Cooley High *** (1975, Glynn Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Garrett Morris, Cynthia Davis) – Classic Movie Review 11,197

‘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!’

Director Michael Schultz’s funny and entertaining 1975 Happy Days-style film Cooley High is located in 1964 on the Near North Side of Chicago, where two African American urban high-school kid seniors, best friends Preach and Cochise (Glynn Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), just wanna have fun, but face a barrel-load of difficulties wherever they turn.

Credible characters and engaging performances help to get the episodic script over its gear changes from the comic to the dramatic, and this is an enduringly likeable and significant entertainment. Its soundtrack features many Motown hits.

It is written by Eric Monte, basing it on his experiences at the real-life Cooley Vocational High School (closed in 1979), and directed by Michael Schultz, the director of Car Wash. It was shot from October to November 1974 in Chicago. Though set in and around Cabrini–Green, it is mainly filmed at another Chicago-area housing project. Interior school scenes were shot at Chicago’s Providence St Mel High School.

Cooley High was a critical and commercial hit. Produced for only a $750,000 budget, it grossed $13 million at the US box office.

Michael Schultz was born on November 10, 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Also in the cast are Garrett Morris, Cynthia Davis, Corin Rogers, Maurice Leon Havis, Sherman Smith, Norman Gibson, Joseph Carter Wilson, Maurice Marshall, and Steven Williams.

Cooley High is directed by Michael Schultz, runs 105 minutes, is made by Cooley High Services Company and Steve Krantz Productions, is released by American International Pictures (AIP) (1975) (US) and Focus Film Distributors (1975) (UK), is written by Eric Monte, is shot by Paul von Brack, is produced by Steve Krantz and is scored by Freddie Perren.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,197

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com