Car Wash

Car Wash follows a single working day at a manual car wash in Los Angeles, where a crew of friends wash cars for a stream of unusual customers. Among the visitors are a smooth-talking preacher, a taxi driver, and a former convict, while the employees trade politically incorrect jokes against a steady backdrop of disco and funk. Some of them chase romance as the hours pass, and others are simply glad to reach the end of another shift. The owner, Mr. B, deals with the chaos his staff creates and with his politically converted son, while one young washer, T.C., privately imagines himself a superhero called The Fly.

This 1976 comedy was directed by Michael Schultz, arriving between Cooley High and Which Way Is Up? in his filmography. Joel Schumacher wrote the screenplay, Art Linson and Gary Stromberg produced it, and it was made by Universal Pictures. Ivan Dixon, DeWayne Jessie, Bill Duke, Franklyn Ajaye, Sully Boyar, and Melanie Mayron head a credited cast of fifty, with several guest performers appearing in single scenes.

The film runs 97 minutes and mixes comedy, drama, and romance. It holds a 6.2 rating on IMDb from around 9,000 votes, and a 6 rating on TMDB from roughly 133 votes. Those audience scores point to a modest, steady following rather than wide acclaim.