Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Lyle and Erik Menendez Portrayals in Movies and TV
WatchMojo
Follow
9/27/2024
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.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
What did you say to him? What did you tell him? About what? About mom and dad?
00:05
Because we don't know who killed them.
00:07
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the various portrayals
00:11
of brothers and convicted killers Lyle and Eric Menendez in media.
00:15
We won't be including media that's only inspired by their case.
00:19
My dad believed in me. He thought that I could be a tennis champion.
00:25
Honor thy father and mother, the true story of the Menendez murders.
00:29
Eric, come on. Eric, get in the car. Come on.
00:37
Even before the Menendez brothers had been convicted,
00:40
Hollywood was capitalizing on their notoriety.
00:43
This movie, which originally aired on Fox, has a rather unwieldy title
00:48
and a rather uneven execution.
00:50
Dear son, as you know, to me the family is the most important thing in my life,
00:55
and I hope it will be in yours.
00:58
I have total trust in both you and Eric.
01:01
Starring Billy Warlock and David Barone as Lyle and Eric,
01:04
and James Farentino and Jill Klaiberg as parents Jose and Kitty,
01:08
it feigns objectivity but clearly is biased in favor of the brothers.
01:12
But the biggest issue is how dully the fascinating story is rendered.
01:17
Do you want to know how it happened?
01:21
Sure.
01:22
Sure.
01:25
We were coming home from a movie to get my fake ID so we could meet Perry at the bars.
01:31
The cast does their best to add dimension to their underwritten parts,
01:34
and Farentino is particularly terrifying as an abusive patriarch.
01:38
Eric, who was John Mitchell?
01:43
The special prosecutor?
01:48
Don't disappoint me, son.
01:50
Maybe the boys have had enough.
01:52
He can fend for himself, damn it!
01:54
Overall though, Honor Thy Mother and Father is mostly just another run-of-the-mill TV movie.
02:00
Menendez, A Killing in Beverly Hills
02:03
What part of our agreement didn't you understand?
02:06
Dad, it's not that, it's just...
02:09
Listen to yourself, it's not that, it's not this, it's something else.
02:12
You're old enough to be a man, if you can't be one, act like one.
02:15
In this miniseries for CBS,
02:17
Jose and Kitty are played by Edward James Olmos and Beverly D'Angelo,
02:21
while sons Lyle and Eric are portrayed by Damian Chapa and Travis Fine.
02:25
Sometimes it seems like he'd wipe us out if he could.
02:30
Of course he could.
02:32
He's like a ball constrictor, you know?
02:34
Squeeze and let go, squeeze and let go.
02:36
Though it arrived a month after Honor Thy Father and Mother,
02:39
this one is decidedly better.
02:42
Much of this is thanks to the talents of the cast.
02:45
Chapa and Fine bear a striking resemblance to the real-life brothers,
02:48
and create fully-formed characters
02:50
struggling to cope with the negative influence of their parents.
02:54
I mean, you got accepted for God's sake.
02:56
Just gonna put the screws on now.
02:58
That's dad, you gotta learn to live with it,
03:00
you gotta understand where he's coming from.
03:02
What, what are you, where is he coming from?
03:04
What, Cuba?
03:04
Take it easy, Eric, I'm on your side.
03:07
Meanwhile, Olmos and D'Angelo do an excellent job
03:10
of embodying people whose outer success cannot make up for their inner turmoil.
03:14
You know they hate me.
03:18
Oh?
03:19
I see it in their eyes.
03:22
Don't say that, come on, don't even think that.
03:25
If you're interested in this case and have three hours to spare,
03:28
it is worth a watch.
03:30
Menendez, Blood Brothers
03:32
After a TV movie and miniseries only a few months apart,
03:36
you can see why people would want a respite
03:38
from dramatized media about the Menendez brothers,
03:40
and they got one, for 23 years.
03:44
So I'm only back a week before school starts,
03:46
but that gives me just enough time for, for me to kick your ass at tennis.
03:50
Yeah, right.
03:51
Oh, we gotta go see The New Bond too.
03:53
This lifetime movie starring Nico Tortorella and Maiko Olivier as Lyle and Eric,
03:57
and Benito Martinez and Courtney Love as Jose and Kitty
04:00
certainly has a glossier sheen than its predecessors,
04:03
but it won't be mistaken for anything prestigious.
04:06
Mom, say something.
04:07
Sweetie, you'll be closer to me this way.
04:10
Lyle's already left us for Princeton,
04:12
and if you leave him, I'll have that.
04:14
See? It's settled.
04:18
Stay here, and everybody's happy.
04:20
Instead, it is soapy, melodramatic, and pretty dismal overall,
04:25
offering no new insights on the story decades later.
04:28
Who shot how?
04:29
I, I didn't hear anything, I just, I just came home.
04:35
An ambulance is on its way.
04:37
It does have a particularly dedicated performance from Love,
04:41
who appears throughout as a presence haunting Eric.
04:44
The only reason I lasted this long was for my children.
04:48
I love them so much.
04:53
Eric.
04:54
Otherwise, there was a much better depiction of the case arriving just two months later.
04:59
Law and Order True Crime.
05:01
The Menendez Murders.
05:03
Perhaps jumping on the bandwagon after the success of American Crime Story
05:07
and its multifaceted portrayal of the O.J. Simpson murder trial,
05:10
NBC launched an anthology series of their own, Law and Order True Crime.
05:15
This is how it's supposed to look.
05:16
Yes, we have to look sharp for the memorial.
05:19
We'll be on stage speaking.
05:20
This feels too tight.
