To Live and Die in L.A. 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

To Live and Die in L.A. 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 9, 2026

Note: To Live and Die in L.A. has had several previous releases in both 1080 and 4K UHD, several with reviews, which those interested can peruse at their leisure. Two of the previous 1080 releases came courtesy of Shout! Factory (for Region A) and Arrow Video (for Region B), and this review reprints comments from my original reviews of those editions, as appropriate.

Has a song ever gotten you into a movie theater to see a film you might not have otherwise rushed to view? It’s happened a grand total of two times for me in my adult life, and the first of those was a case where I hadn’t even heard the song yet. In 1983, I walked by a neighborhood theater in southeast Portland and for some reason stopped to look at the poster for Never Say Never Again, and flew my geek flag high when I became excited to see that according to the credits the theme song was reuniting two people from one of my favorite bands growing up, Brasil '66, vocalist Lani Hall, and her former boss Sergio Mendes. Suffice it to say that the song itself turned out to be no great hit (though I apparently like it more than many Bond fans, some of whom have gone to great lengths to rate all of the Bond themes, with this one coming in near the bottom), but it did account for at least one ticket sale here in the Pacific Northwest. A couple of years later I was happily ensconced with my first cable box and it was an era where MTV actually played music videos (imagine!), and I became quite enamored of Wang Chung’s theme for To Live and Die in L.A., a tune which seemed to suggest some unexpected depth from a band I had known previously only through the relatively lightweight Dance Hall Days. This song, like Never Say Never Again, failed to register very dramatically on the charts, but it again accounted for at least one ticket sale to the actual film, though in this case it accounted for that sale due to it actually having been heard instead of the “marquee value” of the talent involved piquing enough interest to get a keister into a theater seat. That theme music, along with the rest of Wang Chung’s score for the film, may anchor this entry squarely in its mid-eighties milieu, but in other ways To Live and Die in L.A. is a callback of sorts to some of director William Friedkin’s earlier efforts, notably The French Connection (also available in this edition). The film can’t quite overcome some of its clichés, but it has a palpable mood, good performances and a couple of exciting set pieces, not to mention “that” music.

Rabid completists who want to look back over previous releases may want to start with the first 1080 release from MGM, and the link leads to a review for those wanting a plot recap and technical information. Since that original review and my own two older reviews, both this 4K and this 1080 disc have been released by Kino Lorber with subsequent reviews.

To Live and Die in L.A. 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken directly from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate.

To Live and Die in L.A. is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information about the presentation:

To Live and Die in L.A. is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with original 2.0 stereo and 5.1 audio mixes. The film is presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

The restored 4K master was supplied by MGM via Park Circus. Additional picture restoration was completed by R3Store Studios.

Audio remastering for the original stereo was completed by Þorsteinn Gislason.

I'll mention only in passing that both the Arrow and Shout 1080 editions I reviewed specifically cited a (then) new 4K scan of the original camera negative which was supervised and approved by director William Friedkin, and while Friedkin has subsequently passed away (in 2023), it may be a bit odd that the above does not reference the negative. One way or the other this is a nice upgrade from Arrow's already appealing 1080 SDR edition from a few years ago. Once again to my eyes the most noticeable immediate difference was with regard to the palette courtesy of the HDR / Dolby Vision grades. There are multiple examples that could be cited in how observably more vivid tones are in this edition, especially in the red to purple range, but one of the first areas of significant pop is actually with regard to the almost fluorescent green hues in the credits. That said, there are several moments where flesh tones are skewed to almost flushed levels (not including the red lit opening as seen in screenshot 5), though things never look unnatural. What the HDR / Dolby Vision grades really made apparent to me in this viewing is how almost Michael Mann adjacent some of the cinematography is, with sudden bright splashes of color (as in some of Dafoe's "artwork"), or even in terms of lighting, as in the really evocative green, orange and chartreuse tinges in the late club scene. As I mentioned in my review of Arrow's 1080 release there are some noticeable fluctuations in densities and clarity where things can look slightly dowdy for a moment or two, with image quality that is just slightly degraded looking and with a coarser grain field and somewhat browner, less appealing, palette (the first interview between Turturro and Peterson is a good example), but on the whole the palette looks fresh and really nicely suffused.

To Live and Die in L.A. 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

To Live and Die in L.A. repeats Arrow's 1080 edition with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and an LPCM 2.0 track. I didn't really experience any of the brashness Casey mentioned in his review of the MGM's surround track, though immersion is not especially consistent or overly impressive, with (to cite one example) the roaring car noises in the big chase scene not providing much in the way of panning activity. There's still discrete channelization utilized for sound effects and ambient environmental effects dot the surrounds, and I frankly found the surround track a bit more immersive on this listen than when I did reviewing the 1080 edition, including relatively subtle things like how that redolent theme music is splayed around the channels underneath the opening vignette and credits. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

To Live and Die in L.A. 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: This has the same supplements as Arrow's 1080 disc, though maybe a bit strangely they're in a different order and authored slightly differently. I cheated a bit and just copied the timings over from the 1080 review, some of these vary by a second or two on this disc, as often happens.

• Audio Commentary with Director William Friedkin


• Taking a Chance: An Interview with William Petersen (HD; 20:41) is a good interview with the actor, in a far reaching set of anecdotes that gets into things like casting and the shoot. Petersen kind of weirdly states that Gene Hackman was unknown when he made The French Connection.


• Renaissance Woman in L.A.: An Interview with Actress Debra Feuer (HD; 14:55) is another good retrospective, with Feuer reminiscing about Friedkin and Dafoe catching her in a play, leading to her role in the film.


• Doctor for a Day: An Interview with Actor Dwier Brown (HD; 8:52) talks about being cast in his first major feature film.


• So in Phase: Scoring To Live and Die in L.A. (HD; 12:43) is an interesting conversation with Wang Chung's Jack Hues and Nick Feldman, who talk about how Friedkin had used their song "Wait" as part of his temp track, leading to them being hired to score the film.


• Wrong Way: The Stunts of To Live and Die in L.A.: An Interview with Stunt Coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker (HD; 35:38) is a fun conversation with Hooker, who talks about what folks in his line of work do as well as what his duties were on this shoot. There are a few snippets from the film as well as a few archival stills sprinkled into the mix.


• Counterfeit World: The Making of To Live and Die in L.A. (HD; 29:41) is an archival featurette with some good interviews.


• Alternate Ending (HD; 5:59) contains a skippable introduction (HD; 2:19).


• Deleted Scene (HD; 2:04) contains a skippable introduction (HD; 1:51).


• Trailer Gallery

Theatrical Trailers (HD; 3:32)




Radio Spot (1:04)

• Still Gallery (UHD)

Arrow's insert booklet contains three archival essays and encloses a somewhat hilarious counterfeit $20 bill with Willem Dafoe's face on the front and the L.A. skyline on the back. Packaging features a slipcover.

To Live and Die in L.A. 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The punchline of my music anecdote above is that the wonderful theme Wang Chung performed for To Live and Die in L.A. only gets a cursory hearing in the film itself, mixed at times at least beneath some sound effects and, toward the end of the tune, way down under the nascent dialogue and other effects. That perhaps tangential "concern" aside, the film itself struggles to overcome some pretty hoary clichés, but it's incredibly moody and builds to a rather devastating climax. As I mentioned in my original 1080 reviews, there's a not very subtle strain of homoeroticism running through the film, with lots of shots of tight (male) jeans and at least a smattering of male nudity. This 4K edition offers an especially resplendent palette and generally excellent detail levels, and the ported over supplements are all enjoyable. Recommended.