movie review winter kills

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, winter kills.

Now streaming on:

When William Richert ’s “Winter Kills” was originally released in 1979, it proved to be so wild and audacious in how it mined our collective memories of one of the darkest, most defining moments of 20th-century American history--and presented them through a blackly comedic prism so far ahead of its time--that the few audiences that turned up could hardly believe what they were seeing. This adaptation of Richard Condon's novel returns to theaters in a newly restored version under the aegis of Quentin Tarantino , and it has not lost an iota of its power to shock, amuse, and simultaneously perplex viewers. If anything, it seems to have grown even bolder with age in its willingness to take on sacred cows in the craziest manner imaginable. To look at "Winter Kills" now, it seems more obvious than ever that this is indeed one of the great unsung American films of that era and one thoroughly deserving of rediscovery.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. In 1960, President Timothy Kegan, the handsome and popular scion of an enormously rich and powerful family, was assassinated by a sniper during a visit to Philadelphia. A federal commission convened to investigate the crime and concluded that it was the work of a lone gunman named Willie Arnold, who was killed a couple of days later while in police custody by a nightclub owner named Joe Diamond with alleged ties to Cuba and the Mob. While this conclusion raised many questions, it would be enough for many people, including Nick Kegan ( Jeff Bridges ), Timothy’s younger half-brother and the eventual heir to the entire Kegan dynasty.

Therefore, you can imagine his surprise when family factotum Keifetz ( Richard Boone ) arrives on the oil tanker Nick is currently working on with a nearly-dead man who claims he was one of two men who were hired to do the shooting and set up Arnold as a patsy, even offering up the Philadelphia location of where he stashed the rifle that did the deed. Nick assumes that the guy is a crackpot, but when he travels to Philadelphia, he finds the hidden rifle, although he winds up losing it in the ensuing confusion. He returns home to his family’s vast California compound to visit his estranged father, Pa Kegan ( John Huston ), and tell him of this discovery. Although initially dismissive, Pa agrees to help Nick uncover the apparent conspiracy behind Timothy’s murder and its subsequent cover-up, offering the use of the vast Kegan empire to help him along the way.

The rest of the film follows Nick as he embarks on his search for the truth, which results in several encounters with people who offer him information—often in direct contradiction to what he has already been told—and who, more often than not, seem to end up dead soon afterward. These encounters include Z.K. Dawson ( Sterling Hayden ), a personal and political rival of the Kegan family who gives Nick some information before chasing him off his property with a fully-armed tank, a corrupt Philadelphia cop ( Michael Thoma ) who recounts the deal reputedly made between high-level mobster “Gameboy” Baker ( Ralph Meeker ) and Joe Diamond ( Eli Wallach ), and John Cerruti ( Anthony Perkins ), the man behind the Kegan vast information network and who knows where all the bodies are buried, even the ones still at least temporarily alive. Assisting Nick somewhat in his pursuit of the truth is Yvette ( Belinda Bauer ), an enigmatic magazine editor who agrees to use her resources to help him pursue leads—assuming she is actually who she claims to be.

Although shot through with Condon’s trademark sense of dark humor, Condon’s original novel recounted this story in a mostly straightforward and serious manner. But in adapting it to the screen, first-time filmmaker Richert (who would only direct two more features, “The American Success Company” [1980] and “A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon” [1988] and died in 2022) elected to shift it into a more overtly comedic mode, presuming that doing it as satire might make it somewhat more palatable to audiences. This approach may not have succeeded in terms of financial gain, but it does make the film work in a way it might not have had it been done more somberly. The ramshackle, wild-goose-chase-style plotting gives the film an almost revue-style feeling (one oddly reminiscent of the plot thread in Brian De Palma ’s cult comedy “ Greetings ” involving the conspiracy nut played by Gerrit Graham ) that weirdly fits the material at hand. "Winter Kills" does a highly impressive job of milking laughs out of a subject that most people might not find to be that funny (especially back in 1979) while still touching on the disillusion felt by many, both then and now, regarding the institutions they had been raised to believe in.

Although the episodic nature of the film may prove frustrating and confusing at times, it does offer up any number of brilliantly staged and often hilarious sequences: the quietly shocking aftermath of the rifle discovery; Nick riding a horse in the middle of nowhere so that he can safely shout “You stink, Pa!"; Yvette’s inventive circumnavigation of a snooty restaurant’s rules about women in trousers; the scene where Cerruti (who, as performed by Perkins, suggests what might have resulted if his character from “The Trial” had been working for the other side) calmly recounts a massive amount of exposition despite having just had both arms broken; and the moment when Pa advises Nick to put money into South America. The film is also aided by a fairly elaborate cast (besides those already mentioned, it also finds parts for familiar faces like Toshiro Mifune and Dorothy Malone and cult favorites like Joe Spinell to none other than Elizabeth Taylor in a silent but highly memorable unbilled cameo) who are all clearly having a lot of fun, especially Huston (who would go on to successfully adapt another Condon novel with his late-period masterwork “Prizzi’s Honor”), whose work here may outdo even his turn in “ Chinatown ” in how it personifies power and corruption in its most curdled form.

Unlike “The Manchurian Candidate,” which languished in obscurity for years after being withdrawn from distribution before returning to view in 1988 only to be enshrined as an American classic, “Winter Kills” is unlikely ever to have received a similar embrace. I adore the film, but even I recognize it is just too weird and messy and disreputable in most regards, even today, ever to achieve even a trace amount of that recognition. And yet, no matter how many times I have seen it, I remain consistently knocked out by its wit, courage, and audacity. I can only hope that at least some who come to check out this long-overdue re-release, even if it's due entirely to the Tarantino imprimatur, will feel the same way.

Now playing in select theaters.

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

Now playing

Matt Zoller Seitz

Peyton Robinson

Glenn Kenny

Brian Tallerico

Close to You

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Film credits.

Winter Kills (2023)

Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan

John Huston as Pa Kegan

Anthony Perkins as John Cerruti

Eli Wallach as Joe Diamond

Sterling Hayden as Z.K. Dawson

Dorothy Malone as Emma Kegan

Tomas Milian as Frank Mayo

Belinda Bauer as Yvette Malone

Ralph Meeker as Gameboy Baker

Toshirō Mifune as Keith

Richard Boone as Keifitz

David Spielberg as Miles Garner

Brad Dexter as Captain Heller One

William Richert

Writer (book)

Richard Condon

Cinematographer

Vilmos Zsigmond
David Bretherton
Maurice Jarre

Latest blog posts

13 Films Illuminate Locarno Film Festival's Columbia Pictures Retrospective

Apple TV+'s Pachinko Expands Its Narrative Palate For An Emotional Season Two

Tina Mabry and Edward Kelsey Moore on the Joy and Uplift of The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat

The Adams Family Gets Goopy in Hell Hole

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Why ‘Winter Kills’ Is the Perfect Conspiracy Thriller for the QAnon Era

By David Fear

The ’70s were the perfect time to be paranoid: rumors of government-sanctioned assassinations here and abroad, second-gunman theories around dead presidents, whispers of elite secret societies pulling strings, that whole Watergate thing . It wafted in the air like yesterday’s tear gas. The movies picked up the vibe and amplified it. Buy a ticket and you could see Warren Beatty discover an assassin-recruitment corporation ( The Parallax View ), Robert Redford as a CIA analyst on the run from agency goons ( Three Days of the Condor ), Gene Hackman get tripped up over his own surveillance-state expertise ( The Conversation ), Burt Lancaster lead a cabal of industrialist fatcats in a plot to kill JFK ( Executive Action ), and movie stars play real reporters taking down a real POTUS ( All the President’s Men ). You didn’t have to be Richard Hofstadter to pick up what this popular genre was putting down.

Editor’s picks

Every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, inside sammy davis jr.'s secret satanic past , why 'the crow' — and brandon lee — still haunts us, 'the crow' redo could use some flying lessons, alain delon was more than just the single most beautiful movie star ever.

And Winter Kills fills out its large cast of characters with an ensemble that suggests the greatest Hollywood Squares episode never made. Anthony Perkins gives the second creepiest performance of his career as an accountant-slash-data overlord. John Huston turns his Joe Kennedy-like titan of industry into a monster that makes Chinatown ‘s Noah Cross look cuddly. Australian model Belinda Bauer plays [ checks notes ] an Australian model-journalist… or is she? Fifties starlet Dorothy Malone mixes with Have Gun Will Travel ‘s Richard Boone, Kiss Me Deadly ‘s Ralph Meeker, and Eli Wallach (as a Jack Ruby type named Joe Diamond). Sterling Hayden, Toshiro Mifune , and spaghetti-Western royalty Tomas Milan drop by, just for tough-guy kicks. She’s not credited, but yes, that’s Elizabeth Taylor as a character described by Richert as “a pimp for the mob.” Her only line is a barely mouthed profanity.

Francis Ford Coppola: 'I Have Nothing Left to Lose'

'black myth: wukong' is a hit. but why is the game so controversial, liam gallagher isn’t exactly dispelling oasis reunion rumors, trump has multi-platform meltdown for the ages over harris’ dnc speech.

When Winter Kills finally did get released, critics raved about it — and then the film was mysteriously pulled from theaters. In the doc, Richert quotes Condon’s notion that its disappearance had to do with how film company Avco Embassy had business dealings with the Kennedys, and as Ted Kennedy was preparing a possible presidential campaign, “they didn’t want that movie around. And then it wasn’t around.” It’s one possible conspiracy theory among several, to be sure, but just because you’re paranoid…

In the intervening years, the movie’s reputation as a cult classic grew and grew, and this re-release, along with Tarantino’s seal of cinegeek approval, will undoubtedly double that cult’s size. When you watch a lot of ’70s conspiracy thrillers, especially ones that dabble in JFK ephemera, there’s a lovely time-machine sensation of revisiting the worries, fears, and furrowed-brow anxieties of a bygone, wide-lapeled age. See Winter Kills today, and the comfort of a “that was then” feeling is supplanted by the contemporary dread of now. You’re only a few clicks away from folks railing about pedophile rings run out of pizza shop basements, deep-state maneuvering, false-flag operations, and other wackadoo notions. The fact that they sit side by side with actual reports of the rich and powerful playing puppetmaster with our political process only makes you sweat more. The totally batshit theories that Winter Kills toys with used to be confined safely on the fringe or within the theater’s walls. Now they’re running through the veins of our national bloodstream.

Francis Ford Coppola: 'I Have Nothing Left to Lose'

The Rolling Stone Interview

Why 'The Crow' — and Brandon Lee — Still Haunts Us

By Tim Grierson

Marketer Behind Fake Quotes in 'Megalopolis' Trailer Dropped by Lionsgate

Inauthentic
By Kory Grow

Can the Best of Star Wars Survive the Worst of Its Fans?

By CT Jones

Bob Mould and Fred Armisen Help the 8G Band Sign Off 'Seth Meyers' With Hüsker Dü Cover

By Jon Blistein

Most Popular

Channing tatum says gambit accent was supposed to be 'unintelligible' at times and he was 'too scared to ask' marvel for the costume to bring home, rob schneider says people "yelling," walking out of his comedy shows means he's "doing it right", 15 things to know about actress & rfk jr's daughter kick kennedy, ashanti shares sentimental reason behind her son's name, admits it was nelly's idea, you might also like, santiago maza’s ‘state of silence,’ produced by diego luna, wins top award at sanfic , betty halbreich, bergdorf’s legendary personal shopper, dies at 96, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, ‘deadpool & wolverine’ revives, ‘alien: romulus’ plunges, and we lose the $100 million weekend, commanders commit to a new, improved sean taylor statue.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

About Rotten Tomatoes®
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most Popular Streaming Movies
Certified Fresh Movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

77% Blink Twice Link to Blink Twice
96% Strange Darling Link to Strange Darling
86% Between the Temples Link to Between the Temples

New TV Tonight

-- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2
-- Only Murders in the Building: Season 4
-- Kaos: Season 1
-- City of God: The Fight Rages On: Season 1
-- Here Come the Irish: Season 1
-- Terminator Zero: Season 1
-- Horror's Greatest: Season 1
-- After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun: Season 1

Winter Kills Reviews

…most of the plot elements of Winter Kills have matured over the years, making it something of a hidden gem for anyone with a passing interest in American politics…

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 23, 2024

Richert’s deliciously berserk [movie] almost never saw the light of day before its patchy completion and release in 1979; it’s pungent satire, a Kennedy-conspiracy thriller... that must, as has been said, be seen to be disbelieved,

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Oct 16, 2023

Cult classic status, not quite, but an oddity that definitely deserves to be seen.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 22, 2023

Winter Kills caps Hollywood’s convention of political paranoia without Richert ever succumbing to nihilism. There is no disillusionment in filmmaking this vibrant.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2023

“Winter Kills” is, above all, an exercise in tone—a crazed, hectic tone that instantly suggests a world irreparably out of whack. What lends the movie substance is the cinematic style that Richert crafts from its dramatic premise.

Full Review | Aug 12, 2023

It seems to have grown even bolder with age in its willingness to take on sacred cows in the craziest manner imaginable.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 11, 2023

The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts.

Full Review | Aug 8, 2023

The gossip around this movie is its own legend.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 21, 2022

Richert gives the film a hard, bright surface -- this is not a seductive fantasy, it's more of the sarcastic, take-it-or-leave-it kind.

