To Live and Die in L.A. Blu-ray

To Live and Die in L.A.

 (1985)

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller



When a notorious, highly sophisticated counterfeiter murders his partner, Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen) launches a furious vendetta to capture the man responsible. But master counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) is always just one step ahead of Chance in William Friedkin's thrilling, suspenseful crime drama. With violent shoot-outs and a turbulent chase scene reminiscent of Friedkin's own The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A. broke with tradition by making the ostensible hero as morally reprehensible as the villain he pursues. Clashing with bureaucratic obstacles, Chance is forced to break the rules in order to procure cash for a sting operation, but the risks he takes snowball into an avalanche of violence and moral repercussions, leading to a morally ambiguous cul-de-sac from which there may be no return.

For more details about To Live and Die in L.A. on Blu-ray, see the To Live and Die in L.A. Blu-ray Review

Starring: William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, Debra Feuer, John Turturro
Director: William Friedkin

To Live and Die in L.A. Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


To Live and Die in L.A. makes its first U.S. appearance on Blu-ray with a good but never great 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that makes a modest improvement over the DVD, a copy of which is also included with this release. The 1.85:1 framed image has a softened-with-age look that’s characteristic of the film’s time period. Even in tight close-ups most fine detail goes unresolved, leaving textures indistinct and background objects hazy around the edges, even when they are in focus. Compared to Criterion’s recent renovation of Paris, Texas—a film from the same era that was also shot by cinematographer Robby Muller—To Live and Die in L.A. has a blander, flatter appearance throughout. Colors are very natural—there’s no stylization here at all— and aside from the strong red and green lighting inside a strip club, there’s nothing that stands out as particularly vivid. Neither are the colors wishy washy, however, which is something that I can’t say for the film’s inconsistent black levels. Sometimes murky, sometimes deep, sometimes gray— daylight scenes look best but nighttime interiors suffer frequently under crushed shadows. A heavy spackling of grain buzzes over the image, with additional noise joining the mix during some of the darker sequences. Aside from some minor color pixilation I didn't spot any overt technical troubles through, and there’s none of the pesky edge enhancement that plagues the DVD.

To Live and Die in L.A. Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


My feelings are conflicted on the film’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. On one hand, the mix is much more engaging than I had expected it to be, especially for a film that was shot before multi-channel mixing was the norm. Ambience fills out the soundfield when called for, giving us crackling embers, barroom chatter, and L.A. traffic congestion, while channel movements are less than impressive but at least present, with cars, trucks, and trains all roaring through the rear speakers with relative frequency. On the inevitable other hand, however, the track seems brittle dynamically. Bass response is flat, the mid-range sounds slightly squashed, and the high end is at times cringingly brash. Just try to listen to Wang Chung’s piercing electro-snare hits or the mechanical clatter of Master’s printing press without either wincing or turning the volume down. Dialogue is properly prioritized, though, and aside from a few obvious ADR moments, everything sounds natural and convincing. All in all, the films both sounds its age and doesn’t sound its age, if that makes sense.

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