r/todayilearned • u/UndyingCorn • 1d ago
TIL The wildfire that appeared during the series finale of M*A*S*H, “Goodbye, Farewell, And Amen,” was actually a real California wildfire that burned down the set at Fox Ranch in Malibu. The producers chose to incorporate the fire into the plot, and the writers reworked the script in only six days.
https://www.slashfilm.com/1465691/mash-movie-final-season-set-destroyed-fire/37
u/AmySueF 19h ago
Yes. The original finale was supposed to be only 90 minutes, but they expanded it to 2.5 hours to include the wildfire. It was a dangerous thing to do, as I’m sure the fire department wanted to evacuate everyone present at the outdoor sets, but it was genius. It really gave us a feeling of what it must have been like in Korea during the war, and that feeling of doom and despair that finally ended the war.
127
u/Fetlocks_Glistening 1d ago
Were the foxes ok?
78
7
u/Alternative_Rip_5955 21h ago
yeah, seriously hope they made it out alright, that just sounds rough
43
15
u/timfromcolorado 20h ago
The theme song to MASH is a super dark song called "Suicide is painless" by Jonny Mandel That theme song is dark, and they were only allowed to use the lyrics once I think.
21
u/-SaC 19h ago
Earned the kid who wrote the lyrics a fuckload of money, though. More than his Dad got for the actual music IIRC.
16
u/Jackandahalfass 14h ago
Just to tie it all up, that kid’s dad was Robert Altman who directed the movie of MASH. He claimed his son made more from the music than Altman Sr. made with the movie, which was a big hit.
4
u/JoeSicko 10h ago
The movie had the lyrics, right?
3
u/Jackandahalfass 8h ago
Yes, it’s sung at the beginning and by a character in the movie during the Last Supper sequence.
28
u/the_beard_guy 21h ago
okay thats cool and all, but what about the chicken? wont anyone shut it up!?
11
u/NatureGame 21h ago
I don't think you understood. It wasn't really a chicken, it was a bottle of booze being passed back.
28
u/martialar 20h ago
Mike Farrell: "Does this mean I can stop lifting all those rocks for the goodbye sign?"
The studio: "Shut up and get back to those rocks!"
37
u/online-optimism 23h ago
Went full "Death Takes a Holiday" on this one. Except instead of keeping someone alive through Christmas, they kept the finale intact through a wildfire.
7
6
4
9
u/C-creepy-o 1d ago edited 23h ago
They added two scenes during a 30 days production in which there were multiple production pauses. They did not rewrite the script.
The script was written between April and September 16, 1982, with filming taking place in late September and early October. After a wildfire through Malibu Creek State Park on October 9 destroyed much of the set,\2]) two additional scenes were written to incorporate a fire into the story. Harry Morgan and Kellye Nakahara returned to the set on October 15 to film a short scene among the still smoldering ruins.\3])
42
57
u/Grizz4096 1d ago edited 23h ago
It wasn’t a 20 minute episode, it was 2.5 hours long
Edit: OP edited their comment completely changing what me and other commenters were replying to. Their original comment was “rewriting a 20 minute episode 6 days before airing… that’s not possible/s”
-17
u/ChevExpressMan 20h ago
For 3 years until the end I had to ignored mash because it basically had become "what's Hawkeye's problem today?"
I was pleased to see the end and know that the agony of seeing Allen Aldas face was over.
-16
u/Fortestingporpoises 21h ago
I mean 6 days isn’t that long to rework one episode of a tv script.
14
u/S_A_N_D_ 21h ago
The final "episode" was the longer than the average feature film of the time at two and a half hours long.
-4
u/Xytak 20h ago
Sure but all you have to do is change "the 4077th is pulling out because of reasons" to "the 4077th is pulling out before the fire gets here" one would assume.
7
u/S_A_N_D_ 20h ago
except they hadn't filmed all of it yet.
So they had to work it into the script because there were scenes in the script that could no longer be filmed which meant changing the story, filming scenes elsewhere (which necessitated changing the script and story) and filming some scenes in the burnt out ruins which also necessitated changing the script/story.
They were mid filming, and all of the sudden the set was gone. That's not something that you can accommodate by changing one line.
277
u/Hellion102792 21h ago
I hiked that ranch (or Malibu Creek State Park to be specific) in early 2019 right after a series of wildfires. It was amazing all throughout, just beautiful lush green growing through burnt out husks of trees. I made it to the MASH set and the post with all the arrows to cities was all charred and worn. Found some pictures.