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

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

Director:

William Friedkin

Writers:

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

Stars:

William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Petersen	...	Richard Chance (as William L. Petersen)
Willem Dafoe	...	Eric 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

Storyline

Two cops in Los Angeles try to track down the vicious criminal Eric Masters. Then, one of them is killed by Masters and the other one swears revenge no matter what the cost. After that, the hunt becomes an ob- session and the law he once swore to uphold becomes meaningless to him.

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Plot Keywords:

secret service | secret service agent | revenge | murder | parolee | 

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Taglines:

A federal agent is dead. A killer is loose. And the City of Angels is about to explode.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic Spanish

Release Date:

1 November 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vivir y morir en Los Ángeles

Filming Locations:

183 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$967,312 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

SLM Production Group, New Century Productions, United Artists

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min 101 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the crew's best efforts, some of the counterfeit bills made for the film did make it into circulation. The bills' quality was very, very good, but the Treasury seal on the funny money used the letter X, which is not a valid Federal Reserve Bank letter. The Secret Service picked up many of the X bills for quite a while after filming wrapped.

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Goofs

The opening scene says December 20 at 1410 hours (2:10 p.m), which is about two hours before the shortest day of the year, yet the shadows and the sun's position makes it more like noon in the summertime.

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Quotes

Eric 'Rick' Masters: How you making it?
Carl Cody: Like every other swinging dick in this place makes it. Day by motherfucking day.

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Crazy Credits

Right at the end, after the credits, there is a shot of William Petersen's face

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Connections

Referenced in Doogie Howser, M.D.: To Live and Die in Brentwood (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Lookin' Good"
Performed by Magic Sam
Courtesy of Delmark Records

User Reviews

Shamefully misunderstood by the critics

One of the very best films of the 1980s this was shamefully neglected and misunderstood by the critics. The problem is: on the surface it's just like an ordinary action crime thriller (and thus won't appeal to the arthouse crowd), except that it makes it difficult to identify yourself with any of the characters. In other words: it violates its genre rules. But this very fact makes it so unpredictable and thrilling, and a proper movie as opposed to a mere genre clone.

The good guys are flawed. This isn't really new, since the mid 1960s there were plenty of flawed heroes in Westerns or police thrillers. The difference is that not only their characters are flawed, they are vulnerable, destructible, they make mistakes. And they pay for their mistakes. Similarly the villains: yes, they are formidable and glamorous, but they are not in the league of the Blofelds or Sentenzas of moviedom. They make mistakes too. And they pay too.

A surprising asset is the film music by Wang Chung, a one-hit-wonder pop obscurity of the era. Their sound perfectly melts with the cinematography, especially in the stylish opening sequence.