Episode 394: COOLEY HIGH (1975)

With COOLEY HIGH, screenwriter Eric Monte and director Michael Schultz put the experiences that defined their youth on the screen. Preach (Glynn Turman) and Cochise (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) are fast friends and comrades in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects. Like Monte and Schultz, they spend their days rabble-rousing, chasing girls, losing friends to senseless violence, and the unfairness and inequality that defined the African-American experience in the 1960s. Beyond its box office success, COOLEY HIGH inspired a generation of artists to share stories that balanced compelling drama with the real issues facing black Americans for decades to come. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota: https://mn50501.org/donate Support Minnesotans defending their communities from ICE: https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ @sanctuarysupplydepot: Mutual aid group in Mpls getting basic necessities to our houseless neighbors https://linktr.ee/sanctuarysupplydepot @mplsmutualaid: Clearinghouse of mutual aid for our neighbors: https://linktr.ee/mplsmutualaid ISAIAH, an interfaith group fighting for racial and economic justice in MN: https://secure.everyaction.com/G8TCnxFlE0qd9zlUEYjjeg2 Show love to North Minneapolis families in crisis: https://www.gofundme.com/f/show-love-to-north-minneapolis-families-in-crisis References: “Cooley High Harmonies” by Matthew Tchepikova-Treon for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2026/07/26/cooley-high-harmonies/ “‘Cooley High’: Surprises on Set” (The Oscars): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzihAntUVY “One Spark Of Joy In Cooley High Character’s Life Snuffed By Bullets” (Jet, Oct. 21, 1976): https://books.google.com/books?id=9UIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=cooley+high&pg=PA28#v=onepage&q=cooley%20high&f=false Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets at https://www.trylon.org/ Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog, at https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/ #LawrenceHilton-Jacobs #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" written by Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian and performed by G.C. Cameron from the COOLEY HIGH soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 394: COOLEY HIGH (1975) 3:15 - Whadja Watch This Week? 26:19 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 28:15 - The 'hangout movie'/'issues movie' dichotomy 53:44 - The ‘authentic’ filming style 57:23 - Mr. Mason 1:08:16 - Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects 1:14:28 - Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Cochise 1:17:22 - Costuming 1:20:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:28:45 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1975 1:30:02 - Cody’s Noteys: The Movie Draft: — Criterion Collection