Mother, Jugs, and Speed - Expunge from my C/V Write-Off
Written: Nov 11 '02 (Updated Nov 12 '02)
Product Rating:
Pros: only in the 70s...
Cons: only in the 70s...
The Bottom Line: A bizarre guilty pleasure for me, you need to be in the right mood to see it. But nonetheless, it makes me laugh that it was ever made.
For some reason, very few people are aware that this little guilty pleasure of a film, Mother, Jugs, and Speed even exists. But tell me your curiosity isn't more than a little piqued when I mention that the three main stars of the film are Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, and Harvey Keitel. And that all three work at a private ambulance dispatch company. And that Jugs means what you think it means.
It's hard to know just who should wish this film removed from their filmography more - Harvey Keitel or Bill Cosby - though for entirely different reasons. This movie shows fairly effectively that Keitel isn't the greatest suave leading man type that he is apparently set up to be in this film. He's almost a wimp when it comes right down to it. But we can at least thank whoever it is you thank about such things that he was not yet at the point in his career when he decided we needed to see his penis in every film. Bill Cosby, on the other hand, would most likely want this removed from his CV because he actually acts in it. No don't get me wrong, I think Bill Cosby is a very funny man, and can be effective as an actor when is playing, essentially, Bill Cosby. But, with the possible exception of the I-can't-believe-it's-not-on-videoHickey and Boggs (with Robert Culp, though don't expect anything like I Spy here) this is the only time Cosby has ever really taken on a darker, raunchier character. And damn if he doesn't do it well. He would probably be happy if people forgot that he ever made this film (though Leonard Part Six is much worse a film, it at least adhered to the tried and true Bill Cosby/Cliff Huxtable style of comedy).
When Mother, Jugs, and Speed was released it's tagline was something along the lines of: "It's M*A*S*H in an ambulance" - and indeed director Peter Yates does try to do what Altman did so wonderfully in M*A*S*H, the deft blendy of tonalities, fluctuating from bizarre comedy to dead serious drama and back again, but Yates isn't quite the director Altman is. So, while it's admireable that he got this cast together and tried to make this film, he would have been much better off sticking with either straight-ahead broad comedy (of the "lady is too heavy to make it down the stairs" variety) or with the more dramatic lifestyle of an ambulance driver, merely hinted at here but hinted enough to effect the flow of the entire film, that Martin Scorsese explored a few years back in Bringing Out the Dead. Instead, he tries to jam the two styles together, and it winds up more like a train wreck than anything else.
Still, I admit, this is a guilty pleasure of mine. Bill Cosby, who plays "Mother" (which, in itself always makes me laugh, though I'm not sure why) has quite a few great lines, while Raquel Welch (yep, playing "Jugs") has fun with her role, imbuing it with sexuality but almost mocking it at the same time. However, Harvey Keitel is just plain boring in this film. Playing "Speed", Keitel is the new guy at the ambulance dispatch, a sincere sort who doesn't fit in well with the zany ambulance drivers like Mother. He actually cares about the people they pick up in the ambulance. And on top of everything else, he soon develops a crush on Jugs.
Did I mention that Dick Butkis is in this? Or that a pre-Dallas Larry Hagman plays, basically, a necrophiliac? Well, you get all that from this film too. It is truly a bizarre film, edging close to a linear story line only to break away and shift tones so abruptly you're not sure what is supposed to be funny and what isn't. So, despite this being my entry in the "Expunge from my CV Write-Off" for Harvey Keitel - I actually find myself recommending the film. It's probably not something I would ever watch again, but it is fascinating and just plain weird enough to warrant a viewing if you can find it on video.
(and though i'm sure it's already past the deadline in England time, here in good ol' Texas it's only 10:40pm, so I'm not late for this write-off! Just indecisive.)
Please do yourself a great big favor and head over to Simply_Crispy's page to read some of the other wonderful submissions for this write-off...this truly was a great idea for one, I'm just bummed that this was all I could come up with.
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