Full Review | Mar 24, 2020

The satiric edge qualifies the film as a sick joke, which helps explain why the studio was reluctant to support it and why the public was reluctant to watch it. But it is audacious, and it's easy to see why it has developed a modest cult following.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 17, 2019

... the maddest and most entertaining of Kennedy conspiracy thrillers, a wild kaleidoscope of clashing theories directed with wit and performed with gusto by an astounding cast.

Full Review | Jan 5, 2018

Though it garnered little attention in theaters, it has become a cult favorite on video.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 29, 2010

Huston gives a powerhouse performance, and Bridges, always likeable, runs through his repertoire of facial expressions and grimaces, but it's a lost cause.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

As an absurdist take on conspiracy thrillers, it's close to brilliant -- assuming you get the joke, which audiences don't seem to have in 1979.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 22, 2008

Bizarre, fascinating political assassination satire with superb cast

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 17, 2006

An excellent conspiracy thriller of unusual blackness and wit.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 19, 2005

Winter Kills" isn't exactly a comedy, but it's funny. And it isn't exactly serious, but it takes on the serious business of the Kennedy assassination.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 7, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 22, 2004

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Summary The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter.

Directed By : William Richert

Written By : Richard Condon, William Richert

Winter Kills

Jeff Bridges

John huston, anthony perkins, john cerruti, eli wallach, joe diamond, sterling hayden, z.k. dawson, dorothy malone, tomas milian, belinda bauer, yvette malone, ralph meeker, gameboy baker, toshirô mifune, richard boone, david spielberg, miles garner, brad dexter, captain heller one, michael thoma, captain heller two, irving selbst, irving mentor, chris soldo, robert courtleigh, first mate of t.k., peter brandon, joe spinell, arthur fletcher, critic reviews.

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

User Reviews

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Related Movies

Singin' in the rain, city lights, the rules of the game, some like it hot, dr. strangelove or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, american graffiti, the shop around the corner, a hard day's night, the philadelphia story, ratatouille, the lady eve, do not expect too much from the end of the world, la dolce vita, meet me in st. louis, the apartment, chimes at midnight, related news.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Jason dietz.

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated daily.

Every Alien Movie, Ranked

We rank every film in the Alien franchise, from the 1979 original to the new Alien: Romulus, from worst to best by Metascore.

Every Movie Based on a Videogame, Ranked

We rank every live-action film adapted from a video game—dating from 1993's Super Mario Bros. to this month's new Borderlands—from worst to best according to their Metascores.

August 2024 Movie Preview

Keith kimbell.

Get details on all of the notable films debuting in August, including the latest Alien sequel and a big-screen adaptation of the Borderlands video games.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

WINTER KILLS

MUST END THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 Wednesday, September 13 – Thursday, September 14: 12:30 6:10

PHOTO GALLERY BY SET PHOTOGRAPHER BRIAN HAMILL

U.S., 1979 Directed by William Richert Starring Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Tomas Milian, Belinda Bauer, Ralph Meeker, Richard Boone, Toshirō Mifune and Elizabeth Taylor Approx. 97 min. 35mm. This thinly veiled and hyper-paranoiac take on the JFK assassination stars Bridges as Nick Kegan, scion of a fabulously wealthy and powerful family headed by patriarch Huston (hailed “the real delight of the film” by The New York Times ), as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Bridges soon finds himself going down multiple rabbit holes while trying to unravel the conspiracy behind the murder of a U.S. president, his older brother.

With an astonishing supporting cast that seems to parody the 1970s vogue for all-star epics like AIRPORT including Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Tomas Milian, Belinda Bauer, Ralph Meeker, Richard Boone, Toshirō Mifune, and a wordless, unbilled appearance by Elizabeth Taylor, as a character inspired by JFK’s mobbed-up mistress Judith Exner.

The film also marked the feature debut of Australian actress and model Belinda Bauer, who plays Bridges’ love interest (and possible conspiracist). Bauer now practices spiritual psychology in Los Angeles.

WINTER KILLS was the directorial debut of screenwriter William Richert (1942-2022), described by Film at Lincoln Center as “a bold, brash uncompromising figure in the tradition of Orson Welles and John Cassavetes.” Richert used his charismatic personality to put together the all-star cast, along with a stellar crew including composer Maurice Jarre (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR. ZHIVAGO), production designer Robert Boyle (NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE BIRDS, and other Hitchcock movies), and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, THE DEER HUNTER, etc.).

The story behind WINTER KILLS is as convoluted, mysterious and downright incredulous as the movie itself. The two main producers went bankrupt – one was later sent to a federal prison for drug trafficking, the other tied to his bed by a creditor and shot in the head – and production was suspended for two years while Richert raised the completion money.

With Zsigmond on to another project, additional photography was taken over after the two-year hiatus by camera operator John Bailey, later DP of CAT PEOPLE, THE BIG CHILL, GROUNDHOG DAY, and more, and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Says Mr. Bailey, “When I saw it back in 1979, I was somewhat flummoxed… but today I see it as not only very relevant but eerily prescient. Huston’s sick, purely transactional personality too closely predicts not only the mores of society today but that of a recent tenant of the White House.”

Though critically acclaimed on first release – with a rave review by Brendan Gill in The New Yorker and two raves in The New York Times (by both Vincent Canby and Janet Maslin) -- WINTER KILLS was dumped by its original distributor, allegedly because of its parent company’s investment in Kennedy family projects. In the early 1980s, Richard Condon, writer of the original novel (along with The Manchurian Candidate, Prizzi’s Honor , etc.), wrote an article for Harper’s called 'Who Killed Winter Kills ?’, detailing the film’s many behind-the-scenes intrigues.

Rialto Picture’s new 35mm prints, the first struck in over 40 years, were recently completed by colorist Don Capoferri and Lab Expediter Steven Mitchell at FotoKem in Los Angeles, under Mr. Bailey’s supervision. WINTER KILLS is presented by author/filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, a longtime fan and champion of the movie. With support from the Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE

“One of the great unsung American films… thoroughly deserving of rediscovery…. Has not lost an iota of its power to shock, amuse, and simultaneously perplex.” – Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com

“BURSTING WITH A CRAZY VITALITY ALL ITS OWN.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“The perfect conspiracy thriller for the QAnon era. The fact that Rialto Pictures and superfan Quentin Tarantino are bringing WINTER KILLS back for a theatrical run, complete with newly struck 35mm prints, at this particular moment in time is possibly the least weird thing about the movie and its storied history.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone

“RIOTOUSLY ENTERTAINING, CHILLINGLY PERCEPTIVE.” – Brad Hanford, Slant

“Exemplifies one of the best things in life: A WILD TIME AT THE MOVIES.” – Screen Slate

“FURIOUSLY FUNNY. Almost everyone in WINTER KILLS is larger, meaner or more lunatic than life. The ability to create and sustain a not always disciplined fantasy — a tale that effectively bypasses logic with a reality all its own — is a rare talent… Such a tale is WINTER KILLS, William Richert’s visually slick adaptation of the novel by Richard Condon ( The Manchurian Candidate ).” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“EVERY INCH OF IT IS GLORIOUSLY ALIVE… Like some intricately embroidered misadventure recounted by a superb, somewhat tipsy storyteller… I turned around and went straight back to the theater and saw the movie again. The fact is that I enjoyed it even more the second time.” – Brendan Gill, The New Yorker “ENORMOUSLY ENTERTAINING.” – Michael Sragow, Rolling Stone

“A MADCAP RIFF… part black comedy, part paranoid thriller, part carnival of mirrors.” – J. Hoberman, The New York Times

Suggestions

A galaxy of conspiracy chaos: william richert’s ‘winter kills,’ presented by quentin tarantino.

The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts.

Mafia-related murders. An improbable constellation of 20th-century icons. Belated accessibility to the public after decades of obscurity. Are we talking about the JFK assassination or Winter Kills , William Richert’s 1979 film inspired by it?

Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.

The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure financing for such an incendiary project, first-time director Richert turned to high-rolling drug dealers turned skin-flick producers Leonard Goldberg and Robert Sterling to front the cash. Despite the dubious funding, Richert was able to assemble a staggering cast to populate the film: Jeff Bridges in the lead, alongside (deep breath) John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Mifune Toshirô, Dorothy Malone, Ralph Meeker, Tomas Milian, Richard Boone, and even Elizabeth Taylor herself in a wordless cameo.

The talent extends behind the camera as well, with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, composer Maurice Jarre, and production designer Robert Boyle. Tales of sketchy production practices abounded: Goldberg was murdered (likely by the mob) while the film was still shooting, a shortage of funds led to cast and crew being paid in unmarked bills, and Richert was even forced to make and sell another film with Bridges to raise the money to complete shooting.

Such obstacles may have hindered the film’s success, but they contribute to the effect of its deep-seated anti-authoritarian paranoia. It opens at sea, on a ship where a dying man, Arthur Fletcher (Joe Spinell), claiming to be the assassin of former president (and JFK stand-in) Timothy Kegan (an uncredited John Warner) is brought to his brother, Nick (Bridges). Nick travels to Dallas Philadelphia to investigate, finding Fletcher’s murder weapon and confirming his story immediately before his companions are assassinated. So begins a cascade of ever-deepening mysteries as Nick is pulled further into the conspiracy, with only his father (Huston)—a Joe Kennedy-esque titan of industry and political influence—as an unreliable guide.

Richert plays the amateur investigation largely as a pitch-black comedy of frustration, as Nick’s blue-blood naïveté and sexual insecurities are exposed more and more with each new revelation. The parade of Old Hollywood stars, aside from helping us keep the dizzying barrage of names and faces sorted, contribute to the film’s vision of a supposedly modern world still lorded over by the reactionary centers of wealth and power behind the assassination.

Highlights include Wallach as “Joe Diamond,” the Jack Ruby to the film’s Oswald, Hayden as a psychotic right-wing military cosplayer, and Perkins as Mabusean surveillance man John Cerruti. At the center of it all is Huston, playing Pa Kegan as a reprise of Chinatown ’s Noah Cross updated to the present day, his ambitions appropriately scaled up from the purchasing of a city’s future to that of an entire country. His magnificently repulsive turn was apparently informed by Huston’s own feelings toward Joe Kennedy, and watching him bark vulgarities at Bridges in a robe and speedo is worth the price of admission itself.

The conspiracy at the heart of Winter Kills only becomes more impenetrable with each of Nick’s revelations, and the breakneck pace at which they come doesn’t make it any easier to follow. There’s enough material here to fill a movie twice as long (which it did, for Oliver Stone), and the relentless forward motion arguably robs the movie of some of its power.

But Richert’s total embrace of paranoid fictions, paired with an unsparing vision of American power that cuts through their cartoon surfaces, has aged better in many ways than either the self-righteous romanticism of JFK or the dour defeatism of The Parallax View . Its final minutes only escalate the satire while delivering its most prescient idea: that nobody is really at the wheel, and that the post-human systems of control we’ve created have become our true masters.

Rialto Pictures re-release of Winter Kills, presented by Quentin Tarantino, will unveil at New York’s Film Forum on August 11 and L.A.’s New Beverly Cinema on August 25.

You might be interested in

Review: Robert Benton’s ‘Bad Company’ on Limited Edition Fun City Editions Blu-ray

4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Albert Brooks’s ‘Real Life’ on the Criterion Collection

Review: Phil Karlson’s Film Noir ‘99 River Street’ on KL Studio Classics Blu-ray

Brad Hanford

Brad Hanford is an editor and writer based in Brooklyn, New York.

The Eternal Memory Review: A Moving Reflection on Personal and Historical Consciousness

Medusa Deluxe Review: Behind the Seams

Join or Sign In

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

TV Listings
Cast & Crew

Winter Kills Reviews

77 Metascore
1 hr 37 mins
Drama, Comedy, Suspense
Watchlist Where to Watch

Humor mixes with melodrama in this tale of a Presidential assassination plot. Jeff Bridges, John Huston. Excellent supporting cast includes Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Richard Boone, Toshiro Mifune and Elizabeth Taylor. William Richert directed.

Bridges stars as Nick Kegan, the youngest son of a Kennedyesque family presided over by an eccentric tycoon (Huston). Not wanting to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, who became president and was then assassinated, Nick has drifted through life trying to avoid the influence of his father. But when a dying man claims to have been the "second rifle" at the president's assassination 19 years before, the revelation sets into motion a bizarre series of events which sees Nick dig deeper and deeper into the past to find out who is truly responsible for his brother's assassination. Director William Richert has turned Richard Condon's novel about the insanity of the American power structure into a wickedly funny black comedy spiced up by some deliciously off-the-wall performances. The fact that Richert got the project off the ground at all is a miracle. To be taken seriously by the studio, this first-time director went out and got written commitments from such acting notables as Huston, Bridges, Perkins, and Elizabeth Taylor. Filling out his cast with Mifune, Malone, Hayden, Wallach, and Richard Boone, he began production and acquired Alfred Hitchcock's favorite production designer, Robert Boyle (who also makes a humorous cameo as a hotel desk clerk) to execute the lush, detailed look of the film. About a week before the $6.5 million production was completed, the studio inexplicably pulled the financial plug. Richert finished the project on his own and struck complicated financial deals with Avco Embassy in an effort to complete and distribute it. Though it garnered little attention in theaters, it has become a cult favorite on video.

Find anything you save across the site in your account

How “Winter Kills” Nails the Paranoid Style

Conspiracy theories are faith-based history, and “Winter Kills,” a 1979 neo-noir, riffs on a scriptural pillar of this realm—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy —with freewheeling speculations that feel both heretical and metaphysical. The movie (which is coming Friday to Film Forum, in a new restoration, and is also widely streaming) stars Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, an heir without portfolio, whose claim to fame is that his older half brother Timothy was murdered in 1960, while serving as President. Now, nineteen years later, while aboard an oil tanker belonging to their colossally wealthy father, Nick gets a tip regarding the murder weapon, which had never been found. Following up on that lead, he’s drawn into a whirlwind of danger and deceit that shakes the very foundations of his ideals, his relationships, and his place in the world.

