Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976) on Netflix
F+B Ambulance Service and its rival Unity compete for a city contract in Los Angeles. Its crew includes driver Mother Tucker, switchboard operator Jennifer and a suspended detective.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb5.9/103,637 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes53%
Trailer
Plot summary
F+B Ambulance Service is locked in a fight with Unity Ambulance Company for a city contract covering a territory within Los Angeles. Harry Fishbine runs F+B and uses underhanded means, including kickbacks, to keep money coming in. Mother Tucker, its star driver, drinks alcohol while on duty and harasses nuns; he behaves brazenly toward almost everybody, his partner Leroy included. The rest of the crew includes the hypersexual John Murdoch and his partner Walker, medical student Bliss, and Rodeo Moxey, a brash Texan. Jennifer, who works the switchboard and dispatches, is nicknamed Jugs by the drivers. When Walker is hurt on a call, Fishbine hires Tony Malatesta, a sheriff's detective suspended after accusations that he sold cocaine to children and a former Vietnam ambulance driver, and Mother nicknames him Speed.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Peter Yates and writer Tom Mankiewicz thought the lead role of Mother Tucker was perfect for Gene Hackman, but Hackman was exhausted from working on Lucky Lady and declined; he recommended Bill Cosby, who accepted the part.
- The programme made from the film was titled Mother, Juggs & Speed with a double “g” because the network would not allow the lead female character a name that made explicit reference to her breasts; producers explained the nickname as her real last name, Juggston.
- The tight budget meant the leads had to accept deferred payment, and when the female lead was offered to Valerie Perrine she would not take deferred payment, so Raquel Welch was cast instead.
- A role was written specifically for professional wrestler Lillian Ellison, known as The Fabulous Moolah, but she had to drop out of the production after developing a gallbladder infection.
- Tom Mankiewicz said the film was made for around $3 million and went on to gross $17 million at the box office.
