The Choirboys

1977 "Don't look for these guys in church."
5.6| 1h59m| R| en| More Info
Released: 23 December 1977 Released
Producted By: Lorimar Film Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A group of Los Angeles cops decide to take off some of the pressures of their jobs by engaging in various forms of after-hours debauchery.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Crime

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Director

Robert Aldrich

Production Companies

Lorimar Film Entertainment

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The Choirboys Audience Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
dale-51649 I wish they still made movies like this. By that I mean one that has some sympathy for the adult male of the species. This group of cops is varied in their attitudes , some bigoted, some liberal, some in the middle; just like civilians and real cops. The first part of the movie shows a lot of vice work and dated but funny comic routines, at a time when a single mother and a baby were not always inserted into every story. These cops go about arresting gays and prostitutes before laws and attitudes had changed. The film was made in 1977, and for those too young to have lived it I am sure there are many cringe inducing scenes. One important and anachronistic episode shows an S&M hooker being caught physically abusing one of the police officer friends. The cops friend handles the hooker roughly , mad that she hurt his friend, and warns her to get lost.If this film were made today, the hooker would be a single mother with a heart of gold, and the cop would be sneered at for being in this position to begin with. It was refreshing to see a movie with some sympathy for an adult male character, before the Hollywood mantra became "women can do whatever they want, men don't matter." Later in the film one of the cops with PTSD gets himself in trouble when he over reacts, and his friends try to cover for him. I have seen some younger viewers write that they were offended by the blue code of silence. I wonder if they would have been as offended if the perpetrator were a single mother and the victim was a man. I doubt it.
oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx Robert Aldrich is one of the greatest directors of all time, of the films I've seen he produced two stone-cold all-time classics, 'Kiss Me Deadly' and 'Ulzana's Raid', one of my favourite guilty pleasures 'The Dirty Dozen', as well as highly notable cult films such as The Killing of Sister George and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and I'm sure many others I haven't seen. He was a prolific director noted for being able to film to a high standard in different genres and styles, defying the auteur theory of current popularity. Quite how then he created such an incredibly offensive movie then is a matter to ponder over and only worth considering because of the director's fame.The film focuses on a group of puerile, violent, immoral patrol officers and their antics. Once a week they take over the local park for drunken hilarity, and shooting at ducks. Choir practice as they call it. It is hard to think of a more dislikeable bunch. We have uber-redneck Officer Roscoe Rules who enjoys beating up homosexuals; Officer 'Spermwhale' Whalen whose hobby is to continually question authority, undermine his department, and generally spread bad vibes; Officer 'Balls' Hadley, and his good lady, officer 'No Balls' Hadley, the continuous butt of sexual harassment and discrimination; Sergeant Scuzzi (played by Burt Young of Rocky fame) an unkempt unwashed slob from vice who everyone thinks is the precinct janitor; Officer Francis Tanaguchi, the squad's pet 'gook'. etc. These guys are more interested in playing pranks on their superiors and starting fights with 'greasers' than in protecting and serving.What is astonishing is that apparently the portrayal of this scurvy bunch is actually realistic of police behaviour of the time. Some people think that this redeems the movie, I would suggest however that the treatment of these officers is far too sympathetic. We are supposedly meant to rejoice at the end when all officers involved in the shooting of an innocent gay teenager receive slaps on the wrist. The treatment of homosexuals as simpering, lisping queens is incredibly offensive, particularly the gentleman in the park walking a pink poodle and savouring an encounter with 'a naked man tied to a tree'.Another reviewer claims that you can't expect much more off of a bunch of Vietnam vets with only high-school diplomas, my goodness have ideals sunk so low? I remember a scene in the film 'Electra Glide in Blue' when a Vietnam Vet who was a highway patrolman gave a 'perp' who was also a vet advice that he couldn't use his service record as an excuse to drop out and behave badly. There is much better moral authority from that movie. No-one needs an excuse for failure, and definitely the officers in this movie have none.I think the film promotes a stereotypical view of sadomasochism and vice in general, and because it is apologist and even sympathetic in it's approach to the immorality and more importantly extreme irresponsibility of the police officers, I would call it a truly Fascist movie.
Marco Trevisiol I first saw this film over a decade ago and recalling from what I saw of it to be an abysmally lame and foul film. I then decided to have a second look a couple of years ago to see whether my initial reaction was correct and, if anything, I was too kind to it.This is as bad a film as I've ever seen. It's not just because the film has gutter-level humour and is relentlessly crude. It's not just because it's technically inept and cheap, with 'outside' scenes obviously filmed on interior sets. And it's not just because a good cast and director is wasted on such a filthy, demeaning film.Above all, what makes this film so wretched is the inherent dishonesty of this film, that it's an 'anti-establishment' film in the style of MASH. The notion is totally absurd when the subject of the film is one of the central pillars of the establishment in society - the police force. This is why their 'rebellious' behaviour is mainly targeted at the oppressed like homosexuals.Genuinely 'anti-establishment' films of this era had the heroes attack the privileged, elitist echelons of the college scene (Animal House) or the armed forces (MASH). 'The Choirboys' is the direct opposite and a completely repellent 'establishment' film.
Theo Robertson On paper this should have been excellent . We have Robert Aldrich who made some very intelligent , cynical movies like ATTACK , THE DIRTY DOZEN , TOO LATE THE HERO and ULZANA'S RAID directing a novel by acclaimed author Joseph Wambaugh and featuring amongst others notable actors like Louis Gosset Jnr and James Woods before they became well known . But since it was made on celluloid and not on paper that doesn't appear to count for very much THE CHOIRBOYS is a mess . There's little plot to speak off and is so cluttered up with characters that it's impossible to understand where the screenplay is going and of the characters themselves they're very unlikable . Since the characters are amoral policeman I thought perhaps someone had the idea of making this as a precursor to HILL STREET BLUES and I guess somewhere along the line that's what the intention was , of an off beat black comedy but the writing , directing and acting is so heavy handed it's like watching a very bad adult version of POLICE ACADEMY with only the sequence of a man taking his pink poodle in the park coming close to raising a smile Did I start this review by asking what went wrong ? After seeing the movie in its entirety I feel I now have to ask did anything go right ?