TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA - Opening Scene And Music

[Jezza446]

3 people died in LA.

[LAFD54]

GREAT Movie, PERFECT soundtrack!

[SunsetSideVet]

80s LA movies are some of the best movies to watch Less than Zero, Born in East LA, Valley Girl Colors etc..

But this film nailed it, life in the LA in the 80's from the dirty sunsets traffic chase on a crazy freeways the gangsters and dirty deals. Makes me miss LA no place on the earth like it, And yes many people have Lived and Died in LA in the fashion of the movie.

[karthelow]

lol at listening to the recording of ronald reagan about unfair taxation!!

[AppleMachintruc]

Does anyone have any idea of where I can find hood flags like the ones at 0:30 ?

[arweiss100]

Wang Chung did an amazing job on the soundtrack, & this is my favorite song by them. Really dark, atmospheric, stylish noir film and William Peterson & Willem Defoe are beyond mesmerizing. Love the alternate endings.

[ayambumba]

They just don't make films like this anymore. A dark, stylish, violent masterpiece... Thanks Bill.

[centurion180ad]

@ayambumba You noticed.

Way Cool, sinister, radical & flashy. Music has gone into the toilet, and it is a rare movie that comes anywhere near this one in quality of impact. Smokin Aces with Ray Liotta reminds me of To Live & Die In LA.

[muzikkraz]

This one of my favourite movies and soundtrack of all-time. Thank you for capturing the opening scence ( the lion's roar) so well.

Thumbs up to the heavens!

[RImusclebear]

Fantastic movie and wonderful soundtrack that no one heard or saw. I guess we are luckier than most!

[PigskinMafia]

if you have a station wagon in your entourage you are BAD ASS!!!!!!!

[level242]

@PigskinMafia That's the Secret Service vehicle with the M-16's,Mausers and RPG's

[GoGoGadgetBeer]

Such a kickass soundtrack...

[212Roger]

Remember this Donna?

[aveach1018]

Really underrated movie...since hollywood loves remakes they really need to consider this one to redo.

[lasquid]

God I luv this movie! One question. If Masters knew they were cops out to bust them, why did he go thru with the deal? I read the book and it's almost completely different from the movie, so there no clues there.

[mrgarymakin]

Underrated, classic movie. Love it.

[chasebizzy]

William Friedkin is such an incredibly underrated director. He doesn't get nearly enough praise for the movies he directed after the French Connection and the Exorcist.

[wendyrichsoto]

Martin! If you are going to post things like this...you need to come to Pedro for a visit! My daughter Cindy is here now, I know she'd love to see you! BTW did you know they filmed most of this movie here in Pedro? Especially shots of the Vincent Thomas Bridge which we just walked over for a 5 mile race on my birthday Monday! :-) Oh wait! It's almost your birthday again!

[Uushilumbu79]

Highly underrated master piece!

[Credithelper75]

I never did see this movie...was it any good?

[viper1966]

@Credithelper75

Intense, and very real

[miiiikku]

What is la all about then? There are lot of movies about la, are descriptions accurate? Is la about surface and pretending, fake, a place where people are dying to feel something real and honest?

[marchrabbit85]

Wang Chung is make his best score here

[loknloll]

1:50 the dude from CSI

[mbenson2790]

Obama should listen to the guy talking in the end

[loknloll]

@mbenson2790 ''the guy''?? you ever heard of, oh, i don't know, a guy named ronald reagan????

[mbenson2790]

@loknloll well excuse me for not even being alive when he was around...

[schizoidboy]

@mbenson2790 That's Ronald Reagan, the problem is that Obama is thinking of the guy who came before him.

[talennto]

wonderfull film and song. saludos

[asianboi8585]

i was a teen when i first saw this flix. after watching it, i can never watch a teen movie again. i needed movies with adult themes in it. i really enjoyed this flix.

[parton63]

Live and Die in LA will always kick ass. So many great actors, action, music.................

[Staszu13]

@parton63 Friedkin made a lot of kickass films, but almost no one remembers him today

[clapnot1]

Tease...

[kiwimangum]

SPOILERS FOR HEAT!

