REEL ACTION: To Live and Die in L.A.

Last Updated on July 26, 2021

TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985)
Rating: 3.5 on 4 / Buy the DVD here

Tagline: The director of “The French Connection” is on the streets again!

Directed by William Friedkin
Starring William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow John Turturro

THE PLAN: A badass Secret Service Agent (Peterson) is obsessed with busting a talented counterfeiter (Dafoe), not only to take him down for making fake $20 bills, but to avenge the death of his late partner. In comes corruption, car chases, and an ending you won’t believe.

THE KILL: Director William Friedkin is one of the greatest directors to ever sit behind the camera. The man gave us the quintessential horror film THE EXORCIST and won an Academy Award for THE FRENCH CONNECTION (read that Reel Action HERE). In 1985 he stepped back behind the camera for another gritty cop thriller called TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., giving us hard-as-nails characters that you love to hate, and examining the fine line between being the law, and being above the law (Steven Seagal style).

The film starts off with a bang as resident Secret Service Agent Richard Chance, played wonderfully by CSI-guy William Peterson, guns down a terrorist with a bomb strapped to his chest. Here’s a guy who gets a kick jumping off bridges with make-shift bungee cords, who doesn’t give a f*ck about anything, and who continuously lives on the edge. He’s as tough as they get, and when his partner is gunned down, he gets even tougher, bending the rules, breaking the law, and doing whatever it takes to take down the dude responsible.

Peterson lives the High Life!

What’s great about a character like this is that the guy’s essentially an asshole, a guy you can’t help but like, but also a guy you want to punch in the face. He wears a badge, and therefore, he’s God in the streets of L.A.. He nails (i.e. f*cks) a local parolee to get information and to blow off some steam, and breaks protocol to get what he wants. Peterson portrays this dude like an ace, and may be his best work… even above his CSI days.

But what’s a hardass good guy without an equally evil bad guy? In comes the super young Willem Dafoe, as evill, conniving, and creepy as ever before. He’s an artist and a counterfeiter, but he’s also a murdering motherf*cker that’s nice to your face, but won’t think twice about blowing your brains out if you try and steal his money (as fake as it may be). It’s no wonder the man’s career took off after this, and for good reason: he has this underlying tension about him that is showcased beautifully here.

Willem Dafoe – creepy since day one.

TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is not a balls to the wall action movie, but a hard edged cop thriller–but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it’s share of action and violence to go around. Every gun shot wound is met with a blood-splattered effect, every kill is hard to watch, and all the violence is so gritty and real that you can’t help but give it mad props for being as hardcore as it is.

And in true Friedkin fashion, the action sequence that takes the cake is prolonged the car chase sequence, weaving in and out of the traffic of L.A., on the freeway (the wrong way!), in the empty L.A. river canals, across train tracks, and through industrial areas. It’s fast pace, and feels so f*cking real, which makes it that much more exhilarating to watch.

It wouldn’t be a Reel Action favorite without some gratuitous T&A, and my friends, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. delivers! Peterson and Darlanne Fluegel have one of the most reel and most graphic f*ck sequences in recent memory. And maybe even racier to think of it coming out of the mid-80s. There’s a visit to strip club where Fluegel works for some background pole dancing, and some weird-ass dance group with chicks in body paint. Bizarre, but hey, when it comes to T&A, anything’s nice!

True American Badass.

And what’s a crazy 80s movie without a crazy 80s soundtrack? The 80s pop band Wang Chung provides all the music in the film, from the theme song to the musical score, and every synthesizer in between. This may be the film’s biggest roadblock in becoming a timeless thriller: the music is so dated that it’s distracting. And not just dated–but 80s dated, which is even worse in its overall goofiness. Then again, for a snapshot of the 80s, I guess you couldn’t have picked a poppier band than Wang Chung!

Watching TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. today is a real treat. Not only do you get to witness Dafoe as a young buck, but you get treated to one of the greatest, and most shocking, endings in cop thriller history. Friedkin doesn’t get the respect he deserves for this flick, as it’s up there right alongside Oscar-winner THE FRENCH CONNECTION, and the exteneded car chase sequence is one for the record books. If you’re looking for a gritty take on L.A. in the 80s, with hardcore characters and a killer car chase, then TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is for you!

Trailer for TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.

TOP DEATH: Without spoiling anything, I’m going for the ‘final’ death of the movie. It’s so surprising and different than what you’d expect, this one death will likely blow your mind.

TOP ACTION SCENE: Friedkin is in top form with the car chase sequence, featuring driving down the freeway in the opposite direction while being persued by dudes with machine guns. It feels real enough, and lasts longer than you’d expect.

This is the true meaning of being fast and furious.

TOP HOMOEROTIC MOMENT: Willem Dafoe always seems to border the line between gay and straight, and he doesn’t hold back here. A few locker room man-ass shots, and a silly workout sequence featuring three dudes (Peteresen, Pankow, Dafoe) working out together in short shorts.

Dudes love to workout together in short-shorts, don’t they?

FEMALE EXPLOITATION: A visit to a strip club and a weird stripper-like dance club is only the tip of the iceberg of the T&N displayed in the film. Petersen and Darlanne Fluegel go at it in a pretty racy sex scene. Yes, you see Petersen’s package, but you also get to see all of Fluegel’s assets. They may be itty, but they sure pretty!

A hot piece of ass, 80s style!

TOP LINE/DIALOGUE:
Petersen (to Fluegel): Guess what? Uncle Sam don’t give a shit about your expenses. You want bread, f*ck a baker.

DRINKING GAME: Every time someone is drinking a Miller High Life or a bottle of Jack, you gotta drink too!

TRIVIA: Gary Sinise auditioned for the role of Chance, but didn’t get it.

DVD FEATURES: The Blu-ray lacks featurettes, but the DVD is filled with them: a making-of, a number of deleted scenes, and an alternate ending that is the definition of ‘pussy’ — good thing Friedkin stuck to his guns and kept the ending as-is! There’s also some killer Friedkin commentary in the house as well. Not a bad deal, just a shame the Blu-ray disc got the shaft.

Watch this movie, or I’ll kill you!

BUY THE BLU-RAY HERE