Based on Joseph Wambaugh's best-selling novel, Robert Aldrich's hard-edged, comedic portrait of police life focuses on a group of Los Angeles cops who decide to relieve work pressures by taking part in some dubious after-hours pursuits (known to the officers as choir practice). The drinking, whoring, and rowdiness come to an end when a young man is accidentally shot and killed and the lawmen are forced to cover up the guilty--one of their very own.

A precursor to hugely popular television programs such as HILL STREET BLUES and NYPD BLUE, THE CHOIRBOYS is notable for its warts-and-all depiction of the cops' excesses, appetites, and raunchy wit. Aldrich (THE DIRTY DOZEN) lets the action unfold in a loose and episodic way, and the film unleashes its doses of stinging satire in periodic, naturalistic bursts in a manner similar to Robert Altman's classic comedy M*A*S*H. The all-star cast, including Charles Durning, Burt Young, Louis Gossett Jr., and James Woods, energizes Aldrich's attempt to paint the off-duty lives of his protagonists in darkly humorous blacks and morally vague grays, making THE CHOIRBOYS an entertaining and intriguing viewing experience.