Editing The Cool World (film) (section)

== Release and reception ==
''The Cool World'' debuted September 2, 1963 at the [[Venice Film Festival]] with a running time of 125 minutes. It received a standing ovation and was nominated for the festival's [[Golden Lion]] award.<ref name=":1" /> Following its loss to the Italian film ''[[Hands over the City]]'' (1963), ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' reported that at least one Italian publication, ''[[Il Messaggero]]'', decried the judges’ decision.<ref name=":0" />

Early reviews were mixed. While ''Variety'' commended Clarke for her achievement and ''[[The New York Times]]'' gave a largely positive review, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' expressed disappointment, adding that African Americans were better qualified to make films about their people.<ref name=":0" />

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds positive reviews from the site's six designated top critics. [[Richard Brody]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' praised the film: "Clarke's images endow the characters' energies with a sculptural grandeur and embrace street life with a keenly attentive, unsentimental avidity." [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] also reviewed it positively: "It certainly had a visceral impact when it first appeared, helped enormously by Baird Bryant's cinematography and Dizzy Gillespie's score."

Currently, there is no home video release of the film. [[Frederick Wiseman]] owns the rights, and he is unwilling to release a home video version of ''The Cool World'' or to allow [[Milestone Films]] to release it among its Shirley Clarke series.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shirley Clarke|url=https://milestonefilms.com/collections/shirley-clarke|access-date=2022-01-11|website=Milestone Films|language=en}}</ref> [[Amy Taubin]] has, in response, called for a boycott of Wiseman's films.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Taubin|first=Amy|title=The Cool World|url=http://www.lightindustry.org/thecoolworld|access-date=2022-01-11|website=www.lightindustry.org}}</ref>