Reviews & Ratings for
"City Confidential" Beverly Hills: Brothers in Arms (2002)

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
One Of The More Famous Crime Stories In Recent Decades, 11 November 2008

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is one of the most famous national cases in the past 15-20 years: the trial of the Mendendez brothers. As familiar as I was with Lyle and Erik Menendez, and a bit of their story, I discovered I really didn't know much of the details so this was a very interesting episode to me. Getting a look at the famous city of Beverly Hills also was very interesting, as would be expected.

Boy, is there a city filled with more shallow people than Beverly Hills? One wonders, after hearing on this program that there are more surgeons per capita here than in any city in the U.S. And the surgeons are mainly plastic surgeons. Everybody wants to look beautiful.

The story involves the whole Menendez family, how the father Jose came from Cuba with nothing in his pockets and made himself a wealthy man with his workaholic attitude, smarts and ambition. He was tough with his kids, who either loved or hated him at various moments and did those outside of the family who knew Jose. Apparently, he was a tough businessman to deal with on many occasions.

The boys looked like they were on their way to successful careers. Older brother Lyle had been accepted to Princeton University. Erik got into screen writing and was a star tennis player, something that pleased dad. However, Erik was trouble, landing in juvenile court.

On August 20, 1989, police received a frantic 911 call from Erik, who said he had come home late and discovered his mother and father dead, both a bloody mess. City Confidential narrator Paul Winfield said (in a shocking statement, even for a crime show) that the elder Menendez had a hole blown in his head so big that his brain had fallen out! What happened after that.....well, you can read about in a number of places or see in a various true-life crime shows which are on TV. Eventually, the boys confessed to the crime, apparently doing it to get the large inheritance money.

The trial turned out to be a sensational one, especially in this high-profile celebrity-laden city. Actually, it took several trials. As in many cases, it took years before justice was finally served. It was said one of the boys had frequent conversations with O.J. Simpson while the latter was in jail awaiting his famous trial.

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