Mother, Jugs & Speed

Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Peter Yates

Starring: Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel, Dick Butkis, Larry Hagman

From: 20th Century Fox

A black comedy concerning an ambulance business starring the bizarre trio of Cosby, Welch, and Keitel, and directed by the guy who helmed Bullitt sounds like something that just wouldn’t work, but hey it does, for the most part.

The trio are members of a misfit ambulance service in Los Angeles who fight with other companies over who gets to reach a person needing a ride to a hospital first, as whoever gets there first is the one who gets to transport them there and of course they get more money the more people they help. With that kind of plot description, you know that you’ll get some dark, sarcastic humor, and that’s indeed the case.

Cosby is the veteran driver, Welch the dispatcher of the company, and Keitel is the ex-cop who’s just starting off there. It’s not the type of role that you’d expect out of Cosby, especially if you’re used to him being family friendly, shilling Jell-O pops and wearing garish sweaters. He’s not vulgar here or anything, but you do get to see him find a woman’s drug stash, bribe a police officer, and even prank a convent full of nuns, so it’s different than what you’d expect to see him do.

It is also a drama so it’s not all laughs and at times it does drag. But, if you’re in the mood for it you’ll probably enjoy it. I mean, you get to see Larry Hagman play a lecherous employee, and a great scene where they have to try and get a heavyset injured woman from her second floor apartment to the wagon. You may be surprised at how far they went there. Oh, and it's rated PG... or rather it was back then before the days of PG-13, which this would get in present times.

I'll be back by this weekend with at least one new review.