00:00What did you say to him? What did you tell him? About what? About mom and dad?
00:05Because we don't know who killed them.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the various portrayals
00:11of brothers and convicted killers Lyle and Eric Menendez in media.
00:15We won't be including media that's only inspired by their case.
00:19My dad believed in me. He thought that I could be a tennis champion.
00:25Honor thy father and mother, the true story of the Menendez murders.
00:29Eric, come on. Eric, get in the car. Come on.
00:37Even before the Menendez brothers had been convicted,
00:40Hollywood was capitalizing on their notoriety.
00:43This movie, which originally aired on Fox, has a rather unwieldy title
00:48and a rather uneven execution.
00:50Dear son, as you know, to me the family is the most important thing in my life,
00:55and I hope it will be in yours.
00:58I have total trust in both you and Eric.
01:01Starring Billy Warlock and David Barone as Lyle and Eric,
01:04and James Farentino and Jill Klaiberg as parents Jose and Kitty,
01:08it feigns objectivity but clearly is biased in favor of the brothers.
01:12But the biggest issue is how dully the fascinating story is rendered.
01:17Do you want to know how it happened?
01:21Sure.
01:22Sure.
01:25We were coming home from a movie to get my fake ID so we could meet Perry at the bars.
01:31The cast does their best to add dimension to their underwritten parts,
01:34and Farentino is particularly terrifying as an abusive patriarch.
01:38Eric, who was John Mitchell?
01:43The special prosecutor?
01:48Don't disappoint me, son.
01:50Maybe the boys have had enough.
01:52He can fend for himself, damn it!
01:54Overall though, Honor Thy Mother and Father is mostly just another run-of-the-mill TV movie.
02:00Menendez, A Killing in Beverly Hills
02:03What part of our agreement didn't you understand?
02:06Dad, it's not that, it's just...
02:09Listen to yourself, it's not that, it's not this, it's something else.
02:12You're old enough to be a man, if you can't be one, act like one.
02:15In this miniseries for CBS,
02:17Jose and Kitty are played by Edward James Olmos and Beverly D'Angelo,
02:21while sons Lyle and Eric are portrayed by Damian Chapa and Travis Fine.
02:25Sometimes it seems like he'd wipe us out if he could.
02:30Of course he could.
02:32He's like a ball constrictor, you know?
02:34Squeeze and let go, squeeze and let go.
02:36Though it arrived a month after Honor Thy Father and Mother,
02:39this one is decidedly better.
02:42Much of this is thanks to the talents of the cast.
02:45Chapa and Fine bear a striking resemblance to the real-life brothers,
02:48and create fully-formed characters
02:50struggling to cope with the negative influence of their parents.
02:54I mean, you got accepted for God's sake.
02:56Just gonna put the screws on now.
02:58That's dad, you gotta learn to live with it,
03:00you gotta understand where he's coming from.
03:02What, what are you, where is he coming from?
03:04What, Cuba?
03:04Take it easy, Eric, I'm on your side.
03:07Meanwhile, Olmos and D'Angelo do an excellent job
03:10of embodying people whose outer success cannot make up for their inner turmoil.
03:14You know they hate me.
03:18Oh?
03:19I see it in their eyes.
03:22Don't say that, come on, don't even think that.
03:25If you're interested in this case and have three hours to spare,
03:28it is worth a watch.
03:30Menendez, Blood Brothers
03:32After a TV movie and miniseries only a few months apart,
03:36you can see why people would want a respite
03:38from dramatized media about the Menendez brothers,
03:40and they got one, for 23 years.
03:44So I'm only back a week before school starts,
03:46but that gives me just enough time for, for me to kick your ass at tennis.
03:50Yeah, right.
03:51Oh, we gotta go see The New Bond too.
03:53This lifetime movie starring Nico Tortorella and Maiko Olivier as Lyle and Eric,
03:57and Benito Martinez and Courtney Love as Jose and Kitty
04:00certainly has a glossier sheen than its predecessors,
04:03but it won't be mistaken for anything prestigious.
