Although set during the Korean war, M*A*S*H was released whilst America was embroiled in the Vietnam war; the characters of Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John (Elliott Gould) perfectly capture the clash between the free-wheeling sentiments of the 1960s counterculture and the emerging cynicism of American society in the 1970s. The film’s liberal anti-war sentiments reflect the politics of its screenwriter Ring Lardner Jnr. A member of the Hollywood 10 who had been jailed in 1950 and blacklisted until the mid-1960s, Lardner Jnr’s work on M*A*S*H would go on to win him an Oscar for best adapted screenplay in 1971.

Screening as part of Look Who’s Back: The Hollywood Renaissance and the Blacklist. Multi-film pass available.