Kenji, I saw this movie in the theater in 1985 and loved it. I need to see it again. Thanks for the reminder! I've added it to my Netflix queue.

To Live and Die in LA is one of my favorite films. The DVD is very good, there is a "making of" featurette and an alternative ending that was made at the studio's behest that was (thankfully) never used (Spoiler deleted - my bad, Maggers!). Amazing film.

One of the girls that Willem Dafoe procures for his girlfriend is "Daphne Moon" from "Frasier", BTW.

Most of the film was filmed around San Pedro (southern LA), I remember a lot of the places.

The novel it was based on was by Gerald Petievich, an ex-Secret Service agent who wrote a lot of very good hard-boiled fiction - read his "Earth Angels" if you can find it. "Boiling Point" was another film adaptation of a Petievich novel that wasn't too bad.

Peterson was also very good as an FBI agent in "Manhunter", the first Hannibal Lector film (and one I think was better than the remake with Anthony Hopkins...Brian Cox was a far superior Lector.)

To Live and Die in LA is one of my favorite films. The DVD is very good, there is a "making of" featurette and an alternative ending that was made at the studio's behest that was (thankfully) never used (spoiler deleted, based on Mick's deleting it in his post). Amazing film.

Ooops! It's been so long since I've seen the movie, I could not remember the ending. Now I know. Wish I hadn't read that. Maybe there should be a spoiler alert.

EDIT: Thanks, Mick, for fixing it. I've fixed your quote in this post, too.

Peterson was also very good as an FBI agent in "Manhunter", the first Hannibal Lector film (and one I think was better than the remake with Anthony Hopkins...Brian Cox was a far superior Lector.)

I really liked "Manhunter," directed by Michael Mann, by the way. I like it way better than the remake, "Red Dragon." I thought it was much more chilling and frightening. However, I think Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal is phenomenal. Brian Cox has always creeped me out, no matter what role he plays. But of the two Hannibals, I prefer Hopkins.

Yikes! Sorry about the spoiler, I should have caught that (correction made).

Hopkins was good, but Cox underplayed the character so well and was so intellectually snotty you hated him, like a professor you couldn't stand.

Cox has done some really good work, and half the time I don't know it's him until I see the credits - as Stryker in X-Men 2, as (real life) writing instructor Robert McKee in Adaptation...and come to think of it, he even played Daphne Moon's dad in Frasier...

Probably my favorite 1980s scene was the opening scene in "Red Dawn", when the Soviet troops parachute into the schoolyard - because it was so much like I fantasized growing up in the 1960s. I vividly recall sitting in class at St. Mark's Elementary School, staring out the window and hoping the Reds would parachute in so I could rush home, grab my BB gun and take to the hills with my pals to fight a guerilla war...and no incidentally, get out of the math test that was coming up.

The film also had one of my favorite genre actors, William Smith, as a Spetsnaz commander.

I'm adding "Empire of the Sun" to the mix here. There are so many wonderful scenes...Jamie trapped in the crowd and ripped from his mother's hand after he ducks down to pick up his little model plane; he climbs atop a stranded rickshaw, looks out on the throng of hundreds and cries "Mummie! Mummie!" I know that sounds wimpy, but it tears my heart out.

Jamie, new to the prisoner camp, is tried, hungry, lost and alone. He turns and sees a Japanese aircraft, one of his model planes come to life! With an awed look, he walks to the plane and embraces it. He leans his little head against the plane's flank and strokes it gently, a poignant reminder of his home, his room, his lost life. The Japanese commandant sees him and when Jamie doesn't respond to his shouts to get away from the plane, he raises his rifle to shoot the boy. But from across the tarmack come 3 Japanese pilots. They stride towards Jamie and watch him paying homage to their plane. They smile. Jamie turns and sees them. He raises his hand in a proud salute. The pilots return the salute, and the commandant lowers his rifle.

Quite wonderful.

And now that young actor (Christian Bale) is going to play the Batman. I can't wait!

You're trying to remember Kelly LeBrock-also known as the Weird Science woman.

Kelly LeBrock made a major life-mistake later when she married Steven Seagal.

Sorry to be adding all these posts but I think I saw every movie that came out in the 1980s and these are bringing back a lot of memories.

HIGHLANDER - I enjoyed the Kurgan's scenes and a wonderful bit of writing: the hero asks his mentor, played by Sean Connery, why they live forever unless beheaded and why there is a Quickening. "Who knows?" Connery replies. Now THAT'S writing!

SAY ANYTHING - when Lloyd Dobler meets his girlfriend's father (who later played Daphne Moon's employer - I seem to be stuck in a groove here) and explains about his career plans in kickboxing, "the sport of the future."

THE DEAD ZONE - I just loved that whole movie - the best King adaptation ever, IMO. Those gray, wonderfully depressing New England landscapes (actually Vancouver). Very sad movie and one of Walken's best.

BLADERUNNER - heck, every scene in it.

NEAR DARK - when the hero asks Lance Hendrickson's character how old he is.

Probably my favorite 1980s scene was the opening scene in "Red Dawn", when the Soviet troops parachute into the schoolyard - because it was so much like I fantasized growing up in the 1960s. I vividly recall sitting in class at St. Mark's Elementary School, staring out the window and hoping the Reds would parachute in so I could rush home, grab my BB gun and take to the hills with my pals to fight a guerilla war...and no incidentally, get out of the math test that was coming up.

The film also had one of my favorite genre actors, William Smith, as a Spetsnaz commander.

I believe those A--holes were actually Cubans, and if they parachuted into any schoolyard in Western PA, they would have all been killed or captured by sunset (although I doubt we would take prisoners--I know I wouldn't). Every boy I knew growing up had a .30-30 deer rifle. Picture "the Deer Hunter" and hundreds of Robert DeNiros waiting to bag a kill.

Yikes! Sorry about the spoiler, I should have caught that (correction made).

Thanks, Mick. I edited my post, too, to delete it so nobody gets to see it.

Cox has done some really good work, and half the time I don't know it's him until I see the credits - as Stryker in X-Men 2, as (real life) writing instructor Robert McKee in Adaptation...and come to think of it, he even played Daphne Moon's dad in Frasier...

To my eye, Cox has a notable face. He must have had bad acne in his youth; his face is badly pockmarked. Given his pasty, very white, sort of flabby face and unpretty skin, I am very much aware of Cox in every film he's in. Wow, that is not a kind description, for which I apologize because surely the man is talented. The 25th Hour (which I loved), The Minus Man (which I loved!), Rob Roy (which I also loved), Braveheart (ditto), Rushmore (ditto!!), The Bourne Identity (ditto)....guess I like a lot of the films he is in.

There's no denying he is a fine character actor.