"Buddy, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

Richard Chance (William Peterson) has been trying to nail counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) for years. When Masters takes out his partner, it's the last straw. To Live and Die in LA follows Chance on his not exactly by-the-book quest to catch the elusive, clever, and cruel Masters.  

Boasting an extremely 80s soundtrack from Wang Chung, a crazy car chase and a surprise ending, this isn't your run of the mill cop movie, although it feels like that sometimes. When it came out, critics dismissed it as a "rich man's miami vice" and called it over-the-top. On the other side of the coin were those claiming it exposed the corrupt underbelly of LA, and was "nasty, cynical, and incredibly good." Live and Die was also criticized for its lack of big talent at the time. Critics are probably hitting themselves as Dafoe, Peterson, John Turturro, John Pankow, and Jane Leeves have become established stars at this point in time. Dafoe's performance is especially a highlight, and is beloved among hardcore fans of his. Definitely a cult classic worth tuning into if you are a fan of anyone involved in the production, or just like hard-boiled ( if formulaic) crime thrillers.