Slideshow
WINTER KILLS
U.S., West Germany, 1979
Directed by William Richert
With Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Tomas Milian, Belinda Bauer, Ralph Meeker, Richard Boone, Toshirō Mifune, Elizabeth Taylor
Based on the novel by Richard Condon
Approx. 97 mins. 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.
Reviews
“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