Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

just watch it!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Being a lifelong Joseph Wambaugh fan (I have read almost every book he's written), I was anxious to buy a DVD of the ' Choirboys', one of my favorite books ... I have read that Wambaugh hated the movie so much, he sued to have his name removed from it's credits ... I understand perfectly ... This is, without a doubt, the WORST film ever made ... it easily stands up to the very worst of cinema history ... forget 'Attack of the Giant Tomatoes', or 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', etc., they are masterpieces compared to this turd ! ... Total waste of time and money ... a decent cast, wasted on a pathetic mess ... the acting is beyond amateurish ... Randy Quaid, a joke of an actor anyway, portrayed the WORST drunk scene ever attempted ... even the sound is terrible, with many portions sounding like they were dubbed in during a bad hangover ... check out the 'laughing fit' scene of Burt Young's scene, it sounds as though a cackling old bag-lady was hired to do the scene ... btw, Young gave the only a decent performance, evidence of his skill as an actor ... I'm finished, this mess has already gotten more attention than it deserves ...

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.

This was a lame attempt at adapting a great book about a group of cops and the toll their work takes on their humanity. The true humor, pathos and irony that was in the book is missing on the screen. We see the antics described by Wambaugh in the book on the screen, but we don't know why these celluloid cops act the way they do. It could have been a simple matter of a narrator or voice overs by the characters to give some insight into the psyche of these characters. Instead, we are left with the juvenile antics of a group of drunken cops prone to sexual deviance and a disregard for the public, without the public knowing why. Watched it once, I won't waste my time to watch it again.

Joseph Wambaugh disowned this film-adaptation of his bestseller about department low-lifes within the Los Angeles police force, but the experience probably shamed him anyway--and anyone who gets through the picture will feel shame for him. Half-assed mixture of smut-minded hijinks and 'sobering' cop drama is so sloppily constructed I am amazed director Robert Aldrich didn't remove his name as well. Aldrich, once a filmmaker of merit, seems to have nothing on his agenda here except earning a paycheck (ditto cinematographer Joseph Biroc, who does some of the gloppiest, ugliest work I have ever seen in a major movie). The mostly-male cast members continually smirk and leer throughout (it's difficult to distinguish the characters' loutish behavior from the actual actors themselves--everyone comes off looking pathetic). The low-point of the movie comes when snarling cop Tim McIntire (in a career-ending turn) is hand-cuffed to a tree without his pants and is spotted by a mincing homosexual. McIntire threatens to tear out the guy's liver and break his spleen if he comes near him. Everyone on screen is doubled over with laughter, but the viewer is the butt of the joke. * from ****