Ridiculous M*A*S*H hypocrisy

[Sauron]

@silenus

Potter and Hawkeye help out an aid unit. On the way back, Potter wonders if Zoltan (Klinger) packed anything for the trip. He finds a bottle, blesses Klinger’s heart, and he and Hawk get blasted while bombing down a dirt road. They come under sniper fire and decamp to a ditch. Potter returns fire, then orders Hawkeye to do the same. Hawk replies that he will heal their wounds, bind their wounds, but he will not cause their wounds. Potter makes it a direct order, then says please. Hawk empties the .45 into the air. The sniping stops, and they discover that a passing US patrol has run the North Koreans off. They stagger out of the ditch and join the patrol. The End.

And my favorite part, just as the last scene is ending – Potter staggers a bit, steps on a bush, says “Bush” and keeps going.

@Elendil's Heir

It was a tontine, wasn’t it?

Yes – Col. Potter’s friends in WWI found a bottle of cognac, and created a tontine that the last surviving member of their group would drink a toast from the bottle to his friends.

[Quote=kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil
“… but know this: You can cut me off from the civilized world. You can incarcerate me with two moronic cellmates. You can torture me with your thrice-daily swill. But you cannot break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be heard from this wilderness, and I shall be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer.”

And then he found the rubber chicken in his teapot.
[/quote]

Close – he found the rubber chicken in his teapot while he was recording a message home to his parents. The speech above was delivered to Col. Potter.

[muldoonthief]

@silenus

Taxi, I think. I don’t recall Kelso ever being anything but a pretty boy goof.

I was thinking of this scene. Jump around 6:45 in. Of course we only have Kelso’s word that all the thought about was school.

[Annie-Xmas]

In the original book, Hooker states that the people in his unit used to call “R & R” (Rest & Relaxation “I&I” (Intoxication & Intercourse).

I nearly caused a friend to choke to death when mentioning that while he was drinking beer.

[Saint_Cad]

@Mean_Mr.Mustard

Just gotta get this off my chest. I’ve got MAS*H on the telly as I’m checking out the Dope, and Klinger tells Potter he saw one of the nurses in the supply tent last night and she was (gasp) drunk. Potter talks to Houlihan, tells her to check it out, tells her we can’t have anyone with a drinking problem on his staff. Houlihan confronts the nurse and ultimately tells her she can’t take any chances, she is no longer allowed to work in OR. OK, now Houlihan tells Potter that she has someone keeping an eye on the nurse so she won’t sneak any booze.

It’s a good thing nobody else at the 4077th shows any signs of excessive drinking.
mmm

My gf associates with a lot of ex-military in her line of work and the idea that the playing field and rules are very different (and very favorable) for penis over vagina is very real.

[BigT]

@tdn

Potter was drunk several times. His first night there, as was mentioned. There was a time when he pointed to an empty bottle and asked Radar to “Get rid of that dead soldier, soldier.” I’m sure there was at least another time.

Klinger was drunk when he was jealous of Radar, as was mentioned. There was also the time when a woman jilted him. A hooker jilted Charles in the same episode. They were both drunk at the end.

And at Penobscott’s bachelor party, they were all drunk. Even Frank. Jocularity, jocularity!

As well as the tenor of the show changing, some basic facts did as well. In one episode Hawkeye talks about being and only child, and his mother going to the hospital and never coming out. In a much earlier episode, he tells his father in a letter to “Say hi to mom and sis.”

Don’t forget that, at the beginning, Radar drunk with the rest of them, but later only wanted Purple Nehis and was too young to “really” drink.

It just fits with the theme.

[kenobi_65]

@BigT

Don’t forget that, at the beginning, Radar drunk with the rest of them, but later only wanted Purple Nehis and was too young to “really” drink.

It is kind of funny that Radar grew more naive with time.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

@Saint_Cad

My gf associates with a lot of ex-military in her line of work and the idea that the playing field and rules are very different (and very favorable) for penis over vagina is very real.

Oh yes. Penis rules, vaj drools, and don’t you forget it. The career military is mostly made up of good ol’ boys, who want to retain their rights and privileges. Every now and then, this culture gets exposed in mainstream media…but for the most part, one hand washes the other, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, etc.

