To Live and Die in L.A.

The insightful things that William Friedkin (Cruising, the Exorcist) said in "Decade Under the Influence" stimulated me to watch his 1985 adaptation with former U. S. Army Intelligence Special Agent Gerald Petievich of Petievich's novel To Live and Die in L.A. . That had the somewhat odd effect of raising my esteem for "The French Connection." "Live/Die" has more chases even than "Connection," with some good on-foot ones, and a car chase even more spectacular with more vehicular mayhem and more high-angle perspectives than the justly famed one in " The FrenchConnection." As "Popeye" Doyle, "The French Connection" also has a relatively developed, Oscar-winning performance from Gene Hackman.

The performances in "Live/Die" are more of the caliber of Roy Schreider in "The FrenchConnection": although Schreider was Oscar-nominated, there was nothing out of the ordinary in his performance, and the Secret Service agents (future tv regulars William L. Petersen and John Pankow) on the trail of an elusive counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) across LA are similarly unimpressive stock conflicted-lawmen characters. Dafoe's smirking Masters seems a refugee from Batman's Gotham. As Masters's lawyer, Dean Stockwell is good, and John Turturo stands out as one of Masters's devious mules. (Looking for Robert Downey, Jr., I missed Robert Downey, Sr.)

There is some quite graphic violence and gratuitous nudity involving Dafoe, Petersen, and Debra Feuer, and a harsh ending.

The plot, involving a sting within a sting, cannot stand up to rational scrutiny. The jaggedly shot action scenes largely block any such contemplation. In that none of the characters (after the first 10 minutes) is remotely likable or sympathetic, it is a tribute to Friedkin's skills as an action director that he can get adrenaline pumping even without audience identification with the characters in mortal danger. However, there are scenes that drag and provide opportunity to think about the implausibility of what is being shown and the ineptness of the dialogue lines.

The cinematography by Robby Muller (Repo Man) is superb. Wang Chung's techno musical is evocative of the music videos of the mid-1980s--which is the polite way to say that it has dated badly.

The DVD includes Friedkin providing anecdotes about technical matters, the horrendous studio ending that was avoided, a scene that shouldn't have been diluted, but that should have been cleaned up for inclusion on disc, a late Valentine from Dafoe to Friedkin, a taut half-hour making-of feature, and some trailers. The sound and visual transfers are excellent.

Definitely a "guy movie" and "visceral," the movie is also unbelievable and, depending on one's perspective, cynical or nitty-gritty about Secret Service internal politics and breaking laws to bring down criminals.

© 2007, Stephen O. Murray