Alan Alda Movies
The son of actor Robert Alda, Alan Alda grew up around vaudeville and burlesque comedians, soaking up as many jokes and routines as was humanly possible. Robert Alda hoped that his son would become a doctor, but the boy's urge to perform won out. After graduating from Fordham University, Alda first acted at the Cleveland Playhouse, and then put his computer-like retention of comedy bits to good use as an improvisational performer with Chicago's Second City and an ensemble player on the satirical TV weekly That Was the Week That Was. Alda's first film was Gone Are the Days in 1963, adapted from the Ossie Davis play in which Alda had appeared on Broadway. (Among the actor's many subsequent stage credits were the original productions of The Apple Tree and The Owl and the Pussycat.)Most of Alda's films were critical successes but financial disappointments. He portrayed George Plimpton in the 1968 adaptation of the writer's bestseller Paper Lion and was a crazed Vietnam vet in the 1972 movie To Kill a Clown. Alda's signature role was the wisecracking Army surgeon Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H, which ran from 1972 through 1983. Intensely pacifistic, the series adhered to Alda's own attitudes towards warfare. (He'd once been an ROTC member in college, but became physically ill at the notion of learning how to kill.) During his M*A*S*H years, Alda also began auxiliary careers as a director and scriptwriter, winning numerous Emmy awards in the process. He also developed a separate sitcom, 1974's We'll Get By.
In 1978, Alda took advantage of an unusually lengthy production break in M*A*S*H to star in three films: California Suite, Same Time, Next Year, and The Seduction of Joe Tynan. He made his theatrical-movie directorial debut in 1981 with The Four Seasons, a semiserious exploration of modern romantic gamesmanship; it would prove to be his most successful film as a director, with subsequent efforts like Sweet Liberty (1986) and Betsy's Wedding (1989) no where close. Long associated with major political and social causes and well-known both offscreen and on as a man of heightened sensitivity, Alda has occasionally delighted in going against the grain of his carefully cultivated image with nasty, spiteful characterizations, most notably in Woody Allen'sCrimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and as death row inmate Caryl Chessman in the 1977 TV movie Kill Me if You Can. Alda later continued to make his mark on audiences with his more accustomed nice-guy portrayals in films such as Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Flirting With Disaster (1996), and The Object of My Affection (1998).
The next several years saw Alda show up in a handful of supporting roles, but in 2004, he had his biggest year in more than a decade. First, he appeared opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorcese's critically-acclaimed Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Playing Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, Alda would go on to receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar-nomination, the first nod from the Academy in his long and impressive career. Meanwhile, on the small-screen, Alda played presidential-hopeful Arnold Vinick on NBC's political drama The West Wing, another Senator and his first regular series role since M*A*S*H. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Greenwich Village poet Duncan Kleist (Burgess Meredith) goes on a violent rampage early one morning, accosting people he meets for money and for help in mailing a parcel he's carrying. This leads to a confrontation with Stanley Dorkner (Herschel Bernardi). The two argue and fight, and Kleist is left to die on the street alone, his parcel gone and no witnesses to the assault. Detective Adam Flint (Paul Burke) leads the investigation -- but to determine who killed Kleist, he must first find out why he was killed. Flint interviews Mildred Pepper (Eileen Heckart), whom he lived with and abused for 20 years; Kleist's boyhood friend Kip Harris (Sanford Meisner), now a successful publisher, who wanted to see more of Kleist's work in print; Dorkner, to whom Kleist owed a 500-dollar bar tab; and the people with whom Kleist crossed paths on the last night of his life. The detective pieces together the tormented life of a shattered genius and finds out that Kleist had just been told that he had only days to live, a result of his alcoholism; he also learns that Kleist had planned to mail his unpublished manuscripts to his home town in Iowa, specifically to a woman he'd conjured up in his ramblings across the years named Gloria Christmas. Flint also discovers that the manuscripts were valuable enough to kill for -- and for Kleist to kill for. A humiliating confrontation with a young poet (Alan Alda) at Dorkner's tavern the night before Kleist's death had only brought matters to a head, and led to the murderous confrontation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burgess Meredith, Herschel Bernardi, (more)
This film version of the successful stage play was written by and stars Ossie Davis as Purlie Victorious, a flamboyant, self ordained minister. Along with wife Lutibelle (Ruby Dee), he returns to Georgia to buy an old barn and convert it into a church. He seeks out Captain Cotchipec (Sorrel Booke), the aging plantation owner entrusted with a $500 inheritance left by the preacher's sister after her death. Lutibelle is talked into posing as a long-lost cousin to get the money quickly from the dying landowner. Comedian Godfrey Cambridge reprises his stage role as the black plantation straw boss who pays lip service in the presence of the Captain but mercilessly mock the old man behind his back. Lutibelle gets the money from the old man with the help of his sympathetic son Charlie (Alan Alda), who is as liberal and progressive as his father is racially intolerant.. Religious hypocrisy, racial bigotry, civil rights issues and the changing Southern society backed by forced integration are subjects in this film that coincided with the turbulent social issues of the time. The title is taken from the first line of Stephen Foster's sentimental classic "Old Black Joe." The film was released nearly one hundred years after the famous songwriter's death. Produced and directed by Nicholas Webster, most of the actors reprised their roles from the original stage production. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, (more)
- 1967
In this romantic drama, a harried man abandons his wife in favor of the quiet life on a remote island in the Adriatic Sea. His mother is devastated and hires a beautiful private detective to track him down and bring him back. Later the son and the investigator fall in love and, against the wishes of his mom, marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Paper Lion is taken from the actual experiences of journalist George Plimpton. George (Alan Alda) dons helmet and pads to play quarterback against the Detroit Lions. His experience is less-than-successful as he is mercilessly tackled by the Lion's defense, including Alex Karras. Roger Aaron Brown tackles George and carries the ball and the player over the line for a touchdown. Flashbacks include the reporter's three-round bout with "Sugar Ray" Robinson. Football legends Frank Gifford and coach Vince Lombardi also appear. The final scene is the actual pre-season game against the St. Louis Cardinals football team. After his retirement from the Lions, Alex Karras made a successful transition into acting in films and on television, joining Jim Brown who preceded and Bubba Smith and others who followed. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Lauren Hutton, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Jenny (Marlo Thomas) is a single expectant mother who receives an offer of marriage from Delano (Alan Alda). He wants to avoid the military draft and agrees to marry Jenny despite the fact he is not the child's father, proposing for strictly practical reasons: the baby will have a name and he will escape the draft. Their scheme does not work out quite the way they had hoped, however. Problems arise when Jenny adds romance and love as an afterthought to the arrangement, and while she goes ahead and has the baby, Delano is not spared from his military obligations. As she cares for her newborn in the maternity ward, Delano sits silently and ponders his uncertain future in this routine melodrama. Vincent Gardenia plays Jenny's father, an eccentric collector of antique dentures. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlo Thomas, Alan Alda, (more)
- 1969
John Frankenheimer directed this tepid World War II comedy set in the Philippines. When four American soldiers -- Lieutenant Morton Krim (Alan Alda), Cook 3rd Class W.J. Oglethorpe (Mickey Rooney), Gunner's Mate Orville Toole (Jack Carter), and Seaman 1st Class Lightfoot Star (Manu Tupou) -- are detached from their ship, they find themselves stranded on an uncharted island. Looking up from the surf, they see the vision of Lieutenant Commander Finchhaven (David Niven), immaculately dressed, standing atop an old gunboat and sipping some whiskey. The Americans set about repairing the gunboat, the H.M.S. Curmudgeon. After it is repaired, they set sail -- with the additions of Finchhaven and Jennifer Winslow (Faye Dunaway), a woman also stranded on the island. Almost immediately, the ship is attacked by the Japanese, but luckily the ship survives. All the while, Finchhaven simply stands on deck and sips his whiskey. It is then revealed that Finchhaven is a ghost, condemned to stay upon this ship for all eternity to redeem the family honor that was lost in 1914 when Finchhaven got drunk before his first battle and disgraced the family name. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Faye Dunaway, (more)
