To Live and Die in L. A. (1985)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

To Live and Die in L. A. (1985) – W. Friedkin

A genre film but refreshing in its totally Eighties choices, especially music (soundtrack by Wang Chung!), fashion, and art design. Still director William Friedkin takes his cues straight from his earlier Seventies hit, The French Connection (1971), in a story that also sees law enforcement, this time a US Secret Service officer (William Peterson), willing to break all the rules (and the law) to catch the main perp (there’s also a similar crazy car chase, but this time the cops are being pursued!).  It’s fascinating to see a young Willem Dafoe as the villain, a counterfeiter (but also an artist –the two go hand-in-hand?) and a young John Turturro as a ruthless bad guy on his payroll. Dean Stockwell is also here as a dodgy lawyer, closer in tone to his part in Paris, Texas (1984) than in Blue Velvet (1986)  -- the former was also shot by Robby Muller who shot this film. To its credit, the plot doesn’t exactly adhere to generic expectations, more downbeat (and violent) than usual, with an abrupt twist that I didn’t see coming (and a not entirely satisfying ending). But for untaxing action fare, it’s not too bad.