Art House Theater Day: CAR WASH

Special Features: 50th Anniversary | FREE for SCC members!

Presented in recognition of Art House Theater Day

It is Friday at the Dee-Luxe Car Wash in Los Angeles, where the disco and funk tunes flow as freely as the suds. A cast of memorable characters rolls through, including George Carlin as a taxi driver, “Professor” Irwin Corey as the Mad Bomber and Richard Pryor as prosperity gospel preacher Daddy Rich, accompanied by a bevy of singing beauties played by the Pointer Sisters. With a chart-topping soundtrack by funk band Rose Royce, including “Car Wash,” “I Wanna Get Next to You” and “I'm Going Down,” CAR WASH is an infectiously groovy cult comedy. Before becoming a blockbuster director in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Joel Schumacher (BATMAN FOREVER, THE LOST BOYS) wrote the script for CAR WASH, alongside ‘70s cult classics SPARKLE and THE WIZ, making him inexplicably Hollywood’s go-to writer for the Black experience. Loosely modeling the film on Robert Altman’s NASHVILLE and George Lucas’ AMERICAN GRAFITTI, director Michael Schultz (COOLEY HIGH, KRUSH GROOVE, THE LAST DRAGON) crafted a multicultural, socially conscious farce, becoming the first African American filmmaker to have his film shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. DIR Michael Schultz; SCR Joel Schumacher; PROD Art Linson, Gary Stromberg. U.S., 1976, color, 97 min. RATED PG

About Art House Theater Day
Art House Theater Day is an annual program of Art House Convergence that brings audiences together to celebrate all that art-house theaters — and independent film — contribute to our cultural landscape: ambitious and innovative art that provokes, challenges, entertains and inspires.

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Run Time: 97 Minutes

Opening Date: Friday, April 21, 2023

Genre: Comedy

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