Elliott Gould Movie:

		List Price: $34.98		Label: Twentieth Century Fox Salesrank: 2796 Released: September 1, 2009
		Our Price: $18.48
		Used Price: $23.99
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
No description available for this title.
Item Type: BLU-RAY DVD Movie
Item Rating: PG
Street Date: 09/01/09
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve

M*A*S*H [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Great movie, so so transfer
2009-12-02 - Could not wait for the blu-ray release of this classic film. Unfortunately the quality of the transfer was only average. Although the film originally had a somewhat grainy (intentional) look to it, that could not make up for the lack of definition and color saturation. It appears that the studio elected to do a 'down and dirty' quickie transfer rather than spend the money on a full restoration, which is a shame. If you own the original DVD I would save your money and wait (hopefully) for a proper blu-ray re-release sometime in the future.

A classic now on Blu-ray
2009-11-14 - "I have just left your fighting sons in Korea. They have done their best there, and I can report to you without reservation that they are splendid in every way.
I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye" -- Gen. Douglas MacArthur

This is the Korean War (1950-1953). We are visiting and passionate on the front line and observing the many lives of the very people that make the M*A*S*H (The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit possible. This film is touted as a thinly veiled Vietnam War satire.

Some great one-liners as "You forgot your shingle doctor "as he holds up a piece of toast with creamed chipped beef on it. Or as Frank Burns is being hauled off in a straight jacket, the loud speaker is playing "it's time to say sayonara" May military inside jokes and even the clichés have a basis in reality. Although this film takes place, in Korea, it draws a very close parallel to the environment I was in Vietnam and I suspect there have been other wars with other environments similar and may again in the future. It's the laughs that we clean out of these types of films that make those situations tolerable.

For many movies especially older ones Blu-Ray is really just a gimmick and does not really add to or subtract from the storyline or the acting itself. However occasionally the visuals and sounds of Blu-Ray can contribute to earlier movies that were designed before Blu-Ray was conceived; this is one of those movies. This review may be under a different version but it is for the Blu-ray version so be sure to listen to the commentary by the late Robert Altman, AMC Back history, Enlisted: The story of M*A*S*H, M*A*S*H: History Through the Lens, Remembering M*A*S*H: 30th anniversary, Theatrical Trailer, Portuguese Trailer, and Still Gallery.

Through early morning fog I see
The visions of the things to be.
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize, and I can see.....

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card, I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

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 brim..

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
"Is it to be, or not to be?"
And I replied, "why ask me?"

But suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

And you can do the same thing if you please

If you enjoyed this and other Robert Altman films you may like a more esoteric film by Robert Altman called Quintet ((1979).


Quintet ~ Paul Newman

A considerable improvement (I think)
2009-10-14 - I've been a fan of MASH (the movie, not the TV show) since I first saw it at about age 14 or 15 on DVD. Recently, I've been getting into the rest of Altman's movies, so when I saw the blu ray I knew I had to check it out. If you haven't seen it yet, MASH is a bit of a (pardon me) mash up of a war movie, medical drama, and Animal House. Okay, it's really just a lot like Animal House. Some reviews I've seen online have pegged this movie as being sexist and outdated, but the film is really about the attitudes of a bunch of really talented and really bored twenty something male doctors BS-ing and causing trouble. Unlike the most of Altman's other work, this is very much a guy movie. I used to think this movie was just effortlessly brilliant and an easy going good time with a bunch of funny actors just doing whatever they felt like. On subsequent viewing after all these years, I can see just how much Altman's distinctive style had already taken shape in his first film. The scene towards the ends of the movie in long shot with Hawkeye getting news from Radar is absolutely astonishing in how much it conveys with no words at all. Even though I still remembered all the jokes and cringed at the awkwardness of some of the characters, I still found myself laughing out loud at some of the more subtle moments.

Of course, these little bits might have gone unnoticed had I not sprung for the HD version. Again, other reviews on the films picture quality range from decent to miserable and the real result is somewhere in between. Immediately after watching the disc, I popped in the old THX mastered DVD, upconverted by my blu ray player. I'll admit I was a bit surprised. The major problem with the blu ray is an excessive amount of blooming on any scenes with white clothing. They give off a glow a few centimeters out from the characters. I first thought this was haloing, but no, they were just really bright in comparison with the dark backgrounds. On the DVD, this effect was a lot less noticeable, but everything else picture-wise was worse. For one, the image was a lot darker, smudging out a lot of fine detail. The rest was lost in the digital noise and non-film related pixelated graininess. However, in stripping away the murk on the blu ray, it revealed Altman's almost vaseline-like filter on the camera and color timing intended to accentuate the drab military greens.

The first thing I looked for on the blu ray was just how much grain they did or didn't leave on the image. Thankfully, they left most of it in, but it does get a little overwhelming at times, with it seeming to snow over background scenery. There's a lot more surface detail on fabrics and the stubble on the actors' faces stands out a bit more. There's a scene near the beginning of the movie with nurses looking into a tent giggling that was less apparent on DVD, since it was so quick and more difficult to read facial expressions. I'm once again going to repeat the mantra of almost every reviewer covering HD movies from the 70's - this is probably the best this movie is going to look. The main reason I bought this was just to see what 70s Altman movie can look like in high definition. I assure you that now I'm going to hold out for the HD version of Nashville, instead of buying the DVD.

As far as sound goes... well, I honestly couldn't tell you if it was an improvement or not. I don't have a surround sound system to really put the track to test, but I don't think there can be that much of an improvement over the 5.1 mix on the original DVD. I do think I could follow the rapid overlapping better than I used to, but that probably just comes from repeated viewing, rather than a real technical achievement. All of the extras were ported over from the previous disc, which is good, since it was a fairly packed two disc set. However, there's no real new stuff to be had. Overall, I'm really just jonesing to see how McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, and Nashville hold up on the format. It may not look perfect, or even that good, but this disc shows just what a little TLC can do towards making great murky-looking 70s films watchable on HD sets.

great movie
2009-10-08 - This a classic, this the best MASH, the TV version was too touchy feely, this is dark humor at it's best. Hilarious.

great film, poor blu-ray
2009-09-27 - the image is far as good as other classics from the same period. Its clean but contrast and definition are poor and colors are not brilliant.