Mother, Jugs & Speed
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
The F+B Ambulance Company is locked in an intense battle with the Unity Ambulance Company to win a city contract for providing ambulance service to a territory within Los Angeles. Their star driver is "Mother" Tucker (Bill Cosby), a talented antihero who drinks alcohol on duty, harasses nuns, and behaves brazenly towards practically everybody he meets, including his partner Leroy (Bruce Davison). Indeed, the entire company is a band of misfits, including the hypersexual John Murdoch (Larry Hagman), his partner Walker (Michael McManus), putative medical student Bliss (Allan Warnick), and brash Texan "Rodeo" Moxey (Dick Butkus). Handling calls at the switchboard is Jennifer (Raquel Welch), whom the drivers nickname "Jugs" for her ample bosom. Harry "Doughnut" Fishbine (Allen Garfield) runs the company, using occasionally underhanded means (such as kickbacks) to maintain an income stream.
When Walker is injured after falling through a staircase on a call, Harry Fishbine hires Tony Malatesta (Harvey Keitel), a disgraced sheriff's detective and former Vietnam War ambulance driver. Upon learning that Tony has been suspended from the sheriff force due to allegations that he sold cocaine to children, Mother nicknames him "Speed". Speed is initially paired with Murdoch, though their partnership is strained when Speed must stop Murdoch from raping an unconscious female college student who has overdosed on Seconal. On a false emergency call, Leroy is shot and killed by a junkie (Toni Basil) demanding drugs. When Mother pulls a gun on the junkie, the junkie commits suicide. Later that night, a drunken Mother assaults Murdoch for stating that Leroy's death "doesn't count"; though Murdoch states this in regard to the drivers' "dead body" pool, Mother perceives it as an attack on the character of his dead partner. Harry then partners Speed with Mother to alleviate his driver shortage.
Meanwhile, Jugs has obtained her Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and ambulance driver certifications, and forces her way onto F+B's active roster with threats of sexual discrimination lawsuits. When Speed fakes an injury to prevent Jugs' arrest for misuse of an ambulance, the two fall in love. Though Jugs proves a capable EMT, she loses her nerve after a pregnant woman under her care suffers a severe obstetrical hemorrhage and bleeds to death in Mother's ambulance. Jugs secludes herself afterward until Mother counsels her and gives her the courage to return to work.
At a City Hall meeting, City Councilman Warren informs the owners of both Unity and F+B that they will not be awarded the contract—it will instead be awarded to a larger, established company. To save their businesses, Unity's owner, Charles Taylor, proposes that their two companies merge. Though the councilman is agreeable to the merger, Fishbine is not. The discussion is interrupted by an emergency call: Murdoch, intoxicated and armed with a handgun, has broken into F+B's bus garage office with Walker and is holding Mrs. Fishbine hostage. All of Unity's and F+B's ambulances descend on the F+B garage; upon arrival, Murdoch opens fire and hits Speed in the shoulder. When Mother charges onto the garage grounds to rescue his ambulance, he comes face to face with Murdoch; Murdoch tries to shoot Mother, but his gun is empty. A deputy sheriff then shoots and kills Murdoch.
In the aftermath of this incident, F+B does merge with Unity, forming the Fishbine + Unity (F+U) Ambulance Company, based out of the old F+B garage. (The new acronym for the company is also a slang abbreviation of "fuck you"; the old F+B stood for "Fish + Bine".) Speed, who has been cleared of all charges, is reinstated to the police force, though he remains romantically involved with Jugs. Jugs is initially relegated to switchboard duty again, until Mother insists that she become his new partner. The two drive off together, with Mother harassing the nuns one more time as the movie ends.

Review: Although most people don't realize it, the largest ambulance provider in the US is still privately operated, for profit, so, maybe not all that has changed.Cosby is brilliant as "Mother", a sort of archetype character that melds together all the clichés of what "ambulance drivers" were in an era when many ambulance services were still run by funeral homes - I recall pushing a 1970 "Miller Meteor" Cadillace ambulance, which was basically, a converted hearse, up and down hills at 35 MPH, it's 500 cubic inch engine floored, straining and just barely able to make it up the hill.
But, as Mother says, Jugs has the "dedication of a jungle missionary." She would have to, just to get where she was and stay there.Harvey Kietel was just starting out when he played "Speed" and his performance in the role foreshadowed the brilliant career that followed.
Harry and Naomi Fishbine seemed to be modeled after a husband and wife team that ran a not too different private ambulance company that I worked for on the west coast in the seventies - right down to the lecture about how much each patient was worth.
Larry Hagman's character portrayed a type of worker in the industry that was always on the margins - you weren't sure why he is doing what he was doing, but you couldn't see him doing anything else.The events portrayed in the movie where very similar to the "urban legends" about what supposedly happened at private ambulance companies in the sixties and seventies.
