Frank Burns
Frank Burns. An antagonistic character in the 1968 novel M*A*S*H*, upon which the 1970 film and the television series were based.
Frank Burns. An antagonistic character in the 1968 novel M*A*S*H*, upon which the 1970 film and the television series were based. He was portrayed by Robert Duvall in the film, and Larry Linville in the television series. He was a captain in the novel, but a major in the movie and on television.
Duvall’s portrayal of Burns in the film was that of a pious yet hypocritical surgeon. He conspires with Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan to report the shenanigans of the other surgeons due to their abidance to strict military discipline. An audio recording of their intimacy results in Burns attacking Hawkeye (who taunted him over the incident) and being transferred to a psychiatric facility.
But it is Larry Linville’s portrayal of Frank Burns in the television series that is best known. He advocated strict military discipline, conspired with Margaret (whom he was having an affair with), was overly patriotic, and was hypocritical (since at times he was seen reading his Bible). In addition, he was an inept surgeon (which earned him the nickname “Ferret Face”), as well as being arrogant, greedy, selfish, and hostile (especially to subordinates). He would also butter up to higher-ranking officers.
For comical as well as creative purposes, Larry Linville based Frank Burns on every idiot he ever knew. He also described Burns as a man with “a mind that stripped its gears”. Although Linville was a nice guy in real life, he could be high-strung at times, a personality trait that he added to his portrayal of Burns.
But Frank Burns would not be a character for the duration of M*A*S*H. In the show’s fifth season, Margaret got engaged to another officer, whom she married in the season finale. This storyline led to Linville leaving the show. His reasons for doing so were because he wanted to pursue other roles, in addition to taking the character of Frank Burns as far as he could.
At any rate, Burns went off the deep end following Margaret’s marriage while on R & R in Seoul. His actions resulted in him being held for psychiatric evaluation and transferred from the 4077th, much to the delight of everyone assigned there. However, he was cleared of the charges, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and put in charge of a veteran’s hospital in Indiana.
But for all his incompetence and arrogance, Burns was a patriot. He was a staunch anti-Communist and would give lectures on why America was fighting in the Korean War. On one such occasion, he states that if the communists took over the entire Korean peninsula, they would turn left, and then be marching down Main Street USA.
In a sense, his words seem not only reflective of the Domino Theory but also prophetic, when one takes into account the leftist actions in recent times.
Had he have been a real person, I wonder how he would react to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the Chinese spy balloon incident.