MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED (1976)

Mother, Jugs and Speed is one of those gritty 1970’s “dark comedies.”  It’s basically MASH in Los Angeles.   Harvey Fishbine owns the F&B Ambulance company and is competing with the Unity Ambulance company for a city contract.   Harry “Doughnut” Fishbine has been staying in business by means such as bribing sheriff’s deputies to call F&B instead of the competition.

Mother (Bill Cosby), Jugs (Raquel Welch) and Speed (Harvey Keitel) provide kick ass emergency medical services.

“Mother” Tucker (Bill Cosby) has the reputation of being the best ambulance driver in the city.  However, Mother likes to do things his own way.  He keeps a cooler of beer in the front seat of the ambulance which he is constantly drinking, he likes to buzz a group of nuns when they cross the street in front of the convent, and he takes his breaks at a massage parlor.

Mother (Bill Cosby) takes a break from a hard day on the job.

Jennifer (Raquel Welch) is Mr. Fishbine’s secretary who has secretly been studying at night to be a paramedic and ambulance driver.   The other employees of F&B have nicknamed Jennifer “Jugs” because of how well endowed she is in the chest department. (In the 1970s it was still OK to sexually harass the female employees!)  Throughout the movie Jennifer is constantly telling the men to “Stop Calling Me Jugs,” which they never do.   Jennifer wants to be an ambulance driver and paramedic but the sexist boss, Harvey FIshbine, won’t let her work a rig until he’s shorthanded.

Tony Malatesa (Harvey Keitel) is a police detective who is under suspension while he is investigated for allegedly selling cocaine.   A former Vietnam medic, Tony is hired to replace a paramedic who fell through a rotten staircase on a call.  Due to the allegations of selling drugs, Mother nicknames Tony “Speed.”

 

In his review of June 14, 1976, Roger Ebert said that this movie was “an unhappy cross between ‘MASH’ and ‘As the World Turns.”  It can’t decide whether to be slapstick or hard-boiled, (and) winds up not being much of either . . .”  Watching the movie last night for the first time in years, I have to say I enjoyed “Mother, Jugs and Speed” a great deal.  Of course, I kind of like all of that gritty urban 1970s stuff.  The thirty something Raquel Welch is, of course, HOT, HOT, HOT!   And I loved Bill Cosby’s performance as the rebellious anti-hero who is the best at his job so long as he gets to do his own thing and do it his own way.  (This was quite prevalent in 1970s fiction.   Mother is kind of the Dirty Harry of the ambulance business.) 

Larry Hagman’s performance as the sociopath Murdoch is also outstanding.  Murdoch is a sex obsessed psychopath who has sex with comatose patients in the back of the ambulance and makes bets on how many dead patients they will have to transport each night.  The ending of the film involves Murdoch finally snapping.  

Like Roger Ebert says this movie goes from tragic deaths to Jugs and Speed having sex in the back of an ambulance.   When the city requires Unity and F&B to merge in order to stay in business the new company is called the F&U Ambulance Company.  (They weren’t afraid of profanity in the 70s either).

While it’s pretty dated,  Mother, Jugs and Speed is a great movie for those who are nostalgic for bell bottoms, elevator shoes and polyester slacks.