M*A*S*H; Midnight Cowboy (1992)

The feel for squalor that made both these movies taboo-busting hits comes through more clearly on FoxVideo's M*A*S*H disc. While the cropped tape version isolates faces, the letterboxed disc retains all the essential atmosphere, as martini-soaked surgeons carouse their way across a mud-caked Korean War encampment. Director Robert Altman piles on competing dialogue and incidental processions of Jeeps, nurses, and wounded soldiers so thickly that you surrender to the overarching rhythms.

John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy also plumbs a desperate milieu, though the voluptuous colors in Criterion's disc make it a richer tour of hell than M*A*S*H. Jon Voight, as a would-be Times Square hustler, is achingly blue-eyed throughout, and the vibrant juice ads tacked up by his flatmate ''Ratso'' Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) become an emblem of the pair's longing for a better life. Capped by alternate-audio-track commentary from the director and producer, the disc shifts Cowboy's spotlight from urban grit to something more timeless and better matched to TV's intimate scale: the actors' profound insight into two tragic characters. M*A*S*H: B+; Cowboy: A-

You Might Also Like

• Photo Gallery Honoring Robert Altman: His 10 finest films (Jun 09, 2006) | Gary Susman
• Movie Commentary Embarrassing sex in ''M*A*S*H'' (1970)
• Oscar Guide 2005 Oscar favors movies with a buddy theme | Ty Burr
• Ask the TV Critic Vaughn and Ferrell in an old-school remake of M*A*S*H? | Ken Tucker
• Video Commentary Robert Altman's innovative style | Michael Sauter
• Movie Commentary Paul Haggis remembers Robert Altman | Paul Haggis