United States, 1970

Cast: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, Rene Auberjonois, Gary Burghoff
Director: Robert Altman
Screenplay: Ring Lardner Jnr
UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Catch 22 and M*A*S*H are two of the funniest books ever written about war.

Film versions were inevitable and while the former was hot favourite to clean up at the box office, the latter, a tale of American surgeons working in a mobile hospital during the Korean war, took everyone by surprise.

In 1970, Mike Nichols was putting the finishing touches to his version of Catch 22 and decided to check out the competition.

America's hottest director sat back in the plush seat of the screening room and as M*A*S*H unfolded, he got a tight feeling in his chest.

The acclaimed film-maker knew he was going to come second in the race to get his war comedy on screen. "We were waylaid by M*A*S*H, which was fresher and more alive, improvisational and funnier than Catch 22," he remarked. "It just cut us off at the knees."

Director Robert Altman wasn't too surprised he had the better picture, even having a huge banner in his office bearing the legend 'Caught-22.'

The best TV film of the week was written by Ring Lardner Jnr, who had spent many years blacklisted by Hollywood. The McCarthy witch-hunts of the Fifties ensured that no screenwriter with Communist connections would work in Tinseltown.

By the early Seventies, Cold War paranoia had eased off a little and Lardner's hilarious script got a green light.

Altman was given the screenplay by his agent and loved it although he seemed to be in a minority. Many directors, including William Friedkin, had turned it down. He opted to make The French Connection and The Exorcist instead.

To cut a long story short, Altman eventually signed, despite the studio, 20th Century Fox, having misgivings. A TV show Altman had made earlier in his career had landed the suits in hot water. They finally gave in and had their faith justified when both positive reviews and box office receipts started pouring in.

The director could have had his pick of big names but, aside the two leading men -Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland - he opted for a small army of fresh faces.

"It was more exciting to work with an unknown cast than it was to do a picture with whomever the reigning stars were at the time. Because then you're just taking orders."

Altman wanted the film to be the star and it was this canny decision that gave his movie much of its charm.

Shooting M*A*S*H was a laid-back experience. Everyone was invited to see the day's footage and there was a general party atmosphere that helped the on-screen chemistry no end.

Robert Altman hated working for Fox and while editing the picture was ordered away from the equipment on the grounds that he wasn't authorised. The suits weren't too keen at the pictures of naked women plastered across the walls either.

The next day he got a memo ordering that all girlie snaps be removed from the walls. The director marched into the recording studio and put it all on tape then used it as a loudspeaker announcement in M*A*S*H.

At the time of production, the flag-waving blockbuster Patton was also being put to bed. The moneymen loved it but hated what they saw in Altman's vision of war. The shaky camerawork (which became vogue in the Nineties) looked amateurish to them and the fact that this was the first studio picture to use the F word left the big cheeses cringing.

Needless to say, the movie's success turned Altman into piping hot property. Warren Beatty had never heard of him but couldn't sign Altman up fast enough to direct the curio McCabe and Mrs Miller.

As with the TV spin off, this remaIns an hilarious, scathing attack on the military which remains as fresh today as when it was released 30 years ago.

(Much of the source material for this article was taken from Peter Biskind's excellent book, Easy Riders Raging Bulls.)