To Live And Die In L.A. (Special Edition) (1985)

When a notorious, highly sophisticated counterfeiter murders his partner, Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen) launches a furious vendetta to capture the man responsible. But master counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) is always just one step ahead of Chance. Clashing with one bureaucratic road block after another, Chance is forced to break the rules in order to obtain enough cash for a sting operation, in the hope of bringing Masters down. The risks he takes soon spiral out of control though, leading to a wave of violence with moral reprecussions, taking Chance down to a morally ambiguous road from which there may be no return.

One of the things that makes To Live And Die In L.A. work is the fact that the hero isn't exactly a saint. In fact, he can be as "dastardly", as the villian of the film, doing things that are just as awful. Petersen goes to those darker places and gives a great perfomance. Based on Gerald Petievich's novel, the script, written by Friedkin and Petievich, allows for plenty of drama and action. As director and the "father" of the modern car chase, Friedkin almost tops the one he crafted for the aforementioned film, The French Connection...Almost.

For its DVD debut, MGM has put together a nice special edition, complete with some fine extras. The talky audio commentary from Friedkin is a good...but I wonder if it wouldn't have turned out better if Petersen sat in for it as well? The 30 minute documentary,"Counterfeit World: The Making of To Live and Die in L.A." is a nice retropective--some info from the commentary is repeated here though. There's also a deleted scene and the very controversial alternate ending, that caused a stir at the time in '85, for all to see in a featurette. A photo gallery and the theatrical trailer top off the bonus material.

As I said at the outset, To Live And Die In L.A., is well worth a look, for both fans and newcomers alike.

That it was also near introductory roles for Will Petersen and Willem Dafoe almost adds to the rawness of the plot, actors and the roles they play really living on the edge, taking chances. The solitary confinement of 'the job,' the apocryphal manly humor, the viciousness of the bad guys . . . and the good guys, reminds me of McQueen's role in "Bullit," notwithstanding that Bullit's car chase (in that beautiful Mustang) is the only one that comes close to this car chase on the Long Beach Freeway. This one may be the better of the two.

The fine line between the good guys and the bad guys blurs and at times becomes indistinguishable. Also interesting to note is the osmosis whereby, albeit reluctantly, the character played by the confused partner, John Vukovitch (John Pankow) eventually transforms to the character played by Will Petersen (Richard Chance), much like the transformation of Jon Voight into Burt Reynold's character in "Deliverance."

The cinematography is superlative; the techno-rock soundtrack by Wang Chung almost a speaking part throughout the movie. One of the best. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury