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.
Dianne Oyama Dixon
- Carrier 1's wife
- (as Dianne O. Dixon)
Featured reviews
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.
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.
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.
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.
It seems like we're supposed to hate this one but I loved it, I'm sorry but there you go.
Maybe it was because it came out at the time when punk had just happened. To me the book & the movie were such a break from the usual stereotypical pro-authority nonsense we were being regularly served up at the time (and sadly we seem to have gotten back to these days).
Naturally the book was, by far, the better experience (a genuine 'laugh out loud' read to be highly recommended) but nevertheless I found both hilarious and a long overdue reality check on the forelock tugging blind belief in benevolent and always virtuous 'authority' (something which applies well outsides of the confines of any Police unit too).
I think it's a real pity we seem to have lost that very healthy irreverence & scepticism and are today saddled with way too much haughty hard-faced tedium and an expectation that we blindly trust authority figures.
Maybe it was because it came out at the time when punk had just happened. To me the book & the movie were such a break from the usual stereotypical pro-authority nonsense we were being regularly served up at the time (and sadly we seem to have gotten back to these days).
Naturally the book was, by far, the better experience (a genuine 'laugh out loud' read to be highly recommended) but nevertheless I found both hilarious and a long overdue reality check on the forelock tugging blind belief in benevolent and always virtuous 'authority' (something which applies well outsides of the confines of any Police unit too).
I think it's a real pity we seem to have lost that very healthy irreverence & scepticism and are today saddled with way too much haughty hard-faced tedium and an expectation that we blindly trust authority figures.
This is not a bad adaptation of Wambaughs book until the end. For some reason someone decided the movie needed an up-beat ending and blew the black ending of the book.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaAuthor 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.
- GoofsWhen 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]
- ConnectionsFeatured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
- SoundtracksI'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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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- 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
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,500,000 (estimated)
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