There are so many startling revelations and elaborate deceptions in “Winter Kills” that more or less any discussion of the plot counts as a spoiler (which I define as any detail I’m glad not to have known going in). Let’s just say that it’s a very strange movie, and its tone and aesthetic reflect its idiosyncratic concept. (Written and directed by William Richert, it’s based on a novel by Richard Condon.) Fortunately, there’s plenty going on in the film besides just plot, but little of it involves psychology, because the character development is virtually nonexistent. Even Nick’s deepening exploration of a wide variety of American underworlds—ranging from the familiar ones of seedy crime bosses to bewilderingly vast networks of surveillance and manipulation—is hardly an existential adventure. Indeed, the adventure he embarks on, with increasingly frenetic and violent efforts to uncover tantalizingly elusive truths, feels almost radically impersonal, because Nick himself is largely a blank. Where one might expect psychological drama, Richert leaves an abyss across which the movie giddily, madly howls, evoking a paranoiac vision of illusions, schemes, and shadowy manipulators who appear able to bend history and even present-tense reality to their will.

That’s why “Winter Kills” is, above all, an exercise in tone—a crazed, hectic tone that instantly suggests a world irreparably out of whack. What lends the movie substance is the cinematic style that Richert crafts from its dramatic premise. Start at the top: the tip that’s delivered to Nick arrives in a hoarily melodramatic form—a deathbed confession so intense as to obscure the sleight-of-hand absurdity that brings it about. The wildness is amped up even more when Nick follows a lead to a Philadelphia wigmaker’s workshop, where the weapon that was used to kill Tim is said to be stashed. The burst of violence that results from that visit is a distillation of Richert’s distinctive aesthetic: so fast and so devastating that, although physically plausible, it defies reason, thanks to the elaborate coördination and sophisticated technology it would require. The vastness of the implicit backstory here—a universe of secret activity rendered in a mere handful of quick-cut shots—pushes the material world of the thriller toward a more fundamental ontological uncertainty. The murder mystery starts to dissolve into a seemingly cosmic one.

Many elements in “Winter Kills” map right onto the Kennedy assassination. Tom Kegan, played by John Huston with leonine swagger and jackal-like derision, is the Joseph Kennedy, Sr., figure, the rich old tycoon who helped install his son in the White House; the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald , is here called Willie Arnold, and the gangland-connected man who kills him , in real life Jack Ruby, is called Joe Diamond (played with memorable desperation by Eli Wallach). Then, too, there are suspicions that the Mafia was behind President Kegan’s assassination, and we learn that he was a relentless womanizer while in office—and had a liaison with a glamorous Hollywood actress, who later died by suicide. So far, so roman à clef. What heightens the mood of reality-shredding frenzy is the movie’s addition of a wild array of weird and discordant characters: another tycoon (played by Sterling Hayden), a libertarian who lives at a remote compound and maintains a private tank squad; Pa Kegan’s tightly wound factotum (played by Anthony Perkins), who takes phone calls from a windowless communications center adorned with an image of Earth as seen from outer space; a phlegmatic gangster played by Irving Selbst. Nick is dating a woman named Yvette Malone (Belinda Bauer), who, as a magazine editor, offers to help with his investigation in exchange for an exclusive. (Her answering machine is practically a character, too.) Impostors and impersonators not only populate the milieu that Nick is investigating; they actually seem to have infiltrated his life long ago, so that his experiences and memory start to seem like a delirium of shadow play and mirror games.

Richert runs these games close to the edge of comedy but stops short of seeking laughs, because the symbolic stakes of his playful twists are enormous. When we learn that the patriarch Tom Kegan maintains a surveillance network of dumbfoundingly wide reach and granular intimacy, Richert and his production designer, Robert Boyle, offer an astounding physical rendering of that information complex. In lieu of an omniscient and omnipotent God, “Winter Kills” posits that such absolute powers reside instead in people inhabiting places where they’d never be suspected of reigning, let alone existing. It’s a vision of an overwhelming determinism so tautly maintained that it mocks the very notion of free will, let alone freedom and democracy. It may be a hectic, giddy, absurd movie—but, in its evocation of a conspiracy so logical that it is beyond belief, the film dramatizes the power of such an idea to attract true believers. ♦

New Yorker Favorites

An Oscar-winning filmmaker takes on the Church of Scientology .

Wendy Wasserstein on the baby who arrived too soon .

The young stowaways thrown overboard at sea .

As he rose in politics, Robert Moses discovered that decisions about New York City’s future would not be based on democracy .

The Muslim tamale king of the Old West .

Fiction by Jamaica Kincaid: “ Girl .”

The Story of ‘Winter Kills’: A Lost ’70s Conspiracy Thriller Is Found Again

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter

Winter Kills has one of the very best casts of any 1970s thriller: Jeff Bridges , John Huston, Belinda Bauer, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Ralph Meeker, Toshiro Mifune and even Elizabeth Taylor in a brief, silent cameo. It’s based on a novel by Richard Condon, whose work had already inspired three previous films, including The Manchurian Candidate. And Winter Kills explores (and satirizes) the myriad conspiracy theories around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a source of endless fascination amongst the American people, then and now.

So why have most people reading this never seen ( and maybe never even heard of) Winter Kills until now?

It’s a mystery that’s arguably even more compelling than the one within the film itself, which is now getting a much overdue revival from Rialto Pictures, starting with a two-week run at New York’s Film Forum . A new 35mm print of the film was struck — the first in 40 years — and is being presented by Quentin Tarantino , who ranks among Winter Kills ’ more high-profile fans.

Long before the film faded into semi-obscurity, the actual production of Winter Kills might be the most fascinating part of the entire story. Filming took years to complete — with a long break in the middle after the two key producers ran out of money and ran afoul of a vast array of creditors. Oh, and those two key producers? One of them wound up in federal prison and the other was found dead, “handcuffed to a bedpost and shot through the head, in his New York apartment.”

READ MORE: How Spider-Man’s Co-Creator Left His Mark on Indiana Jones

That’s according to Condon himself, in an article he wrote in 1983 titled “Who Killed Winter Kills ?” that originally appeared in Harper’s Magazine and is reprinted in Rialto’s press kit for the revival. It lays out a tale with more twists and turns than Condon’s fictional saga, which tells the story of a murdered U.S. president’s half-brother (played in the film version by Jeff Bridges) as he slips down a rabbit hole of conspiracies connected to his sibling’s mysterious death.

Several years after Condon’s novel was published, it was acquired for adaptation by the two aforementioned producers: Robert Sterling and Leonard Goldberg. They offered Condon $75,000 for the rights to the book, plus a cut of the profits, then brought in novelist and screenwriter William Richert to adapt the novel and direct the screen version.

After signing the contracts, and taking a few meetings with Goldberg, Sterling, and Richert, Condon was largely uninvolved with the production. He writes in his article that he later learned that Sterling and Goldberg only raised $2.3 million of the roughly $6 million they needed to fully fund the picture — and yet they somehow convinced a slew of major movie stars and a professional Hollywood crew (including cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and production designer Robert Boyle) to start shooting — and then kept bluffing their way through for weeks, even as the money dried up, and the cast and crew stopped getting paid.

Almost every major film production has a “completion bond” which insures that in the case of financial or logistical catastrophe, the money needed to complete the shoot is guaranteed. Condon writes that Winter Kills inexplicably never had one — “and, even more amazing, nobody insisted on seeing one.” That would eventually come to haunt the film once Sterling and Goldberg exhausted their bank accounts. (Condon writes that things got so desperate that “at one point, the key grip approached Richert on behalf of the crew to say that they could raise $100,000 in two and a half hours from their own pockets if that would permit the film to be finished.”)

It wouldn’t. With two weeks left to go in production, a whole collection of creditors marched onto the set and ordered it shut down. For two years, Winter Kills ’ raw footage sat on a shelf while Richert raised the money needed to finish the film. Somehow he did it, and found a company (Avco-Embassy) willing to distribute the movie. After all of that, Winter Kills still got solid reviews and drew solid box office in its initial limited release in the summer of 1979.

But the movie never expanded to more theaters beyond that, and essentially just disappeared for years, to the great confusion of Condon and Richert. The official reason given by Avco-Embassy, per Condon, was that they “never expected Winter Kills to get the critical and audience reception it attraction” and “had what they expected to be a red-hot summer item, a movie called Goldengirl ” that they were booking everywhere they could at the time.

The filmmakers found those official explanations lacking. Then Goldberg was discovered murdered and a few years later Sterling was sentenced to 40 years in prison on drug charges. (Condon speculates that the former’s untimely death “‘could have been connected’ with the continuing bad deal he gave certain investors in [ Winter Kills ],” although the official story from the police was that Goldberg was killed by a pickup gone wrong.

Of course, in Winter Kills , the police are part of the web of conspiracies that murdered a fictional president. Or are they? Maybe, maybe not; part of the appeal of Winter Kills is that there are so many different potential killers presented, with so many different potential motives — maybe it was the mob, maybe it was the police, maybe it was a pissed-off Hollywood producer — that even after the “real” motive is revealed, there have been so many false narratives flying around that it becomes almost impossible to tell fact from fiction.

The post-truth world of Winter Kills is one of the many elements that look eerily prescient to 2023 eyes. (Its intermingling of politics and business may not have been ahead of its time in 1979, but it’s sadly no less timely today.) Some of the film’s satire strikes me as a little flimsy; maybe it’s personal preference, but I like the rougher edge of Condon’s The Manchurian Candidate, which presents an equally jaundiced view of public service. Still, it’s remarkable how the making of this movie seemed to mirror the bleak, corrupted world it presented onscreen for a very brief period in the late 1970s, and now, finally, once again.

The Worst Movies Released in August

The Real Story of a Major Mob-Funded Movie That Got Its Producer Killed

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

It Makes Sense That Audiences Did Not Flock to See The Crow in Theaters

Sopranos fans should watch this new mafia series narrated by michael imperioli, every tv series coming to paramount+ in september 2024.

Hollywood is often an industry that thrives on perception. Despite how carefully executives, insiders, and the entertainers that work in the industry try to keep their images squeaky clean, scandals and Hollywood often go hand-in-hand. If anything, it's these sordid tales that often keeps the public so enthralled by Hollywood, adding a dimension that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, adding further intrigue and twists to plots that are already convoluted enough by themselves.

Occasionally, some tales of the utter depravity that occurs behind the scenes in Hollywood are more unbelievable than the films and stories the industry produces itself. The story behind the 1979 film Winter Kills is probably one of the most lurid of such tales to ever came out of Hollywood. In an industry known for using violence, drugs, gangsterism, and even murder to such good effect as fictional plot devices, this was a story where all of these things featured together — only they weren't a part of the movie, but plagued its production instead.

Winter Kills as a Concept

The movie was put into production by two men of ill repute. They were both famous (and infamous) for allegedly being large scale marijuana smugglers who had gotten pretty wealthy from this trade. The men, Robert Sterling and Leonard Goldberg, were also well known in the entertainment industry as the men behind the Emmanuelle softcore porn films.

However, for Winter Kills, they set their sights higher and sought to make a bigger budget film that featured A-listers. To their credit, the movie did feature Jeff Bridges as its lead , and by the time it was released, even had a cameo appearance in it by Elizabeth Taylor. The supporting cast was absolutely incredible, including Hollywood royalty John Huston (an iconic director and actor), the great Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (of Akira Kurosawa fame), the wonderful Anthony Perkins (of Psycho fame), the famous Eli Wallach (of Westerns like The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ), and Sterling Hayden, a Hollywood golden boy notable for the masterpiece Johnny Guitar . The film's wild production , however, had much less Hollywood polish, and was filled with lasting controversy of a pretty disturbing nature.

The problems that beset this production were likely all traceable back to money. Goldberg had some pretty big plans for the film and employed some wishful, albeit creative, thinking to get the movie financed. Blogger John Fleming summed up the financing issues with Winter Kills by noting the following in a piece he wrote about the movie:

But they did not actually have the $6.5 million budget needed to make Winter Kills themselves. Leonard Goldberg believed that, if you borrowed a large enough amount of money, the debtors would have to let you finish the movie to ensure getting their money back. The problem was that the film went at least $4 million over budget and, at one point, the production manager had a sawn-off shotgun shoved under his chin until he paid for a generator.

The Mafia's Apparent Involvement

The production story of Winter Kills gets far more disturbing from there. The story goes that the financiers were actually the mafia and when costs began to soar, the movie was halted and even declared bankruptcy at one point. When the loans could not be repaid on time, all hell broke loose. In the middle of the production, Goldberg was found brutally murdered. His body was discovered handcuffed, and he had been shot in the head, apparently from a hit that the mob placed on him for failing to pay back the debt on time.

Related: These Were Some of the Most Controversial Movies Ever Made

If that wasn't crazy enough, his partner Robert Sterling was later arrested and sentenced to forty years in prison for marijuana smuggling. Considering the fact that the movie had some pretty mainstream elements to it, was based on a famous book, and starred major actors, all of these side stories were obviously hugely controversial, and remain so to this day.

Of course, while much of the mafia's involvement in the production and the calamities that followed couldn't be conclusively proven, there are many documented cases of the mafia's involvement in Hollywood movies .

