Past Film/Video | Classics

Cooley High

(Michael Schultz, 1975)

35MM Print

Info & Tickets

A group of four young men standing together

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Oct 18, 2021 4:00 PM

Film/Video Theater

Free for all audiences with ticket

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Set in Chicago’s Near North Side, Michael Schultz’s influential Cooley High follows a group of friends during their final weeks of high school in 1964.

A direct response to the Blaxploitation cycle of films in the early 1970s, Cooley High follows the tight-knit group as they try to squeeze the most out of those final days—hanging out, attending parties, going to the movies, and doing their best with girls. As Schultz recounts in Wil Haygood’s new book Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World, “what I thought about the script was that no one had seen real love on screen between Black kids. What I knew was, this was unique in terms of humor and tragedy and the strong bond between these Black boys. And if I could show these things—hijinks, heartbreak—then the movie could stick around for a long time.”

A profound influence on a generation of filmmakers that includes Spike Lee and John Singleton, Cooley High highlights Schultz’s skill as a director of actors including the likes of Glynn Turman (A Different World), Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Welcome Back, Kotter), and Garrett Morris (Saturday Night Live). Featuring a spectacular Motown soundtrack with hits by the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Martha and The Vandellas, and The Four Tops. (107 mins., 35mm)

See the complete Retrospective: Michael Schultz lineup.

"What I thought about the script was that no one had seen real love on screen between Black kids."

Michael Schultz

Cooley High, image courtesy of Park Circus

Two men, one in a suit and one in a letterman jacket with the letter C on the chest are walking together and smiling

Cooley High, image courtesy of Park Circus

Tag(s)

Film/Video

Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

Thank you to Larry and Donna James for their generous support of this event.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
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ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
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