Director Mike Nichols and writer-actor Buck Henry followed their enormous hit The Graduate (1967) with this timely adaptation of Joseph Heller's satiric antiwar novel. Haunted by the death of a young gunner, all-too-sane Capt. Yossarian (Alan Arkin) wants out of the rest of his WW II bombing missions, but publicity-obsessed commander Colonel Cathcart (Martin Balsam) and his yes man, Colonel Korn (Henry), keep raising the number of missions that Yossarian and his comrades are required to fly. After Doc Daneeka (Jack Gilford) tells Yossarian that he cannot declare him insane if Yossarian knows that it's insane to keep flying, Yossarian tries to play crazy by, among other things, showing up nude in front of despotic General Dreedle (Orson Welles). As all of Yossarian's initially even-keeled friends, such as Nately (Art Garfunkel) and Dobbs (Martin Sheen), genuinely lose their heads, and the troop's supplies are bartered away for profit by the ultra-entrepreneurial Milo Minderbinder (Jon Voight), Yossarian realizes that the whole system has lost it, and he can either play along or jump ship. Though not about Vietnam, Catch-22's ludicrous military machinations directly evoked its contemporary context in the Vietnam era. Cathcart and Dreedle care more about the appearance of power than about victory, and Milo cares for money above all, as the complex narrative structure of Yossarian's flashbacks renders the escalating events appropriately surreal. Confident that the combination of a hot director and a popular, culturally relevant novel would spell blockbuster, Paramount spent a great deal of money on Catch-22, but it wound up getting trumped by another 1970 antiwar farce: Robert Altman's MASH. With audiences opting for Altman's casual Korean War iconoclasm over Nichols' more polished symbolism, the highly anticipated Catch-22 flopped, although the New York Film Critics Circle did acknowledge Arkin and Nichols. Despite this reception, Catch-22's ensemble cast and pungent sensibility effectively underline the insanity of war, Vietnam and otherwise. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, (more)
- 1970
- PG
In this comedy drama set during the late Prohibition era, a federal agent attempts to make some real money before the alcohol ban is lifted. He sets his sights on the whiskey cache of an old army buddy, but just before they strike a deal, two ex-convicts frighten the buddy away. The creeps then murder the town sheriff and his deputy and begin looking to get a hold of the moonshine. The agent decides to help his friend defeat the thugs. One of the crooks ends up killing the agent and taking four locals hostage. In exchange for their lives, he wants all the whiskey. The moonshiner acquiesces and tells him that the booze is stashed in a graveyard. The greedy crook races off and begins digging. Unfortunately instead of hooch, he finds dynamite and blows himself up. To celebrate his death and the end of Prohibition, the town decides to have a blow-out of their own. Naturally the buddy provides the booze. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick McGoohan, Richard Widmark, (more)
- 1971
Adapted from a Fred Mustard Stewart novel, this offbeat occult thriller stars Alan Alda (just prior to his eleven-year stint on M*A*S*H) as journalist and burgeoning musician Myles Clarkson, whose long-sought interview with ailing concert pianist (and closet Satanist) Duncan Ely (Curt Jurgens) leads to a mysterious ritual in which Ely's soul is transferred into Clarkson's body at the moment of the elder man's death. Further complications ensue when Myles' wife Paula (Jacqueline Bisset) discovers the none-too-subtle change in her husband's behavior, and she is pulled deeper into Ely's twisted circle. The plot thickens as further soul-swapping, dark family secrets, and demonic possession come into play. A heavy sense of doom pervades this bizarre film, thanks to some offbeat cinematography and eerie music, as well as some truly shocking setpieces courtesy of prolific TV director Paul Wendkos, who helmed the excellent Legend of Lizzie Borden. The prosaic Alda lacks the dangerous edge his character demands, but Bisset's performance is chillingly effective. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1972
A group of new prisoners, including a political science professor, Jonathan Paige (Alan Alda), and a student, Allan Campbell (Kristoffer Tabori), arrive at a state prison, along with a new guard, Brian Courtland (Clu Gulager). Paige is a serving a year for manslaughter -- he accidentally killed a driver who had run down and injured his wife -- but his education doesn't prepare him for what he finds in prison. Nor does Courtland understand everything he sees in his new job, where he hopes to do some good. The warden (Dean Jagger) is spoken of as being on "short time," as though he were serving a sentence; the guard captain, Pagonis (G. Wood), is totally cynical about his work and his job; and one veteran guard, Brown (Roy Jenson), seems to be serving some of the prisoners -- and that small group of inmates have more to do with the running of the prison than does the administration. First among them is Hugo Slocum (Vic Morrow), a lifer who controls the flow of drugs and other contraband to the cons, wielding money and power without challenge until Paige gets assigned by the warden to