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Bande de flics !

Original title: The Choirboys
  • 1977
  • 16
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
5.6/10
2K
YOUR RATING
Bande de flics ! (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.
Play trailer1:32
1 Video
37 Photos
ComedyCrimeDrama

A group of maladjusted, highly unprofessional Los Angeles cops frequently engage in various forms of illegal and unethical activities on and off duty.A group of maladjusted, highly unprofessional Los Angeles cops frequently engage in various forms of illegal and unethical activities on and off duty.A group of maladjusted, highly unprofessional Los Angeles cops frequently engage in various forms of illegal and unethical activities on and off duty.

  • Director
    • Robert Aldrich
  • Writers
    • Joseph Wambaugh
    • Christopher Knopf
  • Stars
    • Charles Durning
    • Louis Gossett Jr.
    • Perry King
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.6/10
    2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Robert Aldrich
    • Writers
      • Joseph Wambaugh
      • Christopher Knopf
    • Stars
      • Charles Durning
      • Louis Gossett Jr.
      • Perry King
    • 34User reviews
    • 35Critic reviews
    • 21Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:32
    Trailer

    Photos37

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    Top cast54

    Edit
    Charles Durning
    Charles Durning
    • Spermwhale Whalen
    Louis Gossett Jr.
    Louis Gossett Jr.
    • Calvin Motts
    Perry King
    Perry King
    • Baxter Slate
    Clyde Kusatsu
    Clyde Kusatsu
    • Francis Tanaguchi
    Stephen Macht
    Stephen Macht
    • Spencer Van Moot
    Tim McIntire
    Tim McIntire
    • Roscoe Rules
    Randy Quaid
    Randy Quaid
    • Dean Proust
    Chuck Sacci
    Chuck Sacci
    • 'Father' Sartino
    Don Stroud
    Don Stroud
    • Sam Lyles
    James Woods
    James Woods
    • Harold Bloomguard
    Burt Young
    Burt Young
    • Scuzzi
    Susan Batson
    Susan Batson
    • Sabrina
    Cheryl Smith
    Cheryl Smith
    • Tammy
    Claire Brennen
    • Carolina Moon
    Gene Chronopoulos
    • Card Player
    Dianne Oyama Dixon
    • Carrier 1's wife
    • (as Dianne O. Dixon)
    Loni Kaye Harkless
    • Secretary
    Louise Lorimer
    Louise Lorimer
    • Fox
    • Director
      • Robert Aldrich
    • Writers
      • Joseph Wambaugh
      • Christopher Knopf
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews34

    5.62K
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    Featured reviews

    kidZee

    Just one of several reasons...

    ...that truly excellent novels shouldn't be made into movies. Actually, Joseph Wambaugh (the author of _The Choirboys_ had several bad experiences with Hollywood directors mangling his work (The New Centurion, The Blue Knight), to the extent that he blasted the film biz in his scathing _Glitter Dome_.

    In defense of director Robert Aldrich, Wambaugh's humor must be nearly impossible to convey through acting, but by the same token, it doesn't even appear that a good effort was made in this film, which seems to attempt to capitalize on a few lurid episodes of the novel that, when woven into the overall story, do much to characterize rarely-seen sides of police life, but when portrayed sheerly for shock value, kick this film squarely into "B" movie territory. It's a shame, since some decent acting performances (such as Louis Gossett Jr's) are evident, but they founder in this effort.

    Overall: instead of renting the movie, buy the paperback. Infinitely more entertaining.
    dale-51649

    Group of cops get their loyalty tested by the system and a serious incident.

    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.
    6bkoganbing

    This ain't Dragnet

    I like to think that The Choirboys is Joseph Wambaugh's way of showing the police at play. His novel The New Centurions showed police at work. In both cases they work hard they play hard as well and sometimes combine both.

    For those who grew up as I did with Dragnet as the way we thought of police The Choirboys couldn't be father from Jack Webb's straight laced view of cops than Mercury is to Pluto. This film follows a group of cops who can't share a bond with any other than themselves.

    It's a fraternity no doubt and these guys carry on like frat boys. Oddly enough if you remember Goodfellas Lorraine Bracco observed that the Henry Hills never hung out with anyone other than other criminals and their significant others.

    So much so that the group of them all hang out with Tim McIntire who none of them can stand. He's a pretty loathsome character, a racist redneck and a bully, still he's one of the guys.

    Two of them come to a bad end for differing reasons, all of them are in a jackpot where Chief Robert Webber is looking to nail The Choirboys to the wall. The oldest of them saves them, but you'll have to see how.

    The oldest of them is Charles Durning who at 53 is still on street patrol. He's basically a non-conforming guy who more than likely screwed up big time when he was young and now just doesn't give a crap. He'd like to just coast out for his 20 years and he's months away.

    The Choirboys is something I'm surprised a police officer as Joseph Wambaugh was would write. I look at like Jim Bouton's book Ball Four and that less than reverent book of the New York Yankees in his stay there. This is kind of the stuff you definitely leave in the clubhouse.

    This review is dedicated to my nephew Colin James Kogan who is a member of the NYPD going now on his third year. I told him that whatever it takes get off the street as soon as you can and never be Charles Durning when he reaches middle age.
    5yaornw

    Good but could have been better

    There's a saying that the best comedy comes from true life and there certainly is true life on display here but the problem is Altman. Just as the TV show MASH was superior to the movie, in this case the black comedy is there-and there are a few laughs but not nearly enough-because Altman doesn't know how to handle this material. What does capture is the dark humor that the cops use to survive end it captures some of the nature of what cops experience. The problem is I think it takes to too far. There's an incredible cast here though with some familiar faces who weren't notice the time but became quite famous later. For that alone it's interesting especially coming three years before Hill Street Blues a much better realistic portrayal of cops. I don't think this movie deserves all the ire of the reviews but I do think there are better adaptations Wambaugh.
    8digitalzen-1

    Pretty close to the real thing...I know

    I was a cop with about 10 years on the street when I read Wambaugh's book, and figured the movie would be terrible. I thought Altman and his crew caught both the flavor of the book and of life on the mean streets of LA dead on.

    Maybe you had to have been there. I was a great Hill Street fan (still am), but it was sanitized for TV, and much less like the real thing because of needing to maintain a plot line. Life ain't like that, and neither was The Choir Boys.

    Cop humor is hard to fathom for outsiders. Cops are, in fact, a minority group anthropologically, meeting all the same criteria. Life out there doesn't go from A to B to C. It's chaotic. So was the movie, a little. Good job of catching the feeling.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Author Joseph Wambaugh disowned, disavowed, and de-credited himself from this adaptation of his book "The Choirboys". Wambaugh was so incensed with this adaptation of his book, considering it to be such a poor adaption, that he sued the production, and was successful in having his name removed from the film's credits.
    • Goofs
      When Sgt. Yanov reads roll call at the beginning of the movie, he calls out 16 names, but there are 26 men in the room.
    • Quotes

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

      [she jumps]

    • Connections
      Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
    • 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]

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    FAQ15

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 8, 1978 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Vietnamese
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • The Choirboys
    • Filming locations
      • Highland Park Police Station - 6045 York Blvd., Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, USA(Interior and exterior. As the police station.)
    • Production companies
      • Lorimar Productions
      • Airone Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $6,500,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 59m(119 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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