---------------------

The only guy who "gets away" is Val Kilmer, and he loses his wife and son in the process. It's not a happy ending at all, everyone loses, even Al Pacino... as for the scene between both of them (whether you mean the ending, or the coffee shop scene) if you don't think either scene has great dialog or is really strong film making, I don't know what else I can do for you. I will say, with confidence, Heat will age better than TLADILA... and I like TLADILA.

[mwoldin]

Sorry for the lack of clarity. I refer to the coffee shop scene, which clearly was not scripted. It was improvised -- and very badly -- by two great actors who were uncomfortable and off. Seems the idea was, oh, let's just put them together.

Seriously, look at Wages of Fear or the Swedish film Man on the Roof.  Brilliant stuff. Heat if tiddly winks.

[Rarab2]

Whoa now.. The only thing about this picture that won't stand the test of time is the eighties aesthetic. Doesn't mean a damn thing. I like Heat, I enjoy watching it, but it is pretty juvenile at times. Certainly more than this. I haven't seen all of Mann's films but I think The Insider is his most mature, though I should see it again.

As for The Wages Of Fear, it should be mentioned that, coincidentally Bill Friedkin remade it with Sorcerer. I'm guessing most fans of the original know this.

[kinmanyuen]

This movie is screaming mid eighties Block Buster. The scenes are very amazing. And the plot is simply what you don't expect... "life sucks" awesome.

The music matches that movie perfectly.

I can't recall any other song that has that kind of 80's LA neighbourhood feeling.

[qtips3]

have this movie in my top 10 all time

[chatcress]

ever since that song, i am afraid to go

to LA. i am shure i will die there. thats

no joke. it is a feeling deep inside...

[electron501]

Well Chance did get a FBI agent killed so he did desire it.

[terrafirma91]

I always liked Wang Chung, but where are they now? They had their own sound, their own "hook". Why didn't they continue on with their own unique compositions?

[skingerskanger]

"To Live In Die In L.A." The band, Wang Chung...

[10eazye]

What's the song called that's playing? Thanks in advance!

[dubian99]

song film class all round

[mavericjet]

SUPER PELICULA CON FINAL INESPERADO.

[mavericjet]

very gooooooooooood song and film

[millan1962]

It kinda sucked Chance got killed in the end but he was such a lunitic that his character had it coming. You can't tempt fate forever and not pay a price. As a cop, this was a riveting movie to me back in the day and still now.

[electron501]

only 71 more years till the next 80`s damn I miss the 80`s

[WhiteStoneChild]

I'll be 90 years old by that time, lol...

Something tells me it ain't going to be as good as it was...

But To Live and Die in LA is such a great movie that needs to be viewed many time to appreciate its full value...

[mikidais]

OMG, William Petersen was SO HOT in this movie!

[kashuga]

Get ready. I just worked on a new DVD of this. Coming out soon!

[cubdukat]

I'll just be happy when the Blu-Ray shows up. MGM said it was delayed indefinitely.

[castillianwagon500]

Notice the Mercury Colony Park station wagon. The secret service loved these because they had such class. I had two 1977s for 32 years !

[mikidais]

Great movie, I just watched it on cable. I always loved this song, though. I remember how popular it was in '84.

[PsychicSlingshot]

I remember seeing this film years ago back-to-back with Manhunter. That was a treat to say the least

[cubdukat]

Not a bad double feature. They have a lot in common: Both were directed by Chicagoans, both feature Bill Petersen (who came into the liquor store where I used to work every so often), and both are classics in their own right. Not to mention they have some great Chicago talents on display (Joan Allen, ex-cop Dennis Farina and John Pankow).

[Rarab2]

I'm guessing you're talking about Manhunter. Mann actually sued Friedkin claiming that To Live And Die In LA's script was a ripoff of Miami Vice. They're both buddies now.

[diuga1]

I always thought this Friedkin movie was very similar to the tv show by Mann!!!

Its looks, the use of synth music, the editing...

[mwoldin]

Only difference is that the Friedkin film is intelligent, fascinating, elusive, stylish, brilliant. Michael Mann movies are embarrassing to watch they are so stupid. Heat is teenage fantasy, and the "famous" scene between Pacino and de Niro is a disgrace to the two of them.