@kenobi_65

It is kind of funny that Radar grew more naive with time.

Yeah, I always was kinda about that. A farm boy absolutely should NOT be queasy about animals getting killed. Farmers and their kids get used to the fact that Sunday’s chicken dinner was running around on Saturday, scratching bugs and leading a chicken’s life. And the bacons and hams that are hanging in the smokehouse today were rootling and oinking for their dinner a month ago, and probably that pig had a name, too. Now sure, farmers might be modest about human sexuality, but they know damn well that animals have sex in order to reproduce, and the kids usually figure out that humans do the same thing in order to have kids.

[Kaio]

@Two_Many_Cats

Winchester never really got the stick out of his ass as I recall. But he was an excellent surgeon which Frank Burns wasn’t, and was a decent human being if a somewhat arrogant one.

Not completely, but over time he did relax a bit, and occasionally allowed himself a genuine moment or two rather than invariably keeping up his pompous ass front.

Which, I think, we’re saying basically the same thing.

[Wheelz]

@kenobi_65

It is kind of funny that Radar grew more naive with time.

In the film, Radar was a savvy wheeler-dealer scam artist type. Even in the early days of the series he had become much more of a gee-whiz innocent farm boy.

Of course there were lots of changes from the film, but since Gary Burghoff was the only actor to reprise his role for the series, this one seems more striking.

[Oakminster]

@Wheelz

In the film, Radar was a savvy wheeler-dealer scam artist type. Even in the early days of the series he had become much more of a gee-whiz innocent farm boy.

And in the book series, he goes on to become a multi-millionaire owner of a chain of restaurants.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Kaio

Not completely, but over time he did relax a bit, and occasionally allowed himself a genuine moment or two rather than invariably keeping up his pompous ass front.

Which, I think, we’re saying basically the same thing.

Winchester had plenty of human feelings. He genuinely liked Houlihan, Hunnicut, and Klinger. He largely came off as a jerk because of the show’s (necessary) pro-Hawkeye bias. But I can understand and to a degree sympathize with his irritiaton at being at the 4077th in general, as he was sent there simply to screw with him, and his dislike of Hawkeye as well. (This is coming from somebody who loves Hawkeye but can understand why someone would hate him.)

[Kaio]

Of course, as I recall all of the characters were fairly complex. There was a definite personality conflict between him and the other guys of the Swamp, but it smoothed over (a little) once they actually got to know each other, and figure out that Hawkeye wasn’t just an irreverent goofball and Winchester wasn’t just a pompous ass.

Don’t get me wrong, they still butted heads, but they eventually came to respect each other.

For the record, I never thought Winchester was a jerk. He coped with war one way, Hawkeye and BJ did another. His pompous ass front was exactly that, a front.

[Mahaloth]

@kenobi_65

It is kind of funny that Radar grew more naive with time.

No kidding. I prefer the radar that smokes and breaks into Potter/Blake’s liquor cabinet.

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Winchester had plenty of human feelings. He genuinely liked Houlihan, Hunnicut, and Klinger. He largely came off as a jerk because of the show’s (necessary) pro-Hawkeye bias. But I can understand and to a degree sympathize with his irritiaton at being at the 4077th in general, as he was sent there simply to screw with him, and his dislike of Hawkeye as well. (This is coming from somebody who loves Hawkeye but can understand why someone would hate him.)

He does also mention that Hawkeye, Potter, and BJ are excellent surgeons. It’s in the black and white interview episode he appears in.

[42fish]

@kenobi_65

And then he found the rubber chicken in his teapot.

Actually, that’s from when he’s dictating a letter to home:

“Let me put this as succinctly as I can…”

(Tries to pour tea, nothing comes out. Puts down mic for the tape recorder. Removes lid of leapot, finds chicken. Picks mic back up.)

“…Get me the HELL out of here!”

[42fish]

@Mahaloth

No kidding. I prefer the radar that smokes and breaks into Potter/Blake’s liquor cabinet.

Visiting General: “Doesn’t Colonel Blake mind you smoking his cigars and drinking his liquor?”

Radar: “Very much, sir.”

General: “Then why are doing it?”

Radar: “Well, I don’t mind, and I figure as long as one of us is being reasonable…”