Mother, Jugs & Speed is a 1976 black 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.
Plot
The F+B Ambulance Company is locked in an intense battle with the all-Black Unity Ambulance Company to win a city contract for providing ambulance service to a territory within Los Angeles. Their star driver is "Mother" Tucker (Cosby), a talented antihero who drinks alcohol on duty, harasses nuns, and behaves brazenly towards practically everybody he meets, including his shotgun rider Leroy (Bruce Davison). Indeed, the entire company is a band of misfits, including the hyper-sexual John Murdoch (Larry Hagman), his shotgun rider Walker (Michael McManus), putative medical student Bliss (Allan Warnick), and brash Texan "Rodeo" (Dick Butkus). Handling calls at the switchboard is Jennifer (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 (Keitel), a disgraced police detective and former Vietnam War ambulance driver. Upon learning that Tony has been suspended from the police 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. When Leroy is shot and killed by a junkie demanding drugs (who then kills herself), and a drunken Mother assaults Murdoch for slighting Leroy after his death, Harry partners Speed with Mother.
Meanwhile, Jugs has obtained her EMT and ambulance driver qualifications, 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 exsanguinates 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 (Bill Henderson), 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, armed with a handgun and intoxicated, has broken into F+B's garage office with Walker and is holding Mrs. Fishbine (Valerie Curtin) 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 (Ric Carrott) 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".) 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 shotgun rider. The two drive off together, with Mother harassing the nuns one more time as the movie ends.
Cast
There was originally a role written for professional wrestler Lillian Ellison (The Fabulous Moolah) in the film, but she had to drop out of the role due to a gallbladder infection.[1]
TV Version
20th Century Fox attempted to turn the film into a television series, although none of the original cast participated. The program was titled "Mother, Juggs & Speed" because the network would not allow the lead female character to have a name that made explicit reference to her breasts. Instead, producers added the conceit that Jennifer's nickname was taken from her real last name, Juggston. The series was not picked up, but ABC aired the pilot as a one-time special in August 1978.
References
- ^ Ellison, Lillian (2003). The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle. ReaganBooks. p. 150. ISBN 9780060012588.
External links
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The Girl in Melanie Klein
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