G. Wood Movies
American character actor G. Wood frequently worked on-stage in New York and Los Angeles. He also worked in three films during the early '70s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This crime-caper film from director Gower Champion stars George C. Scott as a visionary thief. He doesn't merely intend to rob a bank; his plan is to steal the whole bank. This is accomplished by lifting the structure with house-moving machinery in the dead of night, then painting it pink and squirreling it away in a trailer park. The Bank Shot was based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake who also wrote the book that became 1972's The Hot Rock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) is reassigned to Tokyo after the 4077th gets a high efficiency rating. Unfortunately, this leaves Frank Burns (Larry Linville) in charge of the camp -- and as expected, Frank goes mad with power. The last straw is broken when Frank confiscates Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and Trapper's (Wayne Rogers) precious still, forcing the two thirsty doctors to enter into a conspiracy with camp clerk Radar (Gary Burghoff) to bring Henry back. "Henry, Please Come Home" first aired on November 19, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
When the 4077th's precious supply of hydrocortisone is stolen, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) set about to get a new supply by hook or crook. The "crook" turns out to be Charlie Lee (played by future Barney Miller regular Jack Soo), one of South Korea's busiest black marketers. Charlie agrees to trade with the M*A*S*H doctors, but on one condition: that he receive in return the antique oak desk that happens to be the pride and joy of Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson). "To Market, To Market" first aired on September 24, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
M*A*S*H began its 11-year tour of duty on September 17, 1972, with its pilot episode, clevely titled "The Pilot," in which the staff of the 4077th tries to raise 1000 dollars tuition to send Hawkeye's (Alan Alda) Korean houseboy Ho-Jon (Patrick Adiarte) to medical college in America. One of the fundraising schemes is a raffle; the grand prize is a weekend in Tokyo with the delectable Nurse Dish (Karen Philipp). The winner of the raffle comes as a shock to everyone -- no more so than the viewer, who may be surprised to see an unfamiliar actor playing this soon-to-be very familiar M*A*S*H character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A young man with a death wish and a 79-year-old high on life find love in Hal Ashby's cult black comedy. Deadpan rich boy Harold (Bud Cort) keeps staging elaborate suicide tableaux to get the attention of his mother (Vivian Pickles), but she keeps planning his brilliant future for him instead. Obsessed with the trappings of death, Harold freaks out his blind dates, modifies his new sports car to look like a mini-hearse, and attends funerals, where he meets the spirited Maude (Ruth Gordon). An eccentric to the core, Maude lives exactly as she pleases, with avid collecting and nude modeling among her many pursuits. To the disgust of Harold's relatives and the befuddlement of Harold's shrink, Harold falls in love with her. As lilting Cat Stevens tunes play on the soundtrack, Maude teaches Harold a valuable lesson about making the most of his time on earth. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, (more)
- 1970
- R
A boy yearns to fly in Robert Altman's whimsical youthquake parable. With the aid of seraphic Louise (Sally Kellerman), owlish Brewster (Bud Cort) constructs a pair of human-size wings in his Houston Astrodome nest to realize his dream. Meanwhile, conservative creeps, including a witchy "Star-Spangled Banner"-belting crone (Margaret Hamilton) and Brewster's skinflint boss (Stacy Keach), keep turning up dead covered with bird droppings; the Houston Establishment calls in blue-eyed, turtleneck-wearing "San Francisco super cop" Frank Shaft (Michael Murphy) to investigate. Brewster cooks his own goose, however, when he defies Louise's edict against sex and hooks up with Astrodome usher Suzanne (Shelley Duvall) after she impresses him (and saves him) by out-driving Shaft in her Road Runner. Despite her apparent sweetness, Suzanne ultimately will not compromise her comfortable home for flight with Brewster. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, (more)
Although he was not the first choice to direct it, the hit black comedy MASH established Robert Altman as one of the leading figures of Hollywood's 1970s generation of innovative and irreverent young filmmakers. Scripted by Hollywood veteran Ring Lardner, Jr., this war comedy details the exploits of military doctors and nurses at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. Between exceptionally gory hospital shifts and countless rounds of martinis, wisecracking surgeons Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould) make it their business to undercut the smug, moralistic pretensions of Bible-thumper Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Army true-believer Maj. "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). Abetted by such other hedonists as Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt) and Painless Pole (John Schuck), as well as such (relative) innocents as Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff), Hawkeye and Trapper John drive Burns and Houlihan crazy while engaging in such additional blasphemies as taking a medical trip to Japan to play golf, staging a mock Last Supper to cure Painless's momentary erectile dysfunction, and using any means necessary to win an inter-MASH football game. MASH creates a casual, chaotic atmosphere emphasizing the constant noise and activity of a surgical unit near battle lines; it marked the beginning of Altman's sustained formal experiments with widescreen photography, zoom lenses, and overlapping sound and dialogue, further enhancing the atmosphere with the improvisational ensemble acting for which Altman's films quickly became known. Although the on-screen war was not Vietnam, MASH's satiric target was obvious in 1970, and Vietnam War-weary and counter-culturally hip audiences responded to Altman's nose-thumbing attitude towards all kinds of authority and embraced the film's frankly tasteless yet evocative humor and its anti-war, anti-Establishment, anti-religion stance. MASH became the third most popular film of 1970 after Love Story and Airport, and it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. As further evidence of the changes in Hollywood's politics, blacklist survivor Lardner won the Oscar for his screenplay. MASH began Altman's systematic 1970s effort to revise classic Hollywood genres in light of contemporary American values, and it gave him the financial clout to make even more experimental and critical films like McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), California Split (1974), and Nashville (1975). It also inspired the long-running TV series starring Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Burghoff as Radar. With its formal and attitudinal impudence, and its great popularity, MASH was one more confirmation in 1970 that a Hollywood "New Wave" had arrived. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, (more)
