Written by Eric Monte and directed by Michael Schultz, the film, primarily shot in Chicago, was a major hit at the box office, grossing over $13 million (USD).
[6] In a 40th-year retrospective by NPR in 2015, Cooley High was called a "classic of black cinema" and "a touchstone for filmmakers like John Singleton and Spike Lee.
[8][9] In 1964 Chicago, Leroy "Preach" Jackson and his best friend, Richard "Cochise" Morris, are in the final weeks of their senior year at Cooley Vocational High School in the Near North Side.
After catching the L train back to school, the gang goes to Martha's, a local soul food hangout, where Preach meets and falls in love with fellow classmate Brenda while shooting craps with neighborhood hoodlums Stone and Robert.
Meanwhile, Cochise gets into a fistfight with hotheaded classmate Damon after he catches him kissing his girlfriend, Loretta, and the fight accidentally trashes Dorothy's apartment and ultimately ends the party.
After Dorothy's party, the boys go to Martha's, at which point Stone and Robert pull up in a Cadillac Coupe de Ville and convince Preach and Cochise to get in with them.
The four end up speeding through downtown Chicago and get into a high-speed chase with police at a Navy Pier warehouse after Preach runs a red light.
The epilogue of the film reveals that Preach moved to Hollywood after graduation and became a successful screenwriter; Stone and Robert were killed in 1966 during a gas station holdup; Brenda became a librarian in Atlanta, got married, and had three children; Damon joined the Army and became a sergeant stationed in Europe; Pooter became a factory worker in Muncie, Indiana; and Tyrone was killed at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago during an outbreak of racial violence.
Monte based the film on his experiences attending the real-life Cooley Vocational High School (which closed in 1979) that served students from the Cabrini–Green public housing project on Chicago's north side.
[13] Screenwriter and producer Larry Karaszewski holds that the film is also one of the great movies about real friendship, with outstanding performances by the male leads.
[13] Boyz II Men named their debut album Cooleyhighharmony which featured a version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the Cooley High soundtrack.
[18] During this interview, screenwriter Eric Monte revealed that Cochise's untimely death in the film was inspired by a childhood friend of his who had been killed in a similar manner.
Just as Preach headed to Hollywood after the death of Cochise, Monte reveals that after his friend was murdered, he hitchhiked his way to the west coast where he began working for shows such as Good Times and The Jeffersons.
[20] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 and wrote that the opening 10 minutes "leave you with the impression that 'Cooley High' is going to be nothing more than a series of routine and unfunny gags.
"[21] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "a heartening comedy drama" with "a fine cast of young players" that were "well directed by Michael Schultz", adding that "you don't have to be black to enjoy it immensely.
"[22] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a landmark movie, one of the year's most important and heartening pictures, that shows what the black film can be when creative talents are given an opportunity free of the strong sex and violence requirements of the exploitation formulae.
"[24] Reviewing Cooley High for The Monthly Film Bulletin in 1977, Jonathan Rosenbaum said that "Michael Schultz's first feature can be viewed with hindsight as the promising debut of a very talented director, intermittently doing what he can with an uneven and somewhat routine script.