Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, Korea, 1951. Two maverick surgeons
(Sutherland and Gould) arse about, humiliating the head nurse
(Kellerman) and the pompous Major Burns (Duvall), while applying
dressings to the daily carnage in their spare time. Altman's one huge
hit is unbalanced to a fault, even though it doesn't claim to be a war
movie. The screenplay keeps having to come up with ways for the guys to
amuse themselves, while turning a fashionably cynical blind eye to
what's happening around them. Easy to like, with important and very
funny roles for the leads, but its popularity – and the spin-off TV
series – tell the whole story.
