to live and die in l.a.

bruno

est malade
a fucking amazing film overall. i saw it with my mum as a kid, we were both devastated. los angeles as a living hell, incredibly depressing. that hazy red heat on the cover is a perfect image of this.

wctladila1.jpg


but the film is one thing, what does the music do? it takes you on a ride through the slick, expensive, palm lined streets. it takes you to the dingy rooms where people execute other people mercilessly. wang chung, then a sucessful pop group, enhance this contrast perfectly. like moroder on scarface, this music was made to accompany bloodshed, greed, beyond-good-and-evil behaviour. what can be better than people who embody the superficial to depict it?

but there is subtlety. most notoriously the chilling the red stare, a sad little piece with decaying pianos, occasional faux-cello stabs. the room they recorded this in was very cold. there was more to wang chung than met the eye, obviously. friedkin's instinct paid off.

now watch the film, buy the soundtrack and be in awe of a crucial slice of 80s pop culture.
 
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Buick6

too punk to drunk
Yeah this film is a friggen corker. It started the whole Bungy-jumping craze, as is prolly the best cop-on-edge flick of the 80s.

I'm also a big fan of 'Jade' though no-one else seems to agree.
 

bruno

est malade
william friedkin, actually. i think you're confusing it with manhunter, william petersen was in that one too.
 

DavidD

can't be stopped
Great thread - I just saw this tonight actually. Did you check out the 'alternate ending' they filmed? Fuckin hilarious, I love how the cinematographer (?) tells the story of Friedkin basically saying "fuck this" and told them to trash the 'happy ending'. Great film. I actually don't mind the cliche'd-ness of the 'three days til retirement' scene, it sets the film up like its gonna be a straight ahead cop thriller and then they start hacking away at yr assumptions.
 
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