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

Infobox_Film
name = To Live and Die in L.A.


caption = Theatrical poster
director = William Friedkin
writer = Story: Gerald Petievich
Screenplay: William Friedkin Gerald Petievich
starring = William L. Petersen Willem Dafoe John Pankow Dean Stockwell John Turturro
producer = Irving H. Levin Bud S. Smith
music = Wang Chung
cinematography = Robby Müller
edited = M. Scott Smith
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released = November 1 1985
runtime = 116 minutes
country = United States
language = English
amg_id = 1:50171
imdb_id = 0090180

"To Live and Die in L.A." (1985) is a American neo-noir crime film directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel written by former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. The drama features William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, John Pankow, among others. Wang Chung composed and performed the original music soundtrack. The film tells the story of the lengths to which two Secret Service agents go to arrest a counterfeiter.

Plot

Richard Chance (Petersen) is a Secret Service agent for the U.S. Treasury with a reputation in the department for reckless behavior. His partner, Jimmy Hart (Michael Greene) is days away from retirement, but takes on one last mission to investigate counterfeiter Rick Masters (Dafoe). After Hart is killed by Masters' bodyguard, Chance is outraged and seeks revenge. Chance explains his outlook to his new partner, John Vukovich (Pankow) this way:

:Let me tell you something, "." I'm gonna bag Masters, and I don't give a shit how I do it.

The two T-men try to track down Masters, to no avail. Chance and Vukovich finally engage Masters by posing as potential counterfeiting clients interested in Masters' services.

Chance and Vukovich eventually break the law in their relentless pursuit of Masters. In order to get enough money to convince Masters that they are "real" clients, they kidnap and steal the money from a man who, unbeknownst to them, is an undercover F.B.I. agent. In a wild chase through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles. The F.B.I. agent is accidentally shot to death by his own men; which is covered-up by the F.B.I. and pinned on Chance and Vukovich.

Later, Chance once again meets with Masters, and pays him the "front money" that Masters has requested. The two agents go through with the transaction, even when Masters implies that he knows they stole the money from the F.B.I. undercover agent. During a set-up transaction, Chance tries to arrest Masters and his bodyguard, but the bodyguard pulls a shotgun from a locker and shoots Chance in the face, at the same time Chance shoots the bodyguard in the chest. They both die.

Masters briefly gets away, but Vukovich gives chase, eventually locating Masters at a warehouse Masters uses to produce his counterfeit money. At the time of Vukovich's arrival, Masters has already set fire to the contents of the warehouse. Vukovich confronts Masters and during a brief struggle, Vukovich is knocked unconscious. Masters covers Vukovich with shredded paper and just before Masters lights Vukovich on fire, Vukovich recovers and shoots Masters, who then drops his lighter and lights himself ablaze in the process. Vukovich survives and Masters perishes in the blaze.

After Masters' death, Masters' attorney gives his estate to his girlfriend, Bianca. Without showing much remorse, she rides away in Masters' black Ferrari with her new companion, a woman named Serena given to her as a present by Masters.

In the last scene, Vukovich pays Chance's informant, Ruth, a visit just as she's packing up to leave L.A. for good. He mentions Chance's death, that she had known that the man they stole the advance money from was FBI, and that Chance had left her with the leftover front money that his agency now wants back. All this leads to a surprise for Ruth: "You're working for me now". And with that, Chance lives on through Vukovich.

Cast

* William Petersen as Richard Chance
* Willem Dafoe as Eric "Rick" Masters
* John Pankow as John Vukovich
* Debra Feuer as Bianca Torres
* John Turturro as Carl Cody
* Darlanne Fluegel as Ruth Lanier
* Dean Stockwell as Bob Grimes
* Steve James as Jeff Rice
* Robert Downey Sr. as Thomas Bateman
* Jane Leeves as Serena (credited as Jane Leaves)

Production

Director William Friedkin read Gerald Petievich's novel and found it very authentic.cite news | last = Arick | first = Michael M | coauthors = | title = Counterfeit World: The Making of "To Live and Die in L.A." | work = To Live and Die in L.A. Special Edition DVD = | language = | publisher = MGM | date = 2003 | url = | accessdate = ] The filmmaker was also drawn to the "absolutely surrealistic nature" of the job of a Secret Service agent outside of Washington, D.C. Actor William Petersen was drawn to the character of Chance as someone who had a badge and a gun and how it not only made him above the law, but also "above life and death in his head". The actor found the experience of being this character and making the film "amazing" and "intoxicating".

