Watching Cooley High for the first time over 40 years after it came out made me regret not seeing it back in the day. It's nothing short of outstanding with moments of comedy, pathos, drama, and stark tragedy. It's characters are quite real, in fact if you were to say they were stereotypes I would argue that a lot of stereotypes were taken from Cooley High. This film is the original mold.

It's a high school buddy picture based on the memories of Eric Monte who grew up in Chicago and lived in the projects where these kids grew up. Monte's character street name is Preach and is played by Glynn Turman. His best friend is Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs with the street names of Cochise. Hilton-Jacobs is better known for being Freddy 'Boom-Boom' Washington on Welcome Back Kotter.

These two are a mischievous pair who because of the neighborhood can't help but rub elbows with a lot worse both in and out of Cooley High. Both are giving teacher Garrett Morris a lot of premature gray hairs because Morris sees potential in both. But this film demonstrates there are a lot of pitfalls to be avoided.

Ironically Morris through going to bat for these kids as an act of kindness inadvertently sets up the final tragedy.

Both Preach and Cochise are as fully formed characters as you'll find in something like Eugene O'Neill. We see all there hopes and dreams and aspirations. And at least for me there is nothing sadder than dreams unfulfilled, songs not sung, bells not rung.

I am actually amazed that Cooley High did not get a speck of recognition from the Academy. That is an absolute shame and travesty.

The film which came out in 1975 and based on incidents and characters that writer Eric Monte knew from Chicago is as fresh as it was back in the day. What these kids might have done with home computers.

It's 1964 Chicago. Preach and Cochise are best friends in the black high school, Edwin G. Cooley. They with two other friends skip school to go to the zoo. In a different incident, Preach is throwing dice in a local diner. When he shows interest in Brenda, Cochise bets him a dollar to hook up with her. The two joins other guys in a joyride which gets them into trouble. Mr. Mason is a teacher trying to guide Preach.

This is a coming-of-age teen drama in black cinema. The performances are good with some future veteran actors. It's episodic in nature. There are some humorous moments. It needs to get into the joyride earlier in the first act so as to make it the central point in a three act movie. It's more like a series of incidents that forms the highs and lows of the two young men's friendship and a blossoming romance. This has a realism and the sense of place.

Some people may call "Cooley High" the same sort of thing as "American Graffiti", but I wouldn't. For starters, in "AG", everyone was white, whereas in "CH" they're all black. Moreover, this one has a Motown soundtrack. Specifically, the movie focuses on several working-class African-American students in 1964 Chicago and their antics. The movie deals mainly with home life and relationships. In their apartments, we see that there's never any dad around. But these young men always know how to live life to the fullest.

One thing that really distinguishes this movie from most other portrayals of black people is that the teenagers in this movie are portrayed as very responsible, worrying about missing school. Two really funny scenes are the gorilla scene, and the one white guy in the movie. But overall, the main star is the soundtrack. It is truly one of the best soundtracks in movie history (we even have it on vinyl here at home). A classic in the real sense of the word.