Winter Kills

What a mess. It starts out interesting enough but the longer it goes on the more annoying the whole thing gets. It's basically the same joke over and over. The movie sets up situations to pull you in and you take it serious for a minute only to have the rug pulled out from under you with the cinematic equivalent of the "pull my finger" gag. It gets old. John Huston is having fun and that makes all his scenes at least watchable. I was begging for it to be over before the halfway mark. I'm reviewing the directors cut by the way, in case that matters. I'm not remotely interested now in learning anything about this film's backstory.

A wily, labyrinthine political satire that is saved from being over the top by the brilliant performances of its cast. The movie takes the paranoid storytelling style of the Cold War thriller, but applies it to American domestic politics instead. It is very much like "Three Days of the Condor" in that respect. However, "Winter Kills" has a much more sophisticated point of view on American politics than the latter film, and does a great job of showing how the interconnected corruptions of family, culture, technology and politics all intersect in the most surprising, and horrifying ways. The movie was way ahead of its time in this respect, and is just as relevant to day as it was when it was made - perhaps more so.

Nick Kegan (Jeff Bridges) is the younger brother of the former US president, who was murdered in strange circumstances decades ago in unsolved circumstances. He is son of a wealthy man (John Huston) who has the power to make fortune and destroy careers. When a badly wounded man confesses to being the author of the assassination, providing irrefutable evidence, the truth about what happened ends up involving Nick in unprecedented danger. Later on, Nick is connected to John Cerruti (Anthony Perkins), the mastermind behind the Kegan empire. Nick is chauffeured to Pa Kegan's desert estate, where he is greeted by the Japanese butler, Keith (Toshirô Mifune). Along the way, Nick searching for the real assassin and stumbling across the bloodstained the tag of any similarity hardly stands up. Later that evening, Nick sees his emotionally unstable mother, Emma (Dorothy Malone), and is rebuked by his father for leaving the ship. They are the power !. Protected by violence and ruled by corruption !. The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty !. From the author of The Manchurian Candidate !. In a world gone sane...we need a movie as wild and entertaining as Winter Kills !. Even in the best of families...Winter Kills. Nick Kegan's brother was the President of the United States. Nick is next in line... if he lives that long. Last week, even the maid tried to murder him...Something funny is happening in WInter Kills Take it seriously! . Who really killed our president? They own oil...banks...beautiful women...even presidents. One man will inherit it all. If he lives. Some people say he stole the presidency of the United States for his son. He claims he bought it, fair and square...

Distinctively black comedy suffers a hilariously paranoid adaptation of American public life, dealing with with a presidential assassination with clear connotations to that of Joseph F Kennedy. The interesting story of a man caught up in a situation he can't grasp, a situation with which the viewer might well sympathise . A young Jeff Bridges stars in this thriller, action and suspense film with hints of black comedy, along with other classic film stars. In the movie , a series of twists and turns occur with a succession of increasingly bizarre situations, scenarios and characters, resulting in a story of a complex conspiracy that ended the life of President Kegan, with a puzzle of various clues that eventually unfold. Interpretations are pretty good. Jeff Bridges as as the lost brother who has been drifting through life ever since his older sibling was assassinated 15 years early; John Huston as his eccentric father who wants to draw Nick back into the family by claiming a conspiracy; Anthony Perkins in a sinister and enigmatic character, and Elizabeth Taylor went unbilled , in for a brief wordless cameo role as a former movie star called Lola Comonte who served as procuresss for the late president . Other acting that achieves believable chracterisation are those of Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Tomas Milian, Belinda Bauer, Ralph Meeker, Toshiro Mifune, Richard Boone, David Spielberg, Brad Dexter, Joe Spinell, among others. Winter Kills(1979) is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Richard Condon, mainly known for his works of political fiction. One of his most notable works is "The Manchurian Candidate." which was made into a big movie in 1962 and starred Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury, as well as ¨Prizzi's honor¨ directed by John Huston himself.

