MovieChat Forums > To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) Discussion > My reactions to this movie (Spoilers, d...

My reactions to this movie (Spoilers, duh!)

posted 9 years ago by MoviemanCin
8 replies | jump to latest

more or less in chronological order:

1. Wow, can you ever tell this was made in the 80's! The cars, the clothes, the music (Wang Chung for chrissakes! And it has NOT aged well.

2. Fascinating to see a lot of famous actors very early in their careers before they were famous, like William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow and John Turturro.

3. The movie was very predictable early on. When the agent said he had three days to go until retirement, I thought "He's toast." Then when the girl visits the double crosser guy at his house, I knew he was a goner too. One big twist though was the Chinese guy being a Fed. I did not see that one coming.

4. Some really hokey dialogue here, especially near the beginning.

5. Never ever go snooping around the bad guys place without your partner. He's there to watch your back. Without him, you're toast. Why do they never learn??

6. Never take the cuffs off a perp. Once again, why do they never learn??

7. The Freeway Chase Scene was absolutely AMAZING and SPECTACULAR! And it was done with real cars on the real freeway, how I have no idea. Take that, Pussy CGI crap!!

8. Jack Hoar, Willem Dafoe's goon looks just like my favorite comedian Larry Reeb, aka "Uncle Lar". Check him out. Hoar only did four movies. I think when he finished his movie career he lost weight, moved to Chicago, and became "Uncle Lar". :-)

Any reactions, my fellow Film Nerd compadres??

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.

[–] steedsfolly 9 years ago

I thought the goon who ______ Chance at end was Bill Hickman, stuntman who was in French Co nection, Bullit...etc...I was Wrong.
..

[–] kenny-164 9 years ago

The film was very predictable, or only early on? Not sure I get the point there.

For example, I think most viewers on first viewing were uniformly shocked when Chance got killed, since he had up til then been serving as the protagonist. You can count on one hand the number of films where the protagonist is killed off with roughly a third of the film left to go (and to be clear without flashbacks). Of course in hindsight you can see the element of shifting protagonists as part of the film's thematic presentation of counterfeiting, but hardly predictable as a plot point.

There are other examples, and the OP himself concedes that the identity of Ling was a shocker.

I also don't think the dialogue was hokey. I think the OP meant seeing it now 3 decades later some of it may seem like it's been done before, but that's because this film influenced others. For example the line about being too old for this sh!t was stolen by the Die Hard series. Later. Having said htat some was intentionally inauthentic to underscore the counterfeiting theme.

[–] kameeleoned_out (60) 3 years ago

Yeah I’m not buying any of this. Movie is fractured and disjointed, unfortunately. And Die Hard didn’t steal anything from it, you’re thinking of Lethal Weapon.

[–] yatzo376 9 years ago

Big budget Miami vice ,but beautifully shot film by Friedkin.

I hate the Wang Chung soundtrack, it would have aged better for me with more organic sounding jazz, like what was used in the French Connection.

"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine"

[–] niteowljr 8 years ago

Here, here

Whoever decided on Wang Chung for the soundtrack should be forced to wear Peterson's nut huggers for eternity.

[–] edenney01 8 years ago

Big budget Miami vice ,but beautifully shot film by Friedkin.

I hate the Wang Chung soundtrack, it would have aged better for me with more organic sounding jazz, like what was used in the French Connection.

Loved the movie, loved the soundtrack, also loved The French Connection. Would've hated this movie with a soundtrack like what was used in The French Connection. It's a VERY 80s movie and it was completely appropriate to have an 80's soundtrack. Everyone's entitled to their opinion though. Wang Chung was a flash in the pan in the mid 80s, and had the movie been made a year earlier or a year later, I seriously doubt they would've got the soundtrack gig, but it works for me. Someone has said the soundtrack makes the movie seem dated. Well duh, every soundtrack does when viewed decades later by someone born in a different generation. But those of you that enjoyed the movie yet hate the soundtrack are stuck with it!

[–] yatzo376 8 years ago

YMMV, but for me any acoustic soundtrack, whether its jazzy, avant garde or classical never dates itself.

The digital eruption of bad sounding music technology in the 80s is truly horrifying to listen anytime.

Again YMMV

"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine"

[–] da_major1 8 years ago

Awesome movie! My mouth literally dropped when Chance got blasted. Guess u can live life on the edge only for so long