Frank Burns is played by Robert Duvall in the movie; a man who at one time was famous for playing mentally handicapped or mentally suspect (some would say crazy) people. His last big role before the MASH movie, which everyone remembered him for, was playing Boo Radley in Il buio oltre la siepe (1962). Duvall is the only actor associated with MASH, either movie or TV show, to win an Oscar. Duvall's quiet, soft spoken, Boo Radleyish Frank could not be more different from the loud arrogant blowhard Larry Linville in the TV show! Incidentally, Frank was hauled off to a mental institution at the end of MASH the movie. This incident was retconned out of the script and the character's back story for the TV show. (At the end of season 5; when Margaret finally marries Donald Penobscott; Frank has an off-screen breakdown. He is sent to a mental institution like he is in the movie; and then quickly recovers, only to be sent stateside to become a Chief of Surgery at a Veteran Administration hospital in his Indiana hometown. All of this happens off screen and is explained by Potter to Hawkeye and BJ. So in a way Frank does get sent to a mental hospital, just like he does in the movie; but this incident is pushed back about five years to explain his departure). Ironically, in the TV show, Hawkeye ends up going to a mental institution, for a while anyway, in the last episode; just like Frank does.

Film

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