tears. I was all busted up when Radar couldn't even have a sendoff party because incoming choppers came and all the MASH folk had to go into surgery. Radar went into the empty mess tent and stuck his finger in the cake frosting and licked it, and even made a face at how horrible it tasted. It wasn't fancy, that's for sure, but it was made with 100% heart.

Radar leaving also paralleled his passage from boy to adult. In a way, leaving the MASH unit was like leaving behind his childhood. But in a wierd way it WAS the MASH, or being in the army, rather, that forced him to grow up early and become a man. MASH has always touched on the reality that war is harsh, and war claims our youth (if not their lives). So many young folk who never get to be kids, because they get enlisted, have to fight and kill, or be killed. In a wierd way, Radar's character was unique because he had to endure the youth-robbing stresses of war, but he remained an innocent kid at heart all the way til the end.

He was moving on to be the man of his household as his uncle back at home had died, to take care of the farm and his mom, and also to join a sweetheart he had met along the way. The last scene showed Colonel Potter, BJ, and Hawkeye in the "swamp" (BJ and Hawkeye's quarters) after a grueling term in O.R., and they find Radar's teddy bear left on Hawkeye's bed. Hawkeye looks at the bear and says, "Goodbye Radar."

Man, I love those guys. The characters, the actors, the passion and compassion of that era. I wish I were part of those days. Born one lifetime too late.

Whatever happened to heart? I miss that era of poets and profits. What we gain in technology and the fantastic, I hope doesn't come at the expense of that old school heart in generations to come. I wonder if I'll be able to pass that on to my daughter. I will do what I can, with genuine love.

[VF-19 pilot!!!]

hi,

you know like many whenever i heard that opening song i too just listened for a while then quickly changed the channel.

i do agree with you about show lossing heart, lossing character. i mean look at what entertains people now for god's sake! people marrying stangers for money, back stabbing one another to get a job, tempation island, who want's to marry a migit( WTF!?)

if it were up to me i would napoalm all these crappy shows, with the exception of NYPD blue, ER, and Third watch there are really no good shows anymore.

you know never really thought about mash too much, just that it was a very popular show. but the way you have described it makes me feel that there may be more there than i saw as a child.

anyway,

thanks for your thoughts on the show.

[Skull Leader]

That's gotta be the most sensitive post this board has ever seen

Never did enjoy M*A*S*H so much, but I know a lot of people who really enjoyed it.

[Gaijin]

Yeah, I never could get into MASH...my grandparents love it. MY parents hate it.

[Mellow Yellow]

lol, I too, was one of those ppl that changed the channel once the MASH theme came on I saw some of it on tv the other night and it didn't seem as bad as I remembered when I was younger

[ewilen]

M*A*S*H* is from the era when CBS had great sitcoms. Mary Tyler Moore. Rhoda. Bob Newhart. Also Carol Burnett's variety/skit show.

I remember liking M*A*S*H when it was first on--before any of the original characters left--but as time passed, it became less and less of a comedy and more of a drama, a trend which eventually killed it for me.

Anyway, if you want good stuff, it's still out there both on TV and in the movies. You just have to look around.

[eriku]

M*A*S*H is the first show I can remember watching on television back when I was a kid, and I loved it then just as much as I do now. I don't think I really appreciated the drama as much as the comedy at that age, but that is one of the truly great things about the show: it's got something for everyone. My roommate has always been a big M*A*S*H fan too and she knows more geeky facts about M*A*S*H than I do about Macross or Miyazaki movies.

There just isn't much in the way of television programming that I absolutely love, but M*A*S*H is at the top (Seinfeld is up there, too). I'm happily collecting the DVD season sets, but I wish they'd release them more frequently since they don't seem to really be putting much work into them. I'd also like to see a nice series of action figures, maybe by Sideshow...

[Blaine23]

Yes, suicide is painless...

Great show... but that has to be the most depressing theme song known to man. Have you ever read the lyrics?

[JsARCLIGHT]

I prefer Robert Altman's Original movie to the TV show... to me Hawkeye is Donald Southerland and not Alan Alda. While the movie was more or less Altman's attack on the Vietnam war I could accept it for that... but when Alan Alda got ahold of the creative reigns for the TV show to use it as his own personal soapbox and go all moody and dramatic on it MASH lost all credibility in my book. Altman's piece achieved new levels for black comedy... and even film editing and pacing... but the TV show just got so preachy and depressing that you just want to turn it off.

I also found it quite eerie that the theme song "Suicide is Painless" was written by Robert Altman's 14 year old son.

[Amped]

I also found it quite eerie that the theme song "Suicide is Painless" was written by Robert Altman's 14 year old son. 

No way!!! That's messed up!!!

As ubiquitous as that haunting melody was, I always wondered how many fans of the TV series were aware of the seriously frigged-up lyrics that were supposed to go along with it.

[Major Johnathan]

yeah...I'm a MASH geek...

It is among the earliest shows I watched as a kid. I was born in '74, so it was already a couple seasons old before I was born, and ended in '83. I wathced all my friggin life and still watch the re-runs. (Same deal for the original Star Trek)

Personally, I'll always like Col. Blake and Trapper John a bit more, but Col. Potter is ok too... 'Horse Hockey!' BJ always seemed a little too sappy too often(though he has his moments), Trapper just had fun most of the time.

I agree the last 4 or 5 seasons dipped into too much melodrama, BUT I think the writers/producers were smart enough to keep a good deal of humor involved. The final episode is pretty depressing though... It's interesting to compare the old Radar with the later Radar. Early on he's a first class schemer, peeping at the nurses, even getting 'lucky' once or twice. The later Radar transforms into an utterly naive child-like character who never had any 'luck' with the ladies, a total boy scout...and they did this as he's getting older? (no wonder Gary Burghoff left early)

Anyway, it's strange to think 'Col Blake' and 'Frank Burns' are no longer with us. Makes me feel old... The same with 'Dr. McCoy' in Star Trek...

But maybe we'll all be as stubborn as Harry Morgan, I'm pretty sure he's still around. I mean he was big in the 50's...

Oh yeah, and Wayne Rogers is now some kind of Stock Market guru, he's on the weekend Fox News business shows sometimes. So he hasn't been doing to bad since he left MASH.

Edited July 31, 2004 by Major Johnathan

[SupremeKaioshin]

My favorite episode:

240. Who Knew?  (1-G18)

    November 22, 1982

    Written by David Pollock and Elias Davis

    Directed by Harry Morgan

    Guest Stars:  Kellye Nakahara, Enid Kent

    Hawkeye volunteers to deliver the eulogy for a dead nurse and

belatedly discovers her deep feelings for him.

Best acting I've ever seen from Alan Alda. If I was ever to cry from watching MASH, this episode would do it.

By the way, I'm a reservist combat medic (13 years now and a veteran), so M.A.S.H. is something I could identify with and poke fun of.

[SupremeKaioshin]

Episode Guide

[SupremeKaioshin]

I remember years ago when Gary Burghoff (Radar) said he never got any respect from the other actors.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I remember years ago when Gary Burghoff (Radar) said he never got any respect from the other actors.

And he was the only "original" cast member to boot.