Movie review: ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’

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Some films offer a lot of style and only some substance (“The Warriors” for example has a wonderful opening montage but the rest of the film doesn’t live up to its visual chic in the first few minutes – click here to read my review) but then there are those that have style and the filmmaking and acting muscle to back it up. “To Live and Die in L.A.” from 1985 is one of those films and it’s a flashy, tough and gritty spin through a segment of the underworld that’s not often explored in films – namely counterfeiting. The film has it all: action, a creative plot and energetic work by both headliners and the supporting cast. It’s relatively easy to find, so check it out, especially if you haven’t heard about it.

‘To Live and Die in L.A.’
(1985; 116 minutes; rated R; directed by William Friedkin and starring William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe and John Pankow)

A STYLISH WAY TO TELL A GRITTY STORY

(NOTE: I reorganized and expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on March 22, 2020. I again expanded the review on Feb. 21, 2025.)

The mid-1980s saw a resurgence of style that arrived mostly through the influence of television and MTV videos. We were a country finally recovered from the hangover from the end of Vietnam in 1975, through the dreary years following with Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter as our presidents. We were blasted by the style of TV’s “Miami Vice” in 1984 and the next year brought “To Live and Die in L.A.” with its hot-pastel graphics, Wang Chung soundtrack and action and erotic sophistication that not many films can combine.

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“To Live and Die in L.A.” is directed by William Friedkin, who won an Oscar for his direction of “The French Connection” (click here to read my review) and a nomination for “The Exorcist.” He also directed the edgy (for the time) “Cruising,” where Al Pacino went undercover in New York’s gay community. So, when “To Live and Die in L.A.” came out there was high expectations and while it didn’t set the box office on fire, it is much better than most of those ahead of it in ticket sales.

In “To Live and Die in L.A.,” William L. Petersen (he’s since dropped the “L.”) plays Secret Service agent “Richard Chance.” Petersen is a risk-taking, adventurous agent who likes to base jump bridges and he goes on a crusade to find counterfeiter “Rick Masters,” played by Willem Dafoe, when his partner is killed looking into a lead about the villain’s latest operation. Petersen will stop at nothing and uses every sleazy tool at his disposal, including his relationship with a woman he’s extorting because he has evidence that would send her back to prison.

After the death of his partner, Petersen gets a new one (“John Vukovich” played by John Pankow) and the duo begin targeting Dafoe. Along the way Dafoe murders a guy who tried to double-cross him; a somewhat crooked lawyer begins playing both sides of the fence; and the agents take a risk that ultimately leads to the death of an FBI agent. In the latter, the guys need “buy money” but their boss won’t authorize the amount needed, so they decide to rip off a criminal coming into town to buy stolen diamonds. Instead of a criminal, the man’s an undercover FBI agent and is accidentally killed after being kidnapped by the agents.

With everything falling to pieces, they get close to Dafoe and finally get him to give them the evidence they need. The climax is explosive and deadly and, in the end, Pankow has evolved to the persona that Peterson exuded and caps it by taking over the extortion of information from the woman.

“To Live and Die in L.A.” is a tight, complex drama that relies on the strength of the story but also benefits from a great car chase just as a now-iconic chase scene helped define Friedkin’s “The French Connection.”

Now, let me take a look at the top of the cast …

  • A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one) and three-time Primetime Emmy nominee, Petersen is really, really solid as the cocksure, ego-driven agent who obviously needs a crusade in his life. Although Friedkin kind of forces Petersen’s tough-guy persona with a rushed saving-the-president scene at the beginning, the actor does a great job showing the careless attitude with morals and ethics that is the soul of “Chance.” Petersen is the headliner in only his second film (his first was “Thief” with James Caan”). Petersen would go on to be the detective to introduce “Dr. Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter” in Michael Mann’s “Manhunter” – click here to read my review. “Manhunter” and that was remade as “Red Dragon” with Anthony Hopkins and Edward Norton and (although the character’s names is spelled “Lecktor” in the original). He was also in “Cousins” and “Mulholland Falls” and is most recognized for his work and received all his nominations for playing “Gil Grissom” in TV’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
  • A four-time Oscar nominee (not for this one), Dafoe has the task of playing the complicated, sophisticated counterfeiter. He’s superior but doesn’t lord it over people and Dafoe is just an excellent choice for playing this kind of emotionally deformed character. For some reason, Dafoe isn’t especially good in his confrontations with Petersen, but he is especially good dealing with other criminal characters. Dafoe was nominated for “Platoon,” “Shadow of the Vampire,” “The Florida Project” and “At Eternity’s Gate.” He’s also been in “Spider-Man,” “Flight of the Intruder” and the very grim and disturbing “Auto Focus.” He was a bit wasted as an actor in “Streets of Fire” (click here to read my review) and he was also in “Clear and Present Danger.”
  • The third part of the film’s leading triangle is Pankow, who starts slowly but exerts his talent as the film goes along. Pankow is the balance to the cowboy antics of Petersen and he looks comfortable in the headliner’s shadow until his final line in the film that reflects more talent that you saw until that moment. Pankow’s career has mostly been through TV roles, but he has done films such as “The Secret of My Succe$s” and “Talk Radio” with Eric Bogosian. I thought he was one of the few with an OK effort in “Johnny Be Good” – click here to read my review (an uncredited role with a surprising amount of screen time, but not surprising he didn’t want his name in this stinker’s credits).
  • Although Debra Feuer as “Bianca Torres” is credited above Darlanne Fluegel as “Ruth Lanier,” it is Fluegel who gets equal screen time in a tougher role. Both women are very good here – Feuer as the sultry girlfriend of Dafoe and Fluegel as the informant being extorted by Petersen – but Fluegel edges her peer here. Feuer, who is the erotic flame attracting Dafoe, has been in “Night Angel” while not having an acting credit since 2000 and Fluegel, who has a more promiscuous role, was in “Running Scared.” Oddly enough, Fluegel’s name was spelled “Fleugel” in the credits. Fluegel did not notch a acting credit between 2008 and her death in 2017 at 64 of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.

