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Among the most classic movies of its era, Cooley High has a special place in people’s hearts. For that reason, DeVon Franklin, best known to most as Meagan Good’s husband, although he is a film executive, has decided to remake the film. Common, a native of Chicago where the movie is set, is also part of the creative team tasked with bringing Cooley High new life. Franklin, it should be noted, was part of the creative team that remade the 70’s movie Sparkle, also considered a Black movie classic.
Deadline.com reports:
Cooley High has been set for a remake at MGM with DeVon Franklin, Common and Tony Krantz partnering on the seminal 1975 coming-of-age drama. Seth Rosenfeld will write the script. Set in 1960s Chicago and focused on a group of high school pals with big dreams of getting out of the South Side, Cooley High fell in with a series of terrific coming-of-age films that included American Graffiti, The Lords Of Flatbush and The Wanderers.
Beyond that, the original became influential in African-American storytelling, in that it told a complex depiction of life as a black American and didn’t fit the blaxploitation mold of the time. The Michael Schultz-directed film cost $750,000 to make, and grossed more than $13 million. Lighthearted at times, Cooley High also addressed serious topics like gang violence, masculinity and sexism, and the value of education in the black community.
That made it fertile ground for Franklin, the former Sony exec who has focused on films with uplifting content; the Chicago-native Common (who with John Legend shared the Oscar for Best Song for Selma); and Krantz, whose father Steve Krantz produced the original film. They felt it a timely project in light of the racial unrest that has followed several high-profile shootings throughout the country.
Cooley High is a classic movie. Do you think it needs a remake or is this a mistake?
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