When his longtime partner on the force is killed, reckless U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance vows to stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who murdered his partner.
On its own terms, it's a considerable success, though it's a film that sacrifices everything in the interests of style.
Reel Film Reviews
January 13, 2004
To Live and Die in L.A. is undeniably very well made - from the performances to the more technical aspects - but the bottom line is, it's just not all that compelling.
A profoundly ambivalent motion picture... completely upends every convention of its hidebound genre without even seeming to notice that it has done so.
Friedkin's 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A. may be one of his very best, though it did not reach the level of acclaim and support of his earlier films.
The film isn't just about cops and robbers, but about two systems of doing business, and how one of the systems finds a way to change itself in order to defeat the other.
There's not much substance here, but the film ... showcases a grabber of a car chase that compares favorably with the classic one from Friedkin's The French Connection.
Seanax.com
February 17, 2010
[William] Friedkin creates a jittery atmosphere of adrenaline and corruption and danger...
