No matter what Mark Kermode says, director William Friedkin never became the A-list director his early one-two punch of The French Connection and The Exorcist promised.

But, the gritty edge-of-the-seat cop thriller To Live and Die in L.A. gave Friedkin a mid-80s return to the big leagues, and action cinema one of the most heart-stopping car chases ever filmed.

CSI's William L. Petersen is here an altogether more tightly wound Secret Service agent who becomes obsessed with nailing big-time counterfeiter Willem Dafoe (in a formative weird-out performance), responsible for the death of his partner.

Handling the fall-out of Petersen's reckless police work is his new partner (John Pankow), who must ask tough questions as both Dafoe and Petersen flout the law.

Friedkin started off in documentaries and a passion for authenticity led to the hiring of two ex-counterfeiters as technical consultants, plus LA lawmen Gerald Petievich
(author of the source novel) and his brother.

Unfortunately, this cinema verite desire to capture the moment also extends to 80s fashions, and the film contains some serious criminal offences against decent standards of dress sense and hairstyles, while Wang Chung's score puts the synth into synthetic.

But, To Live and Die in L.A. grabs the audience by the collar and tears through a dark tale of blind obsession and vengeance.

Friedkin likes his leading men troubled and tortured and Petersen leads the pack with a character that is actually more dangerous than the bad-guy.

The ferocity and potency of the script papers over several plot clichés (Petersen's partner dies days before retirement, Petersen and Dafoe are different sides of the same coin etc), and a before-they-were-famous who's who fills out the supporting cast, including Dean Stockwell, John Turturro, and a blink and you'll miss her Jane (Daphne from Frasier) Leeves.

And then there is that car chase...

Friedkin had already set the bar high with The French Connection, but Petersen and Pankow fleeing the LAPD the wrong way through LA rush hour traffic is pedal-to-the-metal heart-in-mouth stuff, all done for real with no CGI maintenance.

In a bizarre twist, Michael Mann sued Friedkin for allegedly ripping off Miami Vice. Mann lost, but the reason Friedkin made To Live and Die in L.A. at all was because Mann beat him to the punch in adapting Red Dragon for the big screen. That film became Manhunter and also starred William Petersen as an obsessive cop.

Rob Daniel