Navarre Perry Movies
- 1994
We'd rather not rehash the sordied Menendez murder case in this space; besides, it isn't necessary, inasmuch as no fewer than two TV movies were produced on the subject in 1994. The first was Fox's Honor Thy Father and Mother; the second, telecast less than a month later, was Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills. Two hours longer than the first film, Menendez spends half of its running time recounting the events leading up to the Menendez brothers' murder of the parents, while the second half devotes itself to their overpublicized trial. Lyle and Eric Menendez are played, respectively, by Damian Chapa and Travis Fine. Edward James Olmos and Beverly D'Angelo costar as the ill-fated parents, while Margaret Whitton is cast as attorney Leslie Abramson. Once past the most lurid aspects of the case-notably the Menendez boys' insistence that their crime was motivated by extreme parental abuse-this 4-hour wallow gets pretty tiresome. Menendez was originally telecast in two parts, on May 22 and 23, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward James Olmos, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
- 1987
This interesting, surreal character study grounds its tale of an average guy's speedy descent into madness and violence by drawing parallels to the 1984 McDonald's massacre in San Diego. Circumstance seems to have a beef with poor Harry Curtis (Raymond Elemendorf), who loses his wife and job then gets thrown in jail, all in a short span of time. With no one to lend a helping hand or a sympathetic ear, Harry is forced to take up residence in an abandoned hotel, where he promptly begins to lose his marbles, talking at length to his teddy bear (who talks back) and befriending the ghost of the hotel's nutty former bellhop. As the lines between reality and hallucination break down, it's only a matter of time before Harry's overwhelming paranoia leads him to pick up an Uzi for the violent climax. Despite the jarring impact of this uncomfortably-real denouement after a loopy 80 minutes of inspired lunacy, this is a well-crafted effort, featuring a script from Johnny Guitar writer Philip Yordan (with strong overtones of Roman Polanski's The Tenant) and a multi-layered performance from Elemendorf. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Elmendorf, Pamela Baker, (more)
