A buried treasure to sure. MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED is the best movie Raquel Welch ever made and for that matter, it's Bill Cosby's finest celluloid outing as well. Cosby is Mother, Harvey Keitel is Speed and Welch naturally, is Jugs. They work as EMTs for an unsavory ambulance company owner --- played with full on bluster by the reliable Allen Garfield --- along with an assortment of odd-balls including Larry Hagman as a callous, would be womanizer, Bruce Davison as a pot head, and the always goofy Valerie Curtin as the frazzled dispatcher.
With it's occasionally brutal scenes --- including one ambulance call that goes especially wrong --- interwoven with a lot of laughs, MJS wants to be M*A*S*H for the EMT crowd, but it rarely reaches that level of subversiveness. It is, however, a fun and first rate piece of entertainment. The cast is excellent with Hagman standing out among the supporting players. Directed, surprisingly, by the classy Peter Yates.
With it's occasionally brutal scenes --- including one ambulance call that goes especially wrong --- interwoven with a lot of laughs, MJS wants to be M*A*S*H for the EMT crowd, but it rarely reaches that level of subversiveness. It is, however, a fun and first rate piece of entertainment. The cast is excellent with Hagman standing out among the supporting players. Directed, surprisingly, by the classy Peter Yates.