Trailer
Plot summary
Over a single Friday in July, the Dee-Luxe Car Wash in Los Angeles receives strange and unusual visitors. The evangelist Daddy Rich, who preaches prosperity, appears with his singing entourage, the Wilson Sisters, and collects donations from the employees. A man the crew takes for the pop bottle bomber the police are seeking that day alarms the employees, the customers and the owner, Leon Barrow, who flirts with the cashier Marsha and worries about a competitor down the street. Lonnie, the foreman and an ex-convict raising two young children, tries to mentor the young convert Abdullah Mohammed Akbar, who dismisses Daddy Rich's preaching. T.C. hopes to win a radio contest for concert tickets and to bring his estranged girlfriend Mona along, while Floyd and Lloyd rehearse dance moves for an audition.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Car Wash (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The project was originally intended as a stage production featuring a replica car wash on stage; the producers pitched it to Universal Pictures' then-president Ned Tanen, who persuaded them to make the film version instead.
- Danny DeVito and Brooke Adams played speaking roles as food-stand owners Joe and Terry, but nearly all of their scenes were deleted from the theatrical version and only restored for the edited television version.
- Real Los Angeles disc jockeys, including Jay Butler, J. J. Jackson, Rod McGrew and Sarina C. Grant, lent their speaking voices to the fictional "KGYS" radio station heard in the film's background.
- Car Wash won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival and was also nominated for the Palme d'Or.
- The Car Wash soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album at the 19th Annual Grammy Awards in 1977.
