“Car Wash” is an exhilarating journey driven by J.B, the deejay of the fictional radio station KGYS providing the musical background, the soul of the film. No pun intended since the soundtrack includes disco, funk and R&B ballads, the unique sound of Afro-American music encapsulating the 70’s. The cast is multiracial with an Afro-American predominance but there’s something refreshing in the way some serious issues are tackled in “Car Wash” despite the cheerful mood.
Take Lindy’s character, remarkably played by Antonio Fargas. It’s extremely challenging to see a homo drag played with such sophistication. When confronted to Duane aka Abdullah, Bill Duke as the, no pun intended again, ‘straight man’ of the film, Lindly proudly delivers one of my favorite movie lines : “Honey, I’m more a man than you’ll ever be, and more a woman than you’ll ever get”. The comedic aspect never deserts the film, neither does the social commentary. The tormented Abdullah sounds on the surface as the group’s killjoy, but he mirrors the confusion of a community in quest for identity, an issue the running gag involving his name humorously deal with. Abdullah’s resentments are echoed by Lonnie, Ivan Dixon as the cigar-smoking respected veteran of the group.
“Car Wash” opens on a summer Friday morning where we discover the group inside the locker room. With his inseparable radio, there’s Hippo, whose name gives a subtle hint about his size, Lloyd and Floyd, the two James Brown-wannabe with a priceless musical entrance. T.C. aka The Fly, is another engaging character in love with Mona, the beautiful waitress of the neighboring restaurant. To invite Mona to JB’s Disco Dance Show, he must get the tickets by calling KGYS whenever he hears ‘Disco Dance’. His buzzing around about his gigantic afro haircut, his secret identity, and his mission will provide some of the film’s funniest moments.
The rest of the team involves Chuco, the Latino guy, whom you may remember as the ill-fated Angel Fernandez from “Scarface”. With Goody, the Native with the most memorable cinematic pig-eared hat ever, they share an amusing complicity whether they tease each other or take their revenge on Earl, the foreman, the one who ‘doesn’t get wet’ as he proudly declares. And to complete the gallery, Ray Vitte is Geronimo whose weird outfit equals the worthlessness of the marital advices he gives to Jack Kehoe as Scruggs, the man from “The Sting” and “Serpico” with a cowboy hat. Hats and haircuts are the character’s trademarks while the orange uniform is Dee Luxe Car Wash’ signature besides its hilarious motto “We’re not responsible of you car” … which speaks a lot about the company’s work ethics.
These characters create a childish mood that Abdullah described as ‘clown show’. His opinion is demonstrated by the constant interventions of Mr. B. who sounds mostly like a playground monitor with his classic “Wash the caahs!” a cigar clenched between his teeth. Mr. B. played by Sully Boyar, is the fatherly type of boss keeping an eye on his workers, on his Maoist pot-smoker, but genuinely sympathetic son Irwin, who wants to be part of the working class, and occasionally an eye on the feminine assets of Marsha, the sexy cash register employee, the only staff member who calls him Leon.
“Car Wash” is driven by the dynamics between the characters, an ingenuity of Joel Schumacher’s script, where we get to know people from the nature of their relationships. And at the end, the character’s arcs are unequally complete, but the day changed one thing or two for the better, like Mr B. giving a chance to Lonnie to submit his ideas to improve the service, one of the films’ nicest touches. But more than a car wash, the place seems like a converging point in Los Angeles for the strangest visitors. As Hippo said: “Boy, there’s been some weird people”.
Weird is the word. A bandaged man, a hysterical Lorraine Gary as ‘Ms. Beverly Hills’, the woman whose carsick son puking all over her made me laugh to tears, a pooping dog, a mad pop bottle bomber hiding a no less disgusting stuff in his ‘weapon’, Calvin the skate-boarding brat, and of course, Richard Pryor as the TV evangelist ‘Daddy Rich’, an ambiguous character whose message is exaggeratedly revered to highlight its excesses. Still, his cameo is an occasion to appreciate the Pointers aka Wilson Sisters’s “Believe” song. The whole movie is a tribute to American Black culture, incarnated by Snapper, the wise shoeshine man, played by Clarence Muse –and I learned that- the first Black American to star in a film. A fitting symbol.
And the romantic touch of the film is poetically incarnated by ‘Marlene’, the quiet hooker who stiffs a taxi driver, played by George Carlin, and starts looking for an ex-client named Joe, while Carlin spends all the day asking people if they saw a ‘big, tall, blonde, black chick?’ The female cast is delicately treated with the three M : Marlene looking for her charming prince, Mona, the waitress who finally accepts T.C.’s date, and Marsha who gets a date with a Redford look-alike, so stereotypical it’s hilarious.
But these stereotypes are never intended to mock but to display the everyday working class with a humorous social commentary. The plot-less concept was risky but it worked because the film is so genuinely funny, and the characters so endearing, it immediately impacts your memories, to forever associate “Car Wash” with an iconic disco song, a sunny color orange, and the delirious spirit of the 70’s!
