Thread by @MidnoirCowboy

Today’s #OldSchool chat will be about “Cooley High,” one of the great #Chicago classic films that often gets drowned out by other flicks like “The Blues Brothers” or even “Adventures In Babysitting.”

Cooley was a break from the "blax" films that were popular at the time. An autobiographical piece by Chicago writer Eric Monte, he modeled the main character "Preach" after himself. CH was a real high school that served the kids of Cabrini-Green before it was demolished in 1980.

While much of the cast was made of up-and-coming actors like Glynn Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Garrett Morris, the producers hired a lot of residents as cast members, including Jackie Taylor, who later founded the Blk Ensemble Theater. Some of them were natural actors.

In a @tvonetv documentary on this film, director Michael Schultz said the backers didn't know how to market the film because it was the violent T&A extravaganza viewers were used to. They eventually settled on marketing it as the black "American Graffiti," but with an edge.

Getting back to its amateur actors, two standouts in the film were the characters "Stone" played by Rick Stone (right) and "Robert" played by Norman Gibson. They were real life best friends who had seen the rough side of life and brought realism to their roles as street toughs.

Sadly Gibson, was shot to death on a street corner during a robbery near Cabrini-Green two years after the film was made. His friend, Stone, became a stage actor who worked for years at the ensemble theater.
chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-19…

Here's another twist: That same TVOne documentary quoted Schultz as saying he's heard that the film's love interest, Brenda, played by the lovely Cynthia Davis, had died. But two years ago, a blogger claims to have tracked Davis down and interviewed her by written letter.

In that interview, Davis said she'd been offered a role since the film, but said she lived far away from the public eye after the film. You can read it here:
projectorhasbeendrinking.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-la…

The film did help jump the careers of several actors, Turman, Hilton-Jacobs on TV in "Welcome Back, Kotter," and Morris, who later joined "Saturday Night Live." It was also Robert Townsend's first film. Schultz went on to direct "Car Wash" and have a long directorial career.

The film, which had gritty parts, inspired "What's Happening," a milquetoast TV version that eschewed all of the movie's gritty parts, including its Chicago setting, and moved it to sunny LA. #FunFact: Rerun was going to be a white character before Fred Berry was hired.

This film was also a cautionary tale for Monte, an immensely talented writer who went to Hollywood and helped create black images on TV. But he arrived without an agent to help him retain ownership, or get proper credit for his ideas.
chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-20…

Wrapping up, there were many memorable scenes in Cooley, that have lasted into this generation. This was the first time I'd ever heard of pouring some liquor for fallen friends.

There was the great cleaver scene at Martha's, played brilliantly by resident Juanita McConnell.

And then there was the death of Cochise, which I can't find a clip for online. But I tell you, I bawl EVERY TIME I see Preach crying over his dead friend.

"Cooley High" shows a lot of the city and a side of life not seen on screen and deserves as much reverence as the other #Chicago movies. If you were alive in the 70s and haven't seen it, check it out. ✌️

Okay...one last photo of Preach and Cochise. They were a great pairing. #CooleyHigh

Also, shoutout to @1StevenWilliams, who played cool Jimmy Lee (no relation) in Cooley High and the pissed off Illinois state trooper The Blues Brothers. He also started in season one of "The Chi."