Classic Movie Review: Winter Kills (1979)

Winter Kills (1979)

Directed by: William Richert.   

Written by: William Richert based on the novel by Richard Condon.

Starring: Jeff Bridges (Nick Kegan), John Huston (Pa Kegan), Anthony Perkins (John Cerruti), Eli Wallach (Joe Diamond), Sterling Hayden (Z.K. Dawson), Dorothy Malone (Emma Kegan), Tomas Milian (Frank Mayo), Belinda Bauer (Yvette Malone), Ralph Meeker (Gameboy Baker), Toshirô Mifune (Keith), Richard Boone (Keifitz), David Spielberg (Miles Garner), Brad Dexter (Captain Heller One), Michael Thoma (Ray Doty), Ed Madsen (Captain Heller Two), Irving Selbst (Irving Mentor), Chris Soldo (Jeffreys), Byron Morrow (Secretary of State), Elizabeth Taylor (Lola Comante), John Warner (President Tim Kegan).

 

Winter Kills is a strange movie that was made at just the right moment for it, and yet for some reason, didn’t connect. The film is ostensibly a paranoid thriller, made at the end of the decade in which paranoid thrillers were at their peak, and yet is really a straight faced comedy – it’s thriller elements so silly that they cannot be believed, although no one in the movie lets in that they’re in on the joke. The film should have been perfect for 1979 audiences, and yet the film was a commercial failure at the time. It’s gained a cult following since, yet watching the film, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a relic of a previous era, who time had come and gone. I hate using the term dated to describe old movies – yet it’s undeniable that some movies are made for their time, and don’t work outside of it. Winter Kills is that type of movie.

 

The film stars Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, the beach bum half-brother of the former American President, killed by an apparent lone gunman nearly 20 years ago. An ex-con confesses to Nick, while on his deathbed, that he was he second gunman that day – and he was hired by an organization he did not know. Nick goes to his powerful father, (John Huston) with the information, who doesn’t want to hear it – but Nick will not give up. He starts a country spanning investigation, meeting people in all walks of life related to his brother, and a possible conspiracy – but as he unravels the plot, the people he meets with keep getting murdered by unknown killers.

 

You could hardly ask for a better cast for a film – Bridges, Huston, Anthony Perkins as an all-powerful Wizard of Oz type character, Eli Wallach as a gangster, Sterling Hayden as a powerful businessman, only seen riding around in a tank, Dorothy Malone as Bridges semi-out there mother, and Elizabeth Taylor, who never speaks, but wanders around looking Elizabeth Taylor. That doesn’t even mention small roles by Ralph Meekler, Toshiro Mifune and Tomas Milian – the film becomes a spot the star cameo game throughout, as these stars come out, have a scene or two, and then disappear. They keep the film watchable, and somewhat enjoyable.

 

But the film never quite finds the right tone – this film was required to walk the razor edge between plausible thriller and satiric comedy, and doesn’t really commit to either. It’s at its best in the most absurd scenes – like Huston’s introduction, accompanied by a large of rich men, who come riding in on golf carts, as if they are an invading army. The film also work in the background more than the foreground – like the presence of a ping pong table at the last place you would expect to see one, which undercuts the seriousness of the scene it’s in.

 

The ultimate problem with Winter Kills is that it doesn’t work as a comedy, a satire of a thriller. It wants to be a paranoid thriller – it is from the author of one of the best ever made, The Manchurian Candidate, but it doesn’t take its premise seriously (if you think about it, The Manchurian Candidate itself is a silly premise – they just sell the hell out of it). But it never quite nails the more satiric or comedic side ether. I could see the film working better in 1979 – having sat through a bunch of these types of films the preceding decade or so, perhaps it better hit those comedic targets. Watching it now through, it doesn’t really work. There’s a lot of talent involved in Winter Kills, and it is a very strange film – it just doesn’t add up to that much.