The film adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh’s 1975 police novel became a bitter authorship battle before cameras even rolled. Lorimar purchased the screen rights in October 1975 for a reported $700,000, and Wambaugh initially adapted his own bestselling book for the screen. Although producers told him they loved his first script, he later said that his calls went unanswered and that the project fell into what he described as total silence. Director Robert Aldrich then brought in screenwriter Christopher Knopf to reshape the screenplay, and the director openly signaled that he wanted a harsher, more confrontational film than Wambaugh’s version. Aldrich argued that the story did not go far enough in depicting police racism, brutality, bribery, and authoritarian impulses, while also saying that he did not instinctively sympathize with police officers struggling under the pressures of the job.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
Joseph Wambaugh’s $1 Million War Over The Choirboys
The Choirboys / 1970s
The film adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh’s 1975 police novel became a bitter authorship battle before cameras even rolled. Lorimar purchased the screen rights in October 1975 for a reported $700,000, and Wambaugh initially adapted his own bestselling book for the screen. Although producers told him they loved his first script, he later said that his calls went unanswered and that the project fell into what he described as total silence. Director Robert Aldrich then brought in screenwriter Christopher Knopf to reshape the screenplay, and the director openly signaled that he wanted a harsher, more confrontational film than Wambaugh’s version. Aldrich argued that the story did not go far enough in depicting police racism, brutality, bribery, and authoritarian impulses, while also saying that he did not instinctively sympathize with police officers struggling under the pressures of the job.
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