Sleazy, cheesy, ugly and entertaining police procedural - SPOILERS ALERT

Dear William Friedkin,

To Live and Die in LA is the kind of movie that the likes of Sanjay Gupta, Rajiv Rai and Abbas Mastan aspires to make but fails.

It is sleazy - there is a hardcore sex scene, men casually undressing in each other's company, erotic dancing, strip clubs, a bisexual villain and even a gay kiss.

It is a police procedural - while not as gritty as The French Connection, it did have many of the same elements like officers breaking the law to catch criminals and facing heat from superiors.

It has loyalty as one of its major themes - loyalty between police officers and even criminals.

It has a cheesy 80's score - the background score was a bit of a letdown. There is a heated debate on the film's IMDb message board about this. I found myself warming to the score as the film progressed. But I guess there were better cheesy 80's songs that you could have used. Some of the songs were simply awful.

It is a film of place - as the name suggests. There are some beautiful long shots but some of the action takes place in really ugly warehouses and wastelands. It is not a very pretty film to watch on a normal DVD.

It has great action scenes - while nowhere as good as the ones in The Sorcerer and The French Connection, the car chase in To Live and Die in LA was quite thrilling.

It is peppered with eccentric characters - especially the two protagonists who share a woman and nothing is certain about their sexuality.

It has some great performances - by William Petersen, John Turturro and Willem Dafoe.

Despite all this, it is not in the same league as some of your 70s films. It is a bit of a let down considering your work in the 70s. But anyway, thanks for making such a sexy and entertaining film.

Best Regards,
Pimpin.

(7/10)