In 1973, he moved to Warsaw, where he was admitted to the Polish Philology faculty of the Warsaw University. However, in 1975 he moved to Łódź, where he graduated from the Łódź Film School. His film debut was Vabank (1981), a comedy describing a story of two Polish gangsters of the 1930s. The film was a striking success, as was the science-fiction comedy Seksmisja of 1984. Often seen as either a golden child or enfant terrible of the Polish cinema, Machulski quickly became one of the most popular Polish directors, both in Poland and abroad. His Seksmisja, although significantly shortened by the Soviet censorship, was one of the most popular pictures shown in the Soviet Union in mid-1980s.
Kingsajz, a fantasy comedy made in 1987 remains one of his most important movies till date due to its great social significance. It is in many ways similar to Seksmisja but Kingsajz's message is stronger and more evident. It was also released at the time when anti-communistic society was very enthusiastic about pictures of that kind. Slogans from the film were appearing on many real walls, much to police's irritation.
His ventures just after 1989 were still popular with the masses but none of them was critically acclaimed. His pictures of that time are often called "rude" in opposition to his earlier "intelligent" work. After his Matki, żony i kochanki, a television series many judged the end of director who failed to adapt to new environment.
In 1997 he proved those opinions to be wrong when his Kiler became a huge hit and is now considered as cult movie along with its sequel, Kiler-ów 2-óch. Both movies are crime comedies about a simple taxi driver taken by a police for a famous killer.
Since 1988 Machulski served as the headperson of Zebra Film Studio, he also briefly appeared in a number of films as an actor. On 10 December 1998 he was honoured with his own star paved in Piotrkowska Street in Łódź.
