The Choirboys (1977)

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.

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Joseph Wambaugh (novel), Christopher Knopf (screenplay)

Stars:

Charles Durning, Louis Gossett Jr., Perry King

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

A disparate group of Metro Los Angeles police officers - the rank and file - bond over their commonality of being brothers in blue despite their differences. The other thing they all seem to need is a venue to blow off some steam together, what they collectively call "choir practice": after hours piss ups, usually in public, where they again can relieve the pressures of the work day. Despite their brotherhood, not all their lives they feel they can share with each other in the overwhelming sense of what it means to be a real man in this environment. A few weeks in their lives and a few choir practices later are shown, when three of the younger officers, Baxter, Lyles and Bloomguard - the latter two who served together in Vietnam - are temporarily assigned to night duty in Vice under the leadership of Sgt. Scuzzi, who they always assumed was the janitor; as young Proust tries to mitigate the negative effects of his unabashedly blowhard, redneck and bigoted partner, Roscoe out on the ...

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Plot Keywords:

pantyhose | black pantyhose | female stockinged legs | police station | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

Contains Stuff You Won't See on TV

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Vietnamese Spanish

Release Date:

23 December 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Chorknaben

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lorimar Productions, Airone Productions, Airone Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Several names of characters were changed from the novel: Sam Niles to Sam Lyles (Don Stroud), Calvin Potts to Calvin Motts (Louis Gossett Jr.), Father Willie Wright to Father Sartino (Chuck Sacci), and Dean Pratt became Dean Proust (Randy Quaid).

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Goofs

When Sgt. Yanov reads roll call at the beginning of the movie, he calls out 16 names, but their are 26 men in the room.

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Quotes

Harold Bloomguard: Greetings and Hallucinations, Sergeant Yanoff.

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Connections

Featured in A Life in Film (2007)

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Soundtracks

I've Got a Crush on You
Music by George Gershwin
Lyric by Ira Gershwin
Performed by Vic Tayback
Published by New World/Harms
[Zoony sings the song in the public men's room]

User Reviews

To each his own

Once again I am forced to defend a decent movie. I saw this movie when it came out, I was in college. I thought it was very funny and was a blend of comedy and drama that was above most of the other fair at that time. I saw it again recently and while it had perhaps lost a little of its luster I thought it was still pretty funny. Of course, if you don't like anyone saying politically incorrect things (even if that person is presented as a total moron) then you might be too "delicate" to appreciate the humor.

Tim McIntyre was hilarious as Roscoe Rules and there was a young Randy Quaid, and James Woods as well. Charles Durning is effective in this film and far from hating the ending, I thought it was not "Upbeat" but rather merely stopped the movie from being a total downer.