{"id":2589,"date":"2024-08-20T04:42:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T04:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2589"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:44:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:44:34","slug":"cooley-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/20\/cooley-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooley High"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cooley High<\/strong> (1975)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 American International\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 107 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, some violence, drug and alcohol use, brief nudity and sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Schultz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Eric Monte\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Freddie Perren\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Paul vom Brack\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 25, 1975 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Glynn Turman, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, Garrett Morris, Cynthia Davis, Corin Rogers, Maurice Leon Havis, Joseph Carter Wilson, Sherman Smith, Norman Gibson, Maurice Marshall, Steven Williams, Jackie Taylor, Christine Jones, Lynn Caridine, Mary Larkins, Cherene Snow, Alicia Williams.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $13M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cooley High<\/strong> is the movie that loosely inspired the hit 70s sitcom What\u2019s Happening; in particular, the character of high school student\/aspiring writer Raj and his family (single mother and bratty little sister). Only the movie is set in 1964 in Chicago (as opposed to Watts, CA), the Raj character is named Preacher and he doesn\u2019t have friends named Dwayne and Rerun.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Whereas the sitcom was comedic, Cooley High<\/strong> has elements of drama. The poster, which promises a wild high school comedy, is very misleading. It\u2019s a funny, nostalgic and bittersweet look at a bygone era when drug gangs didn\u2019t run schools and black youths weren\u2019t regularly killed in drive-by shootings. I say this only to provide context. Thankfully, director Michael Schultz (Car Wash) steers clear of heavy social or political issues (e.g. racism, police brutality, drug addiction) in favor of something lighter.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The loosely constructed narrative centers on Preacher (Turman, J.D.\u2019s Revenge) and his best friend Cochise (Jacobs of Welcome Back, Kotter). They\u2019re nearing the end of their senior year at Edwin G. Cooley Vocational High School (a real place that closed in \u201979). Preacher dreams of going to Hollywood and becoming a writer. Cochise has just received a basketball scholarship to Grambling State University. They spend their last weeks at Cooley High ditching classes, gambling, drinking wine, chasing girls and generally getting into trouble.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Preacher is interested in a snooty, smart girl named Brenda (Davis) who initially rejects him but changes her tune upon discovering their mutual interest in romantic poetry. One night, Preacher and Cochise go joyriding with a couple of local hoods, Stone (Smith) and Robert (Gibson), and get chased by the cops. It ultimately creates a bad situation with a tragic ending.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Some have dubbed Cooley High<\/strong> \u201cthe black American Graffiti\u201d. Okay, I can see it. It focuses on teens, it has a vintage soundtrack (in this case, Motown) and it even ends with titles informing us what becomes of the characters in the future. However, I think it\u2019s unfair to characterize Cooley High<\/strong> as such. Yes, there are similarities but it\u2019s definitely its own movie. For one thing, it gives us an idea of what it\u2019s like growing up in the ghetto and does so without being depressing. The boys come up with clever schemes- at one point, they impersonate vice cops- to get money. In another scene, they sneak into a \u201cQuarter Party\u201d which is a house party with a 25 cent admission charge. There\u2019s food, drink and dancing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At times, life is funny. A trip to the movies (to see Mothra vs. Godzilla) turns into a free-for-all between two rival gangs after the boys\u2019 awkward friend Pooter (Rogers, On the Right Track) accidentally bumps into a thug. There are a good number of humorous scenes in Cooley High<\/strong> which are nicely balanced out by the life-threatening drama faced by Preacher and Cochise in the final act. I\u2019ll only say that the movie ends on a beautiful note to the tune of G.C. Cameron\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday\u201d (followed by The Four Tops\u2019 \u201cReach Out I\u2019ll Be There\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Turman is very good as Preacher, a smart but unmotivated student who doesn\u2019t care that he\u2019s failing school. He just wants to get out of Chicago and be a writer. He loves Brenda, but is too immature for a relationship. Jacobs is also good as Cochise, a star basketball player and ladies man who tries to stay on the straight and narrow. Original SNL cast member Garrett Morris turns in a nice but brief supporting performance as a tough teacher who cares. Really, everybody in Cooley High<\/strong> does a fine job.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cooley High<\/strong>, while bathed in mid-60s nostalgia, has a sense of realism. Get a look at Cochise\u2019s family\u2019s apartment; it\u2019s small, crowded and messy. He nearly loses his acceptance letter from university when his baby brother gets a hold of it. Look at Preacher\u2019s home life. His single mother works three jobs to make ends meet. His younger sisters are forever threatening to tell Mom on him for his misdeeds. Admittedly, this Dee and TV Dee aren\u2019t all that dissimilar. The terrific soundtrack, which includes cuts by The Supremes (\u201cBaby Love\u201d), Stevie Wonder (\u201cFingertips, Part 2\u201d), The Marvelettes (\u201cBeechwood 4-5789\u201d), The Temptations (\u201cMy Girl\u201d) and The Miracles (\u201cOoo Baby, Baby\u201d), enhances the period setting nicely.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You don\u2019t hear much about Cooley High<\/strong> these days which may be a good thing since it makes it less likely to fall prey to Hollywood remake hunters. Like every movie, it doesn\u2019t need to be remade. It\u2019s a sweet and sad little gem of a movie. It\u2019s more than worth it to track down and watch the 1975 original. It\u2019s a really good movie.<\/p>\n

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Copyright HAG \u00a92008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooley High (1975)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 American International\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 107 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, some violence, drug and alcohol use, brief nudity and sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Schultz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Eric Monte\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Freddie Perren\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Paul vom Brack\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 25, 1975 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Glynn Turman, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, Garrett Morris, Cynthia Davis, Corin Rogers, Maurice Leon Havis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Cooley-High-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3401,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions\/3401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}