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Car Wash

  • 1976
  • PG
  • 1h 37m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
8.5K
YOUR RATING
Car Wash (1976)
Trailer 1
Play trailer2:27
4 Videos
99+ Photos
ComedyDramaRomance

A comedic take on the daily life of car-wash employees, chronicling their hopes, fears, joys, dreams, and tribulations, and meeting some eccentric customers along the way.A comedic take on the daily life of car-wash employees, chronicling their hopes, fears, joys, dreams, and tribulations, and meeting some eccentric customers along the way.A comedic take on the daily life of car-wash employees, chronicling their hopes, fears, joys, dreams, and tribulations, and meeting some eccentric customers along the way.

  • Director
    • Michael Schultz
  • Writer
    • Joel Schumacher
  • Stars
    • Richard Pryor
    • Franklyn Ajaye
    • Sully Boyar
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • IMDb RATING
    6.2/10
    8.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Michael Schultz
    • Writer
      • Joel Schumacher
    • Stars
      • Richard Pryor
      • Franklyn Ajaye
      • Sully Boyar
    • 61User reviews
    • 31Critic reviews
    • 71Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 2 nominations

    Videos4

    Car Wash
    Trailer 2:27
    Car Wash
    Car Wash: Car Wash (Song)
    Clip 3:50
    Car Wash: Car Wash (Song)
    Car Wash: Car Wash (Song)
    Clip 3:50
    Car Wash: Car Wash (Song)
    Car Wash: Get Clean
    Clip 1:49
    Car Wash: Get Clean
    Car Wash: Otis Day On His Character, Lloyd
    Featurette 1:35
    Car Wash: Otis Day On His Character, Lloyd

    Photos118

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    Top cast64

    Edit
    Richard Pryor
    Richard Pryor
    • Daddy Rich
    Franklyn Ajaye
    Franklyn Ajaye
    • T.C.
    Sully Boyar
    Sully Boyar
    • Leon 'Mr. B' Barrow
    Richard Brestoff
    Richard Brestoff
    • Irwin Barrow
    George Carlin
    George Carlin
    • The Taxi Driver
    Irwin Corey
    Irwin Corey
    • The Mad Bomber
    • (as Prof. Irwin Corey)
    Otis Day
    Otis Day
    • Lloyd
    • (as De Wayne Jessie)
    Ivan Dixon
    Ivan Dixon
    • Lonnie
    Bill Duke
    Bill Duke
    • Duane…
    Michael Fennell
    Michael Fennell
    • Calvin
    Arthur French
    • Charlie
    Antonio Fargas
    Antonio Fargas
    • Lindy
    Lorraine Gary
    Lorraine Gary
    • Hysterical Lady
    Darrow Igus
    • Floyd
    Leonard Jackson
    Leonard Jackson
    • Earl
    Lauren Jones
    • Marleen
    Jack Kehoe
    Jack Kehoe
    • Scruggs
    Henry Kingi
    Henry Kingi
    • Goody
    • Director
      • Michael Schultz
    • Writer
      • Joel Schumacher
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The movie's title song, "Car Wash", was a #1 chart-topping hit for Rose Royce, and was one of the biggest-selling singles of the 1970s disco music era.
    • Goofs
      (around 55 min.) The camera crew is reflected on a station wagon's wing mirror.
    • Quotes

      [Duane has just thrown Irwin's book into a bucket of water]

      Lindy: I'm so tired of you running off at your mouth it's getting me down honey. Why don't you just leave? And be an assassin? Or is the only thing you're good at shooting off is your big mouth?

      Duane: Will you please get out of my face you sorry looking faggot.

      Lindy: Who you calling sorry looking?

      [Everybody laughs]

      Duane: Can't ya'll see "she" aint funny?

      [laughter stops]

      Duane: She's just another poor example of how the system is destroying our men.

      Lindy: Honey, I'm more man than you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get.

