Cooley High

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Paul & Amy pour one out for 1975’s comic high school drama Cooley High! They learn how the film scored a soundtrack of wall-to-wall Motown hits, analyze the film’s take on teenage hijinks, and praise Michael Schultz as one of the great underrated directors. Plus: Glynn Turman (“Preach”) talks about the impact Cooley High had on his career.

This is the fifth episode of our “Back To School” miniseries; next week’s film is Fast Times At Ridgemont High! Learn more about the show at unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. Also check out our live Spool Party episodes on youtube.com/earwolf, and apply to be a guest on Screen Test at unspooledpod@gmail.com!

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I'm surprised how much I loved this movie! This feels like almost the most realistic teen movie we've seen yet, tbh.  

I did vote yes because of that, but also think the bar for this is impossibly high so probably shouldn't have jumped on the poll so fast. But yea, I was into it. 

[DirtydanSin 0]

CooleyHighHarmony is produced by Michael Bivins of Bell Biv Devoe, but is actually a BoyzIIMen album.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

14 minutes ago, DirtydanSin said:

CooleyHighHarmony is produced by Michael Bivins of Bell Biv Devoe, but is actually a BoyzIIMen album.

Classic Paul.

[FictionIsntReal 79]

This movie is too much like American Graffiti. No films of that ilk (including Last Picture Show) are worth sending into space.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

33 minutes ago, FictionIsntReal said:

This movie is too much like American Graffiti. No films of that ilk (including Last Picture Show) are worth sending into space.

I was actually a little annoyed at how much the hosts kept comparing it to American Graffiti and claiming it was so much better, when I thought it was (1) very similar structurally (the major differences are of setting and cultural milieu) and (2) not as well-made technically. It also seemed a bit odd to be baffled that critics at the time called it another version of Graffiti, chalking such descriptions up to centering white experience and general racism. I'm sure that happened too, but . . . American Graffiti came out two years before this movie! It was a big hit and most people were familiar with it. Of course those comparisons were going to happen.

I enjoyed this movie and thought the ending was unexpectedly poignant, but I also didn't quite find it worthy of the space capsule. As compared to other movies of its type (and of the time), Cooley High definitely has advantages in on-screen POC representation and social consciousness, but I'm not sure that's enough to make it clearly more worthy than the other movies you mentioned here.