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William Friedkin, like many of the directors who rose to prominence in the 1970s, is a curious case. The French Connection and The Exorcist](The Exorcist (1973) - Movie | Moviefone) are, I think, indisputable masterpieces, but much of what he’s done since then has been, well, uneven at best: Cruising exudes a certain creepy kind of authenticity, but is it really a watchable film? The Guardian feels like a ripoff of The Exorcist with druid mythology and some weird tree thrown in for supernatural color. Blue Chips is passable, but Jade is god awful - a disaster that only an A-list hack like Joe Eszterhas could conceive. And in the last decade, *Rules of Engagement *](Rules of Engagement (2000) - Movie | Moviefone)was forgettable, The Hunted](The Hunted (2003) - Movie | Moviefone) horrible, and Bug](Bug (2007) - Movie | Moviefone), well, it has its fans but it’s certainly not for everyone.
The 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A.](To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) - Movie | Moviefone), meanwhile, is generally regarded as one of his masterpieces, a triumph of nihilistic detachment and visceral energy. Newly released on Blu-ray by the good folks at Fox Home Entertainment, it seemed like a good time to revisit the film and see how well it holds up against decades upon decades of determined cop movies, much less Friedkin’s own filmography.
**The Facts: **