By Trent Lakey
In American culture, William Friedkin’s film career is often said to have begun in 1971 with The French Connection and ended in 1977, when Sorcerer was trampled at the box office by Star Wars. He passed away in August 2023, and most headlines labeled him the “director of The Exorcist.” But Friedkin was an iconoclastic filmmaker throughout his career, a brash personality shaped on the streets of Chicago who arrived on the cinematic scene at the genesis of the New Hollywood movement.
His career never fully recovered after the commercial failure of Sorcerer, his greatest film. Most of his work in the 1980s and ’90s was critically reviled. Yet his 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A. — which comes to IPH Sept. 12 — stands head and shoulders above the rest from that period, the most worthy successor to his ’70s films.
The film follows a Secret Service agent (in L.A., of course) hot on the trail of a counterfeiter who murdered his partner. What begins as a familiar revenge tale is quickly subverted by Friedkin’s fascination with amoral individuals. The agent grows determined, even obsessed, while navigating obstacles of bureaucracy and morality. I can say without revealing too much that it becomes shockingly clear how little separates hero from villain; both resort to violent extremes to get what they want. Morality counts for little; what matters is power, and the ruthless satisfaction it brings.
The film extends the cynicism of Friedkin’s ’70s classics into the commercial, neon-soaked 1980s, blending gloss with a grimy nihilism. Its centerpiece is an elaborately staged car chase across Los Angeles freeways, reportedly shot over six weeks. It sends traffic into chaos as cars swerve against the flow, colliding with one another and even propelling an 18-wheeler into the logjam.
The film provides great spectacle along with a tight narrative and elusive characters, but what lingers is its pervading nihilism, reflecting the perpetual cycle of power breeding corruption and violence. It is true what the title suggests: You can live in L.A. and you can die in L.A. It all feels the same.