New Trailer for Cult 70s Comedy Thriller ‘Winter Kills’ with Jeff Bridges
by Alex Billington
July 21, 2023
Source: YouTube
“I met the true assassin of my brother.” This restoration and re-release of Winter Kills is presented by author/filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, a longtime fan and champion of the movie. Film Forum will play a 35mm restoration of the 70s comedy thriller Winter Kills in August. It’s a spin on JFK: the younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter. There’s also more: “the story behind Winter Kills is as convoluted, mysterious and downright incredulous as the movie itself. The two main producers went bankrupt – one was later sent to a federal prison for drug trafficking, the other tied to his bed by a creditor and shot in the head – and production was suspended for two years while” the director found more money. Camera op John Bailey, who oversaw the restoration, says nowadays: “I see it as not only very relevant but eerily prescient.” Jeff Bridges stars with John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone, Toshirō Mifune, and many others. This looks crazy good, and reminds me of The Parallax View.
Here’s the new re-release trailer (+ original poster) for William Richert’s Winter Kills, from YouTube:
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” in the NY Times), as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Bridges’ Nick 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. Winter Kills is both written and directed by filmmaker William Richert, his first narrative feature film after making the doc A Dancer’s Life previously. Based on the book by Richard Condon. The film initially opened in theaters in May of 1979 in the US. Rialto Pictures’ new 35mm prints, the first struck in over 40 years, were recently completed by colorist Don Capoferri and Lab Expediter Steven Mitchell at FotoKem in Los Angeles, under John Bailey’s supervision. Film Forum in NYC will re-release Winter Kills starting on August 11th, 2023 (through August 24th) this summer. For more info, visit their official site.
