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

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

William Friedkin

Writers:

Gerald Petievich (novel)
William Friedkin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 November 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The director of "The French Connection" is on the streets again!

Plot:

A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.

Plot Keywords:

Secret Service | Murder | Revenge | Place Name In Title | Money

Awards:

3 wins

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 16

3:50 AM

MAX

Cast

William Petersen	...	Richard Chance (as William L. Petersen)
Willem Dafoe	...	Eric 'Rick' Masters
John Pankow	...	John Vukovich
Debra Feuer	...	Bianca Torres
John Turturro	...	Carl Cody
Darlanne Fluegel	...	Ruth Lanier
Dean Stockwell	...	Bob Grimes
Steve James	...	Jeff Rice
Robert Downey Sr.	...	Thomas Bateman (as Robert Downey)
Michael Greene	...	Jim Hart
Christopher Allport	...	Max Waxman
Jack Hoar	...	Jack
Valentin de Vargas	...	Judge Filo Cedillo (as Val DeVargas)
Dwier Brown	...	Doctor
Michael Chong	...	Thomas Ling

Runtime:

116 min | Germany:101 min (TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Arabic | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) | Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Singapore:M18 | USA:R (certificate #27848) | Australia:R | France:-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | West Germany:16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) (1987) | Norway:(Banned) (1986-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

6th Street Bridge, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

SLM Production Group

Trivia:

The freeway car chase was filmed with the traffic flowing backwards. While Chance and Vukovich appear to be driving against traffic, they are in fact going in the proper direction for the U.S.; it is the rest of traffic that's moving on the wrong side of the road (Chance drives on the right side of the road, but the traffic is driving on the left). This was done to increase tension for the audience.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: According to the title cards, the film begins in mid December and ends in late January. However, there is no mention whatsoever of Christmas or New Year's Day, and none of the sets has decorations of any kind for either holiday.

Quotes:

Richard Chance: Where's the key?
Thomas Ling: I don't have it.
Richard Chance: He doesn't have it. What a guy!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: High Top Fade Out (#4.7)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Cold Day in Hell

Raw, brilliant crime thriller

When Friedkin went "back on the streets" in 1985 to make TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., he made a classic that will endure and that perfectly captures its 80's milieu.

I don't understand these idiots who complain how a film is "dated" by its music. Of course a film is "dated" by its specific elements, but so what. This superb film, which has an amazingly kinetic Wang Cheung score, is about a time (the mid-eighties) and place (L.A.) that is now history, and it is a punishing document.

The film works on many levels. Yes, it is about counterfeiting and superficial (re: counterfeit) relationships. It is about greed, survival, justice and morality. It is also about human beings using and laying to waste other human beings.

These powerful ingredients weave their way through a police procedural/action thriller plot that never stops to catch its breath and is pure cinema.

Willem Dafoe is totally engrossing as the film's villain, while William Peterson delivers a highly focused, tough turn. Dean Stockwell is also a stand-out as a crook lawyer and real cop Jack Hoar is quietly spectacular as Dafoe's mule.

And the film boasts one unbelievable car chase that has not been equaled since.

But LIVE AND DIE is also a film that expertly marries the visual to the aural and depicts a part of Southern California that has not been so credibly depicted before.

Dynamite!