From Catch-22 to Good Morning, Vietnam, there are plenty of great movies that balance compelling character drama with incisive dark humor as effectively as MASH. Most war movies, like Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter, offer bleak, harrowing accounts of the horrors of warfare and the devastating psychological toll it takes. But there are plenty of filmmakers who have used the inherent absurdity of warfare to satirize geopolitics and human nature, like Stanley Kubrick with his Cold War-era farce Dr. Strangelove or Ivan Reitman with his lighthearted buddy comedy Stripes.
Robert Altman’s transgressive comedy blockbuster MASH and the ensuing hit TV adaptation both showed audiences how to laugh at the pain of war. Altman’s film used its Korean War setting as a timely parallel to the then-ongoing Vietnam War, and the TV show used a workplace sitcom set in a war zone to depict triumphs of the human spirit — even under such trying circumstances, people can make friends and build a community. From Three Kings to Stalag 17, there are a ton of great movies that have done the same.
10 Biloxi Blues (1988)
Directed By Mike Nichols
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Biloxi Blues PG-13
Director Mike Nichols Writers Neil Simon Cast Matthew Broderick , Christopher Walken , Matt Mulhern , Corey Parker , Markus Flanagan Runtime 106 Minutes
Between his hit movies Heartburn and Working Girl, Mike Nichols helmed the underappreciated military comedy Biloxi Blues.Biloxi Bluesstars Matthew Broderick as a rebellious teenager who’s drafted into the U.S. Army and Christopher Walken as the hard-edged veteran sergeant charged with training him and all the other new recruits.
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It was based on the semi-autobiographical play of the same name by Neil Simon, and Simon’s self-penned screenplay adaptation exemplifies his signature razor-sharp wit. At the beginning of the movie, Broderick’s Private Jerome sets out to not only survive the war, but also lose his virginity.
The tongue-in-cheek humor of Biloxi Blues brings the coming-of-age trope of sexual maturity into a deadly World War II setting. Simon’s typically amusing script, Nichols’ typically lean, focused direction, and Broderick’s typically charismatic performance all come together to make Biloxi Blues a gem.
9 Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Directed By Brian G. Hutton
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Kelly’s Heroes PGAdventureComedyWar
Director Brian G. Hutton Cast Clint Eastwood , Telly Savalas , Don Rickles , Carroll O’Connor , Donald Sutherland Runtime 144 Minutes Budget 4000000
Brian G. Hutton’s Kelly’s Heroes transplants a bawdy heist comedy into the battlefields of World War II. It follows a ragtag band of American G.I.s who go A.W.O.L. so they can go behind enemy lines and rob a stash of Nazi gold from a French bank. Kelly’s Heroes satirizes war by focusing on the soldiers’ pursuit of personal wealth over the underlying politics of the conflict itself.
It’s a war movie in which the heroes have no interest in the war they’re fighting. Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas ably lead the ensemble, with hilarious supporting turns from Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Like
MASH
,
Kelly’s Heroes
is less interested in the wartime setting and more in its cast of colorful characters.
Troy Kennedy Martin provides a screenplay that’s just as audacious, inventive, and wildly entertaining as his script for The Italian Job. Like MASH, Kelly’s Heroes is less interested in the wartime setting and more in its cast of colorful characters.
8 Three Kings (1999)
Directed By David O. Russell
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Three Kings R
Director David O. Russell Writers John Ridley , David O. Russell Cast George Clooney , Mark Wahlberg , Ice Cube , Spike Jonze , Cliff Curtis , Nora Dunn Runtime 114 minutes
After making his mark with the acclaimed low-budget comedies Spanking the Monkey and Flirting with Disaster, David O. Russell helmed his first big-budget studio movie with the Gulf War heist caper Three Kings. Set at the end of the First Gulf War, Three Kings stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze as four American soldiers in Iraq. They set out to steal a hidden cache of gold during the 1991 uprisings against Saddam Hussein.
