Love, Lies, and Murder (1991)

Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent, a Must See

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Love, Lies and Murder, released for TV in 1991 is about the hideous case of a murder that happened in Garden Grove, California. On March 19, 1985, Linda Bailey Brown was murdered while she was asleep in her bedroom at home. David Brown, Linda's husband, is not at home at the time of the crime, but his daughter and sister-in-law are. David Brown is an evil person, as well as a master manipulator. He manipulated Cinnamon (his daughter from a previous marriage) by having her pull the trigger, and having Patti (his sister-in-law) be an accomplice to the crime. David is also the type of person who didn't care about anyone else but himself and showed no regard for his family. It was also so sick of him to get his sister-in-law pregnant shortly later on, then they get married and end up abusing the insurance money that they live on (by being extravagant). Horrible man!! I have seen this movie many times and every time I see it, I have a lot of anger towards David for plotting this crime. He thought (in his own mind, of course) that Linda wanted to have him killed so that she could take over his business and money. What a bunch of crap that is!! Linda would never have done such a thing. A person like David does not deserve to be out in society; the man will obviously stay in prison until his dying day. Poor Patti and Cinnamon; David just manipulated them. Clancy Brown, who played David, is a great actor and Moira Kelly, who played Cinnamon, was great in her role as well. Sheryl Lee (who played Patti) was great, too. Acting is superb. This movie needs to be out on DVD soon, instead of being confined to cable TV.

If this movie were not based on a true story I wouldn't have believed the plot. However, knowing it is base on truth I definitely would recommend watching this for a lazy afternoon movie! This is one truly dysfunctional family, starting with the living arrangements David had with his second wife, her younger sister and Cinammon (the daughter from a previous marriage.)The character of Cinammon did a great job and made her role very believable. From the start when she confessed to the murder of her step-mother, all the way to the ending.This is my first review so I am afraid to write too much as I don't want to give away too much information, but I do recommend it, especially for people that love true crime drama's! I hope this review is somewhat helpful.

Sheryl Lee (after Twin Peaks and other David Lynch films) is still beautiful, still a little crazy, and still worth watching. No one (other than maybe Michelle Pfeiffer and Michelle Phillips) have eyes that are as sexy and alluring as Sheryl's. Moira Kelly (long before she grew up and had a role on The West Wing) is believable and a little scary. Cynthia Nixon (long before Sex in the City) has not changed at all in the past 10 years. She has a presence about her that makes her, while not beautiful, very sexy and intriguing. Any performance by Tobin Bell (watch him in The Firm) is always scary, suspenseful, and very entertaining. He only has a small part in this film but you won't forget it. And Gerry Bamman also has a small, but effective, part. If you are a fan of Law & Order, you've seen Gerry many, many times. This film is not yet available on video or DVD but has aired several times on CourtTV. My rating is only a 6 overall but for suspense, it gets a 7 and for not being able to figure out the ending until late in the film, it gets a 9.

Although you won't find a lot of big names in the cast (perhaps that enhances the production!) this is a first rate true-crime drama. As the story unfolds we find that Brown is, as the judge states, "More scary than Charles Manson." The only problem I had with the entire production, was the script seemed not fully developed, characters dropped in and out without much of an introduction or explanation. Having read the book I was more easily able to follow the story. All said and done, however, this is a good one.