This motion picture with a helter-skelter narrative was unevenly directed by William Richert, but well worth watching. Richert's direction negotiates the plot's many pleasurably sharp bends with such skill that one emerges a little dazed, more than a littled amused, and nagged by a worrying sense that it could just all be true. Flopped at the boxoffice, but was re-edited with the original ending restored and re-released in 1983. William Richert was a bold, brash uncompromising figure in the tradition of Orson Welles and John Cassavetes; William Richert burst on to the Hollywood scene near the end of the storied 1970s, first as a screenwriter and then as director of the dazzling conspiracy opus Winter Kills. A critical triumph abandoned by its studio, the movie set the tone for Richert's career to come-a quartet of highly original, idiosyncratic American features that have maintained an almost clandestine existence, subject to poor distribution and myriad unauthorized versions, directing a few films, such as: A Dancer's Life (1972), The American Success Company (1979), A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) and The Face of Alexandre Dumas: The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).

A rather unique conspiracy thriller / dark comedy, "Winter Kills" is based on a novel by Richard Condon of "The Manchurian Candidate" fame. It may not be nearly as well known, but it merits a look. Jeff Bridges stars as Nick Kegan, the younger half brother of an assassinated U.S. President. 19 years after the killing, Nick comes across a man who makes a dying confession that he was one of the gunmen. Nick then becomes determined to solve this old mystery, soldiering on even as his extremely rich and influential businessman father (John Huston) tries to manipulate the course of events. As Nick pursues leads, he realizes that the people he encounters cannot be taken at face value, and that not all of these leads are going to be particularly helpful.

A sincere and likable performance by Bridges helps to anchor the tale, and there's a nonstop parade of famous faces in supporting roles and cameos: Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Tomas Milian, Ralph Meeker, Toshiro Mifune, Richard Boone, and an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor. But despite all of these heavy hitters gracing the film with their presence, it's Huston that commands a great deal of attention. He does seem to be quite enjoying himself playing this overbearing and grandiose character. The beautiful Belinda Bauer is appealing as the love of Nicks' life.

William Richert scripted, and directs the film as a commentary on the nature of politics, the real-life assassination of JFK, and the power wielded by the affluent 1% represented by Hustons' Pa Kegan. It's a rather intricate mystery, and the best part of it is that you can't be sure where it's going, and aren't two steps ahead of Nick the whole time. One particularly silly scene has an unlikely character attempting to dispose of Nick, only for the sequence to include a rather hilarious, gratuitous dose of T & A.

Absorbing entertainment, with real-life production stories that are stranger than anything in the film.

Seven out of 10.

William Richert's "Winter Kills" is a strange, offbeat film, to say the least. It begins seriously, but then changes tones and becomes a searing black comedy. I felt a little guilty about enjoying the film so much, considering that it's about a political assassination cover-up.

But, then I changed my mind. After all, this, "Prizzi's Honor" and the great "The Manchurian Candidate" were all based on novels written by the same author, Richard Condon. The one thing these films all have in common are that they are savage comedies about serious subjects. So perhaps that was the tone Condon was going for. The humor will escape some, but those who can appreciate dark humor will love it.

The film also contains a gallery of great performances by top talent. The cast includes Jeff Bridges, John Huston (a great actor as well as a great writer and great director), Anthony Perkins, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone, Eli Wallach and in a cameo, Elizabeth Taylor. They make the most of this material and play it very straight. This is the key to the film's success. If they had played it slyly, it may not have worked as well.

But it's not fair to praise the cast only. William Richert also deserves praise for maintaining such uneven shifts between tones and for telling such a potentially confusing storyline with style and grace. It's such a solid script and such strong direction that he should have received Oscar nods for his work.

"Winter Kills" exists in two versions. In 1980, Magnetic Video briefly released the theatrical cut, which was edited to deemphasize the comedy and rush-released by Avco Embassy. However, in 1983, Richert was given the green light to re-edit his film. This version, with the original ending restored and many of the comic moments restored, was released by Embassy Home Entertainment in 1984.

My rating applies to the 1983 re-edit, although I would really like to see the original 1979 edit. If anyone out there has a copy of the 1980 Magnetic Video release, e-mail me.

**** out of 4 stars (1983 re-edit)