    • Crazy credits
      The principal cast members are all spoken out at the end of the film by J.J. Jackson, one of the film's deejays.
    • Alternate versions
      The TV network version has all of the raunchy scenes, including the ones with the drag queen Lindy, cut and many more added which include:
      • Hippo first arriving at the car wash and parking his moped in the back lot where he meets Chuco, the Latino worker, getting off a flat-board truck that he is riding in with other Latinos going to work and they whistle at two women passing by.
      • The first scene with Slide arriving and parking his blue Cadillac down the street, saying "Hi" to T.C. combing his huge Afro hairstyle in front of a store window, and putting an LAPD Out of Order cover on the parking meter rather than paying for it. (This explains Slide's arrest later in the movie for 37 parking tickets.)
      • The first scene in the locker room has Lonnie, Hippo and Chuco getting into their work clothes while listing to the radio about a bombing by the Mad Pop Bottle Bomber, and Charlie walks in coughing and Hippo comments on Charlie's cough.
      • Snapper arriving for work and meeting Earl a.k.a.: Mr. Clean getting out his car and removing a polisher from the trunk.
      • A scene at Big Joe's Dog House next door to the car wash with Joe (Danny DeVito) arguing with Terry (Brooke Adams) about her looking at another guy while parked at a stoplight on their way to work.
      • Another scene at Big Joe's with Joe arguing with Terry about the work they do while planing breakfast for the first customers.
      • The montage of washing cars has some scenes with Marsha putting on more makeup and hairspray in place of the shots of Irwin smoking pot in the men's room and Goody walking in on him.
      • The scene where Earl talks to the Oldsmobile owner is extended with Earl offering to polish the man's car and offers $18.50 for the job which will last four hours, and the car owner finally agrees.
      • A scene where Irwin sees a plate of danish pastries and takes one which his father Mr. B, tense and worried about everything, takes it away and chases him away. While Mr. B is talking to Marsha about an obituary of a friend dying, Irwin returns and takes the entire plate of danish away to the pinball room to eat them.
      • A shot of the hooker in the ladies room looking at her self in another fashion with a brunette wig, she decides she does not like it and begins changing into another fashion.
      • A scene at Big Joe's where Terry is talking to two policemen about her and Joe seeing the movie "Carrie" the other night, the mailman Barney arriving with Joe's mail, and Joe telling the policemen that the coffee they are drinking is 70 cents with their doughnuts. One cop balks saying that Terry gives them coffee for free. Terry is somewhat embarrassed and Joe angrily squeezes a jelly doughnut so hard that the jelly spurts out.
      • More dialogue between the Hysterical Woman outside the ladies room while Scruggs gets her ill son a bucket for him to throw up in.
      • While Marsha is chatting with Lindy outside the ladies room, Terry is handling a customer, and Joe delivers Mr. B's lunch where he asks Joe if the meat is lean.
      • The first scene Kenny is at Big Joe's where he pays Terry for his coffee and kisses her hand much to her shock, Joe sees this and angrily storms out of the place with Terry following after him. (They are seen in the background by Marsha as she eyes Kenny approaching her.)
      • Terry arriving back at the hamburger stand in tears where she is comforted by Maureen the hooker who tells her about her troubles with a man named Joe too.
      • A scene which comes after T.C. pushes Terry away from the phone booth for him to call and win the radio contest, Terry enters the phone booth after T.C. leaves and calls her mother and asks if Joe is there with her.
      • A scene where Terry is closing down Big Joe's for the day, Joe returns and as Maureen the hooker watches, he and Terry kiss and make up.
      • Marsha's story line ends on a more downbeat note as while waiting for Kenny to pick her up, she says goodbye to Chuco as he board the same flat-board truck with the other Latino workers heading for home, Kenny arrives with his date, a more attractive woman, as well his less-attractive friend Benny as Marsha's date. Marsha is crushed but has no choice but to accompany them for their evening out.
      • More dialogue between Justin and Snapper, his grandfather, while they are waiting for the bus where Loretta arrives and Justin says hi to her before going back to Snapper and tells him that he's going to get a ride with her.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Celluloid Closet (1995)
    • Soundtracks
      Car Wash
      Written and Produced by Norman Whitfield
      Performed by Rose Royce, Orchestra conducted by Paul Riser

    User reviews61

    Review
    Review
    Featured review

    A Guilty Pleasure

    This movie is at the top of my guilty pleasure list. The pace of the movie is very good, introducing many loveable loser characters and their situations quickly and effectively. The ensemble cast moves effectively throughout the movie without stepping on one another. There is a sense of comraderie and spirit that is engaging. The cameos of George Carlin and Richard Pryor actually digress from the action and the multiple stories at play. Obviously, this is not an Oscar winner, but it is good fun, sometimes touching, and entertaining from start to finish. It's also a good look at LA in the 70's. And, it's one of the few movies where voice over narration actually works.
    • CalTempe@aol.com
    • Oct 27, 2002
    • Permalink

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    FAQ17

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 22, 1976 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • car wash Calgary
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Car Wash - Der ausgeflippte Waschsalon
    • Filming locations
      • Robert Taylor's Car Wash - 610 South Rampart Boulevard at West 6th Street - Los Angeles, California, USA(The Deluxe Car Wash, demolished)
    • Production company
      • Universal Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $7,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 37 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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