To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
L.A. will always be a cop’s vintage playground.
Presentation:
Willem Friedkin makes a popcorn action flick of an obsessed cop chasing a counterfeiter. This is one of his more commercial films with less exposition and some quirky artistic elements intercut throughout the film. The film starts out strong carried by Willem Dafoe’s charisma, but the film gets progressively worse over time. The performances are comically exaggerated, plot is absurd, some characters are pointless, but the saving grace are the kinetic action sequences. This film is known for it’s car chases and stunts involving real trains that will likely not be replicated again. It delivers the popcorn and definitely has more realism than modern films, but is still behind films like Police Story.
Conclusion:
In terms of plot, this might be a 2. It’s offensively bad and not at the caliber of Friedkin’s body of work, but there are some moments of pure entertainment that make this film worth watching. As long as you never expect anything more than a mindless popcorn flick, you should be good. But if you’re expecting any substance at all, you might end up wanting to throw yourself in front of a moving train.
Recommendations
L.A. will always be a cop’s vintage playground.