Much like MASH, Three Kings sends its absurdist fiction crashing into the real-life history of a controversial war. It sets an explosive blend of action and humor against a backdrop of political rage. Although the story is ridiculous, the approach is realistic; Russell used Steadicam shots and handheld cameras to give the movie a documentary-like sense of immersion.
7 1941 (1979)
Directed By Steven Spielberg
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7.3/10 1941 PG
Director Steven Spielberg Writers Robert Zemeckis , Bob Gale , John Milius Cast Dan Aykroyd , Ned Beatty , John Belushi , Lorraine Gary , Murray Hamilton Runtime 118 Minutes
After the back-to-back blockbuster success of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg had the freedom to make whatever movie he wanted to — and what he wanted to make was a farcical It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-style ensemble comedy set during World War II. 1941 tells the story of the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942 as an absurdist caper. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic spreads across the Los Angeles area (with comical results).
Although it was a critical and commercial flop in its time (especially compared to Spielberg’s previous films), 1941 has since been reevaluated as a cult classic. Its ensemble cast includes some of the funniest performers in Hollywood, like Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Michael McKean, Penny Marshall, and Slim Pickens, to name a few. It’s impressive just to see the lengths that Spielberg went to in order to pull off elaborate, expensive sight gags.
6 Stripes (1981)
Directed By Ivan Reitman
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Stripes R Director Ivan Reitman Writers Len Blum , Daniel Goldberg , Harold Ramis Cast Bill Murray , Harold Ramis , Warren Oates , P.J. Soles , Sean Young , John Candy Runtime 106 minutes
Before they donned their proton packs to bust ghosts, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis worked with director Ivan Reitman on a very different comedy: 1981’s Stripes. Murray and Ramis play two immature slackers who decide to enlist in the U.S. Army to bring some much-needed discipline and purpose to their floundering, aimless lives.
Once they join the military, they get into all kinds of hilarious hijinks. Murray is at the height of his powers, and his on-screen chemistry with Ramis believably captures a ride-or-die friendship.
It’s a lot like
MASH
; it takes place in a dangerous environment, but it has the heart of a found-family storyline.
While Stripes doesn’t have a lot to say about the military-industrial complex or the absurdity of war, it is a delightfully irreverent comedy with lovable characters and an abundance of great gags. In that sense, it’s a lot like MASH; it takes place in a dangerous environment, but it has the heart of a found-family storyline.
5 The Boys In Company C (1978)
Directed By Sidney J. Furie
The first chapter in Sidney J. Furie’s unofficial Vietnam War trilogy, 1978’s The Boys in Company C, is still the most renowned. Set in 1967, The Boys in Company C follows five young men as they go through basic training at boot camp before being shipped off to fight in Vietnam. Once they actually get to the battlefield, it dawns on them that no amount of training could’ve prepared them for the horrors they find there.
Much like MASH, The Boys in Company C encapsulates the camaraderie that bonds soldiers together in battle. The five main characters all become good friends at boot camp, but the traumatic events of the war bring them together as brothers-in-arms. Just under a decade before his iconic turn in Full Metal Jacket, R. Lee Ermey gave his first on-screen drill instructor performance in The Boys in Company C.
4 Stalag 17 (1953)
Directed By Billy Wilder
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Stalag 17 (1953) Not Rated
Director Billy Wilder Writers Billy Wilder , Edwin Blum Cast William Holden , Robert Strauss , Don Taylor , Otto Preminger , Harvey Lembeck , Richard Erdman , Peter Graves , Neville Brand , Sig Ruman , Michael Moore , Peter Baldwin , Robinson Stone , Robert Shawley , William Pierson , Gil Stratton , Jay Lawrence , Erwin Kalser , Edmund Trzcinski Runtime 120 Minutes Expand
Billy Wilder followed up his film noir classics Sunset Boulevard and Ace in the Hole with one of the greatest P.O.W. movies ever made: 1953’s Stalag 17. Based on Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski’s autobiographical Broadway play of the same name, Stalag 17 revolves around a group of American airmen in World War II, who are locked away alongside 40,000 other prisoners in a German prisoner-of-war camp somewhere on the Danube. The movie focuses on one specific barracks, where the men begin to suspect that one of their fellow prisoners is an informant.
