Friedkin's feverish exploration of the Los Angeles criminal underworld follows a pair of Secret Service agents forced to take the most desperate measures to capture a violent counterfeiter and avoid the numb police bureaucracy threatening to foil their every effort. Willem Dafoe brings a mysteriously brooding glamour and almost feline quality to the shadowy criminal mastermind who embodies the world of sunshine and noir brilliantly captured by Friedkin and cinematographer Robby Muller. Released during a studio meltdown, To Live and Die in L.A. survived an attempted sabotage by MGM to be canonized as one of Friedkin's most accomplished and popular works.