The Controversy Surrounding the Plot

Anthony Perkins in the movie Winter Kills

Winter Kills was often hailed as a quirky or dark comedy, and a poignantly relevant conspiracy movie . It was based on a novel of the same named written by Richard Condon, a writer who gained fame by writing political books, many of which went on to become great movies, such as The Manchurian Candidate. Condon's style was generally known to be dryly satirical, but his books were often adapted into political thrillers.

Despite the comedic elements and outlandish nature of Winter Kills , the story was essentially a conspiratorial retelling of the assassination of President Kennedy. After all the delays and funding problems during production, the movie was halted indefinitely. This wasn't surprising since one of its chief producers was murdered, and the other was sent to prison.

Related; Jeff Bridges' Best Dramas, Ranked

It was eventually only released after its director, William Richert, and Jeff Bridges shot another movie in Germany just to make enough money to complete and release Winter Kills. However, its initial release was still nightmarish to say the least, and it was soon pulled from theaters by its distributor, Embassy Pictures.

It was later re-released but still faced controversy for its subject-matter, and there were apparent attempts to derail it from its inception. Richard Condon himself famously complained that the CIA and the Kennedy family were involved in trying to make sure the original book never got turned into a movie.

A Cult Following

Despite all the drama and controversy surrounding this one movie, Winter Kills often receives positive reviews in retrospect. However, many of these saw the movie as a hilarious take on a serious issue and most confined its plaudits to compliments for the comedic aspects of the film.

The movie was obviously a nightmare commercially, but has still built up quite a cult following for itself over the years. It will always be remembered for having one of the most disturbing and unbelievable backstories. After its re-release, the scenes with Elizabeth Taylor were added and the movie has since enjoyed a lot more success as a cult favorite.

Cast & crew
User reviews

Winter Kills

The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter. The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter. The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter.

William Richert
Richard Condon
Jeff Bridges
John Huston
Anthony Perkins
60 User reviews
67 Critic reviews
77 Metascore

Top cast 66

John Cerruti

Joe Diamond

Z.K. Dawson

Yvette Malone

Gameboy Baker

(as Toshiro Mifune)

Miles Garner

Captain Heller One

Captain Heller Two
Irving Mentor
First Mate of T.K.
(as Robert Courleigh)
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia According to Jeff Bridges , Toshirô Mifune didn't know any English and had to learn his lines phonetically.
Goofs Nick Kegan does appear to be a bit young to be a brother of a U.S. President who was slain nearly 20 years earlier. However, it's explained that Pa Kegan fathered them from two different wives. Men are known for fathering children (from different women) decades apart.

John Cerruti : Your father spent eleven million dollars to raise your brother up from a skirt-chasing college-boy to President of the United States. For twenty years he told him what to do and how and why he was gonna do it and what would happen when it was done. Your father put Tim in the White House - why? Because that's where you can generate the most cash; a cold-ass business proposition, like everything else in this society. But your brother decided to stir up the population. Began to think we were all living in a democracy, he started believing it. Lunch with the De Gaulles, dinner with Khrushchev, the whole razzle-dazzle went to his head. Yet in spite of the fact that everybody out there in this country lives in the same dog-eat-dog way, grabbing any angle to make a buck, if you were to inform them that your father had Tim killed, they'd wanna tear the old man apart, limb from limb.

Alternate versions Reissued in 1983 with deleted scenes restored.
Connections Featured in Sneak Previews: Beyond the Poseidon Adventure/Rock 'n' Roll High School/Players/Butch and Sundance: The Early Days/Winter Kills (1979)

User reviews 60

Jul 1, 2005
How long is Winter Kills? Powered by Alexa
May 11, 1979 (United States)
United States
Official Site
Philadelphia Clan
Death Valley National Park, California, USA (Pa Kegan's villa)
Winter Gold Productions
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$6,500,000 (estimated)
Aug 13, 2023

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 37 minutes

More to explore

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Top Ten Lists

WINTER KILLS

Post author: eenableadmin
Post published: August 5, 2019
Post category: Uncategorized

(director/writer: William Richert; screenwriter: novel by Bill Condon; cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond; editor: ; music: Maurice Jarre; cast: Jeff Bridges (Nick Kegan), John Huston (Pop Kegan), Anthony Perkins (Ceruti), Belinda Bauer (Yvette Malone), Dorothy Malone (Emma Kegan), Eli Wallach (Joe Diamond), Sterling Hayden (Z.K. Dawson), Elizabeth Taylor (Lola), Ralph Meeker (Gameboy Baker), Richard Boone (Keifetz), Joe Ragno (Doorman), Michael Toma (Ray Doty), Toshiro Mifune (Keith), Irving Selbst ( Irving Mentor), Tomas Milian (Frank Mayo), David Spielberg (Miles Garner), Brad Dexter (Capt. Heller), Joe Spinell (Fletcher), Gladys Hill (Rosemary), Sidney Lanier (Raymond–The Butler); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producer: Fred Caruso; Columbia Pictures; 1979)

“ A fascinating but confusing melodrama inspired by the Kennedy assassination .”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A fascinating but confusing melodrama inspired by the Kennedy assassination. Writer/director William Richert (“A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon”/”The American Success Company”) shapes it into an irreverent black comedy offering its own fictionalized wild conspiracy theory or two. It’s based on the complex satirical novel by “The Manchurian Candidate” author Bill Condon’s 1974 novel. This was the screenwriter’s first feature film directed and it’s a dandy even if it doesn’t make much sense. President Tim Kegan was assassinated 19 years ago, in 1960, and the crime has not been convincingly resolved in private by the family. The younger half-brother of the President, Nick Kegan (Jeff Bridges), who has no political ambition, is summoned to board a ship off the coast of Malayasia and is met by one of his wealthy father’s operatives Keifetz (Richard Boone). He calls attention to Fletcher (Joe Spinell), who fell off an oil rig and before dying blurts out on his death bed that he was the second rifleman who assassinated the President. He tells Nick to go to Philadelphia where the shooting took place and the rifle is hidden. By the time Nick gets home to tell his domineering father (John Huston) the news, it’s learned the men who sought the rifle are dead and the rifle was taken. Dad puts Nick on the case to investigate, with back-up from his team. Nick will go on a strange and risky adventure across the country, where many are killed and the mysteries grow greater even when things seem to become clearer. Those he thinks he knows like his magazine reporter girlfriend Yvette ( Belinda Bauer ) are not who he thinks they are. Which also goes for the eccentric and menacing defense contractor Z.K. Dawson (Sterling Hayden) that he first meets on his Tulsa ranch. The gangsters involved include small time criminal nightclub owner Joe Diamond ( Eli Wallach ), the imprisoned Mafia chief Frank Mayo ( Tomas Milian ), the big-time mob operator Gameboy Baker (Ralph Meeker) and the friend of the underworld Irving Mentor ( Irving Selbst ), all of whom spin too many lies to follow what is true or not. Even his dad’s own techie spy, Ceruti (Anthony Perkins), can’t be trusted. What becomes difficult to follow after so much intriguing stuff about the assassination is unearthed, is how quickly things are dropped as the film moves awkwardly into an unfulfilling comic book like climax. In any case, the film can’t be dismissed without questioning what it raised, as something funny is happening here and I don’t mean the comical parts. Even Liz Taylor shows up for a non-speaking cameo, as the womanizing President’s procurer of women.

REVIEWED ON 6/12/2017 GRADE: B+ https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/

L’argent, embrace of the serpent.

Winter Kills

By Jason Delgado | August 22, 2023

The sordid backstory of Winter Kills , written and directed by William Richert, and based on a novel by Richard Condon , makes for a truly fascinating story in and of itself. Two of the producers were drug dealers, one of whom was apparently murdered by the mob two weeks before the film was released. The other was later sent to prison. The production went bankrupt in the middle of shooting, with many famous cast members supposedly never getting paid or being paid in cash.

Richert and star Jeff Bridges had to shoot another picture in Germany, The American Success Company , in order to make enough money to finish this one. Condon even says that the Kennedy clan may have tried to suppress the release during Ted’s possible presidential campaign, with the film being mysteriously pulled from theaters. Quite the commotion for a box office bomb that has hardly been seen by anyone since its initial release in 1979.

For all of this exciting buildup, in addition to the hype of Quentin Tarantino re-releasing Winter Kills in his theaters, the final product is a strange, slow-moving conspiracy theory satire. The story is based on John F. Kennedy’s assassination but with different names and a new murder location. Bridges plays Nick Kegan, half-brother to the murdered president, and almost a much younger version of his iconic Dude character from The Big Lebowski . Watching him get yanked around in both movies so much brings laughs (although much more hilariously in the Coen brothers’ classic). Alas, Nick is not aloof and easy-going enough to reach Dude status, but you can see the building blocks if you squint hard enough.

“ The next thing Nick knows, the gun is missing .”

Someone comes to Nick on a ship and confesses that he was the second gunman who killed his brother, and with his dying breaths, tells him where to go to Philadelphia to find the rifle. Skeptical, Nick goes anyway and, sure enough, finds the gun. He gets in a car with a friend and some police officers, and before you know it, they’re all shot in the head, save for Nick. The next thing Nick knows, the gun is missing. This sets him off on a wild goose chase for the truth, where his wealthy and perverted father Pa Kegan, a Joe Kennedy type (the late great John Huston channeling his corrupt Chinatown role with a sly wink and nod), ends up being his greatest obstacle.

The cast of Winter Kills is a who’s who of Tinseltown in the 1970s. Elizabeth Taylor shows up in a non-speaking role. Anthony Perkins is delightfully creepy as Pa’s creepy and demented right-hand man. Dorothy Malone, Richard Boone, Ralph Meeker, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Toshiro Mifune, and Tomas Milan all make appearances.

The directing is very of its time. It has a “no hurry” type of pacing, the style of the era, and kitschy humor. I can see how someone like Tarantino would eat up the cult appeal of a feature like this. Scenes like the one where Nick is tussling with a suddenly evil maid, and her top happens to fly off, is the most shocking and funny example of Richert’s odd sensibility. Sadly, much of the rest is only slightly strange instead of going all-out.

As it stands, Winter Kills is entertaining enough. I wish I were as fascinated with the flick as I am with the behind-the-scenes story. Cult classic status, not quite, but an oddity that definitely deserves to be seen.

Winter Kills (1979)

Directed and Written: William Richert

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Malone, Eli Wallach, Toshiro Mifune, Tomas Milan, etc.

Movie score: 7/10

"…an oddity that definitely deserves to be seen."

Yes Repeat No.

Juilano Mer-Khamis’ name transcends every aspect of political activism, with polarizing opinions about his sayings, methods, and vision. An IDF...

How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Global warming. Climate change. Glaciers melting down. Temperatures rising. Wildfires. Pollution. Deforestation. Rapid urbanization. These environmental...

Join our Film Threat Newsletter

Winter Kills

Anchor Bay, 2 discs, 97 min., R, DVD: $29.98 Volume 18, Issue 4

by Randy Pitman

July 11, 2003

Rating: 3.5 of 5

In William Richert's 1979 cult classic, Jeff Bridges shines as the bewildered Nick Kegan, half-brother of an assassinated president (clearly modeled on Kennedy) and son of an immensely powerful patriarch (played by John Huston--in red bikini underwear, no less). Nineteen years after the murder, Nick hears from the lips of a dying man new evidence that would reopen the case--a revelation that sends him on a wild goose chase that leads him to (among others) Richard Boone, Toshiro Mifune, Dorothy Malone, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Anthony Perkins, and Elizabeth Taylor. Everyone has a finger to point, and no one is giving kosher directions. As Boone's character explains to Nick: "They will run you dizzy. They will pile falsehood on top of falsehood until you can't tell a lie from the truth and you won't even want to." In one of the film's many offbeat highlights, Nick rides on horseback (against a luscious Maurice Jarre soundtrack) miles away from his father's mansion so that he can impotently scream, "You stink, Pa!" Kudos to Anchor Bay for releasing this wonderful satire (that spent all of five minutes in theaters on its initial release) on DVD in an extras-rich double-disc edition. Sporting a sharp, colorful image, the film is presented on the first disc, along with an exceptionally entertaining commentary track by writer/director Richert. Disc two leads off with the 38-minute retrospective documentary "Who Killed Winter Kills? (offering the bizarre story behind the making of the film--involving the producers of the Emmanuelle soft porn series, drug money, a mob execution, and a bankrupt production that forced the cast and crew to go make another movie in order to raise funds to complete the film), followed by the shorter featurettes "Reunion" (with Richert and Bridges), and "Star Stories" (with Richert riffing on his famous cast). In addition, the disc includes production stills, an art gallery, and a DVD-ROM accessible original screenplay. Highly recommended. ( R. Pitman ) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Nov. 5, 2019—Kino Lorber, 98 min., R, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1979’s Winter Kills features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by writer-director William Richert, 'Who Killed Winter Kills?' cast and crew interviews (38 min.), a 'Reunion' interview with Richert and star Jeff Bridges (9 min.), 'Star Stories' with Richert (8 min.), and a brief radio spot. Bottom line: this cult classic conspiracy flick shines on Blu-ray.]

Star Ratings

As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.

