Winter Kills
(1979)
review by Head Cheeze

I love Jeff Bridges. He's one of those actors that need only appear on the screen and I know things are gonna be just fine. Bridges has made a practice of picking quality projects throughout his career, and Winter Kills, a damned fine little conspiracy thriller recently unearthed by Anchor Bay, is a great example of that.

Nick Kegan (Bridges) encounters a dying man who has something to get off his chest. It seems that nineteen years ago the man assasinated Timothy Kegan, Nick's brother and then President of the United States. Initially Nick is less than convinced by the man's claims, but the more he learns the more he discovers that the man's story is not only plausible, but quite possible. As Nick digs further he encounters resistance from the people he trusted most, including his overbearing father (Huston) who insists that Nick leave history well enough alone. Like any good son, Nick ignores his old man's advice and soon finds himself up to his neck in a conspiracy that would make Oliver Stone...well..make a movie.

Winter Kills is a dead on piece of political satire, but the humour is so dark and deeply rooted in the plot that many folks may miss the fact that the joke is on both the conspiracy theorists who thrive on such stories and the governments who do their best to hide them. Based on a novel by Richard Condon (whose works have lampooned everything from the mafia to Hollywood blacklisting) director William Richert deftly balances the satiric with the dramatic, and does Condon's novel proud. The casting is simply inspired, with Bridges leading the pack with his everyman charm, and the late Huston and Perkins both delivering some of the finest performances of their respective careers.

Anchor Bay releases this lost classic in a two disc special edition that is literally chock full of goodies. The first disc features the film in it's entirety (originally cut by several minutes, Winter Kills was lucky to be released at all, for obvious Kennedy assasination similarities), with a gorgeous widescreen transfer. The supplementals are spread out over the two discs and include a brand new full length documentary entitled Who Killed Winter Kills which touches on the problems that Richert and company faced when they originally tried to market the film. It's a fascinating look at how freedom of speech is more of a privelage than a right in some circumstances, and really helps flesh out the reasons this film has been virtually incommunicado for more than two decades. The documentary features new interviews with Richert, Bridges and other principals and would be a reasonable purchase alone. Anchor Bay also includes a short "reunion" segment between Richert and Bridges where the two discuss the process of making the film, as well as several deleted scenes, stills galleries, and a full length commentary by Richert.

This is a really great package for a film that most people probably never knew existed. I was lucky enough to have a teacher back in the late 1980's who had written a very popular book on the Kennedy conspiracy and showed us this film (That teacher later served as an advisor on Oliver Stone's JFK, which this film runs circles around).

Winter Kills is a darkly funny, tense and convincing piece of filmmaking, filled with powerful performances and a reckless disregard for all the United States government holds sacred. Reason enough to buy this one. Hell, buy ten of them!