Actually most of this movie was shot in 1976 with a couple of scenes done in 1978. And while it is no CITIZEN KANE, there are a number of similarities between the two films. Both have thinly disguised unflattering portraits of very powerful men (in this case it’s Joseph P. the Kennedy family patriarch as portrayed by John Huston) and both were abandoned by their studios shortly after their release reportedly due to outside pressure although WINTER KILLS, unlike CITIZEN KANE, sank without a trace for 25 years. They also create very strong opposite reactions from viewers (I once taught a course on the American films of Orson Welles and was surprised by how many negative reactions the class had to KANE).
Anyone familiar with the books of Richard Condon and the two most famous movies made from them (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, PRIZZI’S HONOR) knows that he goes in for very dark portraits of people in power. However he also leavens that darkness with a satiric sense of humor as is the case here. I won’t go into the plot details (discussed by other reviewers) except to say that it really isn’t that hard to follow especially with subtitles which the Amazon Prime version has. I will advise you to play close attention to Richard Boone’s kitchen speech (“They will pile falsehood on top of falsehood until you can’t tell a lie from the Truth and won’t even want to”) and to Anthony Perkins’ surveillance revelations.
The Anthony Perkins scenes are eerily prophetic of the situation we find ourselves in today with fake news and conspiracy theories on every TV and mobile device which is being monitored and/or manufactured by God knows who. What was conceived as dark satire over 40 years ago has become the everyday reality of 2020. If you feel that technology has taken over our lives then that is one element you can take away from WINTER KILLS. For me though, as a movie lover, I enjoy the opportunity to see so many big name stars making the most of their extended cameos and relishing the witty Condon/Richert dialogue.
One sad note which is not included in the many special features that accompany the original Anchor Bay set or the new Kino Lorber blu-ray concerns the real life fate of the morgue attendant who appears near the end of the film. She is played by Berry Berenson who was the younger sister of Marisa Berenson (CABARET, BARRY LYNDON). At that time she was the wife of Anthony Perkins (who died in 1992) and the mother of current director Oz Perkins (born 1972). She was one of the 87 passengers on board American Airlines Flight 11 when it was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The Capsule Critic 