Cooley High

{{Long plot|date=June 2020}}

In 1964 Chicago, Leroy "Preach" Jackson and his best friend, Richard "Cochise" Morris, are in the final weeks of their senior year at Cooley Vocational High School in the Near North Side. They both sneak out of class one Friday and spend the rest of the day at Lincoln Park Zoo with two of their friends, Pooter and Willie. After catching the L train back to school, the gang goes to Martha's, a local soul food hangout, where Preach meets and falls in love with fellow classmate Brenda while shooting craps with neighborhood hoodlums Stone and Robert. Cochise and Preach make a dollar bet on whether Preach can get Brenda into bed, after which Preach gets kicked out by a cleaver-wielding Martha for gambling.

When Cochise gets home from Martha's, he gets a letter in the mail from Grambling State University informing him that he has received a basketball scholarship from their athletic department. That night, Cochise, Preach, Pooter, Willie, and another friend, Tyrone, attend a quarter party hosted by Tyrone's girlfriend, Dorothy, at her apartment. Brenda is also in attendance, but she rejects Preach when he tries to woo her and retreats to Dorothy's mother's bedroom. The two of them end up bonding over a mutual interest in poetry during a slow dance. Meanwhile, Cochise gets into a fistfight with hotheaded classmate Damon after he catches him kissing his girlfriend, Loretta, and the fight accidentally trashes Dorothy's apartment and ultimately ends the party.

After Dorothy's party, the boys go to Martha's, at which point Stone and Robert pull up in a Cadillac Coupe de Ville and convince Preach and Cochise to get in with them. Unbeknownst to Preach and Cochise, the Cadillac is a stolen one, and Stone lets Preach drive after he brags about being such a good driver. The four end up speeding through downtown Chicago and get into a high-speed chase with police at a Navy Pier warehouse after Preach runs a red light. They manage to evade the police, but not after Preach accidentally rear ends a parked car with the occupants still inside, causing the four to flee in opposite directions before the police arrive.

On Saturday, Preach and Cochise go to the movies with their friends, during which a huge fight erupts after Pooter accidentally steps on a man's foot while trying to get to his seat. On Sunday, Preach and Brenda make love after spending a romantic day together. However, Preach reveals the dollar bet he made with Cochise, causing Brenda to leave Preach's house in anger. On Monday, Preach and Cochise are scheduled to take a history midterm, but they are arrested right before the midterm for their joyride in the Cadillac that Stone and Robert stole. While being questioned, Mr. Mason, the boys' history teacher, persuades one of the detectives, a close friend, to let them go because of their clean records. Stone and Robert, however, remain in jail due to them being repeat offenders. After Preach and Cochise are released, Stone and Robert wrongly assume that they snitched on them.

A few days later, Preach discovers that Mr. Mason got him and Cochise out of jail, and he sets off to find Cochise to tell him the news. Preach runs into Cochise's cousin, Jimmy Lee, who takes him to Cochise's apartment. There, Preach finds Cochise with his ex-girlfriend, Sandra, who Preach cheated on with Brenda. Preach becomes angry and retreats to Martha's, where he sees Brenda there and apologizes for what happened between them. However, Damon is there, and Stone and Robert also show up shortly after being released from jail that morning. Still believing Preach and Cochise snitched on them, Stone and Robert chase Preach through Martha's. Preach locks himself in Martha's occupied bathroom while Martha intervenes and kicks Stone and Robert out with her meat cleaver. Preach tries to sneak out the side door, but is spotted by the pair who are waiting for him outside with Damon, and a chase ensues.

After evading the trio, Preach meets up with Brenda on the L train, where she informs him that Cochise went to Martha's looking for him. Preach immediately gets off the train to find him. Stone, Robert and Damon ultimately find Cochise under the L train tracks and beat him so severely that he dies. Upon realizing that Cochise is dead, Stone, Robert and Damon flee. Preach frantically searches for Cochise before discovering his lifeless body, his cries for help drowned out by an L train passing above.

At Cochise's funeral, Preach watches the burial from afar and goes to Cochise's casket for a personal farewell after the mourners have departed. Toasting absent friends, Preach drinks from a wine bottle and recites a poem he wrote for Cochise. After promising Cochise that he and their friends will all be fine, Preach runs away from the cemetery feeling confident in his future.

The epilogue of the film reveals that Preach moved to Hollywood after graduation and became a successful screenwriter; Stone and Robert were killed in 1966 during a gas station holdup; Brenda became a librarian in Atlanta, got married, and had three children; Damon joined the Army and became a sergeant stationed in Europe; Pooter became a factory worker in Muncie, Indiana; and Tyrone was killed at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago during an outbreak of racial violence.

