Review of Cooley High

"Cooley High" is one of my favorite movies EVER!!! I think I saw this movie years ago on late night TV with my mother when I was little and I thought it was so funny. This movie was also referred to as a "black American Graffiti". Glynn Turman is wonderful as Preach and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is great as Preach's friend Cochise. There are some other great characters in it as well, and this movie has a lot of humor packed into it. From the beginning of the movie where Cochise goes to Preach's home to get ready for school to the sad ending of Cochise's funeral, this movie is one that will get you laughing all the way. There are a lot of scenes in this film that I like a lot. The scene where Pooter (another one of Preach and Cochise's friends) go to the zoo with them and gets the gorilla's feces thrown on his shirt (very gross, but funny as well), the first scene in the street corner cafeteria, the quarter party at this girl's house which became a disaster due to a fight, and some others are wonderful to watch. This movie even has a wonderful companion soundtrack album, which is packed with a lot of wonderful Motown hits and artists from the early 60s (only 6 songs on the soundtrack were done in '75, while the rest were from the '60s). The movie is mainly about two friends who dream about getting away from their impoverished and rough neighborhood after high school, but their futures seem almost out of reach, due to their innocent joy ride in a stolen car that two other hoods were responsible for, and Preach's relationship with his girlfriend, Brenda (played by Cynthia Davis) almost gets put in jeopardy. Go out and rent or buy this movie, and be ready for a load of comical entertainment!!! Get the soundtrack, too. It is a lot of fun as well!!!