The Choirboys (1977)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Christopher Knopf (writer)
Joseph Wambaugh (novel)

Release Date:

23 December 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Don't look for these guys in church.

Plot:

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. |

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Dominatrix | Police | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Cast

Charles Durning	...	Spermwhale Whalen
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	Calvin Motts
Perry King	...	Baxter Slate
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Francis Tanaguchi
Stephen Macht	...	Spencer Van Moot
Tim McIntire	...	Roscoe Rules
Randy Quaid	...	Dean Proust
Chuck Sacci	...	'Father' Sartino
Don Stroud	...	Sam Lyles
James Woods	...	Harold Bloomguard
Burt Young	...	Scuzzi
Susan Batson	...	Sabrina
Cheryl Smith	...	Tammy
Claire Brennen	...	Carolina Moon
Gene Chronopoulos	...	Card player

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1988) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1978) | Netherlands:16 (original rating) | West Germany:18 (f) | France:-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Norway:18

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Airone Productions

Quotes:

Roscoe Rules: [attempting reverse psychology on a female attempting to jump from a roof] Go ahead, Bitch. Jump!
[she jumps]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

I've Got a Crush on You

A good start to a terrible finish

This was a lame attempt at adapting a great book about a group of cops and the toll their work takes on their humanity. The true humor, pathos and irony that was in the book is missing on the screen. We see the antics described by Wambaugh in the book on the screen, but we don't know why these celluloid cops act the way they do. It could have been a simple matter of a narrator or voice overs by the characters to give some insight into the psyche of these characters. Instead, we are left with the juvenile antics of a group of drunken cops prone to sexual deviance and a disregard for the public, without the public knowing why. Watched it once, I won't waste my time to watch it again.