M*A*S*H

Factual error: When Hawkeye and Trapper arrive in Japan, as they approach the hospital in a Jeep, you can see a football field in the background. Look closely at the goalpost on the field. Instead of looking like an "H" (then in use), it is in the style used since the late 1960s: a bent single goalpost, a crossbar, and the uprights.

Factual error: In the football game scene, the players all have helmets with modern style (1970's) face guards.In 1951, the time period of the film, no face guards were used.

Factual error: The goal posts in the fifties were at the goal line, in the movie they are in back of the end zone.

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Suggested correction: The goalposts were at the back of the end zone for college football since the 20's. It was only the NFL that had the goal posts on the goal line, so the scene is accurate since it wasn't an NFL game. It should be noted too that the NFL didn't move the goalpost to the back of the end zone until 1974, 4 years after the movie came out.

Bishop73

Factual error: Early in the movie, the loudspeaker announcer states that the Korean War was the #1 news item of 1951. Later in the movie it is announced that the night's movie is scheduled to be "The Glory Brigade" starring Victor Mature. However, that movie was released in May of 1953.

goofyfoot

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Mistakes

Revealing mistake: Near the end of the film, there is a football game played between the rival MASH units. Although the game is supposed to be taking place in a remote location of Korea in 1951, late model 1960's automobiles can be seen driving on a nearby highway as the game progresses. This gave away the fact that the football scenes were shot at a university in Southern California.

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Quotes

Cheerleaders: Sixty-nine, is divine. Sixty-nine, is divine.

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Trivia

Trivia: Approximately half way through the movie, there's a shot of the moon with an announcement made over the system, as this was filmed on the exact same night that the first humans made their walk on the moon. From the audio commentary.

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Questions

Question: What's the difference between an enlisted person and an officer?

Answer: An officer is a person who has had special training (in college ROTC, or in OTS, called 90 days wonders) for command, tactics, military law and the like, after which they are Commissioned. They are basically management. An enlisted person is someone who has gone through basic military training, but does not have command responsibilities or authority. Basically labor. This gets a little confusing when enlisted personnel can rise in rank to become a Non-Commissioned officer, often called the backbone of the Service. But the highest ranked enlisted person does not out-rank, and has to salute, the lowest ranked officer.

Richard Welty

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