User Reviews

***SPOILERS*** Without even knowing just who's responsible for the baseball bat murder of Mrs. Janet Mayers and the braining of her 4 year old son Tommy you just know right in your gut that something just isn't right with what your seeing. Picking up Bill Fontalill, the prime suspect in Janet's murder, at the local hospital with a near fatal stomach wound the police thought that the case has been wrapped up and solved lock stock and barrel; they were wrong dead wrong.

Bill a good friend of the deceased, Janet, husband Kerry had had his own marital troubles when, we see this all in flashback, his wife Susan walked out on him. Completealy losing it Bill not only wrecked his house but quit his job and checked out of the city and state; New Orleans LA. Coming back to New Orleans unexpectedly some months later Bill seems to be a changed man rekindling his friendship with both Kerry and his wife Janet. It's the time that Bill showed up on the scene and the horrific night that he ended up in the hospital, and later in prison where he was charged with murder, is the key to what really happened in Janet's Myers brutal murder; a murder so vicious and graphic that I was surprised that it was shown on regular TV!

The slam dunk that the New Orlean Police and D.A, John Thorn, thought that the Myers/Fontanill case was going to be didn't quite materialize. Kerry Myers story, describing his wife's Janet's murder, had holes in it that were so big that you can drive an 18 wheeler through. Bill taking the stand told an entire different story from what his ex-friend Kerry told the judge & jury; it was in fact Kerry not him who's the murderer!

Going to the jury the verdict comes back deadlocked, 6 for 6 against conviction, with the state deciding to have Bill re-tried for the Janet Myers murder, as well as the brutal assault on little Tommy. One thing that strikes you about this entire case is that both defendant and accused, Kerry & Bill, in their testimony never mentioned seeing the victim, Janet Myers, beaten to death in fact they never saw her at all!

Something that only in real life could happen "Murder between Friends" is so far fetched, yet true, that your left wondering if what you saw you really saw when it's finally over! D.A Thorn preparing his case, the re-trial, against Bill Fontanill is startled to see that Kerry, one of Bill's victims, was actually inside the house before Bill was! This destroys his entire case against Bill Fontanill!

Slowly back-tracking Thorn starts to see that both Kerry as well as Bill had a lot more in common then just being connected as a victim and a victimizer! They both were not getting along with their wives, Susan & Janet, and that was the sting that tied the whole confusing and entire case together!

Mind-blowing ending that turned everything up-side and right-side up as the truth about who was responsible for Janet Myer's murder comes out and in the most startling way: in a combination Jury and Judge trial. They, TV courtroom flicks, don't come any better then this and it's the fact that the story is all true is what make "Murder between Friends" the unbelievable shocker that it is.

P.S ***SPOILERS*** Very similar story to the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Strangers on a Train" where it this case it's life imitating film or fiction!

This film kept me guessing right up to the finish line.

The film begins with two wounded men, who have obviously been involved in a fight, running from a house. Bill Fontanille (Martin Kemp)has been stabbed, both men are covered in blood. The other man, Kerry Myers (Stephen Lang) also wounded and with a broken arm, is carrying a knife and screaming threateningly at Bill Fontanille, who is fleeing.

What has happened? We learn that Kerry Myers wife, Janet, has been murdered, and their son, Todd, a lad of about six or so, has been severely injured--and apparently unable to recall what happened. The only person unharmed is a baby girl, a few months old.

Kerry explains to the police that Bill Fontanelle, a long time pal of his, went crazy when his own wife left him, that Bill came over to the Myers' house, killed Kerry's wife, tried to kill his son and brutally attacked him, when he arrived home. The motive appears to be that an unhinged Bill was driven mad by the fact his wife left him, and that a child of theirs was born with a problem, while Kerry has it made with his family.

Bill, however, tells a different story--claiming he and Kerry's wife, Janet, had a sexual encounter, and that Kerry suspected. According to Bill, he arrived at the Myers house the night Janet was killed, only to be greeted at the door by Kerry who immediately stabbed him. Janet, Bill said, had already been killed by Kerry.

There are peculiarities in both men's stories, but the D.A. is unable to determine which man is lying and which man is telling the truth.

8 stars out of 10

As for the quality of the film, that's a matter of preference, the movie IS based on a true story. While some of the details of the crime, etc are made for TV, I have met with and spoken personally to Kerry Myers, who is currently serving a life sentence on a 2nd degree murder charge at LA State Penitentiary (aka Angola). And every life sentence in LA is without the possibility of parole. I am from and live in Louisiana. As for Bill Fontanille, he is serving a 20 year sentence. Anyone can look up the case and get the details. The case is pretty easy to find on the internet. It was a pretty big deal when it happened. Kerry Myers is the current editor of the Angolite, the magazine for the prison which is pretty popular.