Wilder deftly translates the play’s balance of humor and tragedy — the same balance handled beautifully in MASH — to the medium of film. Wilder’s steady-handed direction and the cast’s fine performances make this a true masterpiece. Stalag 17 is such a pitch-perfect portrayal of life in a P.O.W. camp that it ended up inspiring the creation of Hogan’s Heroes.
3 Catch-22 (1970)
Directed By Mike Nichols
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Catch-22 R
Director Mike Nichols Writers Joseph Heller , Buck Henry Cast Alan Arkin , Martin Balsam , Richard Benjamin , Art Garfunkel , Jack Gilford , Buck Henry , Bob Newhart , Anthony Perkins Runtime 122 Minutes
Before he made Biloxi Blues, Nichols had previously satirized war in his 1970 film adaptation of the defining anti-war satire: Joseph Heller’s seminal debut novel Catch-22. Catch-22 lampoons the ridiculousness of drafting unwilling citizens to fight in a war zone with the story of a group of soldiers trying to maintain their sanity while carrying out their military chores. Nichols reteamed with The Graduate screenwriter Buck Henry to condense Heller’s devilishly complex novel into a two-hour movie.
Nichols not only captures the chaos of the source material, but its biting deconstruction of the absurdity of war. Alan Arkin gives one of his finest performances in the lead role of Captain John Yossarian, with strong support from the likes of Bob Balaban, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, and even Orson Welles. Like the book it’s based on, Catch-22 is as smart as it is funny.
2 Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Directed By Barry Levinson
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Good Morning, Vietnam R Director Barry Levinson Writers Mitch Markowitz Cast Robin Williams , Forest Whitaker , Tung Thanh Tran , Chintara Sukapatana , Bruno Kirby , Robert Wuhl Runtime 121 Minutes
Loosely based on the experiences of real-life Armed Forces Radio Service DJ Adrian Cronauer, Barry Levinson’s Good Morning, Vietnam is a refreshingly warm-hearted counterpoint to harrowing Vietnam War movies like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter. Set in Saigon in 1965, it stars Robin Williams as Cronauer, who keeps his fellow troops’ spirits up with a hilarious radio show. Although he proves to be massively popular among the soldiers, his superiors are increasingly frustrated by his “irreverent tendency.”
Williams received his first of four Oscar nominations for his turn in Good Morning, Vietnam, which is equal parts hysterical and heartfelt. Levinson masterfully balances the comic levity of Cronauer’s radio show with the unspeakable horrors taking place just outside the walls of the base. Much like MASH, Good Morning, Vietnam is all about the human spirit triumphing in the face of war.
1 Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Directed By Stanley Kubrick
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10/10 Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb PGComedy
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*Availability in US Director Stanley Kubrick Release Date January 29, 1964 Studio(s) Columbia Pictures Distributor(s) Columbia Pictures Writers Terry Southern , Stanley Kubrick , Peter George Cast George C. Scott , Slim Pickens , Peter Sellers , Keenan Wynn , Sterling Hayden Runtime 95 minutes Expand
Stanley Kubrick effectively captured the bleak horrors of warfare in Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket, but he took a much more comedic approach to the subject matter in his brilliant 1964 satire Dr. Strangelove. Produced at the height of the Cold War, Dr. Strangelove sees the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation. The U.S. president and his cronies desperately try to prevent a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union that was ordered by a mentally unstable Air Force general.
Although the film’s source material — Red Alert by Peter George — is a straightforward dramatization of a potential nuclear war, Kubrick recognized the inherent absurdity of mutually assured destruction and adapted it as a nihilistic comedy. Dr. Strangelove arrived as cinema’s sharpest political satire since The Great Dictator (and remained the sharpest until MASH came along). It was made to poke fun at Cold War-era paranoia, but its satire of the nuclear arms race is, sadly, just as relevant today.