Cooley High (1975)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Michael Schultz

Writer:

Eric Monte (writer)

Release Date:

23 November 1979 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Where the Student Body Was a Chick Named Veronica... The Senior Prom was a "belly rub" and the Class of '64 ran a Permanent crap game in the Men's Room!

Plot:

In the mid-1960's, a group of high school friends who live on the Near North Side of Chicago enjoy life to the fullest...

Plot Keywords:

High School | Gambling | Basketball | Teenage Boy | Black Independent Film

Cast

Glynn Turman	...	Leroy "Preach" Jackson
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs	...	Richard "Cochise" Morris
Garrett Morris	...	Mr. Mason
Cynthia Davis	...	Brenda
Corin Rogers	...	Pooter
Maurice Leon Havis	...	Willie
Joseph Carter Wilson	...	Tyrone
Sherman Smith	...	Stone
Norman Gibson	...	Robert
Maurice Marshall	...	Damon
Steven Williams	...	Jimmy Lee
Jackie Taylor	...	Johnny Mae
Christine Jones	...	Sandra
Lynn Caridine	...	Dorothy
Mary Larkins	...	Preach's Mother

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R16 | USA:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Burr-Oak Cemetery - 4400 W. 127th Street, Alsip, Illinois, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

According to writer Eric Monte, ABC had planned to do a TV version of this project. After a poorly received pilot, ABC retooled it completely. "What's Happening!!" (1976) was the result.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film takes place in 1964, yet we hear several Motown songs, such as "I Can't Help Myself" by the Four Tops and the Supremes' "Stop! In the Name of Love" from 1965 and "Reach Out, I'll Be There" by the Four Tops from 1966.

Quotes:

Preacher: Dorothy the only thing I know, is that your momma's a hoe!

Movie Connections:

Edited into Afro Promo (1997)

Disrespected Classic

Read This:

BOYZ 'N THE HOOD IS A SCENE-BY-SCENE, COMPLETE RIP-OFF OF THIS MOVIE.

Two friends in the hood, one's focused on intellectual pursuits and the other is an athlete. The friend who's an athlete gets involved with the wrong people and gets killed. (The athlete just happens to be Washington from 'Welcome Back, Kotter'.)

It makes me mad that people don't know this. It blows my mind everytime I go into a video store and Boyz 'n the Hood is in the 'Drama' section while Cooley High is in 'Comedy'. It's an embarrassing disgrace. This movie is both funnier and more dramatic than John Singleton's rip-off. At least Singleton could have had the dignity to speak out that his film was homage to Cooley High, but no, he never said a word. Boys 2 Men, however, named their hit record after this film.