antoniocasaca123 A fabulous William Friedkin Police Thriller that was a little forgotten, due to the director's previous works having been failures, after the successes of "the exorcist" and "the french conection", this last one winning the Oscar of better film and Friedkin the Oscar for Best Director. The film is frantic and explosive, has a dizzying development and action, true scenes of anthology and fantastic performances, especially of William Petersen (I still do not understand why this actor did not become a star) and Willem Dafoe. In addition, there are innumerable unusual surprises in the movies of the genre. In my opinion, the best Police Thriller of the 80s.

Aleksandar Sarkic I really love William Friedkin movies, i have enjoyed Sorcerer and The French Connection, and especially Cruising which is not so popular among the critics (how are they wrong). So after these three movies i wanted to watch more from Friedkin and have choosed To Live and Die in L.A as next. I suppose i choosed these one because of the title, and because it is from the 80's which is one of my favorite decades. I have expected some good thriller/crime in the vein of magnificent The French Connection but i was totally wrong, these movie is totally cheesy from start to finish. The plot is nothing special, the movie just goes but nothing happens at all till the end. Than we go to the main reason i didn't like these one, it is the acting. Except phenomenal Williem Defoe other cast is just disastrous. Williem Petersen and John Pankow are the pair of your dreams ha-ha i am kidding, they are so out of charisma, unoticable, boring and cheesy, especially the acting of Williem Petersen it is on the level of B-movies actors. Other supportive cast is also not worth mentioning. And on all of that just add the soundtrack of British band Wang Chung, i really like 80s music and soundtracks, but these soundtrack is not going well with the movie and even gives more b-movie atmosphere. I just give this movie 5 from 10 because of great charismatic acting by Williem Defoe, and phenomenal car chase near the end of the movie, but my advice is to skip this one, you will not regret, and you will save your precious time.

Alyssa Black (Aly200) William Friedkin of "The Exorcist" fame went back to his crime film roots with this well executed action thriller based on a former LAPD agent's book of the same name. The story is relatively simple at the start as the film has two officers (William Petersen and John Pankow) of the U.S. Secret Service out to catch a notorious counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed the partner of one of the agents. The narrative takes several twists and turns as the agents race to take down their target, but keep learning along the way that it won't be an easy task to catch a smart criminal mastermind without prices being paid for their dedication.As the heroes (or in Petersen's character's case, an anti-hero), Petersen and Pankow display a unique chemistry that keeps their characters on opposite sides of the same case; Petersen's Chance will go beyond the law to catch their counterfeiter prey while Pankow's Vukovich is the by-the-books agent who soon learns he must go outside the rules to get the man they are after. The show primarily belongs to William Petersen's Chance as he is the driving force for the action since he is the one whose partner is killed early in the film. Petersen oozes a brash personality that counters the more reserved and just Vukovich that John Pankow plays.Playing the film's villain in one of his earliest starring roles is the ever charismatic and talented Willem Dafoe as the calculating and brutal Rick Masters. He is the counterfeiting mastermind Chance and Vukovich are desperately chasing, but Masters is always a step ahead. From brutally executing Chance's first partner, Jim Hart, to his masterful counterfeiting operation to even more crueler slayings for anyone who double-crosses him, Dafoe keeps a sinister charm to his portrayal of Masters and conveys his quiet intelligence with his trademark soft-spoken voice. Friedkin helped write the film's screenplay with some assistance from source writer, Gerald Petevich, and Petevich's brother. The director quite easily has control of their script which is clear from what is shown on-screen. However this does not dumb down the tension of the film as the clock ticks down the days and time of the action. If you want a pot-boiling action film that will have on the edge of your seat, I recommend this film.

vandelour So much potential, such bad casting. I'm giving this film a 3..no, on second thought make that a 4 only because I generally like Friedkins view on the world (Sorcerer, Fr Connection) and he always gets good camera-work out of his stuff. But this film… my god, the acting of Petersen and Pankow is beyond ridiculous. Everything about those two is ridiculous, dialog, behavior, the way they dress… it absolutely cripples the movie. Turrturo was excellent as was Dafoe. The rest of the cast was fine but when you have two disco-zombies like Petersen and Pankow prancing around in their tight levis, flashing skin, Petersen stumbling along in his high-heel cowboy boots, both of 'em doing some heavy male 'bonding' and then the final scene involving Pankow - - which is so utterly ridiculous (I know I'm using this word a lot here but dammit it fits) that I laughed out loud, well, even a Friedkin fan has to choke on his popcorn.Good chase scene though. And given the latest revelations regarding the 'professionalism' of the Secret Cervix, maybe its not that far off.