To Live and Die in LA

It's a great film. Incredible car chase. Love Willem Dafoe.

I remember enjoying the butts on HBO. But the penis was so dark you couldn't really see it. It was erect?

I remember it as an interesting movie. The cock scene was brief.

No, it flew under the radar.

One of my favorite films....love Willen Dafoe in this movie. Peterson is great too...My other favorite Peterson film is Manhunter.

I also have To Live and Die in LA soundtrack on my phone...all songs by Wang Chung. I’m such an 80s kid...

I was blown away when i first saw it in the theater. I'd never heard of Willem Dafoe before so I didnt think he was American, his accent was that good.

I second R1, every word.

And what do people know about William Peterson? It is so weird to me that evetn when there is interesting information, no one says a word. I don't get it.

Fantastic movie, so emblematic of Michael Mann's '80s aesthetic. Dafoe and Peterson are electrifying. If you haven't seen it, do.

Wang Chung is underrated. So 80s.

[quote]so emblematic of Michael Mann's '80s aesthetic.

Too bad it's a William Freidkin film.

Good movie and I agree with R5 about the Wang Chung soundtrack.

I remember really being pleasantly surprised that it was so good.

[quote]I'd never heard of Willem Dafoe before so I didnt think he was American, his accent was that good.

? Dafoe doesn't have an accent in the movie.

R12, I think he/she is thinking of “Manhunter” which was directed by Michael Mann. I mentioned it in my post above.

Friedkin's last great film.

It had a full spread as in newspapers the weekend it came out. The ad was colored. Rare

I'm surprised so many people think it's a great film, it's awful. It's just a Miami Vice ripoff.

Except Miami Vice was shit.

It's theme was so bleak with no happy ending so of course would not become popular.

I remember really liking it.

It's not as good as Sorcerer.

William Peterson is a good actor but he walks like he's just climbed off a horse.

Great film. I saw it as a teenager and it's one of the movies that made me want to leave the Midwest and live in L.A. Love the soundtrack.

The LA in this movie is a hellhole. Most of it took place in Long Beach or near the refineries in Wilmington.

I love this film, and agree 100% with r5, especially re the soundtrack. OP has no taste if he labels this "awful"

It has been forever since I've seen this, but I remember it as genuinely shocking - the violence, the male nudity, the homo-eroticism, the corruption, the bleak ending, the terrifying car chase.

The score is great. The title song still captures that time for me.

Uh, that adds to the homoeroticism R23

That scene where the dancer comes off stage and we only see them from behind, they look like a man. As they go into the dressing room, Willem Dafoe is waiting and they both kiss and we all think "WOAH! He be A GAY!!!" and then the dancer turns round and it's a woman. :(

R27

Can you elaborate on homoeroticism? Its been a while since i saw the movie.

R29 Yeah, that was a man who was used as a double. The weren't taking a chance that Debra would actually be able to carry off the man-look enough to fool the eye.

I love this film and I refused to be shamed about that. It was everything to me in 1986. It actually caused me to spend a lot of my off time in LA and I wanted to see more of the seedier aspects of the city. The casting was great...I really enjoyed Dean Stockwell and his weirdness, and Peterson was never sexier. And yes, he is the most bow-legged man I have ever seen on the screen.

The music would fantastic-I listened to the soundtrack constantly.

I think that the bridge in the film is the same one that Tony Scott jumped off several years ago.

Loved it. Hated Miami Vice.

WP was sexy as hell in that movie and I was mesmerized by his manly but prissy way of walking. I rewound that scene of him prancing through the airport/into that strip club countless times. Those tight pants and bowlegs/pigeon-toes were a lethal combo.

I'm also interested in the homoeroticism supposedly found in this movie.

I'm probably the last person who should be expounding on the homoeroticism in TLADILA, since I am a woman, but having admitted that, I had a very strong sense that all the male characters in the film would like to fuck each other...and I believe that the relationship between Peterson and Pankow was downright fraught with an attraction-disgust dynamic which made it seem like they were about to hate fuck at any given moment in the movie. The "ownership" of the stripper was part and parcel of that dynamic. They were not so much attracted or even in like with her, rather they used her in order to show dominance over the other.

It's an added bonus that Daphne from Frasier plays Willem Dafoe's girlfriend's lesbian lover.

R32 it is the same bridge. When Scott jumped and they showed the location l recognized it immediately.

What's also interesting in the film is when Darlanne Fluegel basically tells WP if he had any balls he'd jump off that bridge (the beginning of the movie shows him basejumping off another bridge). Spooky

Just watched this tonight. Can't believe it's taken me 35 years to watch it. Excellent film. The car chase was phenomenal.

I was shocked but also impressed with the generous amount of male nudity, especially considering this is an '80s film where female nudity was more abundant. William Petersen was so fucking sexy in this movie. Great body. I've always found John Pankow quite sexy too.

Also the scene about 10 minutes before the film ended was genuinely shocking and one of those scenes where you go, "Did that really happen?"

It inspired a porn flick called [italic]To Live and Shave in LA.[/italic]

It wasn’t a hit when it came out. Got a little cult following on cable a few years later and wasn’t until much later that it was appreciated for what it was.