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| M*A*S*H |
Altman's audaciously irreverent black comedy garnered a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr.
Set in an army medical unit during the Korean War (an allegorical 'stand-in' for Vietnam), the film thumbed its nose at institutions and power structures including military bureaucracy and religion.
Altman's treatment of Father Mulcahy (Rene Auberjonois) is relatively sympathetic, but Robert Duvall's turn as Major Frank Burns is infinitely darker than his TV counterpart. Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Sally Kellerman set the template for characterisations that skilfully walk a line between satire and farce. Gary Burghoff debuts as 'Radar'.
