CLASSIC REVIEW: To Live and Die in LA

SCRIBE'S DESCENT INTO MORAL AMBIGUITY BY WAY OF THE SEWER REVIEW:

It’s funny to see one of your favorite childhood movies again as an adult many, many years later. A certain measure of nostalgia naturally occurs, but very often you find yourself watching the film from an entirely different perspective. In some cases, unfortunately, the films don’t hold up to the test of time and become a symbol of regret followed by a pointless wish that you could forget you’d watch it as an adult and hold onto your memories instead.

To Live and Die in LA is one of those films.

Featuring for the first time in film history a group of modern-day bad-ass Treasury Agents, this film was the Eighties equivalent of The French Connection with William Petersen in the Popeye Doyle role. Except, this law enforcement official is really no better than the psychotic counterfeiter he’s chasing, played by an intensely evil Willem Dafoe. What makes him so bad, you ask? He’s a slave-owner.

No, seriously. He keeps a former prostitute as his own personal squeeze toy. The woman (Darlanne Fluegel, the official Eighties cop flick wife) basically exists to pleasure him when he needs it and serves as a sounding board when he needs to unload what little feelings he has. He’s also breaking in a new partner and seems bound and determined to turn him into a bitter, hateful bastard as well.

The film is sufficiently violent and gritty but what it’s sorely missing is a personal stake on the part of the viewer. One of my short stories was recently criticized because it didn’t have any likable characters in it and, while I strongly disagree that that’s a necessity, we should at least be interested in what’s happening. I’ve never really considered counterfeiting to be a heinous crime so Dafoe’s character seems a bit over the top. Besides, unless you’re a law and order type, there is no one to root for and nothing to care about.

To Live and Die in LA is an Eighties film featuring a Seventies style anti-hero but somebody forgot to make him even remotely relatable. What results is a series of well-crafted, pre-CGI stunt and action pieces punctuated with reprehensible human beings trying to kill each other for personal beefs that don’t translate well on screen. There is a shocking moment in the film that is still very effective where, without giving too much away, the dynamics change dramatically in an instant. But again there’s no emotional investment.

Still, if you’re looking for a morally bankrupt tale of avarice and human vice, look no further. Eighties Brit Pop group Wang Chung’s musical score serves the film well as it elevates some of the moments from cheesy to transcendental. It is, ironically, the only thing about this film that holds up, which is probably why it’s still one of my favorite soundtracks.

Sometimes memory lane is not the street we remember.

** out of *****

GREEN'S "YOU'RE WORKING FOR ME NOW" REVIEW:

This movie was recommended to me by a couple of my friends at work back in February. Naturally, having never seen it before, I was willing to take a chance.

The story begins when a secret service agent is killed investigating a counterfeit operation who gets too close to the bad guys in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Enter William Chance, played by William Petersen (of CSI fame), a fanatical, live by the seat of your pants secret service agent who seeks revenge for the murder of his partner. Eric Masters, played by Willem Dafoe, is the artist/counterfeiter/bad guy du jour. Chance's new partner is the straight laced John Vukovich, played by John Pankow. Chance vows to take Masters down any way possible, dragging Vukovich along for the ride.

The story has a gritty, live feel to it. Thanks to the benefit of twenty four years and an excellent "making of" featurette included on the DVD, we learn that much of the movie is improvisation and shooting on the fly by director William Friedkin. Many times Friedkin told his actors that they were doing a rehearsal but had the camera rolling and captured many scenes on the very first take.

This is not your typical buddy-buddy cop film or good guy-bad guy film. Both the good guys and bad guys are extremely flawed, driven by greed, hubris and a lust for money and power. There is a fine line separating the good guys from the bad guys which make the characters interesting because you never quite know which way a scene will turn until it's done. The car chase sequence is excellently shot and edited. You can feel the fear of Pankow's character sitting in the back seat of the car being jostled about during the chase.

Petersen is excellent in this role and Dafoe is one of the most fluent actors working today, being able to play both good guys and bad guys with equal ease and believability. The supporting cast is also excellent and features John Turturro, Dean Stockwell, Darlanne Fluegel and Robert Downey, Sr.

The plot twist Scribe mentions above certainly threw me off. I totally was not expecting to see what I saw. Nor was I expecting, but might have predicted had I thought about it, the scene at the end of the movie, from which I drew my title for this review.

Before I read that Wang Chung, that crazy 80's British one hit wonder band, did the soundtrack I hardly would have believed it. Yet they did an admirable job with it.

I found this film to be exciting and edgy and well worth the $10 I spent to buy the DVD.

**** out of *****