Movie: 'Winter Kills,' a Serio-Comedy:Spring Fever Time

By Janet Maslin

May 18, 1979

"WINTER Kills," which opens today at Cinema 2 and a number of other theaters, has been advertised with the slogan "Something funny is happening in 'Winter Kills.' Take it seriously!" You don't see desperation like this every day, nor do you happen upon movies this likable, this ridiculous, or this impossible to describe. "Winter Kills" isn't exactly a comedy, but it's funny. And it isn't exactly serious, but it takes on the serious business of the Kennedy assassination. That's why other ads for the film have been comparing it to "Dr. Strange-love" and "M*A*S*H." They don't do the trick, either.This isn't a social satire—it's more like a movie with spring fever. It doesn't make a bit of sense, but it's fast and handsome and entertaining, bursting with a crazy vitality all its own. Sitting back and watching it doesn't seem the proper response, somehow. Chasing it with a butterfly net might be closer to the mark.The idea—hold onto your hat, please — is that Jeff Bridges is the half-brother of a young President who was assassinated 19 years ago, and that their father, played by John Huston, is the richest, most powerful, and most merrily depraved man in America. Suddenly, new evidence about an extra marksman, a previously unknown assassin, falls into the half-brother's hands. He decides to conduct his own investigation. The first stop is a wig factory.He meets mobsters. He wonders about the Central Intelligence Agency. He follows the trail of a Jack Ruby type (Eli Wallach) with connections in Cuba. He falls in love with a gorgeous young magazine editor (Belinda Bauer), who is of course not a magazine editor but a gorgeous spy, and who is said to have been a former mistress of his late brother's. She would have been about three years old at the time. However, "Winter Kills" has so many other screws loose that by the time this curious fact comes to light, it's small potatoes.William Richert, who makes his directorial debut and also adapted the screenplay from Richard Condon's novel, flirts with the notion that the way to hold power in America is to master the art of giving others the runaround. In line with this, Mr. Bridges is indeed run ragged before winding up right back where he started.This point has been both examined and illustrated more effectively in other American movies — "All the President's Men" and "The Parallax View," both by Alan Pakula, come to mind. But that hardly matters, because Mr. Richert seems to care very little about narrative strength or clarity. Instead, he writes crisp, brittle dialogue that packs a lot of information into clipped sentences and also packs quite a wallop. His direction, equally economical in its way, is riveting even when it concentrates on the irrelevant. One sequence, for instance, has Mr. Bridges leaping onto a horse and galloping to the top of a mountain just so he can shout to the heavens "You stink, Daddy," or words to that effect. But what a mountain! And what a breathless race! And what a memorable moment, even if the thing it does most successfully is to recall "Lawrence of Arabia" (Maurice Jarre wrote the music for both films). That's no minor accomplishment.In addition to being a shining example of the cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond, "Winter Kills" is a lavish, globe-trotting movie with a large and distinguished cast. (It has to be a large cast, since people Mr. Bridges meets have a way of being bumped off soon thereafter.) Sterling Hayden plays a zillionaire rancher who chases Mr. Bridges off his territory in a tank. Dorothy Malone is Mr. Bridges's nutty mother, who weeps about the ill health of her little dog and then smothers the creature in his sleep. Anthony Perkins is about as eerie as he's ever been; he and Richard Boone are particularly delightful. Toshiro Mifune has about three lines, not enough to establish whether he's supposed to be Mr. Huston's business associate or valet or houseboy.Mr. Bridges and Mr. Huston have roles that are just about unplayable, since you have to believe the screenplay's nonsense in its entirety in order to accept their characters at all. Still, Mr. Huston is commendably jolly, and Mr. Bridges is so amiable he can make an audience follow him anywhere, even to the end of the world's woolliest shaggy-dog story. I'm still not exactly sure who did what to whom, but it all has something to do with Elizabeth Taylor. Who makes an uncredited, non-speaking cameo appearance. And mouths only one word, not a very nice one. And plays the President's procuress. And is by no means the most farfetched creature this movie has to offer. Really.

Spring Fever Time

WINTER KILLS, written and directed by William Richert; director of photography, Vilmos Zsigmond; film editor, David Bretherton; music by Maurice Jarre; produced by Fred Caruso; released by Avco Embassy Pictures. At the Cinema II and National theaters. Running time: 97 minutes. This film has been rated R.Nick Kegan . . . . . Jeff BridgesPa Kegan . . . . . John HustonJohn Cerruti . . . . . Anthony PerkinsZ. K. Dawson . . . . . Sterling HaydenJoe Diamond . . . . . Eli WallachEmma Kegan . . . . . Dorothy MaloneFrank Mayo . . . . . Tomas MilianYvette Malone . . . . . Belinda BauerGameboy Baker . . . . . Ralph MeekerKeith . . . . . Toshiro MifuneKeifetz . . . . . Richard Boone

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

Want all of The Times? Subscribe .

, opened and closed within a week in 1979. It may be the most bizarre Hollywood film Camus has ever seen…

	has a production history so quirky and so labyrinthine that it is worthy of a movie about its own production. I saw it once about 25 years ago and – believe me – see it once and you don’t forget it."
	So It Goes: John Fleming’s Blog on

Well, that's certainly true. After having seen it, the experience is not dissimilar to watching a very enthusiastic jigsaw enthusiast take several pieces from twenty-four widely diverse puzzles and go about trying to make them not only fit together but also have the whole picture make some sort of sense once 'completed'. As a reviewer (or more accurately at Cineoutsider, a supporter of cinema), you may know something is up with the production when during its three-year delivery period one of its two producers is executed by the Mafia and the other goes to prison for 40 years for drugs offences. It gets a lot crazier than that. I have never known a Hollywood film quite like Winter Kills and while that may be a positive thing (any outlier is welcome in these days of corporate conformity, cookie-cutter sequels and formula following) the movie itself defies pigeonholing. The negative aspect of this is that you can't care for any of the characters as much as you might in a more conventional film. This isn't to say the effort should not be loudly applauded. It invites incredulous scrutiny and while there are plenty of aspects of the film to enjoy, it's almost impossible for me to say I unreservedly loved it, absurd fun it may be for the most part. There is a scene in the film that is almost a microcosm of the film in miniature. It contains all the craziness of the film in which it features while giving a flavour of the whole in one small sequence. The hero, whose rich family seems to replicate its own original palatial apartment in hotels (and one hospital) all over the world, is trying to loosen a tight knot of a conspiracy theory while being frustrated at not being able to contact the love of his life. Answering machines were futuristic devices the size of two shoe boxes in 1976 (when shooting started). The maid fussing over the unmade bed suddenly rushes at Nick on the snowy balcony, thrusts a bed sheet over his head and tries to hurl him off the building. He manages to rip open a hole in the bed sheet and in forcing the maid off him, he tears her apron down revealing her breasts and she runs off down the corridor semi-naked. That's Winter Kills in a nutshell. It's as sane as a straitjacketed masochist in a padded cell.

There are fourteen vertically-scrolled screen's worth (and I have a big screen) of trivia in Winter Kills ' IMdb entry. Fourteen. Yes, there's some repetition and some really trivial trivia but how could a film with this level of reputation get past my voracious 'must-see-all-the-good-stuff made in the 70s', appetite? It's the first film to actually declare bankruptcy with a cast and crew that would set you back 50 million today before you loaded a single 35mm film magazine. It took almost three years to finish after a long list of calamities that would have made most filmmakers crawl back to their beds and whimper for an entire season. It should have been at the very least one of the most infamous Hollywood movies of all time. Perhaps in my arrogance, I ignored it (it bombed rather badly on theatrical release and being swiftly withdrawn by its distributor didn't help its commercial prospects) or I simply never made contact with it. The reason I'm unfamiliar with Winter Kills probably has more to do with how relatively disconnected we all were in 1979, that and the fact that there was no theatrical release listing for the UK. Ah. OK.

Note : the Sight and Sound Review excerpted in the booklet indicates that Winter Kills did open in the UK, in 1985. Right then. I still missed it.

Attempting a synopsis of this particular film is like herding cats in fog blindfolded while bungee jumping but I'll give it a go… In the early 60s, a sniper murders the President of the United States and the sniper is subsequently gunned down a day later by a man with a precious stone surname (sound familiar?) Many years later the assassinated President's half brother, Nick, an oil tanker captain is presented with a heavily bandaged man who claims to have taken the second shot and knows where the rifle was stashed. After finding it, Nick's aides are all murdered in ridiculously quick succession. Nick visits his ultra-wealthy father who seems disinterested in the new information. After a night of frantic activity, Nick's father sends his son on a mission to interview all the known players in the conspiracy while Nick also tries to hook up with the love of his life. Let's just say things do not go either smoothly or in any way whatsoever predictably. This is a plus. Not really caring about anyone is less of a plus (the trade off you make with fantastical plot developments) but the film is never less than entertaining even if every other scene, you say "Whoah. Wait a minute… Huh?" There is something ever so 'off' about Winter Kills , whether it's the narrative that careers pinball-like across the US or some of the performances that seem as if they've been directed to be 'whacky'. I'm looking at you, Brad Dexter. Jeff Bridges stands as normal enveloped by a whirlwind of caricatures and overblown situations. Perhaps this was the result of the shoot starting with enthusiasm and gusto in 1976 and then being broken up by money troubles and union issues.

How Richert maintained his passion for the project as well as those willing to accept that they may never get paid for their work is oddly admirable. If you know the Kennedy story in any detail, you will find lots of obvious and deliberate parallels. If there was one aspect of the Kennedy story I hadn't any knowledge of, it was how his father, Joseph might have had a hand in putting his son on the US throne as it were. The relationship between father and son in the film is best illustrated by an extraordinary segue and one imagines an expensive one. Pa Kegan has just bullied his son to play detective. Bridges jams his dressing gown on, leaves frame right and then we cut to a series of seven shots of Nick galloping on a horse (can one gallop on anything else?) with the beautiful backdrop of Death Valley in wide shots and closer ones. Bridges really can ride and when he's far enough away from his father, he leaps off the horse and with as much frustration he can vent, screams out towards the obscenely large house, "You stink, Pa! You stink!" I have to admit only getting all this on a second viewing. At first I thought he was galloping off to another house where his father would be. This is a none too rare instance of the movie being smarter than the reviewer.

As mentioned the cast is just jaw-dropping. Nick Kegan is played by an impossibly young 'Dude', aka Jeff Bridges. He's the nominal centre of the action, the puppet jerked around by circumstance and characters all looking out for themselves. His father is played by the incomparable John Huston who when he's not directing classic Hollywood fare, he's playing some of the nastiest bad guys around. I love how he gives his all to the part, flouncing around with an open bath robe, not seeming to give two hoots how he appears at the age of seventy-three in scarlet budgie smugglers. He has that deliberate, portentous, drawling delivery that makes him absolutely unique as an actor and the scenes with him and his son (Bridges) crackle with energy. The outrageousness of Kegan Snr.'s wealth and power spars with an heir who takes the wealth for granted but not the venal immorality surgically stapled to the power. Indecent is up against decent in the ring and I'm afraid I can guess which usually ends up bloodied on the mat. Anthony Perkins, whose both arms were almost broken by Bridges using the wrong prop (ouch), plays Cerruti, a late seventies information master, a data wrangler with huge resources who maintains the obscenely rich's status quo. He knows everything but he's not telling. Spielberg's first choice for Quint in Jaws , Sterling Hayden, plays a deranged former political rival, Dawson. Bridges arrives to have a chat and ends up driving for his life while Hayden's four tanks give chase. It was this scene that made me breathe out slowly and go "OK…" and settle in to the madness on offer. Hayden's ridiculous chin beard simply adds more cream to the whole surreal chocolate éclair. King of Japanese cinema at the time, Toshirō Mifune, turns up in a blink and you'll miss him cameo. I know he was about in California in 1978/9 as he featured in Spielberg's 1941 speaking his native Japanese. Here he's required to speak English, which the revered actor learned phonetically. His larger role was cut due to illegibility issues. Director Richert's reasoning was that he didn't want to embarrass Mifune (so he got cut out). Hmm. Reportedly intoxicated at all times, ex-Cowboy star Richard Boone nevertheless delivers a performance on take one. There could be no take two. Finally, there's Eli Wallach who took on the Jack Ruby role in the mirrored Kennedy story. Adding to the rest of the talent in front of the camera, this was a dream cast, each famous name, once committed, prompting snorts of incredulous surprise from Richert's young leading man.

Behind the camera, it was the same story. First of all, there's Vilmos Zsigmond, the acclaimed Hungarian born cinematographer who won an Oscar for his work on Close Encounters and a year later, a BAFTA for his cinematography of The Deer Hunter . In 1976, he'd not yet achieved that level of acclaim but he'd already shot John Boorman's Deliverance , Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye and Spielberg's debut feature The Sugarland Express . Richert hired him on the cusp of global recognition and he doesn't disappoint. Then there's Maurice Jarre, probably one of the top three composers of that era. John Williams was establishing himself as top dog after Star Wars and while Jerry Goldsmith was hovering near the apex of his profession, Jarre had a number of very famous scores to his name, most of them hummable... No cynicism implied but it does help if an audience can remember your music. Most cineastes can make a good stab at humming both Lawrence of Arabia 's main theme and Lara's theme from Doctor Zhivago . His score for Winter Kills is not as memorable and a little sparse. But then it's attached to a film that defies simple description so God knows what Jarre made of it. Then there's production designer Robert Boyle. Not a household name perhaps but here's a short excerpted list of his design credits… North by Northwest , The Birds , Marnie … No matter how old-fashioned Alfred Hitchcock may have become, how out-dated his technique, it's hard to deny that the great director, in so many cinematic aspects, got there first. Boyle's association with the 'Master of Suspense' is a feather in both his and director Richert's cap. Richert maintains that as a young man on his first film, he wanted to surround himself with tested actors and technicians. I doubt any first time director had as much luck but from the extras on this disc, it seems like the man deserved the luck.