[JuxboxBob]

agreed , William Peterson was the bleeping man in that movie.

[kiwimangum]

WTF? Heat is brilliant, stupid troll.

[mwoldin]

This is the perfect example of the anonymous blog reply: cowardly, infantile, abusive. I would imagine that you do not know how to defend yourself physically, and clearly you cannot defend yourself verbally. For all I know you can't even fornicate, but instead console yourself with your own romantic self.

What is Heat about? This film, To Live and Die, is about crime, psychosis, obsession, the role of the artist in a consumerist, vapid society ("Masters" -- artist).

Heat is teenage fantasy.

[kiwimangum]

You really seem to have me pegged. Tell me what "teenage fantasy" even means? Expert.

You troll a great movie in Heat, then have the gall to make a jab at my sexual performance? Hilarious. Such an e-thug. So typical from your average "Youtuber", pretentious and stupid.

Apparently you're 52? If that is true, man... that's bad. I'm 23, you're taking some kind of high ground, calling me a coward, and make reference to being a more experienced lay. I can only imagine how shitty your life is.

[mwoldin]

First off, the word troll refers to ad hominem attacks that are off the point. If I criticize Heat, which is thematically related to To Live and Die, it's not a troll.

Second, you now use "pretentious, stupid, how shitty your life is". What can I reply to that?

Third, I wrote, "for all I know..." I didn't claim to know your experience, but I speculated that a man who starts off with "stupid troll", which I took as an insult because I didn't know the meaning of troll then, so took it wrong.

[mwoldin]

More to the point, to answer your question about Heat and teenage fantasy:

Heat's heros are a brutal bank robber who has little to say, and a violent cop (surprise, surprise) who argues with his ex while a wimp sits like a chastened dog (sympathies with the bully, of course).

And there's a shoot em up, a nazi style swat assault manages not to kill innocent bysteanders and all the handsome guys get away, and the black guy gets it.

Then there's the embarrassing de Niro-Pacino scene. Kid stuff.

[buzz20]

@mwoldin anyone who thinks that "heat" is juvenile obviously hasn't seen enough of michael mann's films to make an accurate judgment..... all of his movies have characters that elicit some moral ambiguity and "heat" personifies this the best

[mwoldin]

Well, let's see:

Thief: Interesting, cynical, brutally violent, stupid villain, suicidal revenge.

Last of the Mohicans: Native American cheesecake, lots of Day Lewis running -- where? -- without a shirt. The girl prefers to Noble Savage to the twirp. Third-rate to Black Robe, a great movie.

Heat: brutal violence, smart cops -- ha! -- smart bank robbers (in this day and age?), the glamour of crime and sex.

Ali: Lame.

Collateral: well made, the triumph of style over substance, as always.

[buzz20]

@mwoldin "the triumph of style over substance" a movie doesnt always have to reflect what happens in reality thats the whole point of moviemaking, its a`work of art, like heat is and like any other movie mann has made, btw u didnt give me a valid reason why collateral wasnt good, u just offered ur opinion without any evidence to back it up, same with ali (and ive never seen the last of the mohicans so i cant say how good it is)

[buzz20]

@mwoldin and you completely forgot to mention manhunter, which is in some ways superior to silence of the lambs, also starring william petersen in probably his best role, and if u dont think that movie was good then we'll never see eye to eye

[mwoldin]

Hi, Buzz.

First off, it's true I never saw Manhunter, and I will on your recommendation.

Secondly, you are right I didn't explain too much, but that is because of the 500-word limit and the fact that while I work I just dash off a comment here and there.

Collateral is a beautifully made film, and shows again how certain matinee idols like Cruise and Pierce Brosnan make excellent villains.

My main problem with Mann is that he embraces all of the vices of our current times. To be continued ...

