On face value, this soundtrack made a lot more sense as a release in 1970, before the advent of home video, than it seems to in 2000. The movie M*A*S*H was part of that new wave of American cinema in which the traditional Hollywood method of scoring, with original, Romantic-style instrumental music backing many of the most important scenes, was abandoned. Instead,
Johnny Mandel's work largely involved arranging period tunes and effect music (especially military and football-related themes), although he also wrote a memorable main title theme ("Suicide Is Painless"), which proved to be a gold mine many times over with its use in the long-running television series spawned two years after the movie. The "Theme From M*A*S*H," as it's usually known, is heard in several different arrangements, including the often heard jazz version by
Ahmad Jamal, and its very first appearance, with its thoroughly depressing lyric sung in the style of
the Lettermen (vocals credited to "The Mash"). It also reappears in its best incarnation ever, as a folk-blues solo number in the middle of the sequence labeled "Painless' Suicide, Funeral, and Resurrection" (and one wishes the singer were credited). The rest is primarily incidental music evoking the period and setting within the film and the ironies behind its violent, comical action, arranged by
Mandel, all interspersed with extended dialogue sequence. It holds up much better than one would expect, the editing of the dialogue and music summing up the movie beautifully and in a surprisingly lively and exciting fashion. And that bluesy rendition of "Suicide Is Painless" is a good musical bonus as well, and points up one bet that the producers of the television series missed -- in the first season, when they had
Loudon Wainwright III as a recurring character (Captain Spaulding), he sang a few songs, but he never sang "Suicide Is Painless." ~ Bruce Eder