Plot
A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.
Release Year: 1985
Rating: 7.1/10 (11,767 voted)
Director:
William Friedkin
Stars: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow
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.
Writers: Gerald Petievich, William Friedkin
Cast: 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
Taglines:
The director of "The French Connection" is on the streets again!
Release Date: 1 November 1985
Filming Locations: 444 S. Flower Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
Opening Weekend: $3,551,761
(USA)
(1 November 1985)
Gross: $17,307,019
(USA)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
Germany:
(TV version)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
1980s band Wang Chung provided much of the soundtrack for this movie. When Chance enters the topless bar for the first time, Wang Chung's first hit song, "Dance Hall Days", is playing in the background.
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible:
When the truck jackknifes during the chase, you can see a tow truck in the left of the frame pulling the back of the trailer.
Quotes: Richard Chance:
Remember me? Football game at the airport?
User Review
Raw, brilliant crime thriller
Rating:
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.
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