Winter Kills (1979)

19 years after President Timothy Keegan was assassinated, his brother Nick discovers a dying man claiming to have been the gunman. While trying to avoid his wealthy and domineering father's... See full summary »

Director:

William Richert

Writers:

Richard Condon (book), William Richert

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

19 years after President Timothy Keegan was assassinated, his brother Nick discovers a dying man claiming to have been the gunman. While trying to avoid his wealthy and domineering father's attempts to control his actions, Nick follows the clues that have been handed to him. As he progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern the real trails from the dead ends, and increasing dangerous as unknown parties try to stop Nick from uncovering the truth.

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Plot Keywords:

1960s | philadelphia pennsylvania | assassination of president | tank | dead woman | 

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Taglines:

What Dr. Strangelove did for the bomb, what M*A*S*H did for the war, WINTER KILLS does for the American dream.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Philadelphia Clan

Filming Locations:

Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Winter Gold Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only ever film appearance (and uncredited) of John Warner. Warner was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor (who also appears in the film) at the time the movie was made. Warner was a government official who had served as Under secretary and then Secretary of the U.S. Navy during the Nixon Administration, 1972-1974, before he was appointed in 1974 to head up the federal government's American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. As such, his casting in this film provided a real life political nexus to the real life American politics that the film referenced.

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Quotes

John Cerruti: I'm so glad you're here! I receive so few outsiders. Who to trust? Who to trust? All of the nerves, but none of the flesh.

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Connections

Featured in Who Killed 'Winter Kills'? (2003)

User Reviews

Conspiracy lovers in a conspiracy loving country

"Winter Kills" is a kind of a movie that works on several levels and does a good job in each and every one of them. It mixes black comedy, with political satire, mystery and conspiracy to create a dazzling mix up of possible assassination scenarios that anybody who tried to untangle it, ultimately gave up. Black comedy part show the ridicule of the system in which the quest for more power and money eats it's own children, and everything is crazy on purpose. Houston is great as Bridges' kingpin father and Perkins is a fabulous casting choice as the central figure that shows lunacy of the world of surveillance on everybody and everything.

"Winter Kills" can only appear silly to those who find air-tight logic in the Warren Commission, "lone gunmen" and "magic bullet" theories. Others who don't find those stories plausible or even sane, can find something for themselves in the movies such as "JFK", "Executive action" and "Winter kills", which shows the same topic in a different light. Worth seeing and even keeping.