I have to say this film got 3 stars (me) and 5 stars (the wife) in my house. This is NOT a plot driven movie - let's just follow the highlights of what happen to some kids from the projects in Chicago for a few days and show you what happens - that's the gist of the film. The insight to the daily life in the projects was GREAT. The acting outside a few of the leads, was a bit bad, tbh, but can be forgiven as of the period it was made. It felt like getting to be a fly on the wall a see what went on for these kids - which was pretty powerful. But as a film, I was bored a little too much. That said, this type of story/narrative is something my wife loves, and she LOVED this film. So if you need a plot, or things to happen - this might be worth it because of the connection to folks in this walk of life - just be aware of what kind of movie it is. If you like movies that don't have a plot that "goes somewhere" and just tells the story of a short period in some people's lives, then you likely will love this movie. It was a great script by Eric Monte drawing from his experience growing up in Cabrini Green in Chicago - the characters were incredibly well developed. Few of them were simply degenerates, or simply innocent victims of their circumstances. So there is a lot to like here.

The 60s and 70s saw great strides in both civil rights and in black arts. Although it's easy to dismiss film and pop culture as mere entertainment, I don't think you can underestimate the importance of seeing more black faces in movies, even if a lot of these movies were dismissed as "blaxploitation," a term actually coined by the NAACP. "Cooley High" is a somewhat overlooked coming of age film set in Chicago and is a nice contrast to more violent, gritty black films of the era like "Foxy Brown" and "Superfly."