Cooley High

It's 1964 Chicago. Preach and Cochise are best friends in the black high school, Edwin G. Cooley. They with two other friends skip school to go to the zoo. In a different incident, Preach is throwing dice in a local diner. When he shows interest in Brenda, Cochise bets him a dollar to hook up with her. The two joins other guys in a joyride which gets them into trouble. Mr. Mason is a teacher trying to guide Preach.

This is a coming-of-age teen drama in black cinema. The performances are good with some future veteran actors. It's episodic in nature. There are some humorous moments. It needs to get into the joyride earlier in the first act so as to make it the central point in a three act movie. It's more like a series of incidents that forms the highs and lows of the two young men's friendship and a blossoming romance. This has a realism and the sense of place.

This film, which was the foundation for "What's Happening?", contains the very things that recent films about teens and high school lack: comedy, and true emotion. The film takes place in Chicago, 1964, and centers on a group of lower-class black kids, including Preach, a smart student, and his close friend, Cochise, a great athlete who's on the verge of getting a scholarship. While it does contain similarities to George Lucas' "American Graffitti", the film has a lot of energy and substance to easily overlook that fact. There are many funny moments, including a scene where the boys joyride with Preach behind the wheel; a scene where the boys cut class and head to the zoo, ending with a hilarious encounter with a gorilla; and a scene where Preach hides from gangbangers in an occupied bathroom. There's also romance in the film, as Preach attempts to woo classy beauty Brenda; the two even lose their virginity together in a truly tasteful scene. The movie ends in tragedy, and since the characters have depth, we feel the loss. I highly recommend this one to all; it's got more going for it than 99.9% of what's playing today (and it's got a great Motown soundtrack to boot!).

Hello all. This is the best movie of the 70's and one of the best of all time. If you haven't seen it yet you must see it soon. This is probably Lawrence Hilton Jacobs's first starring role. He is great in the movie and he is very underrated. Glynn Turman shines as Preach. He is also very underrated. This whole movie really captured what it was like back in the 60's for young blacks. It is heartwrenching and very moving. It has comedy and it has heartache. I recommend that everyone see this movie. It is the best. You will not be disappointed.

While this seems to be a black equivalent to "American Graffitti", I would hardly call this "Blaxploitation". Really not in the same boat as "Sweet Sweetbacks Badass Song", all those Pam Grier movies by Jack Hill, and the usual sort. Interesting to see Lawrence Hilton Jacobs in something other than "Welcome Back Kotter", or his low-rent action films. Interesting to note that "Kotter" comes up in a few posts, but I didn't see anyone mention that the TV show "What's Happening" (and the later, "What's Happening Now" I suppose), was based on, and inspired by this film, which is why I wanted to see it in the first place. This film is vastly superior to "What's Happening" (for many reasons, most obviously, the lack of the "Rerun" character), and has real heart. Also, it features some excellent use of Godzilla footage in the theatre scenes, something I always appreciate. If you haven't seen it, you really should.

This movie seems to always be compared to "American Graffiti" and, given that both end in a similar "Where are they now?" montage, feature a high level of period pop music and are generally show teenagers running around, having fun and encountering mishaps, it's fair to say that to some extent the film was intended as a black "American Graffiti". "American Graffiti" was an iconic and hugely popular phenomenon, and given that the title has 'American' in it but it essentially a story of only the white American experience, once can see how blacks might have desired a movie that could capture their own experiences during those magic moments as youth comes to an end.

"Cooley High" is also something of an answer to its white counterpart, though: simply by showing a typical black teenager experience in 1962 it is going to have to make some kind of social commentary. In "American Graffiti" the high crimes are drag racing and minors buying booze, while we see decidedly rougher characters in "Cooley High". The only two who stand out as three-dimensional are the leads, Cochise and Preach, but they have more depth than any of the characters in "Graffiti". Unfortunately, the other characters in the movie fall flat and you'll be very lucky if, after your first viewing, you remember the names of even half of them before they flash on the screen in the final sequence.

Cochise is the smart and college-bound student whose best friend Preach, despite being no less intelligent, seems to be destined to fail. Much of the movie is devoted to their high-spirited teenage adventures, in the spirit of "Graffiti", and the movie is entertaining enough as the gang skips school to go the zoo, crashes a party, inadvertently starts a brawl in a movie theater, and so on. Things pick up, though, and the final minutes of the film how the consequences of their fun in the first hour.

This movie is interesting and I'm glad it was made as a black counterpoint to "American Graffiti". However, the characters aren't quite as memorable in "Coolie High", and the stories just aren't as clever and fun either. This isn't to say "Coolie High" fails, it's just that "American Graffiti" had some pretty brilliant stories which it would be hard for any movie to equal. One exception is the romantic scene between Preach and Brenda which, although comic in nature, utterly transcends any racial boundaries and is a wonderfully honest depiction of the inherent awkwardness of the situation, something the audience can relate to far more honestly than the typical confident and lustful love scenes we usually see in movies.

The movie is uneven and, to this reviewer, can't quite reach the highs of the movie it is providing a counterpoint to. Still, I can very much relate to "American Graffiti" but what do I know about growing up in Cabrini Green? Some viewers might love this far more than "American Graffiti". This movie seems pretty forgotten, but it shouldn't be.