Fiction shot in the style of cinema verité, The Cool World depicts one Harlem youth’s quest to own a gun in order to gain the respect of his peers. Madeline Anderson, who was the film’s assistant director and editor, has said, “It was an honest film. It wasn’t a romantic idea of who the young people were. . . . That’s how they were. Some of the young actors in the film were from gangs or were friends of gang members. I think Shirley tried to do a good job of telling the truth about what was going on at the time.”