Cooley High

"Man I just ain't come up with the right lie yet, that's all!" I have to be truthful before I really start to say anything more, this kind of film is right up my alley. I love this kind of thing so much, there's so much culture and influence that is born and spread from films like this. I loved the movie, I loved how honest it was, and I'm glad I'm just now seeing it for the first time. This movie is a really fantastic portrayal of what life in Chicago can be like, and it doesn't get much more Chicago than Cabrini-Green. In that respect, this movie parallels Hoop Dreams in quite a few ways, and Hoop Dreams is one of my top 5 favorite films of all time. In contrast to Hoop Dreams, Cochise (which became a much more popular nickname after this movie) is not the star of the film despite being the talented basketball player who girls gravitate towards. Preach is bestowed that honor, and I can't imagine it a different way. Preach is a character that I feel so many emotions toward, so many different emotions from different places in my brain and my heart. Part of me feels for the kid, because I know how lost he is mentally. I know that life is moving at a pace that he can't possibly match in his head, and any wrongdoing he does isn't out of some sort of malice in his heart. However, you also can't not feel some kind of anger towards him for the way he goes about life and the trail of hurt and pain that follows in his wake. All of this, compounded by the environment is so interesting to watch unfold, and if you know Chicago, you know none of how this movie unfolds is a stretch of the imagination. I have to get the Criterion version of this film on Blu-Ray, I need to see it in higher resolution with better audio. This is a classic for me and something I will now recommend to anybody who wants to watch a movie that deals with the humanity of us in pure form. I hope those involved know the influence they had.