Movies - To Live and Die in L.A.

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	Movies - To Live and Die in L.A.

To Live and Die in L.A. is an action/thriller movie released in 1985. It was directed by William Friedkin and starred William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro and John Pankow. It is based on a novel by former Secret Service Agent Gerald Petievich.

After the film was released, Michael Mann unsuccessfully sued William Friedkin for plagiarism. He accused Friedkin for taking the concept of his television series Miami Vice.

Synopsis

Richard Chance (William Petersen) is a federal agent in the treasury department. He has a reputation of “living dangerously” and for having reckless behavior, as evidenced early in the movie, which alarms his partner, Jimmy Hart (Michael Greene). Hart, who is just days away from retirement, decides to take on one last mission- but goes alone. Investigating a warehouse owned by artist and counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe), Hart is searching through a dumpster when he is shot and killed by Masters and his bodyguard, Jack.

Upon learning of his death, Chance is outraged. When he meets his new partner, John Vukovich (John Pankow), Chance does not waste time in informing him that he wants to kill Masters.

Vukovich and Chance, acting on a tip, head on their first mission as a team at LAX, where an associate of Masters, Carl Cody (John Turturro), gets arrested carrying for Masters.

When Masters speaks to Cody in prison, he mentions the last person Cody Saw before heading to LAX, Max Waxman, an attorney in Pasadena, who “moves papers for Masters." Cody believes Waxman ripped Masters off and set him up, and is the reason he’s in jail.

This suspicion prompts Masters to kill Waxman at his office, which was coincidentally under surveillance by Chance and Vukovich (they find out about Waxman’s relationship though Chance’s informant, Ruth (Darlene Fluegel). Shortly following the death of Waxman, Chance visits Ruth, where she tells him of a dealer coming to L.A. next week carrying $50,000. Chance is immediately uninterested.

Masters soon meets with another associate, Jeff Rice (Steve James), who lives in a less glamorous part of town and has connections to gang members. Masters believes Cody will deal his way out of prison, and wants a hit on him. Rice says he’ll guarantee the job, but is ultimately unsuccessful. Afterward, Chance pays him a visit, and will get Cody out of prison if he gives information on Masters and testifies against him. Later that night, Masters meets with Rice, wanting his money back after learning Cody wasn’t killed. Rice doesn’t have the paper, and after getting in a fight, Masters kills him.

The next day, Chance asks for a judge to sign a writ to release Cody from prison in an effort to get Masters. He gets Cody out, and demands Cody to show him where Masters prints. This, however, doesn’t go according to plan, as Cody asks a favor to see his daughter in the hospital. At the hospital, Cody roughs him up and escapes. Chance later learns that the “daughter” Cody named was a black woman and was married to one of the inmates he knew.

Vukovich later on meets with Bob Grimes (Dean Stockwell), counsel to Masters, to grab intelligence on Masters, and Grimes sets up a meeting between them. Chance and Vukovich meet Masters in person, introducing themselves as Ben Jessup and Dr. George Victor, respectively, two men from Palm Springs who do island banking, and are looking to get some bills printed by Masters. Masters demands 30,000 dollars upfront before printing, something the two can’t secure from the secret service. Suddenly, Ruth’s tip about the dealer coming to L.A. carrying $50,000 is very important to Chance.

The two go to Union Station, and kidnap the dealer, an Asian who goes by Thomas Ling, and drive to the railroad tracks. At the tracks, Chance tries to open the brief case that would supposedly have carried the $50,000, only to find a phone book. Furious that no money is found, Chance demands Ling takes his clothes off, where he finds a money belt, but when the men who were really supposed to pick up Ling begin shooting, Ling is accidently killed by the people shadowing him. The agents drive away, and it ultimately begins an extensive car chase. They get through the chase alive, but Vukovich begins to break down over what has happened.

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