The Choirboys

No Aldrich film was received as negatively as The CHOIRBOYS. By subverting Joseph Wambaugh’s bestselling novel about the daily challenges faced by a group of jaded and brutal police officers with irreverent wit, Aldrich incurred not only the wrath of the author himself. As with KISS ME DEADLY, he turned the source material on its head (while remaining quite faithful to its content), revealing that the LAPD cops essentially “want to be storm troopers.” A portrait of a society rife with sexism, racism, and homophobia. This urban police nightmare unfolds as a series of largely comedic, even downright silly vignettes: the world is sinking into moral decay, but what Aldrich portrayed as tragedy in Hustle becomes an unapologetic farce here. Ultimately, all the violence and crime stem from the police officers themselves. Despite its satirical intentions, he CHOIRBOYS is Aldrich’s bleakest portrayal of a hostile world. (C.H.)

Courtesy of the Cinémathèque suisse.