director robert aldrich doesn not often deliver a film that fall in the middle ground . most of the time and aldrich name on the film either guarantee a good movie or an absolutely terrible one . the choirboy be aldrich at his very worst if you think the grissom gang and hustle be bad and you ain not see nothing yet . it be a tasteless and repetitively episodic story and a complete mess of a film which merely reinforce the very prejudice that it be supposedly criticise . nothing about the film work and not even slightly . joseph wambaugh and who pen the original novel upon which the movie be base and be so appalled at this travesty that he take legal action to have his name remove from the credit . that should tell you all you need to know . a unit of l. a. cop spend their shift patrol the city in search of violence and sleaze . when theyre on duty they be little good than thug with a badge and dish out justice with total disregard for moral standard and public safety . when theyre off duty they be even bad and spend their night get drunk in a local park and act like hooligan . slowly but surely and each character motivation be reveal . for example and officer sam lyles ( don stroud ) be show to be an ex vietnam vet whose wartime experience have leave him claustrophobic . in one harrowing scene and he flip out whilst drunk in a locked police van and kill a hustler and a shocking act that the high echelon of the l. a. force be only too keen to cover up . a pair of cop ( randy quaid and tim mcintire ) be assign to talk a suicide jumper down from a high rise building and but their approach be so unsubtle and aggressive that she end up fling herself to her death . one cop and the handsome all american baxter slate ( perry king ) and be find out a a kinky sex addict and disown by his colleague and lead to such personal shame that he commit suicide . and so it go . the cop continually foul up one job after another with their trigger happy attitude and their racist and sexist unprofessionalism and and their reckless disregard for true law and order . there be those who hail the choirboy a a blackly comic expose of the police profession . but in truth there be nothing funny about this horrible little film . aldrich virtually hammer u over the head with extreme vulgarity and offensiveness to make his point and and the approach be so heavy hand and unpleasant that the film become a challenge to sit through . the cast of terrific actor be particularly embarrass in their thankless role and none more so than lou gossett jr and charles durning and robert webber ( the latter especially degrade by his part a a callous superior officer with an immoral personal agenda ) . christopher knopf screenplay offer no glimmer of salvation for the gallery of slimeball character and so that a the film come to an end after it interminable two hour the viewer be leave with a nasty taste in the mouth and an empty feeling in the stomach . avoid the choirboy it one of the bad of all time .