THE CHOIRBOYS

This awful 1977 adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh's novel (he disassociated himself from the film), directed by Robert Aldrich ('The Killing of Sister George') is unbelievably vicious in its homophobia. For starters there's Jack DeLeon as a faggot with a capital "F" - complete with pink poodle and ahndbag, who delights in finding a naked man handcuffed to a tree.

Then there's the vice cop, Vince Tayback's fag routine in a men's public toilet, pretending to come on to the bigoted cop. How about young Michael Willis, caught cruising the men's room and brought to vice cop Burt Young, who can only say, "How long have you had this problem?"

Patrolman James Woods jokes at one point, "How about shooting at fags?" And then, on top of this incredulous gay-bashing, Willis returns, this time to the park where it seems only gay men and police officers congregate, and gets blown away by a crazed officer, to which his fellow officers can only contribute, "He's only a fag".

If one or two of the police officers possessed these anti-gay feelings, it could be presumed that the film is a tough-minded, brutal exploration of homophobia. But all the characters act and feel this way: it's accepted behaviour.

This is a despicable film with reprehensible ideas - only more disturbing is the fact that it got made in the first place.