Cooley High

Name: Cooley High
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: June 25, 1975
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 72
Cast: Corin Rogers, Cynthia Davis, Garrett Morris, Glynn Turman, Joseph Carter Wilson

1975

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Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

American International Pictures (AIP) | Release Date: June 25, 1975 | PG

Starring: Corin Rogers, Cynthia Davis, Garrett Morris, Glynn Turman, Joseph Carter Wilson, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, Maurice Leon Havis, Maurice Marshall, Norman Gibson, Sherman Smith

Summary: In 1964, a group of high school friends who live on the Near North Side of Chicago enjoy life to the fullest...parties, hanging out, meeting new friends. Then life changes for two of the guys when they meet a pair of career criminals and get falsely arrested in connection with stealing a Cadillac. We follow their lives through the end ofIn 1964, a group of high school friends who live on the Near North Side of Chicago enjoy life to the fullest...parties, hanging out, meeting new friends. Then life changes for two of the guys when they meet a pair of career criminals and get falsely arrested in connection with stealing a Cadillac. We follow their lives through the end of high school and the dramatic end to their school year.… Expand

Director: Michael Schultz

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: PG

Runtime: 107 min

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Critic Reviews

A.A. Dowd

With its sprawling cast of characters, digressive plot, and hit soundtrack (in this case, a boisterous Motown primer), Cooley High has been compared to another last-days-of-youth movie that came out just two years earlier, American Graffiti. Both films inevitably lace their fun with melancholy, chasing a long, wild coming-of-age bacchanal with the impending hangover of adult life. Difference is, Cooley High’s eulogy for childhood turns out to be much more sadly literal. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Cooley High is pitched as a black American Graffiti, and the description is apt. Furthermore, you don't have to be black to enjoy it immensely. The Steve Krantz production is a heartening comedy-drama about urban Chicago high school youths, written by Eric Monte. Read full review

Craig J. Clark

It’s tempting to characterize Cooley High as the inner-city answer to American Graffiti—trading out Modesto’s hot rods for Chicago’s elevated trains—but there’s a specificity to screenwriter (and Good Times co-creator) Eric Monte’s memories of growing up on the Near North Side in the early 1960s that transcends mere imitation. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

It has heart and warmth in the American Graffiti vein, with everything carried out top-notch in a sociological study of black youths. Read full review

Josh Larsen

Cooley High has the same youth-movie energy that defines some of the genre’s greats: American Graffiti, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. All of these films run on the mischievous, unfounded optimism that characterizes our teenage years. They make you nostalgic for naivete. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Uneven but generally funny. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Streets ahead of the average blaxploitation effort, yet is still something of a disappointment. Partly the fault lies with the script, and partly with a certain commercial gloss; one or two of the characters nevertheless do come over with some distinctiveness, thanks to OK performances. Read full review

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Gamzguy17

Aug 21, 2021

There are plenty of times when Michael Schultz's 1975 film, "Cooley High", feels like a genuine Blaxploitation version of George Lucas' 1973 film, "American Graffiti". It has the music, the acting, the setting, and has a lot of effort put into it for being a much lower fidelity film thanThere are plenty of times when Michael Schultz's 1975 film, "Cooley High", feels like a genuine Blaxploitation version of George Lucas' 1973 film, "American Graffiti". It has the music, the acting, the setting, and has a lot of effort put into it for being a much lower fidelity film than "Graffiti". Unfortunately, its sloppy plot delivery and pacing keep it from reaching great heights.… Expand

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