Rating: Summary: Funny Movie Review: All I have to say is.... Car Wash....WooWooWooWoo....Talkin' 'bout the car wash yeah.....
Rating: Summary: Classic! Review: Car Wash is a classic. It doesn't send some life changing message. It's not profound. Its not revolutionary. So what!!!Afros, Bell Bottoms, Smoggy days in LA....this was just a day in the life.....normal folks! A trip down memory lane for some of us I am sure. But the MUSIC!!! CLASSIC CLASSIC CLASSIC! I know i'm not the only person who sings along EVERY time I watch! Two thumbs up from me... There are FAR worse movies out there than this.... Folks that diss (that's disrespect for the non slang speakers), really shouldn't take this movie...or THEMSELVES so seriously.
Rating: Summary: So THAT's what it's like working in a car wash!!! Review: Classic Americana! Competitive car washers, good times, bad times, weird & freaky customers, and the invisible camera capturing a day in Car Wash's life...all set to classic tunes. SweeeEEEeeet!!! Car Wash is an essential for any classic movie collection. Don't get caught without it!!!
Rating: Summary: So THAT's what it's like working in a car wash!!! Review: Classic Americana! Competitive car washers, good times, bad times, weird & freaky customers, and the invisible camera-man catching a day in Car Wash's life...all set to classic tunes. Car Wash is an essential for any classic movie collection. Don't get caught without it!!!
Rating: Summary: Dated and Deflated Review: Don't buy the widescreen edition of this dvd!! I purchased the 'full frame' version of this movie a few years ago and recently discovered the 'widescreen' version and bought it right away. As it turns out, this 'widescreen' version is actually just the full frame version with the top and bottom completely cut off to make it widescreen. There is no difference between the widescreen and full frame version dvd's except the widescreen has the top and bottom cut off. Get the 'full screen' version instead.
Rating: Summary: The "Nashville" of Black Flicks? Review: Funny, funky, greatish multi-character piece appears to include every major black comic star from my youth aside from Redd Foxx and Jimmie "J.J." Walker. It does what other movies attempt to do in half the time--weave together the lives of many fascinating characters. The DVD is full frame and sans extras, but I love the movie and plan to revisit it often. PS-Whatever happened to Franklyn Ajaye?
Rating: Summary: Watching paint dry is more fun Review: I feel cheated after watching this. Why is it on DVD? who wants to watch this boring movie that I THOUGHT had Richard Pryor in it(longer than 5 minutes I mean)... what a waste. I want my five green things and eighty eight little round things back (let's see if a.maz.on censors that!). Worst movie I've seen in a loooong time.
Rating: Summary: Look beneath the surface; it's actually a pretty good film Review: I first saw this film when it came out in the theatres... I was ten (you do the math...) and it was one of those transgressive '70s comedies that all the kids in 5th and 6th grade were psyched to sneak into the theatres to see, all filled with sex and drugs and cuss words. I rented it recently because I was in the mood for some '70s exploit-o-kitsch, and was quite surprised at how much depth the film actually had. Written by future Hollywood honcho Joel Schumacher, "Car Wash" is a tragedy that masquerades as a farce, capturing the antics of a dozen clownish, stereotypical losers during a single day spent scrubbing cars at a grimy Los Angeles car wash. They lighten their work day through pranks, daydreams, slapstick and even a little bit of sex, drugs and sweet, funky music. (The theme song by Rose Royce remains one of the best disco-era pop tunes.) Behind the comedic facade, though, lies an earnest exploration of the sadness of a truly dead-end job, and by the film's end, its true heroes are revealed as Abdullah (Bill Duke), an angry, humorless African-American Muslim who is the butt of everyone else's jokes, and Lonnie, the underpaid, ex-con foreman of the gang, who are the only ones facing up to the harshness of their economic situation. They're just trying to hang on to their dignity and not slip through the cracks, while all the other guys have pretty much given up, or just don't care. Admittedly, there's an whiff of condescention to the script, and a film-schoolish formalism to its dualistic structure, but there's also a surprisingly sincere, substantive human element. What seems like an "Saturday Night Live-" ish, sketch-based light comedy is actually kind of a painful film at heart. Interestingly enough, the taboo titillations that drew us kiddies to the film back in the day are actually the parts that don't hold up -- George Carlin's episodic gag routines as a foul-mouthed cabbie tracking down a prostitute who skipped out on her fare all fall flat: there's no there there. (Richard Pryor, however, turns in a nice, succinct cameo as a flashy, pimp-suited televangelist who takes his stretch limo through the carwash, and spars with Abdullah about his supposed obligations to the community...) At any rate, the swearing and crass sex gags have largely lost their power to shock (what sounded so nasty back in '76 seems pretty tame now, in comparison to what you can see on TV or even in PG films...) but the film itself is still worth checking out. It captures a certain slice of the 'Seventies, a low-key, unassuming grittiness that didn't rely on the shock tactics of the era's crime films and yet gives us a pretty honest picture of what folks were going through back in a decade of recession, disillusionment and indulgence.
Rating: Summary: Where's the Dolby? Review: I give this movie a 2 because although I don't own it, I've seen it a few times and am glad to see it out on DVD. However, with no Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack or even stereo, it doesn't seem worth buying the DVD version. Is the VHS version also in mono?
Rating: Summary: DON'T BE MISLED... Review: I like this movie, a good one, very '70s... But for those who will be buying this dvd, do not be misled into buying if...:
1. ... you expect a lot of Richard Pryor (because he is in the cover of the dvd). He was in the movie for only a good 7 minutes with the Pointer Sisters. You won't see a lot of George Carlin either.
2. ... you want to see the film in widescreen format (because Amazon says so in the product details). You will get a Standard Full Frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio (i.e. formatted from its original version to fit your screen)
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