To Live and Die in L.A. (film)
| To Live and Die in L.A. | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William Friedkin |
| Produced by |
Irving H. Levin Bud S. Smith |
| Screenplay by | William Friedkin Gerald Petievich |
| Based on |
To Live and Die in L.A. by Gerald Petievich |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Wang Chung |
| Cinematography | Robby Müller |
| Edited by | M. Scott Smith |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | MGM/UA Entertainment Co. |
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Release date
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Running time
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116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million |
| Box office | $17,307,019 |
To Live and Die in L.A. is a 1985 American action thriller film directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel by former U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. The film features William Petersen, Willem Dafoe and 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 and Jimmy Hart are United States Secret Service agents assigned as counterfeiting investigators in its Los Angeles field office. Chance has a reputation for reckless behavior, while Hart is three days away from retirement. Alone, Hart stakes out a warehouse in the desert thought to be a print house of counterfeiter Rick Masters. After Masters and Jack, his bodyguard, kill Hart, Chance explains to his new partner, John Vukovich, that he will take Masters down no matter what.
The two agents attempt to get information on Masters by putting one of his criminal associates, attorney Max Waxman, under surveillance. Vukovich falls asleep on watch, and consequently they fail to catch Masters in the act of murdering Waxman. While Vukovich wants to go by the book, Chance becomes increasingly reckless and unethical in his efforts to catch Masters. While Chance relies on his sexual-extortion relationship with parolee/informant Ruth for information, Vukovich meets privately with Masters' attorney, Bob Grimes. Grimes, acknowledging a potential conflict of interest that could ruin his legal practice, agrees to set up a meeting between his client and the two agents, who engage Masters by posing as bankers from Palm Springs interested in Masters' counterfeiting services. Masters is reluctant to work with them, but ultimately agrees to print them $1,000,000 worth of fake bills.
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