Rating: 
Summary: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: I recall watching this movie at my 7th. grade English teacher's home when it debuted because she was one of the very few people who had cable TV at this time. This movie along with Cornbread Earl and Me hold a deep connection with me as I can still recall the music and general style of the late 60's and early 70's. The main characters were/are so easy for me to relate to that I always have the same touching reaction whenever I think about their story. I almost feel like I knew Preach and Cochise because their characters are so authentic. I played this DVD for a group of my contemporary friends and I saw tears in the eyes of the men as well as the women. Although the audio on the DVD is very poor, Cooley High is at the top of my DVD collection. The ending alone makes this movie a pure classic.
Rating:
Summary: Just a great make you think story
Review: I saw this maybe 20 years ago. And it still rings true today. A story about life as it was and is today. I rank this up there as one of the best movies I have ever seen. Street life, making mistake and having to deal with it, But most of all it's a story about friends and being there. I just love the part when the boys are sad because one homie is dead. they pour out a little of what ther drinking saying " For the brothers who aint here" What a classic. This is a must see!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Cooley High still Cool
Review: I watched this movie as a kid and didn't really understand it. Now as an adult, I watched this movie and fully understand why this movie was so cool to my mother's generation. This movie showed how life was for African-American teenagers, growing up in this era. Most kids didn't really have dreams while a very few of them did. This movie taught me not to listen to my peers and to follow my dreams to wherever they lead me.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC
Review: I wish the studio would release this video once again. I love the music. It is a real blast from the past.
Rating:
Summary: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: I worked my way backwards in time to this movie, so my reaction may be different than that of reviewers who saw Cooley High when it was released in 1975. I had never even heard of the movie until I learned that the TV show What's Happening?? was inspired in part by it. Cooley High turned out to be a much different movie than I was expecting. This isn't just three young guys hanging around having fun, this is a gritty, honest, realistic look at the experiences of a group of poor African-American teenagers living on the other side of the tracks in 1964 Chicago. The two main characters are Preacher, played by Glynn Turman, and Cochise, played by Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs. In case you have the same questions I had, let me go ahead and give you the answers: Yes, Glynn Turman went on to play Colonel Taylor on A Different World, and yes, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs played Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington on Welcome Back, Kotter. Preach is a smart young man who wants to become a screenwriter in Hollywood, and Cochise is a star athlete with a recently-acquired scholarship to Grambling. The two of them are also, to be frank, juvenile delinquents who engage in all sorts of petty crimes, use drugs and alcohol, and hang out with the wrong crowd (albeit that is pretty much the only crowd there is in the neighborhood as it is presented here). I tried to force the image of Raj from What's Happening?? onto Preach in the beginning, but it does not fit at all. Preach is smart, reads and writes poetry, studies history for fun, and even has a younger sister named Dee, but he is no Raj; he hardly ever goes to class and seems determined to flunk out of high school. Cochise is also no fan of school or studying, and he's basically coasting his way through high school, scholarship offer already in hand. I tried to like these guys, and deep down I did like them, but mostly I just wanted someone to sit them down and have a serious pow-wow with them; Preach's history teacher, played by Garrett Morris, tries but gets nowhere with his most promising yet most disappointing student. There is a lot of comedy in this film, and the guys can really be funny at times, but their dark sides began to emerge more and more as the movie went along. The thing I had the most trouble with was the way they treated the young women in their lives. In the end, I'm afraid I just don't understand these characters - of course, my own life experience includes nothing that gives me any real connection or insight into the life of an African-American young man growing up in a Chicago ghetto during the final years of segregation. My only real complaint with this film centers on a certain piece of dialogue; Preacher not only says something incredibly stupid, he says it for no apparent reason whatsoever. A real strength of the film is the music, as Cooley High features some of the best of Motown, with the music of both the opening and closing scenes of the film serving an important purpose in relation to the story. The conclusion of this film comes as quite a surprise, especially given the fact that it follows rather quickly upon the heels of one of the film's funnier scenes. It's tragic yet somehow life-affirming and inspirational at the same time, making this a movie one will not soon forget.
Rating: 
Summary: A coming-of-age film unlike any other I've seen
Review: I worked my way backwards in time to this movie, so my reaction may be different than that of reviewers who saw Cooley High when it was released in 1975. I had never even heard of the movie until I learned that the TV show What's Happening?? was inspired in part by it. Cooley High turned out to be a much different movie than I was expecting. This isn't just three young guys hanging around having fun, this is a gritty, honest, realistic look at the experiences of a group of poor African-American teenagers living on the other side of the tracks in 1964 Chicago. The two main characters are Preacher, played by Glynn Turman, and Cochise, played by Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs. In case you have the same questions I had, let me go ahead and give you the answers: Yes, Glynn Turman went on to play Colonel Taylor on A Different World, and yes, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs played Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington on Welcome Back, Kotter. Preach is a smart young man who wants to become a screenwriter in Hollywood, and Cochise is a star athlete with a recently-acquired scholarship to Grambling. The two of them are also, to be frank, juvenile delinquents who engage in all sorts of petty crimes, use drugs and alcohol, and hang out with the wrong crowd (albeit that is pretty much the only crowd there is in the neighborhood as it is presented here). I tried to force the image of Raj from What's Happening?? onto Preach in the beginning, but it does not fit at all. Preach is smart, reads and writes poetry, studies history for fun, and even has a younger sister named Dee, but he is no Raj; he hardly ever goes to class and seems determined to flunk out of high school. Cochise is also no fan of school or studying, and he's basically coasting his way through high school, scholarship offer already in hand. I tried to like these guys, and deep down I did like them, but mostly I just wanted someone to sit them down and have a serious pow-wow with them; Preach's history teacher, played by Garrett Morris, tries but gets nowhere with his most promising yet most disappointing student. There is a lot of comedy in this film, and the guys can really be funny at times, but their dark sides began to emerge more and more as the movie went along. The thing I had the most trouble with was the way they treated the young women in their lives. In the end, I'm afraid I just don't understand these characters - of course, my own life experience includes nothing that gives me any real connection or insight into the life of an African-American young man growing up in a Chicago ghetto during the final years of segregation. My only real complaint with this film centers on a certain piece of dialogue; Preacher not only says something incredibly stupid, he says it for no apparent reason whatsoever. A real strength of the film is the music, as Cooley High features some of the best of Motown, with the music of both the opening and closing scenes of the film serving an important purpose in relation to the story. The conclusion of this film comes as quite a surprise, especially given the fact that it follows rather quickly upon the heels of one of the film's funnier scenes. It's tragic yet somehow life-affirming and inspirational at the same time, making this a movie one will not soon forget.
