To Live and Die in L.A.
To Live and Die in L.A. is a 1985 American neo-noir action crime thriller film directed and co-written by William Friedkin and based on the 1984 novel by former United States 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.
Plot
After foiling an assassination attempt on President Reagan, Secret Service agents Richard Chance and Jimmy Hart are assigned as counterfeiting investigators in the Los Angeles field office. Chance has a reputation for reckless, impulsive behavior and, unbeknownst to his superiors in the Service, is also corrupt. Hart is three days away from retirement. Alone, Hart stakes out a warehouse in the desert thought to be a print house of counterfeiter and artist Eric "Rick" Masters, and is killed by Masters and his bodyguard, Jack. Chance proclaims to his new partner, John Vukovich, that he will take Masters down no matter what.
More details
| author | Gerald Petievich William Friedkin |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Los Angeles |
| director | William Friedkin |
| editor | M. Scott Smith |
| events | United States Secret Service |
| genre | action crime thriller |
| keywords | assassination attempt brief burning man corrupt counterfeit down payment end engage extortion fbi fbi agent federal bureau of investigation front money kill meet palm springs police corruption president president of the united states reagan ronald reagan secret service set up sixth street viaduct spring sting operation surveillance turn union station |
| musicBy | Wang Chung |
| producer | Bud S. Smith Irving H. Levin |
| productionCompany | New Century Productions SLM Production Group United Artists |
| publisher | MGM/UA Entertainment Co. |
| recordedAt | Malibu |
| theme | chase independent neo-noir |