Ryan Murphy wasn't the first to explore the Menéndez brothers. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’re looking at the various portrayals of brothers and convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menéndez in media.
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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.
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