Philadelphia Clan

Condon wrote a magazine article about this movie production around 1980 that makes it ten times as strange as the story itself. Among other details:

The movie was financed with money from cocaine dealers.

When the production went over budget, the executive producer brought in additional "financiers", then was able to keep the crews working for two weeks - in New York - with no pay. Jeff Bridges and Tony Perkins both offered their salaries as collateral.

After the film was finished, the studio was purchased by a bigger studio which then ultimately declined to release it. At one point, at a test preview at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, passers by were being offered $1 to watch the movie.

A few months later, the executive producer was found in a New York hotel room, handcuffed to a bed, with two bullets in his head.

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)

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.

Winter Kills once was available on videotape; no longer. That's a pity because it's a stylish, fun-packed phantasmagoria about American power as expressed through American politics. (Since the source material was written by Richard Condon -- of Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor fame -- the points are not subtle; merely irresistible.) Based loosely on the Kennedy saga (as what isn't these days: look at Dominick Dunne's oeuvre), the film casts Jeff Bridges, at his most young and vital, as the baby brother of a slain president. Trying to track down clues to the assassination, he embarks on one of those labyrinthine quests undertaken by the likes of the poisoned protagonist in D.O.A. or Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly. Of course, the clues boomerang back, leading him into the viperish nest of his own family, especially his father, a randy old psycho played to the hilt by John Huston. But even this filthy rich patriarch doesn't work the strings anymore; they've gone corporate, become systemic, and are pulled by a bland bureaucrat played by Anthony Perkins. This movie is a mad midway ride, overflowing with cameos that pop up like death's-heads in the funhouse. Watch for Liz Taylor, as a fabled madame, silently mouthing a profanity.

Lamentably uneven film roughly paralleling the Kennedy killing. By the finish, it's hard to tell if the intent is to parody an assassination conspiracy or to offer up food for thought. Of course, the two can be combined, but if so, the results here are sloppy, more head-scratching than suggestive. Much time is spent with Nick (Bridges) chasing shadows, that amount to conspiracies behind conspiracies.

Okay, shadows can make for fascinating progression, not knowing who's involved and who isn't. This sense of dislocation was probably best conveyed in 1974's chilling The Parallax View. But here, such suggestive moments are undercut by exaggerations, such as the incredible shooting of the three men in the car, or the ragged development of who Yvette actually is. To me, the only explanation for the frequent piling on of events is that someone was reaching for an element of parody, despite the seemingly dead serious parts.

Now I can well understand why the production here wanted to raise questions about the Lone Assassin official theory. It certainly hasn't withstood the test of time, as even a few key frames of the Zapruder film show. Moreover, 1978's House Committee on Assassinations found upon reviewing the evidence that Kennedy "was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy". But then the whole matter was dropped without follow-up. Ironically, I can also understand why officials don't want to pursue the matter. After all, who knows where it might lead or what crises an honest investigation might produce.

Anyway, Bridges turns in a riveting and energetic turn as the beleaguered president's brother. If spoof was the movie's intent, Bridges should have been informed since he plays it absolutely straight throughout. Also, veteran director and actor Huston towers as the shady and mysterious patriarch of the clan. Note too, how many veteran Hollywood names settle for brief appearances in an independent production, even super-star Elizabeth Taylor. Perhaps they too were unhappy with the Warren Commission Report and wanted to help boost critics who were gathering steam at that time. Of course, the movie debunkings would culminate in 1991's JFK.

Though this 90-minutes has its moments, entertaining and suggestive, it's too uneven and inconsistent to really register as either parody or expose.