Michael Schultz Movies
After undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University, Milwaukee's own Michael Schultz attended Princeton, where in 1966 he directed his first play, Waiting for Godot. Schultz joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1968, which brought him to Broadway in 1969. His breakthrough production was To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, which he restaged for television in 1971. Schultz' earliest film projects combined low comedy with profound social comment (Honeybaby, Honeybaby, Cooley High). Eventually, Schultz would concentrate on such pure-entertainment projects as Car Wash (1976) and Which Way is Up? (1977). He managed to survive the potential career-killer Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), continuing to churn out brainless but profitable efforts like Scavenger Hunt (1979) and Disorderlies (1987). As of late, Michael Schultz has been busier on television than in films, piloting episodes of such style-conscious series as Young Indiana Jones and Picket Fences, as well as an abundance of made-for-TV movies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Michael Schultz directed this kinetic, hyperventilating comedy (scripted by Joel Schumacher) concerning the crazed events that go on within a single 10-hour period at a Los Angeles car wash. The cast of colorful car-wash employees includes Lonnie (Ivan Dixon), an ex-con; Duane (Bill Duke), a militant black activist; and Lindy (Antonio Fargas), an obnoxious homosexual. Sully Boyar plays Mr. B, the frazzled car-wash owner who has to deal with his screwball employees along with his over-educated slip of a son, Irwin (Richard Brestoff), who quotes Mao and wants to radicalize the workers. Also along for the wash and wax are Miss Beverly Hills (Lauren Jones), with a wild assortment of wigs; Marsha (Melanie Mayron), the distracted car wash secretary; a mad bomber (Prof. Irwin Corey), who is terrorizing the neighborhood; and Daddy Rich (Richard Pryor), the founder of the Church of Divine Economic Spirituality, who sports a gold limousine. Danny de Vito, Brooke Adams and others were originally in the cast but their scenes were ultimately deleted. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Franklyn Ajaye, Sully Boyar, (more)
Michael Schultz directed this deeply felt recollection of adolescent life on Chicago's near North Side in 1964. Like American Graffiti, Cooley High deals with girl, school, and police troubles as a group of high-school seniors prepare for post-high-school life. The chums are Glynn Turman as "Preach," who loves to read poetry and history and wants to become a Hollywood screenwriter, but who has the worst grades in the school; and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Cochise, the high-school basketball star and suave lady-killer. Preach has to contend with love problems in the form of Brenda (Cynthia Davis), school problems with emphatic teacher Mr. Mason (Garrett Morris), and law problems with street toughs Stone (Shermann Smith) and Robert (Norman Gibson). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Glynn Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, (more)
- 1974
This episode marks the first appearance of Gretchen Corbett as attorney Beth Davenport, erstwhile girlfriend of private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner). Characteristically, Beth has called upon Jim for a teeny-tiny favor: namely, to prove the innocence of her impoverished client Ann Calhoun (Patricia Smith), who is accused of killing her husband. Dutifully, Rockford heads to Parker Arizona, the hometown of Ann's late husband Kevin, in hopes of gathering new evidence. Before long both Jim and Beth find their lives threatened by a certain party who is harboring a sinister secret--in this case, the fact that Kevin Calhoun wasn't Kevin Calhoun at all. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
- PG
In this comedy, filmed in Beirut, an American interpreter wins a trip to the Middle East and finds gets a lot more than a guided tour when she hires an adventurer, who is taking the body of a deposed African leader to its final resting place. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1972
- PG
This drama examines the reaction of an African-American community to a love affair between a black man and his Caucasian girl friend. Their love is imperiled because so many of his family and friends are strongly against the match. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
The concert film Dorinda Clark-Cole: Live captures the singer belting out a half-dozen songs. The setlist includes "I'm Coming Out," "You Can't Hurry God," "If It Had Not Been For the Lord," and "I'm Still Here." ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
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