MovieChat Forums > M*A*S*H (1972) Discussion > How Alda wanted Hawkeyes to be seen

How Alda wanted Hawkeyes to be seen

posted 8 years ago by truaxjohn
14 replies | jump to latest

I have been watching MASH reruns since the early 90's. Even as a teenager and in my 20's I was able to notice the politics in the show and felt it had to of insulting to the Vietnam Vets that came home only to watch episodes where the characters talk poorly of the military and are sympathetic to the enemy.

But what kills me, and I was reminded tonight watching S5, E2 "Bug Out", of how the Hawkeye character comes off as such an arrogant ass. The cliche of the doctor playing god I am sure has been mentioned on the MASH board probably a million times. The part I am talking about is when they are in the Jeep looking at the empty camp and Radar says something like 'think about all the men we've worked on' and Hawkeye arrogantly responds 'we, Doctor?' (Something like that). You know damn well that Alda had complete creative direction of his character. Did he not notice? Alda injected his politics into this show. Makes you wonder how much of an ass Alan Alda is. I love the show, I love the characters (except Hot Lips after season 4), and even the actors seem interesting. But I love teh characters so much more season's 1-4 and I think the evolution of the characters in the later years had to be perceived as a negative by mainly 'the basket of deplorables'. Was it just me or did you feel 'the basket of deplorables' hit out the demographic of our military? Hmm.

Johnny T.
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[–] knight523-383-350235 8 years ago

For the record, "Bug out" wasn't written by Alda,..

[–] iamtherealbg 8 years ago

Totally douchey of Hawk to say that to Radar.

"Think of all the wounded we worked on."
"We, doctor?"

Ah, yeah. "WE." As in all of us at the M*A*S*H unit. You know the guys that announce over the PA so you doctors will pull your heads out of your still and get to work. "WE." As in the nurses who perform triage endlessly and help assess the situation you doctors are about to experience. "WE." The underlings that, with little training, help pass you the instruments while you crack lame jokes and sing while you operate and creepily hit on nurses and make rape jokes.
Radar was just being reminiscent and Hawkeye shot him down letting him know who the "real" surgeon was. And whether it was written by Alan Alda or not he still had a lot of creative control. It was his show. He could of said, "Can we get this line re-written. It kind of sounds like I'm being a dick to Radar."

[–] roysfire 8 years ago

Besides Radar would have foreseen Hawk's reaction to his statement,just as he did Col Blake's

[–] knight523-383-350235 8 years ago

Not to defend Alda, or Hawkeye, but his response was pretty typical,..he was always making snide comments about Radar's lack of height, or lack of personal hygiene....Hawkeye was an an equal opportunity offender..

[–] indy_go_blue44 8 years ago

Not to defend Alda either, but many doctors are total az holes. They treat "underlings" like feces and some aren't much better toward their patients. It was easy to tell the difference between good and bad doctors by how the nurses treated them and how their patients responded.

Two jokes, one short, one longer.

What is the difference between a doctor and God? God doesn't think he's a doctor."

A doctor dies and goes to heaven. After a while he starts to feel hungry, which confuses him, so he asks an angel what's going on, why am I hungry. The angel assures him that yes, hunger is common in Heaven. Well, where do I eat? The angel points to this big white building with a huge line leading back from the door.

The former doctor gets into line, which slowly winds its way forward until finally he's near the front. Suddenly a man in a white jacket with a stethoscope around his neck cuts into line and has his plate filled with the choicest items of food.

The doctor is fuming by now, and turns to someone else in line. "I was a doctor on earth, and now I have to stand in line for an hour to eat, and this guy just cuts into line? Who's he think he is anyway?

The other person answers, "oh that's just God. He thinks he's a doctor sometimes."

[–] crypticanomaly73 8 years ago

Alda/Hawkeye and the Leftist politics really makes me cringe when I watch this show, they aren't even sneaky or clever about how they do it either. Not to mention that Hawkeye often puts himself and others on danger due to his Leftardation.

And yes that response in Bug Out is so typical of someone with an over inflated ego.

Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.

[–] marktayloruk (2506) 3 years ago

I rather wish they could have toned down the liberalism. For instance- first series have the girl tell Hawkeye that she liked being Baker's moose - it was far better than working in a factory.
In a later episode - how did they know that the abandoned baby was the child of a GI? And the South Korean officer who wanted to preserve his country's long suppressed culture surely had a point. Hawkeye could be spiteful at times- they should have had him "lose " to Burns or Winchester some time.

[–] JosephQCat (706) 3 years ago

Pierce lost to Winchester once in a great while and usually in a superficial way. I've heard Alda sneer about shows like the original Star Trek because it was rooted in contemporary American values but MASH really was no better.

[–] JohnGrant (101) 5 months ago

The dialogue actually goes like this:

Radar: Yeah, just think of all the guys we operated on.

Hawkeye: Right, doctor.

I didn't really detect any arrogance in what Hawkeye said. If anything he was just poking a little fun at Radar like he usually does.

[–] strntz (12449) 5 months ago

Yep. Hawkeye was extraordinarily fond of Radar, but he would often jibe him like he did everyone else, including B.J. and Potter - two more people he absolutely respected and admired.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14475) 5 months ago

Keep in mind that they did sometimes show that Hawkeye's bleeding heart would backfire on him, or he would get his ass handed to him, and he's even been forced to eat humble pie. So the show didn't always favor him, or even his politics. In fact, there's actually an episode where Colonel Potter talked him into using a handgun to scare away North Korean troops simply by firing it into the air and making a lot of noise. And this was a guy who repeatedly said he hated guns, despite being surrounded by them in a war zone and being protected by armed guards in the camp.

[–] VladPutin (1582) 5 months ago

Holy necro-thread, Batman!
I don't understand why all the posters to this thread watched M*A*S*H as they evidently did, considering how much they seemed to dislike the plot/theme/script/dialogue.

[–] stevewyzard (1610) 5 months ago

When people are young, they tend to do things they regret later in life, wishing they had spent their time differently.

[–] VladPutin (1582) 5 months ago

For sure.