Purely quintessential 80's cinema- a blood laced, coke-induced thrill ride set to the timeless backdrop of a neon sunset and the eternally melodic bars of Wang Chung.

Possibly William Friedkin's masterpiece.

Well that's one way to end a film.

“Uncle Sam don’t give a shit about your expenses. You want bread, fuck a baker.”

80’s defined: music, clothes, chases yet always with an underlying dark soul. 

Kinetic direction, beautiful sunsets, blood spatters, naked informers.

This is Friedkin basking in the corrupt L.A. lifestyle where style rules.

Petersen and Defoe are equal parts antagonist and it’s brilliant to watch.

Zowee, I sure do love cycles of moral degradation

Should've expected something this bizarre and expertly crafted from a Friedkin neo-noir. The tragic buddy duo at the center is great, but this would be NOTHING without Dafoe's art hoe counterfeiter antagonist. Such a perfect blend of goofy and terrifying.

It's goddamn criminal how good that W a n g C h u n g score is.

[Blu-Ray]

William Petersen doesn't know how to fail. Just great in everything. Most people don't respect how great this movie is. It's dark, realistic and gritty.

Somewhere in there it feels like a noir of sorts attached to a classic crime cop drama that has been broken, butchered and burned to fit Friedkin’s filmmaking preferences. Set inside an extra extravagant 80s shell and combined with a wilder and more ruthless approach to the genre this was a rather enjoyable watch...

It’s not a perfect film, but even for the ability to grasp what this genre piece seems to want to achieve, it’s still excitingly alive and uncontrolled in its rather controlled environment. The acting is awesome, the directing slick but sleazy and the car chase is well worth the wait.

I enjoyed it.

Badass car chases, Willem Dafoe as a baddie, and Wang Chung scores. This is peak 80s.

When are people going to finally admit that Wang Chung's soundtrack for To Live and Die in L.A. deserves to be in the pantheon of great film scores?

Also, William Petersen's leading man status died for your sins. Guy had the charisma of a, say, Kurt Russell or Ray Liotta. Should have been much bigger.

In terms of style this is basically Friedkin predicting what Mann would pioneer what Mann was doing with Miami Vice and Thief, bringing it to the operatic heights that Mann, Refn, and others would soon imitate. In that regard this film is incredibly influential and masterfully made, but aaaaagggggh this script and Petersen's lead performance. He's a loose cannon in the most hammy and uninteresting way possible, and compared to Dafoe's almost satanic majesty he can't possibly compete. It doesn't help how like pretty much all of Friedkin's movies this has some pretty obvious reactionary streaks. At the same time, there's the magnificent showdown at the end, so I can more than live with it, though I'd never die for this film.

William Petersen was the epiphany of hot in this movie. The movie is a pretty great gritty crime film, but yeah William Petersen and his hotness was the highlight of this movie for me. The nudity in this movie was out of control! Yet I appreciate that all the men were just as naked as the women, now that’s equality people!

I mean, the locations, compositions and lighting are cool but holy shit I found this unwatchable. It feels like the product of a bunch of coked up idiots thinking they had any idea how to write or edit a film.