Search - Winter Kills on DVD

Why did I have to stumble onto this movie?

K. D. Kelly | sf, ca | 02/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First, this film blew me away. And second, I would never have discovered this movie had I not chanced upon it at the library ... and I'm baffled more people don't mention it. Huston's megalomaniacal Mr. Burns cum Palmer Eldritch cum Citizen Kane is diabolically delicious and the kind of character that should show up in one of the Hollywood retrospectives they show when a host is caught up snorting lines backstage during the Oscars. In fact, "Winter Kills" teems with offbeat characterizations that might flutter off into self-absorbed zaniness if not for Jeff Bridges in a competent everyman role. Perkins performs the kind of inspired cameo that makes you shake your head he couldn't have broken free of the "Psycho" mold. Sterling Hayden, interestingly, plays a character that could very well be the same power-mad general he played in "Dr. Strangelove," retired now and protecting his land with tanks. And Liz Taylor is perfect in her split-second appearance as a sort of doughboy Heidi Fleiss, dolled up and glassy-eyed. Bridges, tempered amid the maelstrom and a smart, multilayered "whodunit" script keeps the film grounded. The biting parallels to JFK are even more poignant today, now that business interests have unseated our country's ideals completely."

Great movie, careless dvd

Vermilion Sands | Silkstone, Australia | 10/09/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love this movie, it's one of my favourite American films because of its continuous odd and intoxicating humour - Anchor Bay's dvd transfer is technically good but the bad special effects are highlighted by the deluxe treatment and more importantly the enigmatic and poetic ending featuring the woman and waving child riding past Jeff Bridges on a bicycle (which happens throughout the film just before someone gets killed) is simply and amazingly not there - instead we get a tracking shot on a "futuristic" answering machine which is definitely lame in comparison. I think I'll be returning more frequently to the VHS."

Good Movie and Good Documentary

Uncle Chino | New Zealand | 10/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was a really good movie. It was just loaded with old screen legends from the past in classic roles. Jeff Bridges is perfect as the role of the brother of the slain president of the United States. John Huston is excellent as Pa, his rich and powerful father. Sterling Hayden is also excellent. This movie is full of wild speculation and crazy, paranoid and zany characters.

The documentary about the making of the movie was just as compelling as the origional film. The things that they went thru to make it and getting it made were just the things that you would normally see on film. Gangsters, threats, porn producers, drugs, alcoholism and big money in paper bags were just some of the many things that went into the making of this movie."

Paraniod visionary political thriller

George T. Parsons | Nevada City, CA | 04/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of those 70s films that haunts me (John Huston's Wiseblood is another, there are lots more). This was based on a story by Richard Condon who also wrote The Manchurian Candidiate. A great cast with a very young Jeff Bridges as the lead in this partially based on fact, darkest of comedies, paranoid controversy theoretical waking nightmare of a movie.
Richard Boone, Sterling Hayden, Toshiro Mifune, Liz Taylor, JOHN HUSTON, Anthony Perkins, Ralph Meeker, Eli Wallach, Tomas Milian, many only get a scene or two, some only a scene, but they are all used for all the iconic power they are capable of generating. Not to mention exquisite cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond and an astounding debut for director/actor/etc., William Richert. This film was way too early for it's time, and in the same way Welles' Citizen Kane stepped on the feet of a giant this film also played with the thinly veiled mythology of real people, in this case the Kennedys. The story of why this brilliant film was stillborn upon it's initial release is likely a story worthy of the intrigue and rampant angst that fuels this spectacular film itself; though it's only hinted at in the Who Killed Winter Kills documentary, (that helps to flesh out the second disc disc of this set). I must admit that this all could have fit well onto one disc; but whatever the form, this is a film that is well worth seeking out, and it holds up very well to repeated viewings. It's one of those movies you'll want to turn other people on to. Check it out."