The two best supporting male actors are John Turturro as “Carl Cody,” who is running counterfeit money for Dafoe, and Dean Stockwell as “Bob Grimes,” who is the top-notch defense attorney who, like most of these characters, is slightly bent.

  • A three-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Turturro is solid as the inmate who escapes from Petersen. Turturro is one of the actor’s actor in Hollywood and you see it in all his work. He was nominated for his supporting role in Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show” and I thought he was totally solid in the poker flick “Rounders” (click here to read my review). His other nominations were for 2016’s TV mini-series “The Night Of” and the tee-vee series “Severance.”
  • An Oscar nominee and a two-time Golden Globe winner and four-time nominee (not for this one), Stockwell is cool and collected as the gold-standard attorney. Here’s another actor who knows how to comport himself when the camera’s on and does a great job with this role. Stockwell was nominated for an Oscar for “Married to the Mob” (click here to read my review) and was also in “The Rainmaker” and a number of TV roles. He was in the films “Gardens of Stone” and “Dune” and he notched 205 acting credits in a career starting in the last year of World War II (1945 at age 9 in “The Valley of Decision”) and spanning an incredible eight decades. Stockwell’s last acting credit was in 2015. He got his only Globe nomination in film for 1960’s “Sons and Lovers” and a win and three nominations for his best-remembered role on TV’s “Quantum Leap.” Stockwell, a native of California, died at 85 in 2021 in New Zealand.
  • One of my favorite supporting actors of the past, Steve James plays criminal “Jeff Rice” who runs afoul of Dafoe. James does his typically smooth work here and, like Pankow, was one of the few bright spots in the football flick “Johnny Be Good” (click here to read my review). He was also in “Weekend at Bernie’s II” and had a small role as “Guy at Table” in the Brat Pack classic “Weird Science” (click here to read my review). He was also uncredited in a brief spot in “Arthur” and was a “Baseball Fury” gang member in the flick “The Warriors” (click here to read my review). Tragically, James died very young at 41 of pancreatic cancer in 1993.

All-in-all, Friedkin managed with this one the next-to-impossible of credibly blending style and substance to a motion picture. Friedkin, whose nickname was “Hurricane Billy,” died at 87 of heart failure and pneumonia in 2023.

“To Live and Die in L.A.” was the 51st ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1985 with $17.5 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. The film was made on a budget of $6 million, according to Wiki. The No. 1 film of the year was “Back to the Future” with $210.6 million, while “Rambo: First Blood Part II” was second with $150.4 million. It’s sad to note that besides family fare which always is strong at the box office, “To Live and Die in L.A.” was beaten in sales by the overrated “Agnes of God” (34th with $25.6 million) and the should-have-been-better “Volunteers” (45th with $19.8 million). Here are the films from 1985 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Jane Leeves (she was “Leaves” here) has a small part as a dancer “Serena” and is best known for her work on TV’s “Frasier” and “Hot in Cleveland.”
  • Gary Cole, who would go on to be “Mr. Brady” in “The Brady Bunch Movie” and its sequel (click here for my review of the sequel) as well as the iconic boss “Bill Lumbergh” in the cult classic “Office Space” (click here for my review), was in his first movie here, but it was uncredited and he played a crook chased by Petersen.
  • Actor/director Robert Downey (father of you-know-who-junior) plays supervising agent “Thomas Bateman.” He does a good job and was also in that completely horrid “Johnny Be Good” (click here to read my review) as well as the critically acclaimed “Boogie Nights” with Burt Reynolds.
  • It’s a wonder no one was arrested because there are various reports that the filmmakers made fake money as part of the movie (and hired a convicted counterfeiter to advise them) and some of it got passed in stores. Friedkin is also quoted as saying he did pass the fake currency, which is a very serious federal crime.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “One Hollywood legend holds that Michael Mann sued William Friedkin for plagiarism over ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ He accused Friedkin of stealing the entire concept of Miami Vice (1984) and lost the lawsuit. However, William Friedkin himself has said, ‘Michael Mann and I have been good friends for 30 years…. nothing like this ever happened.’”

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