History Film / ToLiveAndDieInLA

* AndNowIMustScream: Played with. [[spoiler: Ruth is so desperate to get away from Chance that she sends him off after undercover FBI agent Thomas Ling in an attempt to get him busted by the FBI in the robbery attempt. At the end, after Vukovich has been "reborn" into a new incarnation of Chance, he makes it clear that he knows Ruth set Chance up and that now she's going to be his informant. Everything Ruth has done to escape from being under Chance's thumb becomes moot, she's going nowhere, and her situation is exactly the same, just with Vukovich instead of Chance.]]

** [[spoiler: Ruth sets up Chance to rob undercover Agent Thomas Ling to get Chance at least arrested, or worse. While she escapes being under Chance's thumb due to his death, Vukovich has figured it out, has become the new chance, and all her efforts were in vain, as she's now Vukovich's informant and in the exact same situation she was in with Chance.]]

** [[spoiler: Ruth sets up Chance to rob undercover Agent Thomas Ling to get Chance at least arrested, or worse. While she escapes being under Chance's thumb due to his death, Vukovich has figured it out, has become the new chance, and all her efforts were in vain, as she's now Vukovich's informant and in the exact same situation she was in with Chance.

* CowboyCop: Chance, in spades. He even wears cowboy boots a lot of the time.

* DeadSidekick: Jimmy Hart (Michael Green), embodies this trope; because he's getting too old for this, he decides to [[{{Retirony}} retire]] to spend more time fishing; two days before retirement, he bites the bullet.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: In the alternate ending Chance is reassigned to Alaska.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:The film ends with Masters dead, but just seconds after he successfully managed to burn all evidence of his crimes, making Chance's psychotic crusade to bring him to justice completely worthless even if we didn't took into account the fact Masters ''killed'' Chance.]]

* Frameup: [[spoiler: During Chance and Vukovich's attempt to rob the man revealed to be Special Agent Thomas Ling, he's killed by wild rifle fire by the tailing FBI agents, though when they send the APB out to authorities, they conveniently blame the "robbers" (Chance and Vukovich) for Ling's death rather than outright admit they shot their own agent by mistake.]]

** Pretty much '''any''' named character who isn't Jimmy Hart, Ruth, or John Vukovich. [[spoiler: At least until the end of the film where he becomes essentially the reincarnation of Chance. Driven home when upon telling Ruth, "You're workin' for me now" at the end, she has flashbacks to her trysts with Chance. Driven (in this case literally) even further where after that scene, there's a short sequence that shows a later point where Vukovich is now even driving Chance's truck and parks at Ruth's house before the freeze frame and cut to credits.]]

* DemotedToExtra: In the novel, [[spoiler: Jimmy Hart is one of the leading characters, and survives to the end of the novel, whereas in the film, he's shot to death by Masters, likely to garner some sympathy for why Chance, who is obviously very close to Hart, goes so far and breaks so many rules to try to take down Masters.

* AxCrazy: Chance has his moments.

* AmoralAttorney: Bob Grimes (Dean Stockwell) doesn't particularly care that Masters is a criminal and argues that he's just doing the job someone else would; when he helps the cops later on, he's solely looking out for his own neck and his own wallet. [[spoiler: Until it's revealed that he was trying to manipulate Vukovich on Masters' behalf the whole time.]]

* CarChaseShootOut: when an informant tells the CowboyCop about a courier arriving in town with money for a drug buy, he and his partner decide to rob the courier, only to find themselves shot at (the courier is accidentally killed by a stray bullet) and chased by an ever-increasing number of well-armed men with vehicles and radio communication.

* ChaseScene: One of the most celebrated in cinema.

!!This Movie Contains Examples Of:

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Masters’ first scene shows him burning what appears to be a stylised self-portrait. [[spoiler: He accidentally sets himself on fire before Vukovich empties his gun into him.]]

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Chance and Masters are both jerks, and by the end of the film, [[ByTheBookCop Vukovich]] [[TookALevelInJerkass is no different]] from Chance at all.]]

* DownerEnding: '''''And''''' '''HOW.''' [[spoiler:Chance dies during the sting, causing Vukovich to have a mental breakdown and kill Masters, but not before the latter destroyed all the evidence of his crimes by torching his downtown warehouse. Not only that, Vukovich essentially becomes the new Chance, and makes Ruth his bitch]].

** Pretty much '''ANY''' named character who isn't Jimmy Hart, Ruth, or John Vukovich [[spoiler: At least until the end of the film where he becomes essentially the reincarnation of Chance. Driven home when upon telling Ruth, "You're workin' for me now" at the end, she has flashbacks to her trysts with Chance. Driven (in this case literally) even further where after that scene, there's a short sequence that shows a later point where Vukovich is now even driving Chance's truck and parks at Ruth's house before the freeze frame and cut to credits.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/live_and_5782.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: The ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic real]]'' stars of the movie.]]

%%* CounterfeitCash

%%* TheInfiltration

%%* NotSoDifferent

%%* ShootTheShaggyDog

''To Live and Die in L.A.'' is a 1985 American action/crime thriller film, based on the novel of the same name by Gerald Petievich and directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin (''Film/TheExorcist'', ''Film/TheFrenchConnection'').

* BadCopIncompetentCop: The federal agents in ''To Live and Die in LA'' are a much greater danger to the public, themselves, and each other than the criminals they pursue.

* ClusterFBomb: This movie is somewhat harsh on swearing, with a huge amount of F-bombs years before Creator/QuentinTarantino and his movie Film/ReservoirDogs.

The film stars Creator/WilliamPetersen as Secret Service agent Richard Chance, a maverick type determined to take down Rick Masters (Creator/WillemDafoe), the counterfeiter who [[DeadSidekick shot Chance's partner]]. It also features an exceptionally '80s soundtrack by Wang Chung.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the CowboyCop trope. Chance's rule-breaking has serious, negative consequences: His withholding of information from his superiors makes them unwilling to help him, the convict he manages to bully the DA into releasing beats him up and escapes, his plan to get the buy money for the sting goes horribly wrong, and while [[spoiler:the sting does go down, he gets himself killed in the process. Furthermore, although the movie ends with Vukovich becoming the new maverick cop, in the process he abandons all sense of morality, becoming little better than Chance himself.]]
* DepravedBisexual: Serena, [[spoiler:Bianca at the end]], and quite possibly Masters himself.

* Groin Attack: Done multiple times, by multiple characters to multiple characters.