MASH (film)

MASH
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Altman Fred Williamson (football scenes)
Produced by	Ingo Preminger
Screenplay by	Ring Lardner, Jr.
Based on	MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker
Starring	Donald Sutherland Elliott Gould Tom Skerritt Sally Kellerman Robert Duvall Roger Bowen René Auberjonois
Music by	Johnny Mandel
Cinematography	Harold E. Stine
Edited by	Danford B. Greene
Production company	Aspen Productions Ingo Preminger Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	January 25, 1970 (1970-01-25)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.025 million
Box office	$81.6 million

MASH (stylized as M*A*S*H on the poster art) is a 1970 American satirical black comedy war film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The picture is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise and became one of the biggest films of the early 1970s for 20th Century Fox.

The film depicts a unit of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War; the subtext is about the Vietnam War. It stars Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, and Elliott Gould, with Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, René Auberjonois, Gary Burghoff, Roger Bowen, Michael Murphy, and in his film debut, professional football player Fred Williamson.

The film won Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, later named Palme d'Or, at 1970 Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to receive five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. MASH was deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The Academy Film Archive preserved MASH in 2000. The film inspired the popular and critically acclaimed television series M*A*S*H, which ran from 1972 to 1983.