[buzz20]

@mwoldin "My main problem with Mann is that he embraces all of the vices of our current times" that is a good point, all the movies he's made seem to glorify villains to some degree, i guess its just a good way to sell nowadays as cynical as that sounds..... and before u watch manhunter, keep in mind that brian cox's version of hannibal lector is more subtle and less sensational than hopkin's portrayal in SOL, but still as chilling in my opinion.... and i will check out the wages of fear too

[mwoldin]

Lastly, anyone who wants corroboration, if not proof, of how awful Heat is for those who prefer adult, intelligent, honest drama, take a gander at Public Enemies, which hasn't one single minute of interest. That and the remake of the excellent Pelham 1-2-3 are so bad that out of four hours I doubt two good minutes could be found.

At least Inglorious Basterds, odious as it is, has some laughs.

Take a look at The Wages of Fear by Henri Georges Clouzot if you want to see the real deal.

[Hurricane810kr]

I remember this movie as a kid on HBO in the 80s...but was too young to understand what all was going on.  Can't wait to get the DVD and love the theme song!

[Hot80s]

epic

[maston1968]

you sold me...i can't wait until it arrives!

[maston1968]

ok, i loved the song but never saw the movie...you all made me order it on netflix today.

[lolwut71]

one of the best cop/crime films (since it was written by an actual Secret Service Agent based on his novel he also helped write the screenplay). these guys did their homework about conterfiting (i know i didnt spell that right).

[ninelivecat]

Funny I watched this when it first came out on VHS cause everyone was going on about it I thought it was good but not great now I can appreciate it for the great film that it is It needs to be watched more than once

[bugkill1sf]

An absolute classic! One of my favorite films and the best soundtrack I have ever heard! Wang Chung made a masterpiece.

[jamesrosevear]

This film is a masterpiece, it proudly belongs in my collection!

[schizoidboy]

Was the agent in the later part of this video the author and co-writer of the screen play? Something about him reminds me of a federal agent.

[millan1962]

This movie was amazing. THe chase was a million dollars! They finally filmed it with the car going the wrong way but it was really backwards, then they reversed the film! Amazing!

[DrakeDietrick]

Gives me chills...thanks for posting. I mean...the ending was so shocking...I never heard an entire theater gasp....like that...then just erupt at the very end...like that...to this very day. I will never forget seeing this movie. Awesome...just BUY the DVD. Trust me...you will watch it over and over again. Best car chase...best script...best performances. Movies are just NOT like this one anymore.

[dawnrexgurl]

Great Movie!!!

[tubefr71]

IMHO, the BEST movie, EVER.

[ddesign63]

Went to LA the Summer of '85 for a month. Got laid. Had my first Honda Intercepter Bike. Loved this movie. Thought I was the Badest MF on the planet. hahaha (What a dumb-ass I was!)

PEACE

[JinEfreet]

Boy, when I went to LA, I got robbed.

[jimmysly8]

I love this freakin song, why can't I find an uncut version?

[icedudesk8]

It's by Wang Chung, so either look for the soundtrack album(CD now I guess!) or a greatest hits one...

[jimmysly8]

Thanks, Matey!

[Uushilumbu79]

The OST should be available at every music store. I purchased it on CD a couple of years ago.

BTW, don't miss the movie!

[cubdukat]

It's definitely on iTunes, and I think the album version of this song is the only one available on most of WC's greatest hits CDs.

[Thirdgen83]

Because YouTube SUCKS...

[skepticepilleptic]

havent seen this in years i always want to see la as my fave show colombo is set there

[latsonalir]

OMG ! it's Grissom ! LOVE IT !

[slappy6817]

One of the best crime movies of the 80's or any other decade.

[thuggin83]

I really dont kno why they keep takin this down..I love tha song,tha music,everything its hard nowadays to find a movie which is good and has a good soundtrack to go along with it!! Another reas0n tha 80's were AWESOME!!!

[Jay4570]

ya its hard to find good old songs without someone trying to make a f-cking dime!

[catiefromsavannah2]

I love this song too and also wonder why it's always disappearing.

Boy, does Billy Peterson look young.

[bashir1980]

I love this song so much. Too bad many of the videos containing the entire version of this song have been removed! I wonder why? I mean, it's a great song! I don't see no reason to remove it.

Anyways, it's so nice of it to be released in 1985. The 80s rule!!

[Justdisco]

@bashir1980 I'm with you there mate ! 

[flake21]

I've been waiting for someone to post this song, but everytime someone does it gets squashed. Thanks