Plot: What’s it about?
The year is 1985. I was almost reaching double digits and my house made great use of our VCR. Lucky for us, the mom-and-pop video store that we belonged to was just down the street from us and what was great was the owners like to give us the inside track on little hidden treasure rentals that were in the movies, didn’t do as well, but were worth the rent. One of those rentals answered a question of where some great instrumental music advertising movies on a local channel’s Saturday or Sunday afternoon/night movie came from. It was a piece from the group Wang Chung from the score that they did for a William Friedkin thriller called To Live and Die in L.A. Not too long after that discovery, I was introduced to the film with the score intact and from that moment on, it became one of my first intriguing movie rental experiences.
Richard Chance (William L. Petersen) is a Secret Service agent out for revenge at any cost. After a lead on a counterfeiter named Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) results in the death of his partner, Chance stretches every law in the book to catch his man even at the cost of his new partner’s (John Pankow) sanity.
It seems like every decade since the 1970’s, William Friedkin has put his stamp on the gritty authority cat-and mouse thriller complete with a quotable intelligent screenplay (which in this case he wrote with the author of the book), first rate filmmaking and an amazing chase scene either by foot, by car or in some occasions, both. This film is no exception and turns up top notch performances from it’s ensemble, as well as some twists, turns and a surprise or two along the way.
Like I said at the beginning of the piece, one of my favorite aspects of this movie is the score by Wang Chung. I also noticed use of their big hit “Dance Hall Days” in one scene. Every time I think about the movie the score plays in the back of my head and I want to see the movie again and I’m glad to see that the film is back in the hands of it’s original studio MGM and given the Special Edition treatment on DVD.
Video: How does it look?
MGM has provided the first widescreen presentation of this movie in any medium and I will say after so many years of seeing it pan and scan, it was well worth the wait. The gritty 80’s look of L.A. in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio has a softness of colors which was a common thing in most mid-80’s movies, but it also had a pretty clean print free of most scratches and dirt without oversaturating the soft colors as well as a nice levels of blacks. As mentioned by Friedkin on the commentary track, this is the best that the movie could look with the source materials that they had and despite minor flaws, this is a satisfactory transfer.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix is quite a vibrant one, especially with Wang Chung’s score. It blasts with the gunshots and heavy breathing during the car chase. The dialogue balances out nicely indeed from the center to the effects and the score in all channels. A very good track for this DVD. This disc also has a French surround track, a Spanish mono track plus English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
MGM has done great jobs with extras for their Special Editions in the past and provides valuable extras for this one as well. First off, we’re treated to an audio commentary with the director William Friedkin. He shares a lot of great stories on this track as well as covering all filmmaking grounds nicely not drifting too much into screen description. A very entertaining track and worth many listens.
Also included is a documentary called “Counterfeit World: The Making of To Live and Die in L.A.” and it is a wonderful addition including most of the main players in the film along with the director and some of the crew. It does repeat some of the info from the commentary as well as additional thoughts from the cast. A very well put together 22 minutes by Michael Arick, who’s also done impressive documentary work on Friedkin’s The Hunted DVD.
In addition, there is both a deleted scene and an alternate ending which can be seen individually or with a featurette preceding it and hearing the anecdotes about it’s inclusion and eventual disclusion from the original cut is most interesting.
Finally, there is a photo gallery (my favorite is pic #1) as well as a theatrical teaser and trailer along with a DVD trailer for La Femme Nikita and Fargo and a theatrical trailer for Dark Blue.
In conclusion, To Live and Die in L.A. stands as one of the better single disc Special Edition releases by MGM as well as one of the best single disc releases of 2003.