The reality of the movie made it all that much funny and more real.Mother, Jugs and Speed is an interesting and amusing look back at a time when EMS was just starting to become a reality.
Overall, as a lay person and a retired EMS professional who worked in the ambulance industry at the time this film was made, I found the movie to be very enjoyable and suggest others watch it - with tongue firmly in cheek, of course..
The film is very funny at times and deadly serious as traces of black comedy seep thru.Bill Cosby heads the cast as Mother and gives, I believe, his best performance on the big screen.
Much like Scorsese's WAKING THE DEAD this one is set around the world of Ambulance driving and It's a Black satire riddled with drama and social commentary.Bill Cosby plays MOTHER, the veteran driver who has seen it all and is always looking out for his fellow workers.
Raquel Welch plays JUGS(For obvious reasons), the secretary for the ambulance company who aspires to be a more.
Harvey Keitel plays SPEED, an ex cop on suspension for supposed drug dealing, hence the name.All the cast deliver fine performances and create memorable charecters.
Good gritty and realistic dark comedy about mid 1970's street culture told thru the daily adventures of a private Ambulance company.Great cast although the acting was lackluster.The directing, cinematography,script and story was average although the screenplay was good.The editing here was bad and made the movie look very cheaply done.To see Cosby portray a not so gentlemanly characer was entertaining if one is fammiliar with the actor.Also,Raquel Welch worshpers will truly enjoy her 30 something sex appeal here as well.Expect realistic portrayals with less than usual Holywood toning down formulas.If one is into that kind of 1970's street movie style mixed with some dark comedy,you will love this one.A cult masterpiece for it's genre........
Harvey Keitel as the naive good new guy was as compelling as ever, Raquel Welch was THE BABE (she was good in KANSAS CITY BOMBER), and Allen Garfield as owner of the quirky ambulance outfit is always perfectly cast.A 5 out of 10.
"Mother, Jugs, and Speed" has got it all: comedy, action, drama, and adventure.
Bill Cosby plays Mother, a veteran ambulance driver with a history of uncouthness: Drinking on the job; carrying a firearm; and being slothful at the final moment.
The movie wasn't ahead of its time ("MASH" prepared us for this messy mix of dark laughs), but it seems to play better today than it did upon its release.
TITLE: MOTHER, JUGS & SPEED was release in theaters in the United States on May 26 1976 and the time it takes to watch this movie is 95 Minutes.
Mother, Jugs & Speed is a 1976 comedy film directed by Peter Yates.
It stars Bill Cosby (Mother), Raquel Welch (Jugs) and Harvey Keitel (Speed) as employees of an independent ambulance service trying to survive in Los Angeles.
Larry Hagman appears in the movie as a driver obsessed with sex.SUMMARY: In this frantic black comedy, Harry Fishbine (Allen Garfield) is the proprietor of the F&B Ambulance Service, a low-budget free-lance rescue service which is struggling to keep up with the bigger and better funded competition after a law in Los Angeles decrees that the first ambulance to arrive at the scene of a distress call gets the job.
F&B's best driver is Mother (Bill Cosby), a freewheeling ambulance jockey who likes to drink beer and play dance music while he makes his rounds.
Mother, Jugs, and Speed also features Larry Hagman, Dick Butkus, Bruce Davison, and L.Q. Jones.MY THOUGHTS: I guess the reason I don't like this film as much as the rest is because I'm used to seeing Raquel in bath suits and shorts not in over hauls.
You get the usual assortment of stiffs for the mid-70s; the new guy, Speed (Harvey Keitel), the hot chick, Jugs (Raquel Welch), the lecherous loser, Murdoch (Larry Hagman), the overbearing boss, Fishbine (Allen Garfield), the nerdy effete guy, Bliss (Allan Warnick), and your resident smart-ass, Mother (Bill Cosby).
Things were different.'Mother' is a product of its time, very 70s, with a rant about inflation and how bad the economy is; Mother's partner Leroy (a very young Bruce Davison) gets high all the time, and there's a flap later on when Jugs earns her EMT certificate and wants to ride in the ambulance with the guys.
Mother has a one-liner for every situation, and, surprise, most of them are really funny.While the rest of the cast is fine  Keitel portrays a slightly nicer version of the cool, collected guy he often plays, Welch is pleasant but her character isn't particularly deep, and Garfield is good as a sort of proto-Louie DePalma  the movie is really Cosby's show.
"Mother, Jugs & Speed" is one of the more interesting films of the 1970s that this viewer has seen, and it deserves to be seen by a larger audience.
It's mostly a dark comedy (with some moments that are very, very serious) about private ambulance services engaging in cutthroat competition, and the quirky characters that work for the financially strapped F & B Ambulance Company, run by cranky crook Harry Fishbine (Allen Garfield).