the prison pharmacy, and -- thanks to his own sense of righteousness -- blocks Slocum's pipeline, a move that could get the professor killed. Meanwhile, Paige is trying to understand Lennox (Billy Dee Williams), the lifer he works with in the pharmacy, and discovers in him a true political visionary and leader, who lives the stuff that Paige has only ever lectured about. Lennox is black and proud, and a killer, and also (incidentally) smarter than Paige; he is also respected as a leader by the other blacks in the prison and feared just enough by the whites, including Slocum, to stay alive. Paige should only learn from him, but the professor is too set in his ways and too arrogant in his assumptions to do that. Complicating things further, Slocum has taken a decidedly physical liking to Paige's cellmate, Allan, a college student who is in on a marijuana charge and too naïve to recognize why the tough con is being so good to him until he rejects Slocum's advances. In retaliation, Allan is gang-raped on Slocum's orders, and later kills himself. Nor has Slocum forgotten about Paige or the pharmacy -- when Paige tries to reach out to another inmate, Sinclair (Edward Bell), who shows promise as a writer, Slocum destroys Sinclair's work and targets him, as well. Before he's killed, however, Sinclair reveals to Paige that, as Slocum's sometime bagman and former bookkeeper, he's recorded every transaction for the past eight years -- including every hit ordered by Slocum and how it was paid off, including the bribes to guards to look the other way -- and he passes the book with that record to the professor. It comes down to a do or die situation for Paige and Slocum, as each now has the power and the need to destroy the other to stay alive; the only question is whether Paige will figure out in time that he may have to back up his good intentions with lethal force. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
One of the most famous and successful sitcoms of all time, M*A*S*H was based on the 1970 Robert Altman theatrical film of the same name--which, in turn, was inspired by an autobiographical novel by a former Army doctor, writing pseudonymously as Richard Hooker. Although set during the Korean War of 1950-1953, the staunch antiwar trappings of M*A*S*H, coupled with its relentlessly irreverent treatment of the military "big brass", were very much in tune with the sentiments of the Vietnam War era, during which both the film and the TV series were spawned. The action took place within the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (hence the anagrammatic title), a unit stationed behind the lines in South Korea. Most of the characters on the CBS television series had been introduced in the novel and film, but only one of the film's actors was carried over to the TV version. The main players were two surgeons, Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda) and Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers), who though dedicated to their work were determined to has as much fun as possible during their off-hours, to break as many rules and regulations as traffic would allow, and to dally with as many pretty nurses as time permitted. The 4077th's commanding officer during the series' first three seasons was easygoing Lt. Col. Henry Blake (Maclean Stevenson, who though he regarded the operating room as his main priority, would sooner go fishing or goof off than anything else. The laid-back demeanor of Hawkeye, Trapper and Blake was not shared by uptight, arrogant, anal-retentive, xenophobic and generally inept surgeon Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville), whose strict adherence to Rules and Regulations usually ended up backfiring on him, or resulted in practical jokes at his expense. Also putting a damper on the fun-and-games was "regular Army" head nurse Major Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit), who would have liked nothing better than to see Hawkeye and Trapper. court-martialed. But though Margaret was more competent at her job than Frank Burns, she too became an object of ridicule, principally because she and the very married Burns were carrying on a torrid clandestine romance--which was why she was saddled with the demeaning nickname "Hot Lips." Rounding out the series' first-season regulars was the 4077th's timid, bespectacled, uncannily clairvoyant and endlessly resourceful company clerk, Cpl. Walter "Radar" O'Reilly--played by the same actor who essayed the role in the movie version of M*A*S*H, Gary Burghoff. In additon to the above-mentioned regulars, there were any number of recurring characters who wove in and out of the proceedings during season one, notably the 4077th's mild-mannered chaplain Father John Mulcahy, played in the pilot episode by George Morgan and thereafter by William Christopher); African American surgeon Spearchucker Jones (Timothy Brown); the well-named orderly Ugly John (John Orchard); sexy nurses Maggie Dish (Karen Phillip) and Leslie Scorch (Linda Meikeljohn), Ginger Ballis (Odessa Cleveland) and Maggie Cutler (Marcia Strassman); and the officer's Korean houseboy Ho-John (Patrick Adiarte). Another peripheral character, intended as one-shot "gag" appearance, was Corporal Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr), a doctor's aide who was so determined to get discharged from the Army on a "Section 8" that he always dressed in women's clothing. After his first fleeting appearance on M*A*S*H's seventh episode, Klinger proved so popular that he became a recurring character--and, like Father Mulcahy, ultimately a full-fledged regular. The first-season episodes of M*A*S*H are easily distinguishable from later installments in the series in several respects: there was more background music and a louder laughtrack (except during the operating-room scenes, in which canned laughter was never, ever heard); the practical jokes were crueler; the higher-ranking officers were almost invariably buffoons; and Hawkeye and Trapper were more hedonistic in their behavior towards the opposite sex. Opening to lukewarm reviews and mediocre ratings, M*A*S*H slowly but surely built up a following thanks to that old reliable known as "word of mouth". This came as something of a surprise to its parent network CBS, which had been none too enthusiastic about the project in the first place, and had accordingly scheduled the program as a "throwaway" opposite NBC's Sunday-night blockbuster The Wonderful World of Disney. But CBS eventually got the message, and moved M*A*S*H to a more desirable Saturday-night slot for its second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, (more)
- 1972
- R
When a married couple retreats to an isolated island to attempt to salvage their failing relationship, they find that they are the targets of a psychotic Vietnam vet and have to join forces to combat him. Way ahead of its time for addressing the problems of soldiers returning from combat. Adapted from the short story Master of the Hounds by Algis Budrys. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In the middle of a bone-chilling cold snap, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) becomes everyone's best friend when he receives a pair of long johns in the mail. What follows is a zany round robin, in which the precious underwear passes from hand to hand -- or rather, from leg to leg. The circuitous trail inevitably leads back to Hawkeye, but getting there is all the fun. Scripted by series star Alan Alda, "The Long-John Flap" originally aired on February 17, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Alan Alda is divorced from Barbara Feldon. Doug McClure is divorced from Connie Stevens. While spending the weekend with their respective children, Alda and McClure meet and become fast friends. Then, surreptitiously, Alda begins squiring Stevens while McClure does the same with Feldon. More believable and three-dimensional than most quickie TV-movies of its ilk, Playmates benefits from the enthusiastic performances of its stars and the perceptive script by Richard Baer. The film originally aired October 3, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
On the verge of insanity after three solid days in the O.R., the sleep-deprived Hawkeye (Alan Alda) is unable to stop operating even when he's ordered to. Continuing to spin out of control, Hawkeye pens a provocative letter to President Truman, then attempts to negotiate a cease-fire by providing the enemy with the officer's latrine. It is up to Trapper (Wayne Rogers) to bring Hawkeye's delirium to a safe conclusion. "Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde" first aired on October 13, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
This curious made-for-TV movie stars Alan Alda as a police detective in a small New England town. The community's elderly are dying at an unusual rate, prompting Alda to investigate. He deduces that the old folks are being murdered, but can't find a motive (there are no robberies involved, and none of the victims have any enemies to speak of). The hunt for the killer becomes personal when Alda's best friend, police chief Lloyd Nolan, falls victim to the unknown assailant. With the help of his funky girlfriend Louise Lasser, Alda assembles the clues and arrives at a startling conclusion. Isn't it Shocking? is enhanced by the presence of several veteran character actors, including Ruth Gordon as a disheveled cat fancier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Although M*A*S*H had played to less than spectacular ratings during its initial season, there was enough staunch viewer support to warrant a renewal for a second season in the fall of 1973. CBS acknowledged this small but significant upsurge in ratings by moving the series from its "graveyard" Sunday night slot to a Saturday-evening berth at 8:30 PM, where it was in such distinguished company as All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. Life at the 4077th M*A*S*H unit continued along the same lines as before, with a few minor changes. Gone were such marginal recurring characters as Spearchucker and Ugly John, while the screen time of