ianlouisiana Review of The Choirboys

The Choirboys (1977)

30 years on we're not all singing from the same hymn sheet.......

[6/10 · 15 July 2007]

Never forget that we are watching "The Choirboys" with 30years of hindsight.When it was first released in England I was a policeman in north - east London and the manager of the local cinema distributed free tickets to the local nick which,of course,we all took advantage I found it a fairly accurate picture of how cops all over the world let off steam and,in times of trouble,hang together lest they be hanged separately. I suspect you'd need to have been a big city cop to have fully appreciated the strain of working in a hostile environment where nobody but other cops is coming to help you if it all kicks off.So you look out for your colleagues,and when it hits the fan you all shelter under the same umbrella.Or at least you did back in 1977. And that's the way it was.In London,in L.A.,Berlin or Hong Kong or any other town with a street life I guess. The street life has of course carried on indeed become emboldened by the gradual lessening of will within the upper echelons of the police service to deal with it effectively.Now with so many "isms" pointed in their direction,cops in general are reluctant to enforce the law with regard to any but the most serious offences committed by street people.They have become the beneficiaries of what is known as the "Free Ride Act". Clearly knee - jerk liberals will see this as "a good thing" as they drink their latte macchiatoes made with soya milk.But it was a great deal safer to walk through the streets of London at night in 1977 than it is today. The depiction of a gay man with a pink poodle seems to have excited particular rage amongst reviewers,almost as if no gay man would be seen dead with a pink poodle,come on fellers,is it really an outrageous sexual slur?And of course sadomasochists are people too,we all know that but must we necessarily laud their unusual preferences?Or can we say we find them distinctly odd?Probably not on reflection. But in watching "The Choirboys" we are watching history.It is not our place to judge the attitudes of people 30 years ago, neither should we be in a hurry to just in case they decide to judge ours in turn. This movie is a reflection of its time,the LAPD cops merely a microcosm of American society at the time the movie was made. So,apart from its appalling political incorrectness,does it have much merit as a movie?No,not really,apart from a terrific cast.Mr Aldrich's films are usually full of sound and fury but very little of substance. If you think of "The Choirboys" as a sort of "Dirty Dozen" on the streets of L.A. you won't go far wrong.Bear in mind that isn't necessarily a recommendation.