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Mother, Jugs and Speed

Catalog Number
1698
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Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
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VHS | N/A | Slipcase
N/A (NTSC)
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Mother, Jugs and Speed (1976)

Additional Information

Additional Information
Joseph Barbera, one half of the legendary cartoon-creating duo Hanna-Barbera, served as executive producer for this movie. Tom Mankiewicz says it was Barbera's idea to make a film about ambulance driving. He had a deal with 20th Century Fox who paid a writer to develop a script. Mankiewicz, then best known for writing several James Bond movies, became interested and was hired. He did research on the subject and wrote his own script, and then attached Peter Yates as director. Alan Ladd Jnr, then head of production for Fox, said he would make the film if it could be done for less than $3 million.[4]
Yates and Mankiewicz thought the lead role of Mother Tucker was perfect for Gene Hackman and offered him the role but Hackman was exhausted from working on Lucky Lady and declined. However he recommended Bill Cosby as an alternative; Yates, Mankiewicz and Ladd all agreed and Cosby accepted the part. The tight budget meant the leads had to accept deferred payment. The female lead was offered to Valerie Perrine but she would not take deferred payment so Raquel Welch was cast instead


According to Tom Mankiewicz the film was made for around $3 million and grossed $17 million.[4]
The movie was referenced in the 2006 film Relative Strangers multiple times throughout the film, most notably during the game of Charades scene.


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 free-wheeling ambulance jockey who likes to drink beer and play dance music while he makes his rounds. Mother's new assistant is Speed (Harvey Keitel), a former cop who left the force after allegations of drug use; Speed is looking for a new career and a chance to prove himself. And Jugs is the accurate-if-sexist nickname for Jennifer (Raquel Welch), the company secretary who wants to get out from behind the desk and prove her skills as a paramedic. As F&B's drivers race through the streets of Hollywood, their adventures veer between the hilarious and the tragic. Mother, Jugs and Speed also features Larry Hagman, Dick Butkus, Bruce Davison, and L.Q. Jones.


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