Wambaugh was so disgusted with what this film did to his novel that he had his writing credit removed and resolved to retain creative control over the film of his book 'the onion field'. Is this true can anyone corroborate?
shareIt is true. Wambaugh (and I believe a few other people he knew) financed the majority of The Onion Field so that they could retain control.
shareThe Choirboys so butchered the soul of the book. I know that no movie can do a book justice, but man, did this thing stink. I am glad that Wambaugh kept control over the Onion Field; it would have been a Hollywoodized version of a terrible event in LAPD history. The Choirboys (the book BTW gave rise to the phrase "Choir Practice" for cops around the country in the 1970s)is one cop movie that I will not watch again.
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With all the mediocre movies that have been remade over the years, some into better movies, some into fertilizer, I would LOVE to think a remake of "The Choirboys" might be in the works to correct the catastrophe that the original was. Joe, are you out there? Give us this and revive and save a classic book from the depths of Hollywood hell!
shareOh yes, Mr. Wambaugh has nothing but disdain for the movie version of The Choirboys. He talked about it in a Playboy Magazine interview in the late 70s. And I remember seeing him on the Pat Sajak Show in the late 80s, and he expressed his hatred towards it there as well.
shareIf this movie hadn't been made the way it was, the the Onion Field wouldn't of turned out the way it did. The Onion Field is the only movie that I have ever seen that stuck right too the book and kept Hollywood's hand off it because they could screw up a wet dream!
shareHe hated the film. It deviated so much from the book it bore no resemblance apart from the names.
The book did not have the happy ending of the film either. Nearly all of the choirboys were sacked.