The Cool World (15*)

One hot Harlem summer, teenager Duke pesters a local mobster to sell him a gun that will win him renown as a “cool killer” and allow him to take over the gang, The Royal Pythons, to which he belongs.

Adapted from a contemporary novel, this is fiction with a flavour of real life, loose and freeform-feeling, shot on location with a cast of local non-professionals and partially improvised performances. Its heady, un-Hollywood blend of improvisation and stunning verité-style black-and-white street photography is perfectly complemented by Dizzie Gillespie’s bebop score.

Director Shirley Clarke was a central figure in the burgeoning American independent filmmaking scene of 50s and 60s New York, and this film is a landmark, recently preserved by the Library of Congress on the 35mm print shown here.