TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.

Director William Friedkin had one helluva career trifecta in the 1970s. First, there was THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) which scored eight Academy Award nominations winning five including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Gene Hackman), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Friedkin followed up that classic, gritty urban crime film with the landmark and groundbreaking horror film, THE EXORCIST (1973), which earned ten Academy Award nominations (a staggering number for a horror film), but won only two: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound Mixing. The third film, SORCERER (1977) was a remake of the French adventure thriller THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953). The film earned one Academy Award nomination (Best Sound) and although it met with tepid critical and commercial reception at the time, has since undergone a much needed critical reevaluation and reappraisal and is seen as one of Friedkin's best films.

Not so his next three pictures. THE BRINK'S JOB (1978), CRUISING (1980) and DEAL OF THE CENTURY (1983) were all misfires on various levels with CRUISING being perhaps the most egregious offender of the trio. So, by the middle of the 1980s, Friedkin was in need of a hit, something substantial and solid that would redeem his reputation as one of the best American directors to come out of the New Hollywood second golden age of the 1970s.

Friedkin found inspiration in the novel TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985), which was written by former U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich (who collaborated with Friedkin on the screenplay). TO LIVE was a throwback to THE FRENCH CONNECTION in many ways. But this time, instead of the mean streets of New York, Friedkin sets the action in the sun-drenched locale of Los Angeles. Like CONNECTION, TO LIVE features an obsessed cop, in this case, U.S. Treasury agent Richard Chance (William L. Petersen) whose partner is gunned down only two days before his retirement by master counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe). Chance swears to avenge his partner's death and bring down Masters by using any means necessary, even if that requires Chance and his new partner, John Vukovich (John Pankow) to break the law themselves.

And like CONNECTION, the set piece of TO LIVE is a hell-and-gone car chase in which Chance ends up furiously driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic on an LA freeway. While not quite as good as the CONNECTION chase, it's nonetheless a hair-raising, white-knuckle piece of bravura action film making.

Stylishly shot by cinematographer Robby Muller, and fully utilizing a myriad of Los Angeles locations, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is a first-rate neo noir that uncovers the darkness lurking in the shadows of the City of Angels, especially the darkness that festers in men's souls, blurring the line between heroes and villains.

My only complaint about the film is the musical score by Wang Chung. Heavy on the synthesizer, this uber-annoying sonic swill permeates almost every frame of the film. It's a sound that represents everything that was truly awful about the music of the 1980s, which was perhaps one of the worst decades for popular music in history. Truly terrible.

Bad music aside, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is still well-worth seeing. The performances are solid, the screenplay is first rate, the action and violence well staged and effective and Friedkin's stylish direction marks a return to his previous form.

Recommended.