05:21
That's the cut.
05:27
We'll take it.
05:28
And the two Armanis for me.
05:29
However, only one eight-episode season was produced,
05:33
following The Menendez Brothers,
05:35
played by Miles Gaston Villanueva and Gus Halper.
05:38
Just remember what Dad taught us.
05:40
Master of our emotions.
05:44
If I feel fear, I will plunge ahead.
05:48
You're a Menendez.
05:50
You're gonna do great things.
05:52
Meanwhile, Jose and Kitty are played by Carlos Gomez and Lolita Davidovich.
05:57
The true star of this, though, is Edie Falco as defense attorney Leslie Abramson
06:02
in an Emmy-nominated performance that further demonstrates her versatility.
06:06
I have an affidavit from a former patient you had an affair with
06:09
and tried to strangle with a phone cord.
06:11
Now, was that a sacred phone cord?
06:13
Lies. All lies.
06:15
These alleged threats, those are the lies.
06:18
Fusing the Law and Order formula with the Menendez story,
06:21
it can't completely shy away from luridness.
06:24
I do what I want in this family.
06:26
Eric is going to his room and you're not leaving this house.
06:29
You ruined this family.
06:32
Come on. Come on. Don't waste your time.
06:35
But its strengths are enough to make it worth a recommendation.
06:39
Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
06:42
and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
06:45
You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
06:49
If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
06:55
Monsters – The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story
06:59
Speaking of American Crime Story,
07:01
series producer Ryan Murphy also helmed another similar true crime anthology series,
07:06
the second season of which focuses on the Menendez murders.
07:09
Okay, you have to shoot first so that you don't back out.
07:12
What?
07:16
Okay.
07:18
I love you, Eric.
07:21
I love you.
07:22
Nicholas, Alexander Chavez, and Cooper Koch play Lyle and Eric.
07:26
But the true star power comes from Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny
07:29
as parents Jose and Kitty.
07:31
No, no, no. I've heard about this girl. She's a bimbo.
07:35
If it's **** that you pointed out yesterday, then no way.
07:38
A nine-episode series that occasionally veers into campiness,
07:41
Monsters likely won't change your mind about Murphy's style.
07:44
What'd you tell him?
07:45
I didn't tell him anything.
07:47
Right. Because there's nothing to tell.
07:50
Right.
07:50
But strong performances, particularly from Bardem,
07:54
are just enough to keep it compelling.
07:56
Well, yes, I'm practicing my smile,
07:59
because we're going to end this session in five minutes
08:03
and head down to Sears, the four of us.
08:07
One person who is decidedly not a fan?
08:10
Eric Menendez, who referred to his and Lyle's depiction as,
08:13
quote,
08:13
disheartening slander.
08:16
What true crime story do you think should be dramatized next?
08:19
Let us know in the comments.
08:21
And...
08:24
That's the one, I think.
08:26
Did you enjoy this video?
08:28
Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
08:30
and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
Recommended
1:30
|
Up next
Menendez Brothers Speak Out in New Netflix Documentary After Slamming 'Monsters' | THR News Video
The Hollywood Reporter
9/23/2024
2:44
MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Official Trailer #1 | Netflix
CGMeetup
9/5/2024
18:27
16 Surprising Facts They Left Out of Monsters The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
WatchMojo
10/18/2024
2:33
The Menendez Brothers | Official Trailer | Netflix
NoPopCorn
9/24/2024
1:08
MONSTERS : The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Official Teaser | Netflix
NoPopCorn
8/27/2024
12:18
10 Creepy Facts About Lyle and Erik Menendez
WatchMojo
9/21/2024
12:32
10 Things Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Got Factually Right
MsMojo
10/7/2024
2:33
The Menendez Brothers | Official Trailer - Netflix
80PoundMedia
9/23/2024
11:58
The Untold Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez
WatchMojo
9/20/2024
0:49
MONSTERS : The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Date Announcement | Netflix
NoPopCorn
8/20/2024
13:14
Celeb Reactions to the Menendez Brothers Case
WatchMojo
10/10/2024
1:56
The Menendez Brothers | Sneak Peek - Netflix
80PoundMedia
10/4/2024
1:28
Ryan Murphy's 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story' Gets Netflix Premiere Date | THR News Video
The Hollywood Reporter
8/20/2024
1:41
Ryan Murphy Addresses Menendez Brothers' Case Update | THR News Video
The Hollywood Reporter
10/4/2024
12:02
10 Creepiest Lyle and Erik Menendez Interview Moments
WatchMojo
10/3/2024
1:00
Lifetime's Menendez Brothers Movie Starring Courtney Love - Official Trailer
Filmow.com
6/7/2017
2:44
MONSTERS : The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Official Trailer #1 | Netflix
NoPopCorn
9/11/2024
2:33
The Menendez Brothers Documentary Movie
Teaser Trailer
9/24/2024
2:30
MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Trailer
FanReviews
9/10/2024
0:54
First Trailer for MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
FanReviews
8/27/2024
10:11
The Real Reasons the Menendez Brothers Are Getting a New Hearing Explained
WatchMojo
10/9/2024
2:44
MONSTERS : The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Official Trailer #2 | Netflix
NoPopCorn
9/16/2024
2:08
'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story' Teaser Trailer Hints at Sexual Abuse Claims | THR News Video
The Hollywood Reporter
8/28/2024
4:58
"Nathan Lane & Ari Graynor Break Down the Media’s Role in the Menendez Brothers Case - MONSTERS "
Gayety
10/4/2024
2:44
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Official Trailer #2 - Netflix
80PoundMedia
9/10/2024