Rating:
Summary: Sentimental Favorite; One of my all-time favorites
Review: Never has a movie made me laugh so hard, as well as providing me with feelings of nostalgia and heartwarming sentiment. COOLEY HIGH (1975) features laugh-out-loud moments by the dozen, as well as containing many moments of reflective, poignant beauty. The story here takes place in Chicago, 1964, and revolves around a poet named Preach (played by Glynn Turman), basketball player Cochise (played by Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs), their other buddies, and what goes on in the day-to-day lives of these teens in urban life. We witness the boys frequently cutting class, stealing food, hopping buses and trains, chasing after girls, shooting dice, getting into fights, and all other sorts of typical teen shenanigans. The aforementioned outline may sound a bit redundant for a film (or maybe it could be due to the poor description I've given), but the aforementioned aspects are integrated into a unified whole, and in a compelling way. So, in the end, things work very nicely. If there's one fault I can think of (though it doesn't bother me, but may bother others), is that the storyline moves a bit fast, and many may wish that some of the scenes (or certain aspects of the film) would have been fleshed out more. Amidst all of the wildness, Preach meets a lovely girl named Brenda (played by Cynthia Davis), and develops a relationship with her. This is one of the few aspects of the film to soften up what otherwise may have been just a brash comedy. While Preach, Cochise and the boys all took lighthearted pleasure in lying, cheating and stealing -- it all seemed to catch up with them in the end, as a result of one wild ride in a stolen car. And later, a simple misunderstanding leads up to the tragic finale. Before I close this review, I'm going to list a few of my favorite funny scenes: (1). Preach and gang visit the zoo after cutting class. One of the guys decides to defend - and get friendly with - a Gorilla, after the rest of the gang were teasing it. What happens next is pretty foul, so I won't mention it here, but let's just say it had me laughing like a maniac. (2). Broke and unable to afford money for the boys to see a movie, Preach and Cochise decide to pretend to be undercover policemen, and hassle two female prostitutes - making them believe they're going to be arrested. The ladies beg to be let off the hook, but Cochise decides to take a bribe - for money, of course. COOLEY HIGH is a fantastic film. It could provide many with dozens of belly-laughs, as well as a tear or two. It's a beautiful portrait of life (the ups and downs of it), love and friendship. Viewers in their middle ages will find this film to bring back fond memories of their youth. It can also make some viewers come to the realization that certain qualities in this film are sorely lacking in the vast majority of today's cinema. Features actor Garret Morris, and excellent backing music by classic R&B artists like The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Diana Ross & The Supremes and countless others.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: People tend to have short memories. Cooley High, while an interesting film about the urban black experience seems to be dwarfed by newer black films. Not only this, but the film Boyz in the Hood is a direct rip off of this film. The plotlines are very similar, with the protagonist who is about to make it out of the ghetto eventually struck down in their prime. Anyone who sees this and Boyz in the Hood will realize that John Singleton is a sham and that his "breakthrough" work, Boyz in the Hood, was actually a remake of Cooley High.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging Look at 60's Black Youth of Chicago...
Review: Some reflections on the movie... What makes the film succeed is the believability of its fine young actors. The subject matter is at times funny, other times gritty and sad and the film contains a surprising amount of sexual and strong language content for a mid-70's movie (especially given the audience this is aimed at), which may be offensive - be forewarned. In other words, this is not a sanitized episode of TV's "What's Happenin?". Rather, it contains some heavy social observations - including sex, drug use, violence, and honest depictions of youth crime - all the while disguised as a comedy, so as not to come off preachy or overly heavy. Laurence-Hilton Jacobs is so good and charismatic, it's a wonder he didn't have a longer career after his Welcome Back Kotter days. Many have called this a black knock-off of American Grafitti, but it really stands on its own merits. The soundtrack provides a rich Motown back drop which helps reinforce the period setting and makes the film enjoyable. What may be most remarkable to today's viewer is the attire and behavior of the generation of black inner city youth this film depicts, which seems so comparatively tame. When contrasted with the dark side of black urban and "gangsta" culture of today, the film is really amazing to behold. Unlike other reviewers here, I can't claim a real fondness for the film so I wouldn't recommend purchasing it unless you can't find a rental copy at your local blockbuster, but it is a quality film that you may want to make a point of seeing. DVD Rating: Very good transfer - image and sound quality should not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: unbelievable
Review: this film is one of my all-time faves.the story is so touching but yet very true.and unlike today you don't have to spend 100 million to make a classic film.if you have the right script and feeling it will come back ten fold.this movie means the world to me.and it's influence is still strong.it's a shame lawrence hillton jacobs never got the love he deserved.everybody in this film did it justice and a half.
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