The Cool World (1963)

movie

(657)

Country: USA
Genres: Crime, Drama
Release: 1964-11-02
Director: Shirley Clarke
Writers: Shirley Clarke , Carl Lee , Warren Miller , Robert Rossen (1908–1966)
Language: English
Stars: Rony Clanton , Carl Lee , Yolanda Rodríguez , Clarence Williams III , Gary Bolling , Bostic Felton , Gloria Foster , John Marriott , Georgia Burke , Marilyn Cox
Runtime: 105 min
Awards: 1 win & 1 nomination
AKA: Die lässige Welt , クール・ワールド (Japan) , The Cool World , The Cool World (United States of America) , The Cool World (United Kingdom) , Harlem Story (France, French Republic) , Harlem (Portugal, Portuguese Republic)
Plot: Filmmaker Shirley Clarke ("The Connection") directs this powerful, stark semi-documentary look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society. There is no patronizing of the black race in this cinematic cry for justice. A fifteen-year-old boy called Duke is ambitious to buy a "piece" (a gun) from an adult racketeer named Priest, to become president of the gang to which he belongs, and to return them to active "bopping" (gang fighting) which has declined in Harlem. It is a clearly patent allegory of an attempt by Duke to attain manhood and identity in the only way accessible to him - the antisocial one.
IMDB:tt0056952