Car Wash (1976)

The 1976 film Car Wash follows a group of black employees at a white owned car wash. After seeing all the reviews and fan praise for this so called black classic, I am quite sure that everyone who liked this movie are on crack. This movie was terrible, I found no humor or entertainment in it at all. Yes this movie was before my time, but I have went back and watched a lot of black movies from the past. Movies like "Dolemite" and "Cooley High" are some of my favorites in fact. Car wash defies the laws of how movies are made. There is no main character, there is no clear antagonist, no real conflict, no climax, no resolution, and it isn't even funny. People say this is Richard Pryor's funniest movie. How? Pryor was only in the movie for 5 minutes, and during that time he didn't really say anything funny. There was no real story, conflict, or any real attempt at character development. They basically stayed at the car wash all day. This movie was basically like going to a car wash, and just observing the atmosphere until it closed, and even that might be more entertaining than this movie. I give this movie a 1 out of 10, and the 1 is for the soundtrack(the only good thing in the film). If you want to watch a funny movie about a car wash, watch the 2001 remake "The Wash", with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. "The Wash" was pretty funny (much, much more than Car wash) and had a real story(including main characters, antagonist, main conflict, and all the basic elements that a professional made film should have). And unlike "Car Wash", The Wash is a black owned car wash with mostly black employees, and actually showed them in real conflict and interaction on and off the car wash property. The truth is the truth, someone has to tell it; and despite the false praise it has been given, Car Wash is not a very good movie. Get off the crack people. I have not been this disappointed after watching a film since I watched the un-humorous and regurgitated film "Anchorman 2", and even that had all the basic story elements that professional movies are suppose to have. Car Wash a classic black film? Have you all lost your damn minds?

Car Wash is an outrageous, awesome, ensemble comedy taking place at this car wash in the ghetto in the 1970's. Car Wash is easily one of the funniest movies you can find, but is still a well structured film with very interesting and insane characters. What really sells these characters and makes them believable is that they are portrayed as real people with real problems. Car Wash also benefits from Richard Pryor's cameo(as preacher Daddy Rich) as well as George Carlin's cameo(as a grumpy cab driver). They both are icons of comedy and arguably two of the best comedians to have ever lived. While Car Wash is dated, it does give a fairly accurate depiction of 70's culture, as well as being an off the wall, funky, fun movie. They certainly don't make them like this anymore.

This movie has much in common with American GRAFITEE. Both are time-capsules of a long bygone era, delightfully nostalgic blasts from the past and both movies have great background music of the times. But while American GRAFITEE took place 11 years prior to its 1973 release date, CAR WASH took place in the present (1976).I saw the movie during its theatrical run in 1978 and I loved it! I later rented the video in the early 1980s. And again, I loved it. So I put my money down and bought the DVD because I love this movie.Unfortunately, the packaging is a little misleading, giving the false impression that Richard Prior and George Carlin were the stars while the crew of the car wash were only the co-stars. Richard Prior was hilarious as the Rev. Daddy Rich. And George Carlin was the perfect choice to play the role of the taxi driver. But their characters took up only a small part of the movie. The Rev. Daddy Rich came, he conned and then he was gone. George Carlin's comic genius was limited to little more than that of the ramblings of a stoned-out, laid-back taxi driver as he drove around in his cab.The real stars who made this movie move, were the ones who ran the car wash, from the lowest paid employee on up to the owner, himself, who was dealing with a busted marriage, a car wash that wasn't making enough money and the owner's son who was a pseudo intellectual hippie wannabee who spent his time quoting Chairman Mao and dreaming of becoming a part of the working class.Each day, the crew of the car wash looked forward to quitting time when they could take off, pursue their dreams and enjoy themselves. That didn't mean that work was all drudgery. Well, it was. But that didn't stop them from having a little bit of fun on the job or to interact with each other as well. This was what made this movie so delightful.In this 97 minute piece of craziness and lunacy, some very serious subplots lurked deep within its plot. For example, one employee, an ex-con, trying to make an honest living was trying to stay out of trouble while another employee was out to make as much trouble as possible. This movie is a timepiece that contains a slice of how life was in the 1970s when disco was king and everybody just wanted to have some good times.

I first watched this film when i was about 10 years old and have loved it ever since.A great film with loads of fun lines. This is a well under rated movie and should be recognised for its comical brilliance.Although Richard Pryor is on the front cover of the DVD/Video, he only plays a small but great part in the film. Antonio Fargas plays an eccentric gay man with some great one liners. If you enjoyed The Blues Brothers movie then give this a try, although is not at-all like TBB movie it has the same comical feel.This movie screams "THE SEVENTIES" with flares and Afro's galore. In my opinion this is one of the best films from the 70's.