04:06Mom, say something.
04:07Sweetie, you'll be closer to me this way.
04:10Lyle's already left us for Princeton,
04:12and if you leave him, I'll have that.
04:14See? It's settled.
04:18Stay here, and everybody's happy.
04:20Instead, it is soapy, melodramatic, and pretty dismal overall,
04:25offering no new insights on the story decades later.
04:28Who shot how?
04:29I, I didn't hear anything, I just, I just came home.
04:35An ambulance is on its way.
04:37It does have a particularly dedicated performance from Love,
04:41who appears throughout as a presence haunting Eric.
04:44The only reason I lasted this long was for my children.
04:48I love them so much.
04:53Eric.
04:54Otherwise, there was a much better depiction of the case arriving just two months later.
04:59Law and Order True Crime.
05:01The Menendez Murders.
05:03Perhaps jumping on the bandwagon after the success of American Crime Story
05:07and its multifaceted portrayal of the O.J. Simpson murder trial,
05:10NBC launched an anthology series of their own, Law and Order True Crime.
05:15This is how it's supposed to look.
05:16Yes, we have to look sharp for the memorial.
05:19We'll be on stage speaking.
05:20This feels too tight.
05:21That's the cut.
05:27We'll take it.
05:28And the two Armanis for me.
05:29However, only one eight-episode season was produced,
05:33following The Menendez Brothers,
05:35played by Miles Gaston Villanueva and Gus Halper.
05:38Just remember what Dad taught us.
05:40Master of our emotions.
05:44If I feel fear, I will plunge ahead.
05:48You're a Menendez.
05:50You're gonna do great things.
05:52Meanwhile, Jose and Kitty are played by Carlos Gomez and Lolita Davidovich.
05:57The true star of this, though, is Edie Falco as defense attorney Leslie Abramson
06:02in an Emmy-nominated performance that further demonstrates her versatility.
06:06I have an affidavit from a former patient you had an affair with
06:09and tried to strangle with a phone cord.
06:11Now, was that a sacred phone cord?
06:13Lies. All lies.
06:15These alleged threats, those are the lies.
06:18Fusing the Law and Order formula with the Menendez story,
06:21it can't completely shy away from luridness.
06:24I do what I want in this family.
06:26Eric is going to his room and you're not leaving this house.
06:29You ruined this family.
06:32Come on. Come on. Don't waste your time.
06:35But its strengths are enough to make it worth a recommendation.
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06:55Monsters – The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story
06:59Speaking of American Crime Story,
07:01series producer Ryan Murphy also helmed another similar true crime anthology series,
07:06the second season of which focuses on the Menendez murders.
07:09Okay, you have to shoot first so that you don't back out.
07:12What?
07:16Okay.
07:18I love you, Eric.
07:21I love you.
07:22Nicholas, Alexander Chavez, and Cooper Koch play Lyle and Eric.
07:26But the true star power comes from Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny
07:29as parents Jose and Kitty.
07:31No, no, no. I've heard about this girl. She's a bimbo.
07:35If it's **** that you pointed out yesterday, then no way.
07:38A nine-episode series that occasionally veers into campiness,
07:41Monsters likely won't change your mind about Murphy's style.
07:44What'd you tell him?
07:45I didn't tell him anything.
07:47Right. Because there's nothing to tell.
07:50Right.
07:50But strong performances, particularly from Bardem,
07:54are just enough to keep it compelling.
07:56Well, yes, I'm practicing my smile,
07:59because we're going to end this session in five minutes
08:03and head down to Sears, the four of us.
08:07One person who is decidedly not a fan?
08:10Eric Menendez, who referred to his and Lyle's depiction as,
08:13quote,
08:13disheartening slander.
08:16What true crime story do you think should be dramatized next?
08:19Let us know in the comments.
08:21And...
08:24That's the one, I think.
08:26Did you enjoy this video?
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