What Happened to To Live and Die in L.A?

To Live and Die in L.A. is considered a classic now, but this wasn’t always the case.

When he died this summer, a lot of director William Friedkin’s movies got new life as film fans dug into this filmography. Looking over his body of work, one of the interesting things to note is that he directed four films that could justifiably be called masterpieces, but only two of them were successful. There was The French Connection and The Exorcist, both of which raked in huge box office and are considered classics. But, there were also two flops that he made that are just as good as those films, one of which is 1977’s Sorcerer, and the other is 1985’s Secret Service thriller To Live and Die in L.A., which we’re digging into in this episode of WTF Happened to This Movie.

The film stars William Petersen (long before CSI) as a Secret Service agent after the counterfeiter who killed his partner. While that premise sounds old hat, Friedkin’s execution is anything but. Despite being our “hero,” Friedkin’s cop character is anything but heroic, while Willem Dafoe, as the cop-killing bad guy, is shown to be somewhat sympathetic. In his pursuit of his prey, Petersen’s character becomes a full-on criminal, dragging his young partner (John Pankow pre-Mad About You) into the abyss.

To Live and Die in L.A. contains the most realistic counterfeit bill-making ever put to screen, as well as a car chase that arguably beats Friedkin’s hair-raising pursuit in The French Connection. Plus, it’s all scored by an evocative score by New Wave band Wang Chung. It’s a masterpiece, but the making of the film was fraught for Friedkin, and after it came out, he’d never be given carte blanche in the same way again. So, WTF Happened to To Live and Die in L.A.? Let’s find out!

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This movie is actually the way that I learned to make counterfeit currency in training with the US Secret Service it’s a world of counterfeit money high-speed freeway chases and Wang Chong to Live and Die in LA would have one of William friedkin’s strangest Productions ever

And this is from the guy who brought us the Exorcist a movie with such a fabled production that many still consider it cursed To Live and Die in LA was played with lawsuits both at and by its director there too were run-ins with the treasury Department over counterfeit

Cash a cycle of disputes over residuals and so much more but that’s all just part of what makes it so damn good absolute dynamite and while it proved to be the sort of box office success William freaken needed it’s the cult status it has nearly 40 years on that

Keeps it going today so let’s find out what the [ __ ] happened to this movie but to get to To Live and Die in LA we have to glance at William friedkin’s post The Exorcist career his first outing after was 1977 sorcerer a box office bomb that played a key role

In the end of the new Hollywood era then came the Brinks job which showed freed can may not have had the most deaf hand at crime comedies after 1980s cruising which many considered homophobic and damaging to the LGBT community although it has since become embraced by the gay

Community came deal of the century a dreadful quasi comedy which you may have never even heard of in short fredin needed a hit because he had cooled faster than rean mcneel’s PE soup for his next film he wanted to analyze the thin line between good and evil and also

The thin line that exists in each and every one of us that’s what my films are about he said that’s what to Live and Die in LA is about to Live and Die in LA came to fredin in the form of a manuscript written by Gerald pavich a 15-year veteran secret service agent

Freeden was drawn to the story not just because of the Secret Service aspect but all of the counterfeiting the money the relationship the personalities as freed can put it I thought to Live and Die in LA was about a counterfeit World counterfeit emotions counterfeit money the counterfeit superstructure of the

Secret Service everyone in the film has a counterfeit motive and so with the manuscript purchased casting could begin playing secret service agent Richard chance subtle name there was William Peterson cast after reading less than one page of the script described by freeden as a guy who who might piss on

Your mother’s grave but you’d forgive him chance gave Peterson just the sort of character he could chew on next came counter fitter Rick Masters first scene in an incredible opening that shows counterfeiting as an Arc and why he seen painting early on portrayer will defo who did some of the work on screen was one over after freakin and casting director Bob Wier who also worked on The French Connection mostly because of his angular face rounding out the core cast would be John

Pankow as secret service agent John vukovich brought in by Peterson himself darland flugal as Ruth laneer John tuturo and Dean Stockwell while some of these actors would grow Fame as the years went on in 1985 they were virtual nobodies Peterson had a bit part in Michael man’s Thief also an LA Centric

Movie with a rad 8 score defo had yet to break out with platoon pankow had small bits in The Hunger in First Blood Part Two but can be tough to spot flugo had small roles in the Eyes of Laura Mars and Once Upon a Time in America tuturo

Had yet to be a [ __ ] Lee favorite and really only Dean Stockwell had had a career hey he’s the boy with the green hair even off pic got a cameo on P get half yard which was nice of freaken considering there are discrepancies between the two as to who did the bulk

Of rewrites and scene changes considering that we wonder who takes credit for the boring recycled I was days from retirement storyline the cast was devoted taking low salaries as if most even had a chance to keep the budget tight and to have the opportunity to work with William friedkin with a

Budget of $6 million a sixth of frein’s last movie highlighting his position in Hollywood at the time to Live and Die in LA commenced production one of the key hires early on was cinematographer Robbie Mueller who picked his own nonunion crew which also kept cost down and allowed for a more

Free shoot interestingly Mueller didn’t spell out that the movie is partly set Before Christmas which we only know because of a date at the bottom of the screen after all this is not a postcard of Los Angeles it’s far from it like his director Mueller liked to maintain a

Loose ethic to generate authenticity fredkin trusted his actors to collaborate and figure scenes out sometimes abandoning them entirely during the pre-production phase as it turns out fredkin hates rehearsing and so would film pre-production rehearsals and sometimes use those shots in the final film for example when it came time