{{Cast list|

• Glynn Turman as Leroy "Preach" Jackson
• Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Richard "Cochise" Morris
• Garrett Morris as Mr. Mason
• Cynthia Davis as Brenda
• Sherman Smith as Stone
• Norman Gibson as Robert[https://books.google.com/books?id=9UIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=cooley+high&pg=PA28 JET Magazine - One Spark Of Joy In Cooley High Character's Life Snuffed By Bullets – October 21, 1976]
• Corin Rogers as "Pooter"
• Joseph Carter Wilson as Tyrone
• Maurice Marshall as Damon
• Steven Williams as Jimmy Lee
• Christine Jones as Sandra
• Jackie Taylor as Johnny Mae
• Juanita McConnell as Martha

}}

Monte based the film on his experiences attending the real-life Cooley Vocational High School (which closed in 1979) that served students from the Cabrini–Green public housing project on Chicago's north side. While the film was set in and around Cabrini–Green, it was primarily filmed at another Chicago-area housing project. Monte has said that he wrote the film to dispel myths about growing up in the projects: "I grew up in the Cabrini–Green housing project and I had one of the best times of my life, the most fun you can have while inhaling and exhaling".{{Cite news |last=Mitchell |first=John |date=2006-04-14 |title=Plotting His Next Big Break |language=en-US |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-apr-14-me-monte14-story.html |access-date=2021-04-29}}

The movie was filmed from October through November 1974 in Chicago, Illinois. Some scenes include other areas of Chicago such as Navy Pier and the Gold Coast area but primarily in and around the Cabrini-Green housing project on the near-north side. Interior school scenes were shot at Chicago's Providence St. Mel High School.

The soundtrack of Cooley High, produced and arranged by Freddie Perren, features numerous songs by artists belonging to the Motown record label, as well as instrumental compositions written by Perren. It also features the original song "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday", written by Perren and Christine Yarian and performed by G. C. Cameron for the film.{{cite news|last=Provick|first=Bill|date=September 11, 1975|title=Motown stars shine in nostalgic soundtrack|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ottawa-citizen/165227795/|newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen|location=Ottawa, Ontario, Canada|page=75|access-date=February 11, 2025|via=Newspapers.com}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Coolie High (Soundtrack)

| type = Soundtrack

| artist = Various artists

| cover =

| alt =

| released = 1975

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio = Cherokee and Western Recorders, Hollywood, California

| genre = Pop

| length = 60:37

| label = Motown

| producer = Freddie Perren

}}

{{Track listing

| extra_column = Artist(s)

| title1 = Baby Love

| extra1 = Diana Ross & the Supremes

| length1 = 2:39

| writer1 = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| title2 = Fingertips

| extra2 = Stevie Wonder

| length2 = 5:27

| writer2 = {{hlist|Henry Cosby|Clarence Paul}}

| title3 = I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)

| extra3 = Four Tops

| length3 = 2:41

| writer3 = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| title4 = Stop! In the Name of Love

| extra4 = Diana Ross & the Supremes

| length4 = 2:51

| writer4 = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| title5 = Luther's Blues

| extra5 = Luther Allison

| length5 = 6:10

| writer5 = Luther Allison

| title6 = Dancing in the Street

| extra6 = Martha Reeves & the Vandellas

| length6 = 2:38

| writer6 = {{hlist|Marvin Gaye|Ivy Jo Hunter|William "Mickey" Stevenson}}

| title7 = Beechwood 4-5789

| extra7 = The Marvelettes

| length7 = 2:07

| writer7 = {{hlist|Marvin Gaye|George Gordy|William "Mickey" Stevenson}}

| title8 = Ooo Baby Baby

| extra8 = Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

| length8 = 2:42

| writer8 = Smokey Robinson

| title9 = (You Can) Depend on Me

| extra9 = Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

| length9 = 3:06

| writer9 = {{hlist|Berry Gordy|Smokey Robinson}}

| title10 = Cleo's Mood

| extra10 = Jr. Walker & the All Stars

| length10 = 2:40

| writer10 = {{hlist|Autry DeWalt|Willie Woods|Harvey Fuqua}}

| title11 = Money (That's What I Want)

| extra11 = Barrett Strong

| length11 = 2:32

| writer11 = {{hlist|Berry Gordy|Janie Bradford}}

| title12 = You Beat Me to the Punch

| extra12 = Mary Wells

| length12 = 2:42

| writer12 = Smokey Robinson

| title13 = 2 Pigs and a Hog

| extra13 = Freddie Perren

| length13 = 1:46

| writer13 = Freddie Perren

| title14 = My Girl

| extra14 = The Temptations

| length14 = 2:54

| writer14 = {{hlist|Smokey Robinson|Ronald White}}

| title15 = Sweet First Love

| extra15 = Freddie Perren

| length15 = 1:12

| writer15 = Freddie Perren

| title16 = 3 A.M.... I Love You Mama

| extra16 = Freddie Perren

| length16 = 2:10

| writer16 = Freddie Perren

| title17 = (I'm a) Road Runner

| extra17 = Jr. Walker & the All Stars

| length17 = 2:45

| writer17 = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| title18 = Mickey's Monkey

