M*A*S*H Movie Director Robert Altman Made His Dislike Of The Series Very Clear
"M*A*S*H" might've been one of the most popular series of the 1970s and early '80s, but it never drew the eyeballs of the man who made the hit movie on which it was based.
Robert Altman's aversion to the show wasn't prompted by antipathy toward the medium. The legendary filmmaker directed loads of television before his film career caught fire, and returned to the small screen several times (most notably with the brilliant political satire "Tanner '88"). And while he was one of the most critically lauded directors to come out of the New Hollywood revolution, the man was no snob; aside from the anarchic bawdiness of "M*A*S*H," he knocked out shaggy genre flicks like "The Long Goodbye" and "Thieves Like Us," and deigned to shoot a live-action adaptation of a kids cartoon with "Popeye."
You'd think he would've enjoyed the CBS sitcom as much as the rest of us, but he was the only member of the show's potential viewership who directed the movie. So what was his issue with the series?
I wouldn't even mess around with that television series
According to Mitchell Zuckoff's "Robert Altman: The Oral Biography," Altman flat-out despised the television iteration of "M*A*S*H" on general principle. Per Altman:
"I wouldn't even mess around with that television series. I mean, I've never seen one of those episodes all the way through—never seen one. I don't like it, and I don't like any of those people."
It's one thing to hate the show, but to abhor the people involved in it seems a tad harsh. Larry Gelbart, who developed the series, was a terrifically talented writer who earned a well-deserved Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for "Tootsie." As for the cast, I could see where he'd be turned off by the broad, punchline-hammering style of folks like Jamie Farr and Loretta Swit, but Alan Alda is a wonderfully versatile actor capable of dazzling in just about every type of genre. He would've been right at home in a loosey-goosey comedy like "Cookie's Fortune."
But Altman's distaste for the series wasn't just a matter of aesthetics. It was about intent and theme.
A travestying of Altman's intent
On the 2002 DVD commentary track for Altman's war comedy, the filmmaker rained down invective on the show. Here's what he had to say:
"I didn't like the series because that series to me was the opposite of my main reason for making this film — and this was to talk about a foreign war, an Asian war, that was going on at the time. And to perpetuate that every Sunday night for 12 years — and no matter what platitudes they say about their little messages and everything — the basic image and message is that the brown people with the narrow eyes are the enemy."
Altman went on to call the series "quite a racist thing," adding: "I thought it was the antithesis of what we were trying to do." Altman concluded his thoughts on the show by lamenting that his film has been forgotten by the world at large. "If you poll the world, they'd say, 'Oh, that was that series with Alan Albert,' or whatever his name was." So, uh, that's why Alda never found his way into an Altman flick.