Cooley High is a 1975 American film based upon the
real high schoolCooley Vocational High School was a public vocational high school in Chicago, Illinois, which served grades 7 through 12. It was part of Chicago Public Schools. It was adjacent to the Cabrini–Green housing development. It was named after Chicago Public Schools Superintendent, Edwin G...
located on the near north side of Chicago produced and released by
American International PicturesAmerican International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
and written by
Eric MonteEric Monte is an American screenwriter who has written for and created notable shows depicting 1970s African American culture.-Early life and career:...
(co-creator of
Good TimesGood Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
). The film, set in 1964 Chicago, Illinois, stars
Glynn TurmanGlynn Russell Turman is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a writer, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson in the 1975 coming-of-age film Cooley High, math professor and retired Army colonel Bradford...
and
Lawrence Hilton-JacobsLawrence Hilton-Jacobs is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in a number of films and television programs, including Claudine , Cooley High , Roots , Welcome Back, Kotter , Bangers and Mash , and The Jacksons: An American Dream .Lawrence's name, at least as shown in the credits of Welcome...
, and featuring a
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
made up primarily of 1960s
MotownMotown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
hits.
Cooley High is a 1975 American film based upon the
real high schoolCooley Vocational High School was a public vocational high school in Chicago, Illinois, which served grades 7 through 12. It was part of Chicago Public Schools. It was adjacent to the Cabrini–Green housing development. It was named after Chicago Public Schools Superintendent, Edwin G...
located on the near north side of Chicago produced and released by
American International PicturesAmerican International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
and written by
Eric MonteEric Monte is an American screenwriter who has written for and created notable shows depicting 1970s African American culture.-Early life and career:...
(co-creator of
Good TimesGood Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
). The film, set in 1964 Chicago, Illinois, stars
Glynn TurmanGlynn Russell Turman is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a writer, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson in the 1975 coming-of-age film Cooley High, math professor and retired Army colonel Bradford...
and
Lawrence Hilton-JacobsLawrence Hilton-Jacobs is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in a number of films and television programs, including Claudine , Cooley High , Roots , Welcome Back, Kotter , Bangers and Mash , and The Jacksons: An American Dream .Lawrence's name, at least as shown in the credits of Welcome...
, and featuring a
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
made up primarily of 1960s
MotownMotown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
hits.
The film is considered a classic of black cinema, and its soundtrack features a new Motown recording, G.C. Cameron's hit single "
It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" is an R&B song written by Motown husband-and-wife songwriting team Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian for the 1975 film Cooley High. In the film, the song is performed by Motown artist G.C. Cameron, whose rendition peaked at number 38 on the Billboard R&B...
". That song was
coveredIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
in 1991 by Motown act
Boyz II MenBoyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...
on the group's first LP, named
CooleyhighharmonyCooleyhighharmony is the 1991 debut album by Motown group Boyz II Men. Executive produced by Michael Bivins of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe, the album features the hit singles "Motownphilly" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday", a G.C...
in honor of this film.
Cooley High is frequently compared favorably to
American GraffitiAmerican Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
and
The Big ChillThe Big Chill is a 1983 American comedy-drama film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, starring Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. It is about a group of baby boomer college friends who reunite briefly after 15 years due to...
.
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
had planned a
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
adaptation of
Cooley High, but the pilot was poorly received, and
Fred SilvermanFred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
, the head of the network, asked the pilot's producers, TOY Productions, to redo the show as a sitcom with new characters (Raj, Rerun and the rest) and with a new title so as not to confuse it with Monte's "Cooley High." New writers were hired, cast changes made and a switch from one-camera film to three-camera delivered
What's Happening!!What's Happening!! is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. The show premiered as a summer series. With good ratings and reviews, and after the failure of several other shows on the network, What's Happening!! returned in November 1976 as a weekly...
to the network where it ran from 1976 to 1979. The show was then purchased by Columbia Pictures and ran in syndication for a number of years.
Monte based the film on his experiences from attending the real-life
Cooley Vocational High SchoolCooley Vocational High School was a public vocational high school in Chicago, Illinois, which served grades 7 through 12. It was part of Chicago Public Schools. It was adjacent to the Cabrini–Green housing development. It was named after Chicago Public Schools Superintendent, Edwin G...
(which is no longer standing) that served students from the Cabrini–Green
public housingPublic housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
projects in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. 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".
This movie ranked #23 on
Entertainment Weekly'sEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
Plot
The story explores the adventures and relationships of Leroy "Preach" Jackson and Richard "Cochise" Morris, two black
high schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
studentA student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s at Edwin G. Cooley High School whose carefree lives take a turn for the worse through several twists of fate.
Cast
- Glynn Turman
Glynn Russell Turman is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a writer, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson in the 1975 coming-of-age film Cooley High, math professor and retired Army colonel Bradford...
as Leroy "Preacher" Jackson
- Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in a number of films and television programs, including Claudine , Cooley High , Roots , Welcome Back, Kotter , Bangers and Mash , and The Jacksons: An American Dream .Lawrence's name, at least as shown in the credits of Welcome...
as Richard "Cochise" Morris
- Garrett Morris
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...
as Mr. Mason
- Cynthia Davis as Brenda
Release on DVD & HD
- In 2000 it was released on DVD.
- In 2010 it was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcasted on MGM HD
MGM HD is an all high-definition television channel. It features commercial-free movies from MGM's library of approximately 1,200 movies mastered in a high-definition-compatible format as well as feature films from their library of 4,100 theatrical titles...
.