Winter Kills is at once, surprising, baffling, exhilarating, labyrinthine, simplistic and exciting. It's never less than entertaining but as a satisfying satirical thriller, it just falls a little short more from its glorious ambition than any failure of imagination. The characters are hard to care about (as most are caricatures) but this doesn't take too much away from one's enjoyment. It's well worth a look but try to watch it with a friend. The conversation it may stimulate will be just as entertaining.

sound and vision

This 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 1080p presentation looks like it just came straight from the lab. With the exception of the last few shots of the shorter 1983 re-issue (the only surviving version of this new ending was a 4:3 unsaturated source), lighting cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography looks luscious and about as clean as it could be. The colours are vibrant, the contrast spot on and there is an almost supernatural absence of physical damage. Film grain is never an issue.

The original mono audio is fine and legibility is ninety-nine per cent. There is a smattering of lines I didn't catch first time around (Toshirō Mifune is not guilty in this respect) but this has more to do with performance and delivery than anything technical in the recording.

There are new and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

extra features

Two presentations of the film: the 1979 Theatrical Cut (97 mins) and the 1983 Reissue Version (91 mins) In the re-issue Richert replaces the opening cue (see Commentary Review) makes some trims, adds some more Elizabeth Taylor and inserts a new ending which is presented here as a 4:3 bleached out video blow up as no surviving film materials exist of this scene. It seems mean spirited to describe this alternate end scene but it's not one that changes the effect of the film in any significant way.

Audio commentary with writer-director William Richert (2003) Pronounced 'Rich-Ut', the writer/director dives in with a Gatling gun torrent of information from his adoration of Maurice Jarre (and yet in the 'director's cut' the front title is replaced with a well known piece of pomp and circumstance music, Trumpet Voluntary by Jeremiah Clarke. You'll know it when you hear it). His commentary mirrors the insanity of his movie. He rented a house just so he could pretend to live near Jeff Bridges (unfurnished he had to sit in the sink) and the lady on the bike is his first wife and of course (he says as if it's the most natural thing in the word) she was intended to be in the first scene shot in space as she was an angel descending to Earth but "…it was never shot." Really? Richert mentions actress/photographer and ex-wife of Anthony Perkins, Berry Berenson. I was a little taken by that as I always thought Perkins was gay. That's the danger of 'stuff you know'. Assumptions are made of the past too. Berenson has a bit part in Winter Kills (as a morgue attendant) but is probably more morbidly famous as being a victim in one of the crashed planes on September 11th 2001. Richert's stories flow out at a heady pace. He remarks that the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor divorce was notable for how much one wanted to leave to the other. Sweet. Huston apparently wore his same 'bikini' in a meeting with the director. I'm tempted to list the more entertaining stories but then what would be the point of listening to the commentary. I'll leave you with teasers… Cinema a la Rembrandt, casting a bookstore assistant, using the 'N' word as being right for a certain character and Richert's final remark that he's thankful to Anchor Bay (DVD distributors in 2003) who were "…smart enough to release it."

Who Killed 'Winter Kills'? (2003): retrospective documentary on the making of the film, featuring Richert, actors Jeff Bridges and Belinda Bauer, director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond, and production designer Robert Boyle (37' 51") There is still genuine enthusiasm and love among those who participated in this most unusual film. The primary interview subjects all have the most charming stories and memories and Bill Richert comes across as a man for whom anyone would do anything. Even God gave him a break after he rallied against the heavens at bad weather given a second chance at finishing the film. Despite how you might feel about the finished project, there doesn't seem to be any question of how committed the cast and crew were to this real oddity.

Reunion (2003): Richert and Bridges reflect on the film's colourful production (9' 07") This is a joy from start to a particularly lovely finish. There is nothing quite like relationships formed in the heat of shooting a film. Richert was in his early 30s on his directorial debut and almost every story about the making of the film reflects well on him. Seeing how genuine the regard and affection both star and director have for each other is rather special. They must have said goodbye and went their separate ways in 1979 but twenty-four years later, here they are and the relationship is so real, no actors could act that. All I was thinking was how much fun might it have been working on a Bill Richert set.

Star Stories (2003): Richert discusses the film's extraordinary all-star cast (7' 39") Richert is a real storyteller. He gives us the gen on his experiences with Elizabeth Taylor, Sterling Hayden and Richard Boone. Each story is well worth your time but I think Richard Boone having a problem with the foghorn has to be my favourite. And, no. I'm not going to spoil it for you.

Things Happening in Secret (2020): critic and writer Glenn Kenny explores the history and legacy of conspiracy thrillers (30' 56") Kenny's mid shot piece to camera presentation is informative, entertaining and somewhat surprising (if visually a little lacklustre). It strings together most of the principal conspiracy 'theories' that popped up in the wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kenny leads us through the novels and films that explored the subject and as far as I can tell, he's pretty comprehensive.

Original theatrical trailer (3' 16") Can't recall the last time I saw naked breasts in a trailer. Must have led a sheltered life. It's just that these days everything is so safe, so anodyne and so correct. This trailer with a gravelly voiceover (though not that gravelly voiceover) is a pretty good sell. It whips through the entire movie leaving nothing to the imagination (if you know the film). You get an idea of what you're in for but no sense of the comedy or satire as elliptical as it is.

Josh Olson trailer commentary (2013): short critical appreciation (3' 29") Olson adds some detail (a lot we have already gleaned after viewing the extras in order but that's hardly his fault) to the trailer of a film he holds in some high regard.

Radio spot (30") With what sounds like generic music under a few dialogue snippets and a low voiced voiceover outlining the basis of the plot, this probably would have worked on me. The visual element (on radio?) is a pan up the promotional artwork.

Image gallery: publicity and promotional material This extra includes 27 colour behind the scenes shots followed by 11 Front of House Black and White Stills with the first signed by John Huston and another showing the sexual clinch between two naked actors now oddly clothed. There are 10 press photos, a synopsis and 19 pages spread over 9 screens of production notes, details of the actors and crew, and notes on the script. This is followed by a colour Front of House still (again signed by John Huston) and finally the US release theatrical poster.

Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Anne Billson, archival accounts of the making of the film, Richert on Winter Kills, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits Anne Billson's piece on the film is an informative scene setter. She outlines the historical broad strokes and presents details of the cinematic environment that Winter Kills was about to be dropped into. The film had a lot of brothers and sisters in the conspiracy and paranoia genre at the time. She makes a terrific observation that well-known film actors could reassure an audience by popping up every now and again, that all is well even if you feel you may not be following the plot. We (the stars) will make you feel that it's all going to be OK. It's curious that it's almost the opposite effect in 1917 where each well known face almost removes your from the full experience of the film. The quote at the end of Billson's piece has an alarming connection to the quote Slarek prefaced his latest 2019 round up with (from Chernobyl ). The Richard Boone delivered Winter Kill quote is:

"They will run you dizzy. They will pile falsehood on top of falsehood until you can't tell a lie from the truth – and you won't even want to."

Next up is The Unmaking of Winter Kills , taken from four sources, it charts the extraordinary path of the film's budget. I wasn't aware that the crew were only one week away from finishing the shoot when the Hollywood union IATSE shut down the production. There were quite a few weeks worked without payment but both cast and crew seemed to be on a mission to finish the project. They were forced to suspend the shoot for what turned out to be years. Producer Fred Caruso deserves some major credit keeping all the bad news off his neophyte director's shoulders and incurring the wrath of the unions. 'Wild Bill' Richert on Winter Kills by Richard T. Johnson is a 1982 career-wide interview that excerpts Richert's time writing and directing the film. It has plenty of details not featured in the extras so is well worth a read. Just a short observation; the interview is credited at the start to Richard T. Johnson but at the end to Richard T. Jameson. I'm assuming it's one or the other? Critical Responses come from Sight and Sound , the Monthly Film Bulletin and the Observer newspaper. The first two concentrate on the broader ambitions of the film comparing it to the source novel while Philip French's rave is surprising but welcome. It ends on the following quote which would have got me curious if not exactly lining up on opening day…

"The picture is both mad and weirdly plausible, and a manic energy conceals gaps and inconsistencies."

summary

Winter Kills is an extraordinary oddity that may all be down to the source material by novelist Richard Condon. First time director William Richert sounds like one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, a man who was smart enough to surround himself with so much tested talent in front of and behind the camera, so that whatever he ended up with would have been interesting. As a thriller, it meanders a bit too wildly and as a satire, it's hardly biting but as entertainment, you won't find another movie anything like it.

* https://thejohnfleming.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/the-conspiracy-movie-financed-by-drug-money-and-destroyed-by-its-distributors/

Winter Kills

USA 1979

97 / 91 mins

directed by

William Richert

produced by

Fred Caruso

Daniel H. Blatt (uncredited)

written by

William Richert

from the book by

Richard Condon

cinematography

Vilmos Zsigmond

editing

David Bretherton

music

Maurice Jarre

production design

Robert Boyle

starring

Jeff Bridges

John Huston

Anthony Perkins

Eli Wallach

Sterling Hayden

Dorothy Malone

Tomas Milian

Belinda Bauer

Ralph Meeker

Toshirō Mifune

Richard Boone

David Spielberg

Brad Dexter

disc details

region 0

video

2.35:1

sound

LPCM 1.0 mono

languages

English

subtitles

English SDH

extras

Two cuts of the film

Commentary with writer-director William Richert

retrospective documentary

William Richert and Jeff Bridges interview

William Richert on the cast

Glenn Kenny on conspiracy thrillers

Trailer

John Olson trailer commentary

Radio spot

Image gallery

Booklet

distributor

Indicator – Powerhouse Films

release date

27 January 2019

review posted

19 January 2019

Films From Beyond Home
About This Blog

January 20, 2022

Revenge is a dish best served freezing cold: winter kill.

Home video cover art - Winter Kill, 1974

This post is part of the Odd or Even Blogathon, stylishly hosted by bloggers Rebecca at Taking Up Room and Gill at Realweegiemidget Reviews . Participants were asked to come up with two possibilities for a movie or TV episode to review, one released on an odd year and one on an even year. A coin flip determined which one got the green light -- heads for the odd year and tails for even.

With Old Man Winter settling in, I selected two chilling TV movies full of ice, snow and … death: A Cold Night’s Death from 1973, featuring a bizarre mystery at a polar research station, and Winter Kill from 1974, about a rural police chief dealing with serial murders at a ski resort. I’m told the coin toss came up tails, so Winter Kill it is! (Who knows, maybe I’ll review A Cold Night’s Death sometime before winter is over.)

First, a bit of housekeeping. Winter Kill the TV movie should not be confused with Winter Kills , a 1979 thriller/black comedy about an impenetrable conspiracy surrounding the assassination of a John F. Kennedy-esque president. Winter Kills , starring Jeff Bridges and John Huston, has a modern Alice in Wonderland feel to it, and there are all kinds of strange backstories attached to the production, but that’s a story for another time.

Winter Kill stars Andy Griffith as Sam McNeill, the police chief of Eagle Lake, a mountain resort town. We’re not in Mayberry anymore, as the film wastes no time getting down to murderous business. In the middle of the night, a stealthy figure dressed in a bulky winter coat and ski mask and carrying a shotgun sneaks up to a luxurious cabin in the woods. The figure throws snowballs at a picture window until the sleeping woman inside is awakened. When the woman pauses momentarily at the window, she’s cut down by a shotgun blast. The killer spray paints “The First” into the snow outside the cabin and steals away.

Ski mask: $12.95. Insulated winter coat: $85.99. Shotgun: $749.99.
Revenge served cold: Priceless.

Even before the murder has been discovered, Sam’s day is off to a bad start when he discovers that the welcome sign just outside of town has been defaced, with the word “Death” spray painted over “Eagle” of Eagle Lake, and a “?” added to the end of the population number.

Once Sam is at the murder scene and examines the message in the snow painted in the same bright red as the sign, it’s apparent that he’s got a cold-blooded killer with a demented sense of humor on his hands.

Suspicion immediately falls on the murdered woman’s wealthy land developer husband, Bill Carter ( Tim O’Connor ). Sam discovers that Carter’s wife was having an affair with a ski instructor ( Nick Nolte ) and the husband knew about it. Even more suspiciously, Carter’s shotgun is missing and the only story he can come up with is that he threw it in the lake in frustration after a disappointing hunting trip.

The coup-de-grace comes when the ski instructor is shot while making a run down the slopes, and “The Second” is found painted in the snow nearby. Carter is just a little too convenient a suspect, and when a third murder occurs -- a pastor is gunned down in his own church -- it’s apparent that the new victim has no connection to the love triangle.

"Ha! You blinked first!"

From the get-go, the viewer is treated to clues to the killer's motive, as he/she is shown reading the diary of a young woman. Flashbacks progressively fill-in her sad story of falling in love with the ski instructor, getting pregnant, getting jilted and feeling that she was being mistreated by everyone around her.

Sam eventually figures out that the girl, Cynthia ( Elayne Heilveil ), is the connecting thread -- she was the daughter of the Carters’ maid, and had stayed with the couple for a year before mysteriously disappearing.

Now Sam must figure out why the people who interacted with Cynthia before she disappeared are being murdered. The investigation cuts too close to home when Sam finds out that his girlfriend Betty ( Sheree North ) was one of those people.

Despite the superficial similarities to The Andy Griffith Show -- the rural small town locale and colorful locals who all know one another -- Sam McNeill is no laid-back, avuncular Andy Taylor. He is all-business and not afraid to read the riot act to his bosses when they overstep.

