To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Fantastic!

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A fabulous William Friedkin Police Thriller that was a little forgotten, due to the director's previous works having been failures, after the successes of "the exorcist" and "the french conection", this last one winning the Oscar of better film and Friedkin the Oscar for Best Director. The film is frantic and explosive, has a dizzying development and action, true scenes of anthology and fantastic performances, especially of William Petersen (I still do not understand why this actor did not become a star) and Willem Dafoe. In addition, there are innumerable unusual surprises in the movies of the genre. In my opinion, the best Police Thriller of the 80s.

William Friedkin of "The Exorcist" fame went back to his crime film roots with this well executed action thriller based on a former LAPD agent's book of the same name. The story is relatively simple at the start as the film has two officers (William Petersen and John Pankow) of the U.S. Secret Service out to catch a notorious counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed the partner of one of the agents. The narrative takes several twists and turns as the agents race to take down their target, but keep learning along the way that it won't be an easy task to catch a smart criminal mastermind without prices being paid for their dedication.As the heroes (or in Petersen's character's case, an anti-hero), Petersen and Pankow display a unique chemistry that keeps their characters on opposite sides of the same case; Petersen's Chance will go beyond the law to catch their counterfeiter prey while Pankow's Vukovich is the by-the-books agent who soon learns he must go outside the rules to get the man they are after. The show primarily belongs to William Petersen's Chance as he is the driving force for the action since he is the one whose partner is killed early in the film. Petersen oozes a brash personality that counters the more reserved and just Vukovich that John Pankow plays.Playing the film's villain in one of his earliest starring roles is the ever charismatic and talented Willem Dafoe as the calculating and brutal Rick Masters. He is the counterfeiting mastermind Chance and Vukovich are desperately chasing, but Masters is always a step ahead. From brutally executing Chance's first partner, Jim Hart, to his masterful counterfeiting operation to even more crueler slayings for anyone who double-crosses him, Dafoe keeps a sinister charm to his portrayal of Masters and conveys his quiet intelligence with his trademark soft-spoken voice. Friedkin helped write the film's screenplay with some assistance from source writer, Gerald Petevich, and Petevich's brother. The director quite easily has control of their script which is clear from what is shown on-screen. However this does not dumb down the tension of the film as the clock ticks down the days and time of the action. If you want a pot-boiling action film that will have on the edge of your seat, I recommend this film.

A fearless Secret Service agent (William Petersen) will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed his partner (Michael Greene).As with many movies, this one began as a novel by a former Secret Service agent. Director William Friedkin read the book and loved it, attracted to what he saw as a "surreal" aspect of the Service: the balance of one day living the high life with the president and the next chasing counterfeiters through the slums of America. How much of the novel was based on fact is open to debate (clearly some parts of the film are not realistic). For the parts that are factual, you have to admire Friedkin's attention to detail. The scenes of twenty dollar bills being counterfeited were overseen by a man who had actually served time for counterfeiting (unfortunately left unnamed). What we see is not just Hollywood, but an actual demonstration of how the process was really done. (The bills made on screen were so real, in fact, that the Treasury Department hounded Friedkin and prop master Barry Bedig for months.)Friedkin also puts his actors in some unusual positions, creating amazing results. If he and Petersen are to be believed, the script was very fluid and often scenes that should have been shorter (if the script was followed) kept going as long as the actors would stay in character. For example, much of the "bagman scene" is allegedly unscripted -- the briefcase busting open, the physical confrontation. Other scenes were filmed when actors thought it was only a rehearsal, meaning much of the film is done in one take. For all of this to play out so perfectly through sheer improvisation is just incredible and creates some of the most memorable scenes.There is a great deal to admire about this film. The acting is great, and even better in retrospect given that these are the early roles of some big names. The soundtrack is thumping, and makes Wang Chung seem better than they are often perceived. The action is over the top and at times unbelievable, but this only adds to the appeal. And the cinematography is great -- there are a few mirror shots, for example, which are expertly lined up and crafted. And the methods needed to follow such an intricate chase scene? Wow. Just wow.The car chase runs a bit long, but this is excusable because it adds to that surreal quality the film was going for. What bothered me was the character played by John Turturro. He has a steady subplot throughout the picture, but seems to just magically disappear at one point. It seems like his story is built up but never finished. Is there a cut scene, or did something go over my head?The Blu-ray from Shout! Factory is ridiculously impressive. From a previous release, they ported over the audio commentary with director William Friedkin and kept the featurette "Counterfeit World: The Making Of To Live And Die In L.A.". But that was only the beginning, because they brought us a 4K scan of the negative supervised and approved by Friedkin, so you know the movie has never looked better. And there are plenty of new interviews: 20 minutes with star William Petersen (whose career took off following this film) who explains how Gary Sinise got him the part, stunt coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker, Wang Chung (Jack Hues And Nick Feldman), actress Debra Feuer and actor Dwier Brown.

A lot of people (the great Roger Ebert included) would have you believe that To Live and Die in L.A. is a stunning, suspenseful thriller beautifully shot and directed by William Friedkin. I know that the eighties were a lean time for quality cinema, but the pumping Wang Chung soundtrack and William Peterson's appalling acting annihilates any tension that may have been attempted in pretty much any given scene.Oh. And when I say "Wang Chung soundtrack" I don't mean a handful of tastefully or cleverly placed songs, like say, The Graduate, Harold and Maude or Magnolia. I mean SOUNDTRACK. Not just the appalling songs distastefully and carelessly strewn in the background, but weird techno-synth monstrosities attempting to build the tension of action scenes or underscore quiet moments.When someone says that this film is a "lost treasure"... and a lot of people do... It only makes sense if they are referring to it as one of the great lost comedies of the eighties. I still regularly, randomly will laugh out load thinking about one particularly Wang Chung heavy chase sequence in that movie and a couple of ludicrously overwrought faces that William Peterson makes with his "acting".Five Stars.......Out of Ten