two other former "marginals", Father John Mulcahy (William Christopher) and cross-dressing Cpl. Max Klinger (Jamie Farr), was beefed up considerably. Also, the intrusive background music had all but vanished, and the laugh track had been turned down a notch or two (and was still, happily, never to be heard during the series' more "serious" passages in the 4077th's operating room). Otherwise, surgeons Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) continued making the Korean War tolerable for themselves by behaving in as zany and puerile a manner as possible; uptight Frank Burns (Larry Linville) persisted in attempting to impose his own notions of decorum and Americanism on the unit, all the while carrying on his extramarital romance with head nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit; commanding officer Henry Blake (Maclean Stevenson) still maintained an even keel as benevolent despot of the O.R. and all-around Good Guy during his off-hours; and quietly resourceful company clerk Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) was uncertainly straddling the gap between boyhood and manhood. Swept along with the rest of CBS's highly rated Saturday night lineup, M*A*S*H*'s own share of the audience grew apace, and it was not uncommon during the 1973-74 season for fans of the series to gather around the proverbial water cooler on Monday morning to discuss the plot intricacies of such classic episodes as "Radar's Report", "Carry On Hawkeye", "For Want of a Boot" and "George". It was during this period that the series won the first of several Emmy awards: Alan Alda for best lead actor in a comedy series, Jackie Cooper for his direction of "Carry on Hawkeye", and M*A*S*H itself for Outstanding Comedy Series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, (more)
- 1973
The weekly mail call affords Hawkeye (Alan Alda) the opportunity to concoct an elaborate practical joke involving the greedy, gullible Frank Burns (Larry Linville) and a nonexistant blue-chip stock called Pioneer Aviation. But the latest mail has an entirely different effect on Trapper (Wayne Rogers), who becomes so depressed that he threatens to desert the camp. This episode marked the directorial debut of series regular Alan Alda. "Mail Call" first aired on February 23, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
This award-winning special from comedienne Lily Tomlin features her characters Edith Ann and Ernestine, as well as guest appearances by Richard Pryor and Alan Alda. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this virtually plotless episode, the notices on the 4077th's bulletin board cue the various segments. Within a half-hour's time, the viewer bears witness to yet another sex-education lecture from the clueless officers, the screening of an old Shirley Temple movie, and the ongoing efforts to stage a camp picnic. Needless to say, the events which transpire don't turn out quite as expected. "Bulletin Board" originally aired on January 14, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
With an ever-increasing viewership and three Emmy awards to its credit, M*A*S*H had no trouble easing into a third successful season in the fall of 1974. Not wishing to tinker with the success, the series' producers retained all of the regular characters from previous years--Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), Frank Burns (Larry Linville), Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit), Henry Blake (Maclean Stevenson) and Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff)--while steadily beefing up the roles of the series two most popular recurring characters, Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) and Cpl. Klinger (Jamie Farr). And in a piquant bit of guest-star casting, the third season opener "The General Flipped at Dawn", Harry Morgan was cast as a crackpot General named Bartford Hamilton Steele, whose adherence to regulations was matched only by the length and breadth of his certifiable insanity. Although General Steele would not be seen past this episode, Harry Morgan would of course return the following year in a radically different--and far more enduring--characterization. One person who would not be returning for a fourth season was Maclean Stevenson, who in a career move that has become legendary in its short-sightedness, opted to leave M*A*S*H to star in a new series of his own. The departure of Stevenson's character, the 4077th's beloved commanding officer Henry Blake, occurred during the third season's final episode, "Abyssinia, Henry", the conclusion of which was one of the best-kept--and most shocking--secrets in TV sitcom history. Having ended the 1973-74 season as the fourth most popular series on American television, M*A*S*H slipped ever so slightly to fifth place during 1974-75, a decline attributable to CBS' decision to move the program from its winning Saturday-night slot to a less desirable Tuesday-evening berth. Even so, M*A*S*H remained one of the jewels in CBS' crown, if for no other reason than the series copped its fourth Emmy during its fourth season: the winner was series co-creator Larry Gelbart, for his direction of the episode titled "O.R.", the first (but hardly the last) of the season's installments to completely dispense with a laugh track. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, (more)
