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To Live and Die in L.A. (Special Edition)

Release Date: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Rated: 
MPAA: R
Star Rating: 
★★★★★
How cool is this ’80s cop drama? Even with a soundtrack of all Wang Chung songs, the Willem Dafoe, William Peterson flick still manages to kick ass. Now the special-edition DVD of the good-cop-bad-cop-worse-criminal story offers more than just starched collars and synthesizers. If you’re still trying to erase the memory of Blue Chips from William Friedkin’s résumé, relive the director’s glory days during his expansive commentary. Archival footage from filming fills the featurette “Counterfeit World,” which also includes current interviews with the whole cast and a roaming camera that rides along with one of the film’s countless chase scenes. But the real steal here is To Live and Die in L.A.’s sellout, studio-mandated alternate ending, one that the cast uniformly abhorred and that was ultimately ditched—proof once again that happy endings are only fit for fairy tales. And L.A. massage parlors.