A crime thriller classic with high kinetic action scenes that rank amongst some of the best the action packed 1980s offered, To Live and Die in L.A. saw William Friedkin at the top of his filmmaking prowess with a cops and criminals tale of masterful execution.
To Live and Die in L.A. stars William Peterson as Richard Chance, a Secret Service agent in hot pursuit of cunning and vicious money counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe). Chance’s obsession with arresting the evasive Masters ventures into dangerous and even unethical territory, Friedkin exploring that thin blue line between the law and revenge.
Peterson is excellent as the cop who will do anything and use anyone to get his man, and Dafoe also delivers the goods as a yuppie, avant-garde criminal not shy on pulling the trigger. A car chase sequence through L.A.’s Terminal Island Freeway still stands as one of cinemas best, even rivalling Friedkin’s own work in The French Connection.
