LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Robert Altman: M*A*S*H
built 185 days ago
When remembering Altman in his heyday, people point to his early 70s triumphs like McCabe and Mrs. Miller or M*A*S*H. (Someone has even uploaded the entirety of Altman’s remarkable 1970 film Brewster McCloud onto YouTube in ten-minute installments.) But often overlooked is Altman’s bold 1973 re-imagining of the ultimate American archetype — the lonely detective.
Source:
His taste for risk-taking meant Mr. Altman experienced great failure as well as great success. That success was almost entirely critical; "M*A*S*H" was the only one of his more than 30 feature films to be a smash hit. As Pauline Kael , Mr. Altman's most notable champion, once wrote: "When Altman succeeds, he magically pulls a rabbit out of his hat. When he fails, it looks as if he never had anything in that hat."
Source:
M*A*S*H made Altman the grand old man of Hollywood's new wave. In his late 40s, when the headline-making Spielbergs and Scorceses were decades younger, he wasn't much interested in doing things the Hollywood way.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
M*A*S*H