Cromartie High The Movie THEMOVIE , Sakigake Kuromati Kk The Movie? is a 2005 Japanese liveaction film directed by Ydai Yamaguchi who had previously made Battlefield Baseball and starring Takamasa Suga. The film is based on the manga Cromartie High School by Eiji Nonaka which had also been previously adapted as an anime series.
Director Yamaguchi has said that the author of the original manga, Eiji Nonaka told him to Do whatever you want when he learned that a film was to be made of the manga. Yamaguchi took him at his word and did not read the manga or look at the anime version before directing his film. Because of the episodic nature of the original manga, the screenplay took a year and a half to write.The name of Cromartie High School was taken from the American baseball player Warren Cromartie who was a star player in Japan for a number of years. Cromartie was unhappy that his name was being used for a school of thugs and delinquents and in 2005 filed an injunction to delay the screening of the movie. The films director Yamaguchi was able to reach a compromise with Cromartie to allow screening of the film as long as a disclaimer was added that no real person was involved. Cromartie said he still intended bringing a civil suit. ........
Source: Wikipedia