Take some great Tom Mankiewicz dialogue, the gritty style of Peter Yates, add a top-to-bottom great cast and you've got a recipe for success; the kind of high entertainment that's both hilarious and occasionally disarming. That's "Mother, Jugs and Speed", a movie that just screams the '70s, from its time spent pounding the L.A. nighttime streets to the great list of songs on the soundtrack. Sex-addict Larry Hagman is a highlight of the eclectic cast, but really, every person involved is an inspired choice.And on the matter of Bill Cosby, I fully admit that my exposure to the man these past 34 years has been woefully lacking. But you can't go wrong with this movie when it comes to the man's comedic timing and acting ability. Hell of a jumping-off point. I love this movie.8/10

This had been, years ago, one of my favorites, but I hadn't had a chance to see it for many years until it cropped up on one of the cable movie channels recently. As a comedy, it certainly is never going to rank up there with Philadelphia Story or Young Frankenstein, but it is still worth seeing. It is definitely, as has been mentioned in this space, a product of its day, providing a very cynical commentary on civic institutions. It often appears a tad dated. However, as has been pointed out, it is probably the best movie that Bill Cosby ("Mother") - with his uncanny ability to pick lousy scripts - ever made, and he shines in it. It is one of Harvey Keitel's ("Speed") earliest movies, and we see here that his choice of making slightly off-the-wall movies was in evidence early. The fine character actor Allen Garfield puts in a fine performance as Harvey Fishbine, and it's great to see the late Larry Hagman in a well-played black sheep role. I wish I could say that we can see some sign of talent from Raquel Welch ("Jugs", natch), but honesty prevents me. As others have noted, the movie is indeed episodic, but a lot of those episodes are wonderfully done, my favorite being the attempt to bring the obscenely obese woman down the stairs on the gurney.

It seems some of the criticism of this movie stems from the fact that it mixes comedy and drama. Well the fact is, Yates handles both types of scenes adeptly.On the comedy note, there are many great lines, Larry Hagman is over the top funny, and the scene where they try to get an overweight woman down a narrow stairway in a housing project is one of the single most hilarious scenes ever filmed.Raquel Welch does a good job, and obviously fits the bill for her character's anatomical requirements. Harvey Keitel is solid as always and Bill Cosby is outstanding as the "Mother" of this motley bunch, handling his scenes as the comic rebel and the seriously dramatic ones with equal aplomb.

I am not going to say that afore mentioned message by some guy in oklahoma is wrong, but he is. This movie is by EMT's, For EMT's and firemen, and about EMT's and firemen. Yes this movie is an exaggeration in some points, but think of it this way. One of the great comical ( and touchy feely with his hands) comedians in our time does a fine job in showing us what the heart and soul of EMT's and Firemen are like. We are people, just like you, and you, but apparently not like sissy girls like the man above. We are the most professional and customer service oriented in the industry ( customer satisfaction for us is the customer living, not selling old men their underwear like oklahoma boy does). We love what we do, but once in a while, after months and years seeing what we see, things like this movie portrays happen once in a while. And it keeps us going the next day to save someone you love. God bless this movie. It lets us laugh when all we want to do is cry.