Friedkin had a $6 million budget to work with while the cast and crew worked for relatively low salaries. The director wanted to make an independent film and collaborate with people who could work fast, like cinematographer Robby Müller and his handpicked crew who were non-union members. Friedkin shot everything on location and worked quickly, often using the first take to give a sense of immediacy. He did not like to rehearse but would create situations where the actors thought they were rehearsing a scene when actually they were shooting a take. Friedkin did this just in case he got something he could use. To this end, he let scenes play out and allowed the actors to stay in character and improvise.

The shot of Petersen running along the metal railings of a moving sidewalk at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) got the filmmakers into trouble with the airport police. The airport had prohibited this action, mainly for Petersen's safety, as they felt that their insurance would not have covered him had he hurt himself. The actor told Friedkin that they should do the stunt anyway so the director proposed that they treat it like a rehearsal but have the cameras rolling and shoot the scene, angering airport officials.

The counterfeiting montage looks authentic because Friedkin consulted actual counterfeiters who had done time. The "consultant" actually did the scenes that do not show actor Willem Dafoe on camera to give this sequence even more authenticity. They actually printed on both sides of the paper which is illegal. Over one million dollars was made but had three things wrong with it so that it could not be used outside of the film. The filmmakers burned most of the fake money but some leaked out, was used, and linked back to the production.

The backwards car chase on a Los Angeles freeway sequence was one of the last things shot in the film and it took six weeks to shoot. At this point, Friedkin was working with a very stripped down crew. He told stunt coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker that if they could come up with a chase better than the one in "The French Connection" then it would be in the film. If not, he would not use it. Petersen did a lot of his own driving during this sequence and actor John Pankow's stressed out reactions were real. Friedkin came up with the idea of staging the chase against the flow of traffic.

The climactic scene in which Chance is killed was not very well-received by MGM executives who found it to be too negative. To satisfy the studio heads, he shot a second ending, in which Chance is shot in the stomach and lives, and then a different scene in which Chance and Vukovich, for reasons unexplained, are transferred to Alaska, and watch their boss, Thomas Bateman, being interviewed on television. Friedkin was disgusted by the new ending, and kept the original.

Release

The film premiered in the United States on November 1, 1985. It was screened at various film festivals, including: the "Cognac Festival du Film Policier", France; the Noir in Festival, Italy; the Turin Film Festival, Italy; and others.

Critical reception

Roger Ebert, film critic for the "Chicago Sun-Times," liked the film's screenplay, the action, the acting, and the direction, and wrote, " [T] he movie is also first-rate. The direction is the key. Friedkin has made some good movies...and some bad ones. This is his comeback, showing the depth and skill of the early pictures. The central performance is by William L. Petersen, a Chicago stage actor who comes across as tough, wiry and smart. He has some of the qualities of a Steve McQueen, with more complexity. Another strong performance in the movie is by Willem Dafoe as the counterfeiter, cool and professional as he discusses the realities of his business." [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19851101/REVIEWS/511010301/1023 Ebert, Roger] . The "Chicago Sun-Times," film review, November 1, 1985.]

Critic Janet Maslin was dismissive of the film, and wrote, "Today, in the dazzling, superficial style that Mr. Friedkin has so thoroughly mastered, it's the car chases and shootouts and eye-catching settings that are truly the heart of the matter." She also thought the work of Willem Dafoe would be forever typecast by this film when she added, "he's a fine actor with a face that will bring him villain's work forever." [ [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=1&title1=&title2=TO%20LIVE%20AND%20DIE%20IN%20L.A.%20%28MOVIE%29&reviewer=Janet%20Maslin&v_id=50171&pdate=19851101&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes&oref=slogin Maslin, Janet] . "The New York Times", film review, "From Friedkin," November 1, 1985.]

Wesley Morris, critic for "The San Francisco Examiner," wrote in 1999 the film was Friedkin's best moment in filmmaking, "Sure, the Reagan-era exoticization of painters and extras salivating over the cash they count are as dated as the Wang Chung synth score, but "To Live and Die in L.A." is as urgent and exhilaratingly paced as anything William Friedkin's done ... Some of the best crook-on-crook, cop-on-crook banter there ever was and John Turturro's best cursing in a motion picture . . . the six-lane rush-hour car chase that would make Popeye Doyle crash and burn . . . The only problem is that Friedkin would never get any better than this." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1999/04/16/WEEKEND5162.dtl Morris, Wesley] . "The San Francisco Examiner," film review, ""To Live and Die in L.A.': Friedkin's finest hour," April 16, 1999. Last accessed: December 28, 2007.]

