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To Live and Die in L.A.

To Live and Die in L.A.

USA | 1985 | 114 min. | William Friedkin

February 27, 2025

Unstreamable

When his longtime partner on the force is killed, reckless U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance vows revenge, setting out to nab dangerous counterfeit artist Eric Masters. As Chance's desire for justice becomes an obsession, Vukovich questions the lawless methods he employs.

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Thursday, February 27, 2025

William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. isn't just a cop thriller—it's an acid-washed descent into Reagan-era excess. Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen) hunts a counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe, oozing evil charm) through the Los Angeles underbelly, a place where the palm trees cast shadows like prison bars and everyone's got an angle to play.

The wrong-way freeway chase alone is worth the price of admission, but the real kick is watching L.A.'s sleazy underbelly eat itself alive. Wang Chung's chrome-plated synths and Robby Müller's sun-bleached cinematography make every scene feel like a postcard from hell. The deeper Chance digs into the city's rotting heart, the harder it gets to tell cop from criminal—exactly how Friedkin wants it.

Fair warning: This neo-noir isn't your standard police procedural. But if you want to see '80s Hollywood at its most dangerously stylish, you won't find anything more lethal than this.

  • Director: William Friedkin
  • Principal Cast: William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, Debra Feuer, John Turturro
  • Country: USA
  • Year: 1985
  • Running Time: 114 min.
  • Producer: Irving H. Levin
  • Screenplay: Gerald Petievich, William Friedkin
  • Cinematographers: Robby Müller
  • Editors: M. Scott Smith
  • Music: Wang Chung
  • Filmography: The Exorcist (1973), The Boys in the Band (1970), Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980)
  • Language: English