Verdict
Summary
One of the best and most kinetic action thrillers of the 1980s and beyond – rivaling the best ever made, including The French Connection and Heat, just to name a few – William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. is completely ingrained within its own world and the film captures its very realistic characters living dangerously.
Plot:
Two Federal agents go rogue in their quest to catch a brazen counterfeiter.
Review:
Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen in a star-making first role) gets a new partner named John Vukovich (John Pankow) after his previous partner who was about to retire is brutally murdered by a gang of counterfeiters, led by the brazen yuppie with a death wish Eric Masters (Willem Dafoe with a cunning death stare) who has cleverly eluded capture for years. Masters operates on the outskirts of Los Angeles and deals in “paper” – counterfeit bills he makes himself, building a small empire where he can be both a ghost and a bit of a celebrity in the underworld at the same time. When Chance and his partner catch one of Masters’ mules (played by John Turturro), Chance sees that as his way to Masters, but his plan goes sideways when he loses his witness under his custody, forcing him to get creative and do something very illegal with his partner, who is against the plan from the start. They steal tens of thousands of dollars from a man they think is dealing in stolen jewels, but their plan goes horribly wrong and the man is killed, and when they realize that the guy they robbed and inadvertently killed (leading to an incredible car chase on the wrong side of the freeway) was actually an undercover FBI agent and that the money they stole belonged to the government, they find themselves in way over their heads as they use the stolen money to go deep undercover to fund their own sting operation to catch Masters.
One of the best and most kinetic action thrillers of the 1980s and beyond – rivaling the best ever made, including The French Connection and Heat, just to name a few – William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. is completely ingrained within its own world and the film captures its very realistic characters living dangerously. To call it edgy would hardly give the film the justice it deserves. It’s edgy to the point of feeling as close to a documentary as possible, but still retaining its pulpy noir-style atmosphere. The music by pop group Wang Chung is perfect, and the intensity of the entire film is so kinetic that you simply can’t look away. Petersen gave a real wowzer of a performance, which is incredible considering he’d never starred in a movie before (he had a bit part in Michael Mann’s Thief before this), and his next film was Mann’s Manhunter, so it boggles my mind that he didn’t become one of the great movie stars of the 1980s and ’90s. He’s so good in this movie that he should’ve catapulted into superstardom like Mel Gibson did. Dafoe is great as the bad guy too, and the entire film is really a testament to all the right ingredients being in place and being served up by one of the best filmmakers to make thrillers that last the test of time.
Kino Lorber has just reissued To Live and Die in L.A. onto Blu-ray, and they’re offering the standard Blu-ray version as well as a 4K Ultra HD disc as well. The transfer is from a new HD master from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative, which does the previous Blu-ray edition from Shout Factory one better. The special features from the Shout Factory release are all ported over for this release, which is nice. An outstanding release, all around.
- Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative
• Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin
• TAKING A CHANCE: Interview with Actor William Petersen (20:41)
• RENAISSANCE WOMAN IN L.A.: Interview with Actress Debra Feuer (14:55)
• DOCTOR FOR A DAY: Interview with Actor Dwier Brown (8:52)
• SO IN PHASE – SCORING TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.: Interview with Composers Wang Chung (12:43)
• WRONG WAY – THE STUNTS OF TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.: Interview with Stunt Coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker (35:38)
• COUNTERFEIT WORLD – THE MAKING OF TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.: Documentary (29:49)
• Deleted Scene and Alternate Ending with Introductions (13:06)
• Radio Spot
• Theatrical Trailer
• 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Lossless Audio
• Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
• Optional English Subtitles 