Bill Cosby plays ace driver "Mother" Tucker, Harvey Keitel is Tony / "Speed", an ex-cop and new employee who'd been accused of selling drugs, and Raquel Welch is the spirited Jennifer a.k.a.
It's easy to want to follow the adventures of our main characters, superbly played by The Cos, as the seasoned veteran and wise guy, the ever lovely Welch as the impassioned woman whose efforts to break through barriers is all too believable, and whose education in the harsh reality of life is poignant, and the nicely low key Keitel as the newcomer learning the ropes.
They make viewing "Mother, Jugs & Speed" quite the experience; this film definitely comes recommended.
That's "Mother, Jugs and Speed", a movie that just screams the '70s, from its time spent pounding the L.A. nighttime streets to the great list of songs on the soundtrack.
Mother, Jugs & Speed concerns a rivalry between two ambulance companies and their cutthroat efforts to muscle the other out of business.
Later on however Raquel proves her worth and her being a female paramedic helps Garfield in a crisis moment.Speed is a young Harvey Keitel who is a policeman facing pending charges.
You can't conceive of Cliff Huxtable doing what he does.If your sense of humor tends to black comedy Mother, Jugs & Speed is your kind of film.
Few industries changed so quickly.I might say that to a lesser degree, the same thing happened during the same time frame with Fire Departments, especially Rural, Volunteer and Reserve Departments.What I like the most is the portrayal of what EMS workers go through, including the risks they take and the emotions the experience.All in all, it's one of my favorite films!.
Mother, Bill Cosby, is the wise old man of H&B who's seen just about everything there is to see in the ambulance business and doesn't mind seeing some more.
As good as an ambulance driver Mother is he still has some hang ups, like we all do, in life.
Jugs, Raquel Welch, is the pretty and busty, like her name suggests, dispatcher of the H&B Ambalance Company who has a dream of becoming an ambulance driver herself.
Which is taking a toll on her social life by studying nights to get a diploma and license to be behind the wheel; and roll up and down the city streets at 60 to 100 MPH without worrying about red lights or being pulled over by police squad cars.Speed, Harvey Keitel, is a cop on suspension and awaiting trial for selling uppers and coke, not the bottled kind, to high school students on his beat which later proves that he didn't.
Hilarious 1976 black comedy that has it's share of real drama and tragedy in it as well.There's Mother's partner Leroy, Bruce Davidson,gets shot to death a by a junkie, Toni Basil, because he didn't have the drugs that she so desperately craved.
This film seems unsure whether it is a silly romantic sex comedy or a serious insight into the high-pressure life of the ambulance driver.
An interesting film for sure, with some good moments, particularly from Cosby and Keitel, but the same themes are treated with far greater sensitivity and in greater depth in Martin Scorsese's awesome Bringing Out the Dead.
Instead of all that though, you get this pretty memorable comedy starring Raquel Welch, Bill Cosby and Harvey Keitel.
Of course you also have Raquel Welch as Jugs and Harvey Keitel as Speed, so the cast is also well put together.
Well the fact is, Yates handles both types of scenes adeptly.On the comedy note, there are many great lines, Larry Hagman is over the top funny, and the scene where they try to get an overweight woman down a narrow stairway in a housing project is one of the single most hilarious scenes ever filmed.Raquel Welch does a good job, and obviously fits the bill for her character's anatomical requirements.
I was starting out in the work world and as funny as the movie is, it also teaches young people about the workplace and getting along with different personalities.
However, as has been pointed out, it is probably the best movie that Bill Cosby ("Mother") - with his uncanny ability to pick lousy scripts - ever made, and he shines in it.
The fine character actor Allen Garfield puts in a fine performance as Harvey Fishbine, and it's great to see the late Larry Hagman in a well-played black sheep role.
MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED (Peter Yates, 1976) **1/2.
A topical subplot, then, involves the rivalry between ambulance companies whose members would go to extreme lengths to intercept or otherwise stall their opponents – the issue is ultimately resolved in court by suggesting a merger between the two.Though the film is somewhat uneven, it’s well served by the cast (incidentally, several films from this era opted to use monikers in connection with their protagonists for a title, such as the recently-viewed road movie DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY [1974]): Bill Cosby (as “Mother”, a seasoned driver everyone looks up to); Raquel Welch (“Jugs”, the secretary who wishes to be an ambulance driver and takes night school to acquire the requisite training – her first unofficial job proves memorable as a police car gallantly offers to escort her but, having no address, leads them on a wild goose chase until a colleague she unwittingly absconded with improvises a patient’s get-up!); the latter, then, is Harvey Keitel (a former cop suspended for drug-dealing, which earns him the nickname “Speed” – at first glance, the Method actor seems out of his element here but wisely plays it straight most of the time); Allen Garfield shines as the loud-mouth yet flustered director; and equally effective is Larry Hagman, naturally playing the biggest scumbag of the lot (the afore-mentioned lecherous driver who even gambles as to how many lives are lost per day – which causes Cosby to physically assault him when he wants to add Bruce Davison, the attendant who fell in the line of duty, to the list) and who, during the climax, suddenly reappears at his former workplace armed with a gun and making demands (having gone berserk in the interim)…only to be pinned down with a bullet fired by an over-eager cop..
