The Choirboys

No Aldrich film was received as negatively as "The Choirboys": By subverting Joseph Wambaugh’s best-selling novel about the daily challenges faced by a group of jaded and brutal police officers with irreverent humor, Aldrich drew the wrath of more than just the author. As with "Kiss Me Deadly", he turned the source novel on its head (though he remained very close to it in terms of content) and shows that the LAPD cops actually “want to be stormtroopers.” A portrait of a society rife with sexism, racism, and homophobia. This urban police nightmare unfolds as a series of largely comedic, even silly vignettes: The world is sinking into moral decay, but what Aldrich portrayed as a tragedy in "Hustle" becomes an offensive farce here. All violence and crime ultimately stem from the police officers themselves. Despite its satirical intentions, "The Choirboys" is Aldrich’s darkest portrait of a hostile world. (C.H.)