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The only weak link in the principal cast is Kellerman, which is a shame as Houlihan is a rather substantial character. I just think her performance is a little too over the top, especially concerning several moments where she breaks down crying. I don't think Kellerman was terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but when you're surrounded by a cast that rarely hits the wrong note, any slight miscue is going to be glaringly obvious. I was quite surprised when I discovered Kellerman was the only cast member to be nominated for an Academy Award. She lost, but I can't believe she was even nominated. I guess it's good the cast was at least represented at that year's Oscar ceremony. Side note: both leads of the terribly cheesy and horribly acted Love Story were nominated, so maybe it goes to show the mindset of the voting body that year.

Altman's direction seems effortless, as it's not flashy in the least, but I think his style perfectly fits the film. One of his trademarks as a director is having overlapping dialogue in the scene and this technique is used exquisitely in the operating tents in MASH where three or four groups of surgeons and nurses have to tend to their patients while sharing a cramped working space. It makes everything seem lifelike - chaotic, stressful, and inherently busy. The film's cinematography, from director of photography Harold Stine, has a somewhat gritty look and I think it works really well. In conjunction with the overlapping dialogue, the cinematography gives MASH the slight feel of a documentary, as if a camera just happened to capture the wild antics of the unit.

The soundtrack is filled with little snippets of different songs - some of them in Japanese played over the camp's PA system and some of them actually sung by the characters on screen - and the combined effect was very funny and pleasing. The most notable part of the soundtrack, though, is the aforementioned theme song, "Suicide is Painless" which was written specifically for MASH. The song is strangely catchy, darkly funny, and nicely sang by an unspecified chorus over the opening titles and then again by cast member Timothy Brown (as Corporal Judson) during the hilarious "fake suicide" scene.

I was amused to read that Altman wanted "the dumbest lyrics possible" and set out to write them himself, while Johnny Mandei wrote the music. Altman wasn't up to the task, though, so he asked his 14-year-old son, Mike, to take a crack at it. Five minutes later, the song was finished and the elder Altman was pleased. Since the song was also used in the television series, Mike went on to earn over $2 million in royalties over the years. Not bad for five minutes' worth of effort as a teenager! It's also funny to me that Robert Altman was paid $75,000 to direct MASH, but his son would earn over 25 times that amount for writing "the dumbest lyrics possible."

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