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It’s nice to study that there are plenty of fans of this often-overlooked gem from 1985. This has to be one of the best crime movies in a long time, and easily one of the best counterfeiting movies as it shows this dirty business from all angles.
William Friedkin was on top of the world for a brief time in the 1970s. After Cruising (1980), he suffered personal and professional setbacks. This film is proof certain that he is an exceptionally talented director with some of the best technical skills in the biz. Indeed, Rules of Engagement and The Hunted provide fresh proof that he can unexcited screech the goods.
To Live and Die in LA is not your ordinary cops and robber, dirty money, sex and violence narrative. The casting and the scripting are excellent; there is a lot up on the veil. The characters are not superhero cops and crooks, but human beings driven by greed, revenge, hubris, and lust for money, power, and violence. William Chance (the honorable William Petersen of novel CSI fame) is a Secret Service agent whose partner is murdered by counterfeiter extraordinaire Eric Masters (Willem Dafoe) . Chance swears to win down Masters, one intention or the other, a promise that sends he and his modern partner Vukovitch into a tailspin of cat and mouse where they shatter the rules and catch in over their heads. This is not the conventional buddy movie formula or the typical Dirty Harry and the novel partner scenario by a long shot. Chance is an appropriate name for the hotdog agent who enjoys sinful jumping in his spare time (ticket the fast flash to his jump off the Vincent Thomas during the hectic meander) . Vukovitch is caught between doing good by his partner and bringing his career and his life crashing down.
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This is not your typical LA cop film; Friedkin has gone to mountainous lengths to film LA differently than most directors. Indeed, this is the precursor to Heat and City of Industry, movies that dare to reveal LA as more than Hollywood and the hills and the downtown
area. The title indicates a `life is cheap’ attitude that is reflected in the awful, industrial landscapes of the City of Angels. There’s another Friedkin car meander that rivals The French Connection and was not made with any computer generated Matrix abet. Wang Chung add an pleasurable score–no joke! The haunting piano riffs, synthesized screams for befriend, and loud, pulsing drum machine and sequencer tracks underscore the action without getting out shouted by the sound (like a lot of electronic film music) . The disc is in print, though oddly enough their hit ‘Dance Hall Days’, featured in the film, does not display up. They even work the title of the film into a song(!)
The film is noir-ish quality in its character treatment. Chance shacks up with a hooker who feeds him info, but he’s ready to throw her benefit in the can if she doesn’t speak the goods. There’s a sleazy lawyer played by Dean Stockwell. There’s a gangly, nervous turncoat played by John Turturro. There’s a street hood played by Steve James who distributes ‘paper’ for Masters. And Vukovitch? I won’t dream of giving up the ending here. There’s even Ronald Reagan’s pronounce making a cameo in the beginning.
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This tough, violent film does not pull punches. The world of cops and robbers, dirty lawyers and convicts, police politics and male ego, and above all, dirty money, are all starkly presented. The lines are blurred when the agents will do anything to conclude a suave
crook who is more complex than the cops themselves. I admire the scene of Masters burning his recent painting after completing it.
How has this film been out of print for so long? When a local video store was going out of business (squeezed out by a major), I snatched this tape up in the liquidation sale. Thankfully, the film is FINALLY getting a noble DVD release. Hopefully they’ll widescreen it and give us a estimable print; the VHS version does not do the film any justice.
This is a film with style and substance, a moment in Hollywood where they got it all upright. I don’t judge they can even turn out gems like this anymore. Do not hesitate to assume this.
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When I saw “To Live and Die in L.A.” in the 1980s, I was struck by its worldliness, its style, its sexual energy, and its shocker of an ending. It was immediately one of my popular films of the decade. I recently watched the film again to study if it withstood the test of time. And I was a cramped surprised to accumulate that “To Live and Die in L.A.” is aloof one of the most complex and cynical neo-noir films, 20 years after it was made. The film was based on the current “To Live and Die in L.A.” by feeble Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich and adapted for the conceal by Petievich and director William Friedkin, the creative force tedious the previous decade’s “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection”. At the risk of being blasphemous, I have always found “To Live and Die in L.A.” more memorable than “The French Connection”, which is why I was tempted to contemplate it again.
When his partner is killed while tracking down a renowned counterfeiter, hotshot Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen) vows to nail the killer at any cost. The counterfeiter is Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe), a promising abstract expressionist painter and cunning criminal. Together with his novel straight-arrow but spineless partner John Vukovich (John Pankow), Chance tries surveillance, extortion, and subterfuge to incriminate Masters, but Masters is always one step ahead of him. Chance resorts to stealing funds for an undercover operation, and even the injurious interplay of cops and criminals begins to unravel.
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Director William Friedkin wanted a cast of virtual unknowns, and maybe that’s why “To Live and Die in L.A.”’s box office receipts didn’t mediate its quality. More likely, the world of 1985 wasn’t in the mood for a film in which everything is counterfeit: the money, the relationships, the cops, the criminals. Nothing is what it pretends to be. But Friedkin can hardly be faulted for choosing an profitable cast. This was William Petersen’s first major film role, and I can’t back but mediate that, together with 1986’s “Manhunter”, it would have made him a enormous star had it been made a few years later. Both films were ahead of their time. Not because they were better than other films being made in the mid-1980s -although it happens that they were- but that their themes were simply not timed to coincide with what audiences wanted at that moment. In any case, Petersen gets credit for generating the energy that keeps this myth engrossing. John Pankow gets credit for being the human expression of a world falling apart, through whom we sense the chaos. William Friedkin gets credit for the unbelievable counterfeiting sequence and the creative decisions in fable, music, and cinematography -including the gutsy ending- that accomplish “To Live and Die in L.A.” exceptional. This is a must-see for fans of neo-noir.
The DVD (2004 Special Edition from MGM) : There is a nice package of bonus features on the Special Edition disc, including a making-of documentary, an alternate ending, a deleted scene, a photo gallery, and an audio commentary. “Fraudulent World” (30 minutes) is a documentary about making the film that features original interviews with director William Friedkin, the film’s cast, and some principle crew, as well as a bit of on-set footage. Definitely worth seeing if you like the film. You can witness the Alternate Ending (5 minutes) and Deleted Scene (4 minutes) with or without introductory featurettes. I recommend viewing the featurettes, so you’ll understand what you’re watching. The alternate ending was made at the expect of the producers and is truly injurious. The “Stills Gallery” is a slideshow of stills and on-set photos. The audio commentary by director William Friedkin is worthwhile. It’s not a scene-by-scene analysis, but comments on filming, narrative, casting, music, cinematography, and various curious tidbits. Subtitles are available for the film in English, French, and Spanish. Dubbing is available in French and Spanish.
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