Just a year before Jaws would portray civic leaders as greedy lunkheads willing to gamble with lives in order to protect the tourist trade, Winter Kill featured its own civics lesson. After the third person is killed, Sam is summoned to appear before the town council.

The anxious men are worried that the tourists will stop coming, and make it clear they’re losing faith in their police chief. The mayor informs Sam that “we hired you, and we can fire you,” and that they’ve decided to form a posse to hunt down the killer. Sam is having none of it:

“Whether any of you in this room believe it, I’m madder and more frustrated than all of you put together, but I’ll not run screaming down main street for you. And I’ll not allow any amateur policeman in this town to take the law into his own hands. And if any one of you tries it, I’ll squash you!”

Sam reads the riot act to the mayor (Eugene Roche).

This is not good ol’ Andy Taylor of Mayberry talking. The only thing missing is the mic drop as Sam leaves the men sitting in embarrassed silence.

Winter Kill , which was intended as a pilot for a TV series, was produced by Andy Griffith Enterprises in association with MGM Television. It’s interesting that Griffith chose to play an almost mirror image of Andy Taylor in a much darker universe. The part still fits him like an old shoe, but it also seems like an attempt to update the too-good-to-be-true Andy image of the ‘60s.

ABC, which broadcast Winter Kill , went ahead and developed it into a series in 1975, renaming Griffith’s character. But either the network executives or audiences balked at the "new" Andy Griffith, as Adams of Eagle Lake lasted only two episodes.

Although Nick Nolte had very little screen time in Winter Kill , he made a good enough impression that he was cast as one of Sam Adams’ deputies in the series. Just a couple of years later, Nolte vaulted into superstardom playing Tom Jordache in the Rich Man, Poor Man mini-series. Griffith would have to wait another decade before his big TV comeback with Matlock .

The murders in Winter Kill are done with a shotgun, which is loud and messy and more disgusting than scary as a way to kill someone. The movie tries to compensate by showing each murder in Peckinpah-style slow motion, but that just comes off as cheesy. However, Winter Kill generates some real suspense at the climax when Sam chases down one last red-herring, unwittingly leaving Betty a sitting duck for the real killer.

Betty (Sheree North) has to fend for herself while her boyfriend is off on a wild goose chase.

The movie’s biggest strength is Andy Griffith’s sober portrayal of a man under extreme pressure, trying to catch a cold-blooded killer while simultaneously navigating local politics and calming the townspeople’s fears. And then there’s the fun in trying to guess, along with Sam, who among the colorful residents of Mayberry, er, Eagle Lake, is capable of gunning down friends and neighbors in such a brutal fashion.

The line-up of suspects amounts to a sort of who’s who of ‘70s character actors: Tim O’Connor as Bill Carter the land developer; Lawrence Pressman as a browbeaten lawyer; Eugene Roche as the fidgety mayor; and Charles Tyner as Charley the amiable mailman, among others. If you’ve watched any ‘70s TV, there are more familiar faces than you can point a shotgun at.

Winter Kill is a solid, well-acted mystery-thriller that takes its time with local color and characters while gradually building suspense. The wintry vistas of the shooting locations, Big Bear and Snow Valley in California, provide a beautiful backdrop. It may be a bit too slow for some tastes, but it’s not a bad winter’s stroll down memory lane.

Where to find it: Streaming | DVD

17 comments:

Thanks for bringing a TV Movie to the blogathon, I do love discovering these especially if they have a before they were famous or long after they hit the big time star. You have me intrigued with those other titles too. Thanks for joining.

Nick gets killed off early in the movie, so if you blink you might miss him. But clearly Andy Griffith Enterprises recognized his potential star power by casting him for the series. I've been bingeing on '70s and '80s TV movies recently, and enjoying reconnecting with all those familiar character actors from my youth. Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for hosting yet another great blogathon!

Wow, the thought of Andy Taylor in a darker alternate universe is so interesting! I had no idea Griffith attempted to "revive" Andy in that way. Great stuff and excellent writing, Brian!

Thank you! Griffith was very good in Winter Kill, and the scene in which he dresses down the town council is pure gold. It was an interesting idea to take major elements of the old Andy Griffith show and turn it into a murder mystery, but I imagine some fans of the old show didn't like the new, intense Andy Griffith. Of course, he did eventually find his footing with the more genial Matlock character, who also solved crimes.

If I had to make a guess at who's the killer -- Barney Fife gone postal? On another note, the shotgun killings in the movie sound eerily similar to the real-life Texarkana "Phantom Killer" shotgun murders, which is a famous, unsolved serial-murder case from the late 1940s. Wonder if it could have been an inspiration? Andy Griffith himself could play some dark characters, as he did in one of his first films, "A Face in the Crowd." Seems he really had to wait a number of years before fans could accept him in "Matlock," even though he was the good guy in that one.

LOL, you're actually not far off with that guess! :) I've seen the movie inspired by the Texarkana Phantom Killer, The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976), a couple of times. A very effective low budget movie, and according to one article, it's still shown every Halloween near one of the murder sites. There are some distinct similarities to Winter Kill. It is interesting that Griffith's film career started out very dark with his superb performance as a populist conman in A Face, but that his most iconic role and easy-going image as Andy Taylor would be the polar opposite of that.

This sounds like a good noir! And Andy Griffith was no stranger to noir. He starred in A Face in the Crowd and was great in that. I have already tried to find Winter Kill thanks to your review, but I haven't had any luck yet. >Sigh<

Andy Griffith was a very underrated actor who in actuality had great range, and could play comedy or drama (or even occasionally a villain) with equal aplomb. Winter Kill is available for fairly reasonable rent on Amazon or YouTube.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Like you said, Andy Griffith was a talented, versatile actor, and I bet he's terrific in this. Thanks for sharing the story re: Nick Nolte, who was signed to the TV series despite a limited amount of screen time in this film.

Nolte started getting a lot of TV work in 1974, and his star was rising rapidly when he landed the Rich Man, Poor Man role. I remember being glued to RM,PM when it was first broadcast. It made the mini-series format, and Nolte, wildly popular.

Griffith was definitely more versatile than he was given credit for--I liked that he stayed in safe territory without staying in safe territory. Thanks again for joining the blogathon with this great review!

Hi Rebecca! I like how you phrased that. Thanks again for hosting this fun blogathon, and I'm looking forward to the So Bad It's Good blogathon next month!

Dark Universe Mayberry...I think I'd watch that. Fun review, Brian. I particularly enjoyed some of the photo captions. :D

Very dark indeed! Opie and Barney weren't in this one because they'd gone to jail for cooking meth and stealing guns from the police dept. I'm glad you enjoyed the captions. I know they're sometimes pretty corny, but I can't help myself! :)

I can't help but think about the SCTV version of Floyd the barber who, because Opie and a gang of thugs broke his barber pole wants the Godfather to "kill them and break Opie's legs." :D

Wow, that sounds hilarious -- hope it's on Youtube!

The Winter Kills Movie

The Winter Kills movie production status is currently Pre-Production

February 14, 2023 • Key talent and film crew being hired; budgeting, preparing and planning of production schedule; approving final shooting script Set to shoot this spring in New Jersey .

Who's Involved:

Kiefer Sutherland, John Stalberg, Jr., Ben Floro Carney

Release Date:

Plot: What's the story about?

A disgraced cop pursues the serial killer who murdered his partner ten years ago — and has resurfaced, killing again.

Poll: Will you see The Winter Kills?

Who stars in The Winter Kills: Cast List

Kiefer Sutherland

Juror No. 2, Pompeii

Who's making The Winter Kills: Crew List

A look at the The Winter Kills behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

John Stalberg, Jr.

Screenwriter

Ben Floro Carney

Production Company

Watch the winter kills trailers & videos.

No trailer available.

Production: What we know about The Winter Kills?

Filming timeline.

Set to shoot this spring in New Jersey .

The Winter Kills Release Date: When is the film coming out?

The Winter Kills is coming out as a release To Be Announced (TBA) . There are 9,432 other movies coming out on the same date, including The Rosie Project , Madagascar 4 and Sherlock Holmes 3 .

Q&A Asked about The Winter Kills

Follow the Updates

Tue., Feb. 14, 2023
added a synopsis
changed the movie production status to Pre-Production
added XYZ Films as a production company
added Ben Floro Carney as screenwriter to movie credits
added John Stalberg, Jr. as director to movie credits
added Kiefer Sutherland as actor to movie credits
added action as genre
changed the title from "The ZWinter " to "The Winter Kills"
changed the title from "THE WINTER KILLS" to "The ZWinter "
created the movie page

Looking for more information on The Winter Kills?

Across the web.

More Info on IMDb

Get the latest on upcoming movies before everyone else!

Winter Kills

1 HOUR 37 MINS

The younger brother of a U.S. president killed 19 years earlier delves into a complex web of power and conspiracy, uncovering shocking family secrets and widespread corruption.

Movie Trailer

Cast & Crew

Jeff Bridges Nick Kegan

John Huston Pa Kegan

Anthony Perkins John Cerruti

Sterling Hayden Z.K. Dawson

Eli Wallach Joe Diamond

Dorothy Malone Emma Kegan

Tomas Milian Frank Mayo

Belinda Bauer Yvette Malone

Ralph Meeker Gameboy Baker

Toshirô Mifune Keith

Richard Boone Keifitz

Elizabeth Taylor Lola Comante

Donald Moffat Actor

David Spielberg Miles Garner

Brad Dexter Captain Heller One

Peter Brandon Doctor

Michael Thoma Ray Doty

Ed Madsen Captain Heller Two

Irving Selbert Irving Mentor

Chris Soldo Jeffreys

William Richert Director

Richard Condon Writer (Novel)

William Richert Writer (Screenplay)

Daniel H. Blatt Producer

Fred C. Caruso Producer

Leonard Goldberg Executive Producer

Robert Sterling Executive Producer

Maurice Jarre Original Music

Vilmos Zsigmond Cinematography

David Bretherton Film Editing

Hank McCann Casting

Robert F. Boyle Production Designer

Norman Newberry Art Direction

Arthur Seth Parker Set Decoration

Robert De Mora Costume Design

Ross Brown Casting

Where to Stream

Upcoming TV Airings

Sorry, this movie is not airing on television in the next two weeks. Check back again soon!

Benefits to Registering & Following

(It's free!)

There’s a Much Better Violent Bill Skarsgård Movie for Crow Fans to Watch, & It’s Coming to Hulu Soon

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Bill Skarsgård has made a name for himself in Hollywood with his versatile performances, particularly in roles that lean towards the dark and intense. While many fans are eagerly awaiting his portrayal in the upcoming Crow remake, there’s another film that showcases his talent in a much more violent and visceral role, and it's coming to Hulu soon.

Boy Kills World, set to stream on September 13 , is a dystopian action thriller that promises to be a must-watch for fans of gritty, adrenaline-fueled cinema. The movie is set in a dystopian future where a deaf and mute young man, played by Skarsgård, is trained by a mysterious shaman to become an instrument of death.

Boy raises his fist as he trains with the Shaman in Boy Kills World

Boy Kills World's Horrific Shaman Twist, Explained

Bill Skarsgård plays the titular hero in Boy Kills World, and though he is mentored by the mysterious Shaman, he may not be all that he appears to be.

The film features an impressive ensemble cast alongside Skarsgård, which includes, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman, Isaiah Mustafa, Yayan Ruhian, Andrew Koji, Sharlto Copley, and Famke Janssen, with H. Jon Benjamin providing voice work. The plot centers on a martial arts expert, who, after being rendered deaf-mute by a brutal attack that kills his family, embarks on a relentless campaign of vengeance. His inner thoughts, influenced by a childhood video game, guide his violent quest for retribution.

Boy Kills World Combines Heavy Violence With Dark Humor

The film combines elements of martial arts , revenge, and dark humor, with Skarsgård taking center stage as the titular character. This role is a stark contrast to his previous work, pushing him into new, more violent territory that fans of The Crow will likely appreciate. His portrayal is expected to be a highlight of the film, bringing a unique blend of intensity and physicality that few actors can match.

Boy Kills World's Ending Explained

Bill Skarsgård's Boy Kills World has a shockingly violent ending that speaks to the idea of the poor fighting back against the soulless elites.

The film's style is heavily influenced by classic revenge films and modern action cinema, with a focus on highly choreographed fight scenes and a dark, almost surreal aesthetic. Early reviews and industry buzz suggest that Boy Kills World could be one of the sleeper hits of the year, particularly for those who enjoy films that push the boundaries of action and violence. However, it was met with mixed reviews and made just $3 million against an $18 million budget. Skarsgård’s performance has been singled out for praise, with many noting his ability to convey deep emotion and physicality, even in a role that demands more action than dialogue.

For fans of Skarsgård, Boy Kills World represents an exciting opportunity to see the actor in a role that’s different from his more mainstream work. The film’s release on Hulu makes it easily accessible for a wide audience, ensuring that it will reach both fans of Skarsgård and those looking for a new, intense action film to sink their teeth into. If you’re a fan of The Crow or simply enjoy high-octane action movies with a dark twist, Boy Kills World is definitely one to watch.

Boy Kills World hits Hulu on Sept. 13, 2024.

Source: Hulu

Boy Kills World

A dystopian fever dream action film that follows Boy, a deaf person with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of death.

Screen Rant

Beetlejuice 2 finally gives a satisfying answer to a deetz family change that bothered me after the original movie.

