RARA-AVIS: To Live and Die in L.A.

From: Juri Nummelin ( jurnum@utu.fi)
Date: 01 Oct 2001


On Mon, 1 Oct 2001, Duane Spurlock wrote:

> I first tried Petievitch after seeing William Friedkin's film of TO LIVE AND
> DIE IN L.A., during which WIllem Dafoe's portrayal of Rick Masters really
> grabbed me.

I've never liked the film. Or actually, I don't know what to think of it. It's visually stunning and fast-moving, but then, as always in Friedkin's films, the emotions and the intellectual concerns leave me cold. The movie is contradictory at least and it never decides whether the William Petersen character is a hero or not. To me he is just a boring macho with a mission, but the movie never seems to notice that there could (and probably should, too) be criticism pointed toward him. He's criticized at first, but then he gets away as a hero in the
(unintentionally funny) ending.

Don't ask me where these points come. It's been years since I saw the movie, but these were my thoughts at the time.

As for Petievich, I haven't read him. I intend to. The movie "Boiling Point" by James B. Harris, from "Money Men", is pretty good.

Juri

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