Everybody knew that Maclean Stevenson would not return to M*A*S*H when the series inaugurated its fourth season in the fall of 1975; after all, Stevenson's character, Col. Henry Blake, had been abruptly killed off at the end of season three, so any sort of return was out of the question. It did, however, come as something of a surprise to the series' loyal viewers that another of the leading characters, irreverent surgeon Trapper John, was also missing from the fourth season roster. The reason? Actor Wayne Rogers, who'd played Trapper since the series' debut in 1972, had ankled the project in the middle of a contract dispute; he was tired of playing second fiddle to costar Alan Alda (aka Hawkeye Pierce), and wanted to spread his wings with a series of his own. Thus, season four opened with the first of M*A*S*H's one-hour "special" episodes, the better to establish the character of Trapper John's assistant, Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell. More clean-cut and level-headed that the Rabelaisian Trapper, B.J. nonetheless proved to be every bit as capricious and irreverent as his predecessor, especially when cooking up schemes to embarrass the gimlet-eyed, humorless Frank Burns (Larry Linville and the chronically thin-skinned Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) As for Col. Blake's replacement, the series' producers decided not to emulate the youngish, laid-back Maclean Stevenson, and instead went with an older, more "Regular Army" character. Harry Morgan, who'd appeared as a guest star during M*A*S*H's third season, was added to the cast as crusty but lovable Colonel Henry Potter, an old Cavalry man who managed to maintain the dignity of the Service and the decorum of the O.R. without ever sacrificing his humanity or sense of humor. Potter also proved to be a "good fit" insofar as company clerk Radar O'Reilly was concerned. Without ever consciously or blatantly doing so, Potter and Radar fell into a warm father-son relationship, which would make Radar's inevitable exit from the series five seasons later all the more poignant. Another development within the M*A*S*H family was the ascention of actor Jamie Farr to full "series regular" status. Introduced as an intended one-shot during season one, Farr's character, cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger (who of course donned women's clothing in hopes of being discharged from the Army on a Section 8) proved popular enough to warrant additional "guest" appearances, and by the time the 1974-75 season had rolled around, Farr was being billed at the beginning of each episode, rather than merely among the "featured" cast in the closing credits. The "look" of M*A*S*H continued to deepen and mellow during season four, with the "zany" and "serious" aspects achieving a more even balance, thereby lessening the need for that intrusive recorded laughtrack that CBS insisted upon (though the track would not disappear altogether for several seasons to come). This was also the year that the series briefly digressed from its standard format to offer a half-hour "documentary" episode, in which the staff of the 4077th were interviewed by a TV war correspondent (Clete Roberts). Shot in black-and-white, this episode closed out the series' fourth season in the spring of 1976. By that time, M*A*S*H had won the fifth of its Emmy awards, the prize going to Stanford Tischler and Fred W. Berger, who had written the 60-minute opener "Welcome to Korea". Unfortunately, though the series was still popular, it has slipped from fifth to 14th place in the overall ratings, thanks to CBS' misguided decision to move the series from Tuesday to Friday evenings opposite the NBC ratings-grabber Chico and the Man. At least CBS acknowledged its error early on; in December of 1975, M*A*S*H was shifted back to Tuesdays, where it would remain a fixture for the next two years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, (more)
- 1975
This time it is Radar's (Gary Burghoff) turn to recap the zany happenings at the 4077th in a letter home. Writing to his mother, Radar invokes such highlights as the camp's annual foot inspection, this year handled by a reluctant Hawkeye (Alan Alda). On a more delicate note, Radar recalls the shrapnel wound endured by Col. Potter (Harry Morgan)--an injury as embarrassing as it is painful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Col. Potter (Harry Morgan) writes home to his wife Mildred on the occasion of their 27th wedding anniversary. Hoping to curry favor with their new commander, Frank (Larry Linville) and Hot Lips (Loretta Swit) secretly commission a special wood carving. But it is Radar (Gary Burghoff) who wins the Colonel's heart by rescuing an old Cavalry horse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