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

The Deetzes' abandonment of the Winter River house in Beetlejuice 2 is seemingly explained by Lydia's long history of harassment from Beetlejuice.
Lydia's reputation and the disturbing harassment justify the family's decision to move away from Winter River once again.
The Deetzes may be ready to sell the house and move on, as the chaotic history of the Winter River house may prevent them from keeping it after Beetlejuice 2.

The return to the iconic hilltop house in Winter River makes it feel as if no time has passed since the 1988 movie. But, as exciting as it is to be back in Tim Burton’s spooky world, I was worried that Beetlejuice 2 wouldn’t have a compelling enough explanation for the Deetzes abandoning the home for so long before the sequel. In Beetlejuice ’s original ending , the Deetz family has learned to peacefully cohabitate with the deceased Maitland couple, yet Barbara and Adam are absent from the sequel and the Deetzes haven’t lived in Winter River for quite some time.

The Deetzes moving away at some point seemed inevitable given Lydia would likely move out after graduating from high school, but the house’s abandoned appearance made less sense given the now-dead Charles Deetz is being buried there. If he had such a special connection to the house, then why hadn’t the family been living there, even after the Maitlands found a way to move on from the location? I’ve been trying to work out the reason since the sequel’s trailers initially dropped, and a recent clip from Beetlejuice 2 finally offers a satisfying albeit disturbing explanation.

It Makes Sense That Lydia & The Deetz Family Abandoned Winter River After Beetlejuice

Lydia's reputation & beetlejuice's harassment justify moving away.

In a short clip from the sequel, Michael Keaton’s titular character is seen talking to Beetlejuice 2 ’s new character Bob, an employee working under Beetlejuice in the afterlife. Beetlejuice excitedly tells Bob that he and Lydia have been in a long-distance relationship in which she’s ignored him for 30 years, but he keeps trying to get her to see him. This scene suggests that Beetlejuice has still disturbingly been harassing Lydia ever since she was a teenager , and her return to Winter River gives him his best chance to reunite with her.

While she had truly made a home for herself there with Adam and Barbara in the original movie’s ending, their eventual absence may have made it more difficult to keep Beetlejuice away.

If Beetlejuice had been harassing Lydia for years, then it makes sense that she would want to leave Winter River without coming back. While she had truly made a home for herself there with Adam and Barbara in the original movie’s ending, their eventual absence may have made it more difficult to keep Beetlejuice away. It seems he’s still hiding out in the town model in the attic as well, so the best way to avoid him would be to leave Winter River for good .

Inspired by her experiences at the Winter River house in Beetlejuice , Lydia went on to host a horror TV talk show called Ghost House .

Beetlejuice 2's Ending Risks Repeating The Same Deetz Family Change

Will the deetzes leave winter river yet again.

Michael Keaton smirking in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice combined with Astrid looking terrified

Though the iconic members of the Deetz family tree are back in the Winter River house during Beetlejuice 2 , it may not stay this way. After contending with Beetlejuice yet another time and even being transported to the afterlife, Lydia, Delia, and Astrid might be ready to officially put the house on the market. While they could potentially decide to stay and ensure that nobody else has to go up against Keaton’s Beetlejuice again, the reputation of the “Ghost House” and Lydia Deetz’s famous legacy may inspire them to avoid Winter River until the next time a relative dies.

Delia (Catherine O')Hara, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), Lydia (Winona Ryder) and (Rory) Justin Theroux in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

"She's A Legend": Beetlejuice 2's Winona Ryder Reveal Makes The Deetz Family's Fate Far More Tragic

Beetlejuice 2's newest reveal about the town legend status of Winona Ryder's character makes the Deetz family's fate even more tragic.

Just like the Maitlands, the Deetzes may finally be ready to move on from the house. Keeping the house would make Beetlejuice 3 happening more likely, but I find it hard to believe that Lydia would risk summoning Beetlejuice in Winter River yet again. It would be great to know that the Winter River house is being kept within the Deetz family after Beetlejuice 2 , yet the home's chaotic history might prevent that from being the case.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.

COMMENTS

Winter Kills movie review & film summary (2023)
To look at "Winter Kills" now, it seems more obvious than ever that this is indeed one of the great unsung American films of that era and one thoroughly deserving of rediscovery. Stop me if you've heard this one before. In 1960, President Timothy Kegan, the handsome and popular scion of an enormously rich and powerful family, was assassinated ...
Winter Kills
Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/15/23 Full Review james h Sloppy Kills In the opening sequence, during the titles, an unseen chess player attacks with his king, alone and unprotected ...
'Winter Kills' Is the Perfect Conspiracy Thriller for the QAnon Era
August 12, 2023. Jeff Bridges and John Huston in 'Winter Kills.'. Rialto Pictures/Studiocanal. The '70s were the perfect time to be paranoid: rumors of government-sanctioned assassinations here ...
Winter Kills
Full Review | Aug 16, 2023. Richard Brody New Yorker. TOP CRITIC. "Winter Kills" is, above all, an exercise in tone—a crazed, hectic tone that instantly suggests a world irreparably out of ...
Winter Kills
Winter Kills provides a perfect, absurd finale to the half-decade of post-Watergate paranoid thrillers that preceded it and compares favorably to the grand unified conspiracy-theory fictions that followed, such as Oliver Stone's JFK and James Ellroy's book American Tabloid. ... By Keith Phipps FULL REVIEW. 80. The New Yorker It may be a hectic ...
'Winter Kills' Returns in New Print at Film Forum
Winter Kills Aug. 11-24 at Film Forum, Manhattan; filmforum.org . A version of this article appears in print on , Section C , Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: A Paranoid '70s ...
Film Forum · WINTER KILLS
The story behind WINTER KILLS is as convoluted, mysterious and downright incredulous as the movie itself. The two main producers went bankrupt - one was later sent to a federal prison for drug trafficking, the other tied to his bed by a creditor and shot in the head - and production was suspended for two years while Richert raised the ...
'Winter Kills' Review: A Galaxy of Conspiracy Chaos
A Galaxy of Conspiracy Chaos: William Richert's 'Winter Kills,' Presented by Quentin Tarantino. The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Mafia-related murders. An improbable constellation of 20th-century icons. Belated accessibility to the public after decades of obscurity.
Winter Kills (film)
Winter Kills is a 1979 satirical black comedy thriller film written and directed by William Richert, based on the eponymous novel of 1974 by Richard Condon.A fiction inspired by the assassination conspiracy theories about President John F. Kennedy, its all-star cast includes Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Richard Boone, Toshirō Mifune, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone ...
Winter Kills
Winter Kills Reviews. Humor mixes with melodrama in this tale of a Presidential assassination plot. Jeff Bridges, John Huston. Excellent supporting cast includes Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach ...
How "Winter Kills" Nails the Paranoid Style
Conspiracy theories are faith-based history, and "Winter Kills," a 1979 neo-noir, riffs on a scriptural pillar of this realm—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy —with ...
Review: 'Winter Kills' Political Satire Inspires
William Richert's 1979 cult classic is a one-movie film festival of political satire. Q uentin Tarantino is presenting the revival of Winter Kills at New York's Film Forum because it's the ...
'Winter Kills': A Lost '70s Conspiracy Thriller Has Been Found
After all of that, Winter Kills still got solid reviews and drew solid box office in its initial limited release in the summer of 1979. But the movie never expanded to more theaters beyond that ...
The True Story of a Major Mob-Funded Movie That Got its Director Killed
The story behind the 1979 film Winter Kills is probably one of the most lurid of such tales to ever came out of Hollywood. In an industry known for using violence, drugs, gangsterism, and even ...
Winter Kills (1979)
Winter Kills: Directed by William Richert. With Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach. The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter.
WINTER KILLS
It's based on the complex satirical novel by "The Manchurian Candidate" author Bill Condon's 1974 novel. This was the screenwriter's first feature film directed and it's a dandy even if it doesn't make much sense. President Tim Kegan was assassinated 19 years ago, in 1960, and the crime has not been convincingly resolved in ...
Winter Kills Featured, Reviews Film Threat
The sordid backstory of Winter Kills, written and directed by William Richert, and based on a novel by Richard Condon, makes for a truly fascinating story in and of itself. Two of the producers were drug dealers, one of whom was apparently murdered by the mob two weeks before the film was released. The other was later
Winter Kills
Winter Kills. Rating: 3.5 of 5. In William Richert's 1979 cult classic, Jeff Bridges shines as the bewildered Nick Kegan, half-brother of an assassinated president (clearly modeled on Kennedy) and son of an immensely powerful patriarch (played by John Huston--in red bikini underwear, no less). Nineteen years after the murder, Nick hears from ...
Movie: 'Winter Kills,' a Serio-Comedy:Spring Fever Time
Spring Fever Time. WINTER KILLS, written and directed by William Richert; director of photography, Vilmos Zsigmond; film editor, David Bretherton; music by Maurice Jarre; produced by Fred Caruso ...
Winter Kills Blu-ray review
Winter Kills is an extraordinary oddity that may all be down to the source material by novelist Richard Condon. First time director William Richert sounds like one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, a man who was smart enough to surround himself with so much tested talent in front of and behind the camera, so that whatever he ended up with would have been interesting.
Revenge is a dish best served freezing cold: Winter Kill
I'm told the coin toss came up tails, so Winter Kill it is! (Who knows, maybe I'll review A Cold Night's Death sometime before winter is over.) First, a bit of housekeeping. Winter Kill the TV movie should not be confused with Winter Kills, a 1979 thriller/black comedy about an impenetrable conspiracy surrounding the assassination of a ...
The Winter Kills Movie
The Winter Kills movie production status is currently Pre-Production. February 14, 2023 • Key talent and film crew being hired; budgeting, preparing and planning of production schedule; approving final shooting script Set to shoot this spring in New Jersey . Who's Involved: Kiefer Sutherland, John Stalberg, Jr., Ben Floro Carney. Release Date:
Winter Kills
The younger brother of a U.S. president killed 19 years earlier delves into a complex web of power and conspiracy, uncovering shocking family secrets and widesp ... Reviews; Swooon; Search; Winter ...
Boy Kills World Combines Heavy Violence With Dark Humor
Boy Kills World, set to stream on September 13, is a dystopian action thriller that promises to be a must-watch for fans of gritty, adrenaline-fueled cinema. The movie is set in a dystopian future where a deaf and mute young man, played by Skarsgård, is trained by a mysterious shaman to become an instrument of death.
Beetlejuice 2 Finally Gives A Satisfying Answer To A Deetz Family
The return to the iconic hilltop house in Winter River makes it feel as if no time has passed since the 1988 movie. But, as exciting as it is to be back in Tim Burton's spooky world, I was worried that Beetlejuice 2 wouldn't have a compelling enough explanation for the Deetzes abandoning the home for so long before the sequel. In Beetlejuice's original ending, the Deetz family has ...

Movie Reviews

Peter Sobczynski

Now playing

Matt Zoller Seitz

Peyton Robinson

Glenn Kenny

Brian Tallerico

Close to You

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Winter Kills (2023)

Writer (book)

Cinematographer

Latest blog posts

13 Films Illuminate Locarno Film Festival's Columbia Pictures Retrospective

Apple TV+'s Pachinko Expands Its Narrative Palate For An Emotional Season Two

Tina Mabry and Edward Kelsey Moore on the Joy and Uplift of The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat

The Adams Family Gets Goopy in Hell Hole

Why ‘Winter Kills’ Is the Perfect Conspiracy Thriller for the QAnon Era

Editor’s picks

Francis Ford Coppola: 'I Have Nothing Left to Lose'

Francis Ford Coppola: 'I Have Nothing Left to Lose'

Why 'The Crow' — and Brandon Lee — Still Haunts Us

Marketer Behind Fake Quotes in 'Megalopolis' Trailer Dropped by Lionsgate

Can the Best of Star Wars Survive the Worst of Its Fans?

Bob Mould and Fred Armisen Help the 8G Band Sign Off 'Seth Meyers' With Hüsker Dü Cover

Most Popular

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Winter Kills Reviews

Winter Kills

Jeff Bridges

User Reviews

Related Movies

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Every Alien Movie, Ranked

Every Movie Based on a Videogame, Ranked

August 2024 Movie Preview

WINTER KILLS

Suggestions

You might be interested in

Review: Robert Benton’s ‘Bad Company’ on Limited Edition Fun City Editions Blu-ray

4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Albert Brooks’s ‘Real Life’ on the Criterion Collection

Review: Phil Karlson’s Film Noir ‘99 River Street’ on KL Studio Classics Blu-ray

Brad Hanford

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The Eternal Memory Review: A Moving Reflection on Personal and Historical Consciousness

Medusa Deluxe Review: Behind the Seams

Winter Kills Reviews

How “Winter Kills” Nails the Paranoid Style

New Yorker Favorites

The Story of ‘Winter Kills’: A Lost ’70s Conspiracy Thriller Is Found Again

The Worst Movies Released in August

The Real Story of a Major Mob-Funded Movie That Got Its Producer Killed

It Makes Sense That Audiences Did Not Flock to See The Crow in Theaters

Winter Kills as a Concept

The Mafia's Apparent Involvement

The Controversy Surrounding the Plot

A Cult Following

Winter Kills

Top cast 66

More like this

Did you know

User reviews 60

Technical specs

Related news

More to explore

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

You Might Also Like

Winter Kills

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Yes Repeat No.

How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Join our Film Threat Newsletter

Winter Kills

Star Ratings

Most Popular

Movie: 'Winter Kills,' a Serio-Comedy:Spring Fever Time

January 20, 2022