| extra18 = Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

| length18 = 2:47

| writer18 = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| title19 = Haulin'

| extra19 = Freddie Perren

| length19 = 1:20

| writer19 = Freddie Perren

| title20 = Cold Blooded

| extra20 = Freddie Perren

| length20 = 1:15

| writer20 = Freddie Perren

| title21 = It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

| extra21 = G. C. Cameron

| length21 = 3:13

| writer21 = {{hlist|Freddie Perren|Christine Yarian}}

| title22 = Reach Out I'll Be There

| extra22 = Four Tops

| length22 = 3:00

| writer22 = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| total_length = 60:37

}}

Cooley High is seen as "changing the landscape" for black people in film, with its humane focus on the dreams of young inner-city black men, according to actor and film director Robert Townsend, who got his start in film with a one-line walk-on role in Cooley High.{{Cite news |last=King |first=Susan |date=2019-07-06 |title=How 'Cooley High' changed the landscape for black films in 1975 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-cooley-high-tribute-20190706-story.html |access-date=2021-12-19}} Screenwriter and producer Larry Karaszewski holds that the film is also one of the great movies about real friendship, with outstanding performances by the male leads. Boyz II Men named their debut album Cooleyhighharmony which featured a version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the Cooley High soundtrack.https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6875229/boyz-ii-men-cooleyhighharmony-25-classic-album-reviewhttps://www.moviefone.com/2015/06/25/cooley-high-most-influential-movie/ The 1991 movie Boyz n the Hood was influenced by Cooley High.{{Cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/how-boyz-n-the-hood-beat-the-odds-and-why-it-matters-today|title=How Boyz n the Hood Beat the Odds to Get Made—and Why It Matters Today|last=Kashner|first=Sam|work=HWD|access-date=2017-05-01|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.jetmag.com/entertainment/catching-cast-cooley-high/|title=Catching Up With: The Cast of 'Cooley High' – JetMag.com|date=2015-07-02|work=JetMag.com|access-date=2017-05-01|language=en-US}}

During the 40th anniversary of the film's release, nationally syndicated news station NPR published a story that discussed some of the fondest memories that the cast and crew shared of the film's production. Actor Sherman Smith, now using the professional name Rick Stone, who played the character of Stone in the film, recalled how he was approached by producers of the film while playing basketball one day. The crew members were looking for realistic gang members to be a part of the cast, so after being tipped off by police, producers offered Stone and his sidekick Norman Gibson, who played the character of Robert in the film, a role in the movie.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/06/26/417185907/40-years-later-the-cast-of-cooley-high-looks-back|title=40 Years Later, The Cast Of 'Cooley High' Looks Back|website=NPR.org|access-date=2016-05-06}}

During this interview, screenwriter Eric Monte revealed that Cochise's untimely death in the film was inspired by a childhood friend of his who had been killed in a similar manner. Just as Preach headed to Hollywood after the death of Cochise, Monte reveals that after his friend was murdered, he hitchhiked his way to the west coast where he began working for shows such as Good Times and The Jeffersons. Unfortunately, not everyone from the film went on to live a life of success. Nearly two years after the film's release, Norman Gibson was gunned down outside of his neighborhood.

Cooley High was a critical and commercial success. Produced on a $750,000 budget, the film grossed $13 million at the domestic box office, making it one of the top 30 highest-grossing films of 1975.{{cite web | url=http://www.listal.com/list/top-grossing-films-1975 | title=Top Grossing Films of 1975 | publisher=Listal.com}}

Jack Slater of The New York Times was positive, writing, "To be black and to watch 'Cooley High' is to see one's vanished innocence—and beauty." Slater acknowledged that the movie was being hailed as "a black American Graffiti" but he thought Cooley High had "far more vitality and variety" than that film.Slater, Jack (August 10, 1975). [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/10/archives/cooley-high-more-than-just-a-black-graffiti.html "'Cooley High' More Than Just a Black 'Graffiti'".] The New York Times. D13. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 and wrote that the opening 10 minutes "leave you with the impression that 'Cooley High' is going to be nothing more than a series of routine and unfunny gags. But then the film's magic begins to work, and 'Cooley High' turns into a beguiling story that's affecting, lasting, and worth seeing more than once."Siskel, Gene (June 27, 1975). "Anger, comedy, love in 'Cooley High'". Chicago Tribune. Section 3, p. 3.

Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "a heartening comedy drama" with "a fine cast of young players" that were "well directed by Michael Schultz", adding that "you don't have to be black to enjoy it immensely."Murphy, Arthur D. (June 25, 1975). "Film Reviews: Cooley High". Variety. 23. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a landmark movie, one of the year's most important and heartening pictures, that shows what the black film can be when creative talents are given an opportunity free of the strong sex and violence requirements of the exploitation formulae."Thomas, Kevin (July 13, 1975). "'Cooley High's' Universal Appeal". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 36.

Jacqueline Trescott of The Washington Post was not so impressed, calling the film's nostalgia "deja vu and hackneyed, antiseptic even." She found several comic scenes to be "[w]ell-executed ... But these passages still lack a distinctive look and enough fire to raise 'Cooley' above the mediocre mark."Trescott, Jacqueline (July 16, 1975). "'Cooley': Growing Up Black in the '60s". The Washington Post. D1, D2. Reviewing Cooley High for The Monthly Film Bulletin in 1977, Jonathan Rosenbaum said that "Michael Schultz's first feature can be viewed with hindsight as the promising debut of a very talented director, intermittently doing what he can with an uneven and somewhat routine script."{{cite journal |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |date=February 1977 |title=Cooley High |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=44 |issue=517 |page=21 }}

The film holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 17 critics.{{Cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cooley_high/ |title=Cooley High |work=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=December 27, 2022 }} Filmmaker Spike Lee included the film on his essential film list entitled List of Films All Aspiring Filmmakers Must See.[https://www.indiewire.com/article/spike-lees-list-of-films-all-aspiring-filmmakers-must-see List of Films All Aspiring Filmmakers Must See.] Indiewire. Retrieved January 27, 2016. The movie also ranked #23 on Entertainment Weekly{{'}}s list of the 50 Best High School Movies.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1532588_1_0_,00.html |title=The 50 Best High School Movies |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=February 11, 2009 |archive-date=September 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905083021/http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0%2C6115%2C1532588_1_0_%2C00.html |url-status=dead }} Metacritic gave the film a score of 72 based in 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/cooley-high |title= Cooley High Reviews |website=Metacritic }}

ABC planned a television adaptation of Cooley High, but the pilot was poorly received, and Fred Silverman, the head of the network, asked the pilot's producers, TOY Productions, to redo the show as a sitcom with new characters and with a new title so as not to confuse it with Monte's film Cooley High. New writers were hired, cast changes made, and a switch from one-camera to three-camera filming delivered What's Happening!! to the network, where it ran from August 5, 1976, to April 28, 1979. The show and the production company were then purchased by Columbia Pictures Television in 1979 and ran in syndication for a number of years.{{cite journal|date=1979-02-19|title=New TOY|journal=Broadcasting|page=39}}

Released on VHS in 1991 and 1994 by Orion Home Video

In 2000, Cooley High was released on DVD.{{cite news |last1=Hartl |first1=John |title=Video stores get the jump on Black History Month |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-john-hartl-vid/160814409/ |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=13 January 2000 |location=St. Louis MO |page=65 |format=Newspapers.com}} The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray on December 13, 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/31689-cooley-high|title=Criterion Collection }}

On July 19, 2016, it was reported that MGM was developing a remake of 1975 film Cooley High, with DeVon Franklin, Common and Tony Krantz. Seth Rosenfeld would write the screenplay.{{cite news|last1=Fleming|first1=Mike Jr.|title='Cooley High' Remake For MGM, DeVon Franklin, Common & Tony Krantz|url=https://deadline.com/2016/07/cooley-high-remake-mgm-devon-franklin-common-tony-krantz-1201788977/ |access-date=July 20, 2016|work=Deadline|date=July 19, 2016}}

• List of American films of 1975
• What's Happening Now!!
• List of hood films

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0072820}}
• {{TCMDb title|24346|Cooley High}}
• {{AFI film|55529}}

{{Michael Schultz}}

{{Chicago Public Schools}}

Category:1975 films

Category:1970s coming-of-age comedy-drama films

Category:1970s teen comedy-drama films

Category:African-American films

Category:American coming-of-age comedy-drama films

Category:American high school films

Category:American International Pictures films

Category:American teen comedy-drama films

Category:American teen romance films

Category:1970s English-language films

Category:Films adapted into television shows

Category:Films directed by Michael Schultz

Category:Films set in 1964

Category:Films set in Chicago

Category:Films shot in Chicago

Category:Films produced by Steve Krantz

Category:Teensploitation

Category:United States National Film Registry films

Category:1970s American films

Category:1975 comedy-drama films

Category:English-language comedy-drama films

Category:American independent films

Category:1975 independent films