Directed by Robert Altman, the 1970 movie stars Donald Sutherland as "Hawkeye" Pierce and Elliott Gould as "Trapper John" McIntyre (roles that, of course, actors Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers would later take on). Hawkeye and Trapper John serve as doctors for a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War.
The storyline was based on a novel by Richard Hooker (a pseudonym for writer W.C. Heinz and Dr. H. Richard Hornberger), titled "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors." Hornberger drew on his own experiences working as a surgeon in the military during the Korean War for the novel.
The movie was released again in theaters in 1973 in an attempt to make the TV series, which was still trying to gain viewers at that time, more popular.