To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)
Directed by William Friedkin Produced by Irving H. Levin Bud S. Smith Written by Story: Gerald Petievich Screenplay: William Friedkin Gerald Petievich Starring William L. Petersen Willem Dafoe John Pankow Dean Stockwell John Turturro Music by Wang Chung Cinematography Robby Müller Distributed by United Artists Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release date(s) November 1, 1985 Running time 116 minutes Country United States Language English
To Live and Die in L.A. is an American thriller film directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel written by former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. The film features William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, John Pankow, among others. Wang Chung composed and performed the original music soundtrack. The film tells the story of the lengths to which two Secret Service agents go to arrest a counterfeiter.
Richard Chance (Petersen) is a Secret Service agent for the U.S. Treasury with a reputation in the department for reckless behavior. His partner, Jimmy Hart (Michael Greene) is days away from retirement, but takes on one last mission to investigate counterfeiter Rick Masters (Dafoe). After Hart is killed by Masters' bodyguard, Chance is outraged and seeks revenge. Chance explains his outlook to his new partner, John Vukovich (Pankow) this way:
Let me tell you something, amigo. I'm gonna bag Masters, and I don't give a shit how I do it. The two T-men try to track down Masters, to no avail. Chance and Vukovich finally engage Masters by posing as potential counterfeiting clients interested in Masters' services.
Chance and Vukovich eventually break the law in their relentless pursuit of Masters. In order to get enough money to convince Masters that they are "real" clients, they kidnap and steal the money from a man who, unbeknownst to them, is an undercover F.B.I. agent. In a wild chase through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles, the F.B.I. agent is accidentally shot to death by his own men.
Later, Chance once again meets with Masters, and pays him the "front money" that Masters has requested. The two agents go through with the transaction, even when Masters implies that he knows they stole the money from the F.B.I. undercover agent. During a set-up transaction, Chance tries to arrest Masters and his bodyguard, but the bodyguard pulls a shotgun from a locker and shoots Chance in the face, at the same time Chance shoots the bodyguard in the chest. They both die.
Masters briefly gets away, but Vukovich gives chase, eventually locating Masters at a warehouse Masters uses to produce his counterfeit money. At the time of Vukovich's arrival, Masters has already set fire to the contents of the warehouse. Vukovich confronts Masters and during a brief struggle, Vukovich is knocked unconscious. Masters covers Vukovich with shredded paper and just before Masters lights Vukovich on fire, Vukovich recovers and shoots Masters, who then drops his lighter and lights himself ablaze in the process. Vukovich survives and Masters perishes in the blaze.
After Masters' death, Masters' attorney gives his estate to his girlfriend, Bianca. Without showing much remorse, she rides away in Masters' black Ferrari with her new companion, a woman named Serena given to her as a present by Masters.
In the last scene, Vukovich pays Chance's informant, Ruth, a visit just as she's packing up to leave L.A. for good. He mentions Chance's death, that she had known that the man they stole the advance money from was FBI, and that Chance had left her with the leftover front money that his agency now wants back. All this leads to a surprise for Ruth: "You're working for me now". And with that, Chance lives on through Vukovich.
Language: English 5.1
Subs: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Greek, Slovenian, Croation
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen 16:9 PAL