I just watched "Mother, Jugs & Speed" for the first time since seeing it on TV almost 30 years ago.
A 1976 comedy about ambulance drivers that has Harvey Keitel and Bill Cosby sharing top billing with Raquel Welch.
We love what we do, but once in a while, after months and years seeing what we see, things like this movie portrays happen once in a while.
Mother, Juggs, & Speed is an incredible film because it is such a pure product of the decade it was produced in, but what makes it watchable is the character of Mother, a violent and sexist ambulance driver who gets kicks out of running his truck over nuns while drinking beer, played by Bill Cosby.
Combining the gritty reality of productions like Shaft and Hill Street Blues with the black humor of MASH, Mother Juggs & Speed attempts the absurd by presenting itself as a light comedy, despite its graphic language and violence.
I remember thinking it was stupid then, and seeing it again all these years later leaves me the same way.Good if you wanna see how people really looked, talked and acted in 1976 or if you're a Keitel/Cosby/Welch completist (if so, my sincere sympathies), otherwise, um...there has to be something better on.
I'm here to tell you this is a stupid and vulgar movie that wastes the talents of Bill Cosby, Harvey Keitel, and about two dozen easily recognizable character actors.
The only thing worth watching or listening to is Cosby's music as he drives across and ruins a golf course to scoop up a heart attack victim.The song is called "Get the Funk Outta My Face." Good advice for this movie!.
Cast includes Bill Crosby (with perhaps the best part in the movie), Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel and Larry Hagman.Starts out pretty slow, but picks up a bit after the first half hour.
Its a good movie to watch to see Harvey Keitel before he developed character lines and to see Rachel Welch before she didn't.
I liked Bill Cosby in this movie also.
The one thing I didn't like about this movie, and others too, is the fact that they put some really sad scenes in a comedy.
Cosby carries this fast paced black comedy about L.A. ambulance drivers.
I had never heard of this movie until I saw it on AMC(American Movie Classics)when I was sitting up late one night.It starts off as a upbeat comedy with a truly great cast (It would cost MEGA-Millions to assemble that same cast today).The movie starts out upbeat and very funny but then it turns darker when Harvey Kietel stops Larry Hagman from screwing (having sex) an unconscious college girl who has overdosed on sleeping pills, and then from there Harvey Kietel begins having a relationship with Raquel Welch, and one of the ambulance driver is shot and killed and from there this movie transforms itself from an upbeat comedy into a drama.Bill Cosby gives an outstanding performance.
Bill Cosby gives a performance that it both funny in the beginning and then heart touching as his character deals with the death of his partner (great stuff from Bill) My only complaint about this film is that once it looses it comedic steam and turns serious it never regains it humor again.
Really nice surprise;a film which blends both humor and drama with equal measure, in this fast-paced ambulance dramedy about two rival small-time LA based paramedics companies(F&B and Unity) dueling as they seek code-patients, dealing with the unpredictable, day-to-day / night-to-night routines and all of the different challenges that come with the demanding job.
Solid-as-a-rock cast including Bill Cosby, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Davison, Dick Butkis, and Larry Hagman(..who steals the film)as paramedics working for cantankerous, loud-mouth Allen Garfield.
The gorgeous Raquel Welch, always able to make hearts(..among other organs)swoon, stars as a switchboard operator who earns a paramedic diploma and must go to severe lengths(..commandeering an ambulance out of rage towards Garfield's resistance towards women drivers)to get the boss to let her in on the street action.A young Davison's(..who's both full of energy, yet exhibiting a rather sad aura) fate when he and Mother answer the call regarding a disturbed junkie desperate for a fix, is really tragic.
MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED is the best movie Raquel Welch ever made and for that matter, it's Bill Cosby's finest celluloid outing as well.
Cosby is Mother, Harvey Keitel is Speed and Welch naturally, is Jugs.
Mother(Cosby) and Larry Hagman and others play raunchy Ambulance drivers who mostly get away with almost everything under the sun(including drinking beer and smoking paraphanalia,etc.
Jugs(Welch)who works as a secretary in training to become an Ambulance driver for where she works.
Harvey Keitel(Speed)join as an Ambulance driver replacing one who got bit by rats with rabies.The fun embraces as love sparks between Welch and Keitel,While Mother,Jugs and Speed try to beat the other Ambulance services to emergancy calls.
While this is certainly not M.A.S.H; Mother,Jugs and Speed plays like a raunchy episode of it.