To Live and Die in LA (1985)

“We’re going this way”

Almost 15 years after the release of his breakout crime thriller The French Connection, William Friedkin returned to the genre with an adaptation of Gerald Petievich’s novel To Live and Die in LA. Petievich co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin, and together they shaping the characters for the screen. The story features baby-faced William Peterson and Willam Dafoe in their first major roles, as well as a host of other legends-to-be (John Turturro!). The story isn’t really about one character, instead it focuses on the never ending cycle of violence between cops and robbers. Everyone here is an adrenaline junkie - it's a messy, sweaty experience that will have you holding your breath by the end.

As with every Friedkin movie, the stories from behind the scenes are wild. The counterfeiting sequence got him in a bit of trouble with the FBI after some of the prop money made its way into the real world. He’d often do only a few takes, encouraging the actors to move around the set as they wanted and getting the cameras to follow them. There is a stunning car chase (it rivals the one in The French Connection) that took 6 weeks to shoot and put the film over budget by at least $1M. After Friedkin’s passing, Peterson reflected on that chase scene, saying that Friedkin “sent everybody home. It was me and [co-star] John Pankow and all the stunt guys. We were all over the city. We were down by the train, around the L.A. River — we were just running, gunning, getting shots. He shut down a whole freeway for two weekends so we could drive on the wrong side of it. Billy wouldn’t even have to look through the lens. Today, directors all sit by the monitors. They can be 200 yards from the scene you’re doing. Billy was there with us. He was a visceral filmmaker, period.”
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