The staff at "Variety" magazine were not impressed with the film and wrote that it was over the top, "To Live and Die in L.A." looks like a rich man's "Miami Vice." William Friedkin's evident attempt to fashion a West Coast equivalent of his 1971 "The French Connection" is engrossing and diverting enough on a moment-to-moment basis but is overtooled ... Friedkin keeps dialog to a minimum, but what conversation there is proves wildly overloaded with streetwise obscenities, so much so that it becomes something of a joke. [Pic is based on the novel by Gerald Petievich, who co-scripted.] " [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117795772.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 "Variety"] . Film review, November 1, 1985. Last accessed: December 28, 2007.]

Although a number of critics, and a good portion of the audience, remained somehow unimpressed by the movie when it first premiered, it appears to have aged fairly better than most of its contemporary neo-noir fare, and the expectation set upon its DVD release was symptomatic of a well-established cult following. It appears that the lukewarm box-office reception in 1985 owed at least partly to the film's grim, bleak and cynical tone, perhaps out of context during the time in which it premiered -- not because the film's antics were necessarily outdated in the mid-80s, but because the film's tinge of nihilism was far beyond aesthetic and affected the plot itself. [Editorial review [http://www.amazon.com/Live-Die-L-Special/dp/B00005JLJW] ] [ [http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/toliveanddieinla.htm To Live And Die In L.A. - Special Edition Dvd ] ] All this is confirmed by the film's anticlimactic outbursts of violence, by the apparent absence of a single character or action driven by altruism or an established sense of moral justice, and especially by the ending, all of which hardly in tune with the somewhat moralistic action films of the decade. An ostensible fact, perhaps indicative of this collective perception, is that most of the recent reviews of the film are punctuated by one-liners such as "A sun-bleached study in corruption and soul-destroying brutality" [ [http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=6214] ] .

The film was voted as the 19th best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of "Los Angeles Times" writers and editors with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list".cite news | last = Boucher | first = Geoff | coauthors = | title = The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years | work = Los Angeles Times | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = August 31, 2008 | url = http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-ca-25films31-2008aug31,0,70218.htmlstory | accessdate = 2008-08-31 ]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of critics gave the film a "Fresh" rating, based on twenty-two reviews. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/to_live_and_die_in_la/ "To Live and Die in L.A."] at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: January 22, 2008.]

Awards

Wins
* "Cognac Festival du Film Policier:" Audience Award; William Friedkin; 1986.
* Stuntman Awards: Stuntman Award; Best Feature Film Vehicular Stunt, Dick Ziker and Eddy Donnol; Most Feature Film Spectacular Sequence, Dick Ziker; 1986.

DVD release

A DVD was released by MGM Entertainment on December 2, 2003. The DVD contains a new restored wide-screen transfer, an audio commentary featuring director Friedkin where he relates stories about the making of the movie, a half-hour documentary featuring the main characters, a deleted scene that involves actor John Pankow, and an alternate ending Friedkin refused to use. [ [http://www.reelfilm.com/tolivela.htm "Reel Film Reviews"] . DVD review, December 3 2003.]

oundtrack

An original motion picture soundtrack was released on September 30, 1985, by Geffen Records. The album contained eight tracks. The album’s title song, "To Live and Die in L.A.," made it on the Billboard Hot 100 where it peaked at #41 in the United States.

William Friedkin chose Wang Chung to compose the soundtrack because the band "stands out from the rest of contemporary music... What they finally recorded has not only enhanced the film, it has given it a deeper, more powerful dimension." This note was included in the album's back cover. [ [http://www.wangchung.com/archive/wc/albums/toliveanddie.shtml Wang Chung] web site. Last accessed: December 6 2007.]

References

External links

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* [http://www.24liesasecond.com/site2/index.php?page=2&task=index_onearticle.php&Column_Id=74 "To Live and Die in L.A."] film review and analysis at "24 Lies A Second"
* [http://www.manhunter.net/cast/to_live_and_die_in_la_william_petersen.html William Petersen] image in film (press-kit photograph)