To the airport Chase fredin was concerned that production would get tossed out of the airport after Peterson’s running on the terminal divider I said Billy that thing is that’s great we got to do that it’s great he goes yeah I agree and so he pretended that it was a mere rehearsal

And if it just so happens that you forget and jump up there anyway except he actually filmed it and that’s the version we see and of course they were all down on his they were screaming and yelling Billy’s like well he did it I didn’t you know I didn’t tell him to do

It I told him not to do it why did you do that building on freakin style and approach to the actors he told his cinematographer just shoot them try and keep them in frame if they’re not in the frame they’re not in the movie and that’s their problem still one shouldn’t

Be confused here both fredkin and Mueller are still remarkably planned and calculated artists they just know how to make it appear otherwise other people on the set all times were Consultants on counterfeiting with one even standing in for defo at times speaking of defo comments he made to the LA Times would

Result in one pissed off fredkin as defo told the newspaper I do get annoyed when you are told to be aggressive or sadistic when the character isn’t always required to be I’d suggest a lighter touch and Billy would say it’s inappropriate fredkin would attack the LA times for even suggesting he has

Quote an aggressive or sadistic attitude about life and seek $15 million in overall damages this didn’t exactly pan out for the director but things would get even hairier for it to Live and Die in LA for the movie more than $1 million in fake money was made with every Bill

Having some sort of error or defect so that it couldn’t be used as legal tender for example many of the bills only had one side printed with the other completely blank once production wrapped the plan was to burn every bill so it couldn’t end up in circulation you can

Probably see where this is going as it turns out propm Barry bedig took some of it home which was later used by his teenage son to buy candy this didn’t exactly make the treasury Department happy and they proceeded to Hound the kids and the production itself forcing

Fredin to show them parts of the film The Crew even claims to have seen multiple helicopters overhead on numerous occasions believing they were being spied on due to all of the counterfeiting involved and with that principal photography on To Live and Die in LA wrapped except there was still one

Crucial sequence to be shot on State Route 103 the frenetic car chase the main goal for frein was to rival that of The French Connection which of course has one of the most memorable car chases in cinema history frein even told Robbie Mueller that if he didn’t feel it could

Match the French Connection he would remove it outright from the finished film considering it’s there and yes remains on par with the 1971 crime drama it’s tough to argue with fredkin with Robbie Mueller stunt coordinator Buddy Lee Hooker such a legend that the Bert Reynolds movie Hooper is inspired by his

Career and 40 stuntman oh and William Peterson who did some of his own driving the scene took more than 6 weeks to shoot the riveting sequence one of the trick they pulled was to have the cars actually going against traffic with stunt drivers reversing the side they drove on something actually inspired by

Fredkin himself falling asleep at the wheel and ending up on the wrong side of the road as fredkin put it it was by the grace of God that no one got hurt or killed the sequence is so disorienting that Pano’s fearful reactions inside the car are completely genuine fredkin would

Also later say that Lethal Weapon ripped it off outright and and that wouldn’t be the only claim of plagiarism to come okay now production was wrapped even if it was a million dollar over budget but before To Live and Die in LA could be released to the masses William freaking

Had to figure out the ending or rather which ending would be used in the climax we all know chance is shot in the face and killed as you can imagine MGM XX hated this idea of killing off the main character in an alternate ending that was shot to appease the studio chance

And vukovich get relocated and reassigned this however was only previewed as fredin purposely sabotaged mgm’s idea and now a word from Wang Chung who did the soundtrack to to Live and Die in LA thus further tying almost solely to its decade freakin reportedly wanted Miles Davis you know because

There’s a clear trajectory from a jazz Pioneer to a band who names a song after themselves for the music free can ask that Wang Chong create songs that don’t have an end or a beginning he even directed the music video for the title track which we have to admit is pretty

Bodacious on November 1st 1985 to Live and Die in LA was released pulling in $3.5 million and opening at number two behind Death Wish 3 it would go on to grow $17 million domestically nearly tripling its budget give William friedin the sort of hit that he needed after a

Series of Duds as for reviews at the time to live and D in La Fair just fine although one critic compared the sheer danger in the film to catastrophes associated with the San Andreas fault wait is that a compliment or not some were rumored to be far less ambiguous in

Their reception with now debunked claims that Michael man even went so far as to sue freak for ripping off Miami Vice for which man served as ep one can also see the obvious links to 1981’s Thief even down to the soundtrack Choice with man opting for tangerine dream instead

Interestingly man would cast Peterson in Manhunter the year after to Live and Die in LA was released and that wasn’t the last of the lawsuits around the movie fredkin company slm would later be sued by the family of producer Irving Levan over home video rights when that became

A force in the industry Levan’s daughter claimed that freakin owed her 50% in royalties amounting to $700,000 it was believed on the other side that since frein already had a lawsuit going against Levan over TV rights that this was merely a preemptive strike against the director as it turns

Out slm actually had already given their rights to MGM thus excusing fredkin from any lawsuit nearly four decades on To Live and Die in LA has garnered a much deserved cult following and it’s not just for movie goers either and under cover cop once approached actor John

Pankow to praise him over how authentic both he and the movie were as for William friedkin sadly the director passed away in 2023 but he remained his own devotee to to Live and Die in LA but immediately after fredkin’s career hit another cold streak 2 years later saw

Rampage a crime drama that fredkin himself was disappointed with and to start the ’90s he made the pretty ridiculous supernatural horror the guardian which did at least develop a minor following and the less we say about Blue Chips the better New York when I was younger and I’d be going out

To clubs these real imposing guys would say wo it’s Rick Masters you know somehow it worked that character was like made people Nervous