History Film / WinterKills

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The film opens with Nick Kegan (Bridges), the half-brother of the young President who was assassinated nineteen years earlier, hearing the confession of a dying man who claims to have been a second shooter in the assassination, giving as proof the location where he stored his rifle. Nick goes with a friend and the police to retrieve the rifle, but they are shot by a sniper and the evidence is stolen.

''Winter Kills'' is a 1979 BlackComedy political thriller film directed by William Richert, adapted from the 1974 [[FilmOfTheBook novel of the same name]] by Richard Condon (''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate''). The story is inspired by the [[WhoShotJFK assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy]] and subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it. Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/JohnHuston, and Creator/AnthonyPerkins head the cast.

The film opens with Nick Kegan (Bridges), the half-brother of the young President who'd been assassinated nineteen years earlier, hearing the confession of a dying man who claims to have been a second shooter in the assassination, giving as proof the location where he stored his rifle. Nick goes with a friend and the police to retrieve the rifle, but they are shot by a sniper and the evidence is stolen.

Nick confronts eccentric industrialist Z. K. Dawson (Creator/SterlingHayden), named by the dying assassin as part of the plot. Dawson is engaged in a war game with real tanks, and though admitting he didn't like the late President, denies having anything to do with his assassination, naming the Philadelphia Police Department instead. He then chases Kegan off his ranch with the tanks firing live shells.

Meanwhile, people connected with the assassination keep dying, including the man who wrote down the confession. Kegan speaks to Ray Doty, a former Philadelphia police officer with knowledge of the plot. He relates how Joe Diamond (Creator/EliWallach), a small-time hood in debt to the Mafia, was ordered by them to kill Willie Arnold, the patsy assassin, after he was arrested by police.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/winter_kills_1979.jpg]]

''Winter Kills'' is a 1979 political thriller/black comedy film directed by William Richert, adapted from the 1974 [[FilmOfTheBook novel of the same name]] by Richard Condon (''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate''). The story is inspired by the [[WhoShotJFK assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy]] and subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it. Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/JohnHuston, and Creator/AnthonyPerkins head the cast.

* InsistentTerminology: When Nick calls his father a "petty thief", his father scoffed, and says, "Petty thief, hell, I'm the king of thieves."

* TheUnreveal: We never learn who [[spoiler:the woman on the bike is, or how she factored into the conspiracy.]]

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/winter_kills_1979.jpg]]

''Winter Kills'' is a 1979 political thriller/black comedy film directed by William Richert, adapted from the 1974 [[FilmOfTheBook novel of the same name]] by Richard Condon (''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate''). The story is inspired by the [[{{WhoShotJFK}} assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy]] and subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it. Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/JohnHuston, and Creator/AnthonyPerkins head the cast.

* BlackComedy: The film has quite a bit of this.
* ConspiracyThriller: One filled with so many twists and turns that by the end the audience will probably still be as anxious as they were at the beginning.
* CloudCuckooLander: Z. K. Dawson, apparently, engaging in war games with real tanks and firing live shells. [[spoiler: Later we learn this wasn't the real Z. K. Dawson, and this was probably done to intimidate Kegan, along with putting him on a false lead]].

* FilmNoir: Albeit in the frame of a political ConspiracyThriller with heavy doses of (pitch black) comedy.

* TheManBehindTheMan: John Cerruti.

Nick confronts eccentric industrialist Z. K. Dawson (Sterling Hayden), named by the dying assassin as part of the plot. Dawson is engaged in a war game with real tanks, and though admitting he didn't like the late President, denies having anything to do with his assassination, naming the Philadelphia Police Department instead. He then chases Kegan off his ranch with the tanks firing live shells.

Meanwhile, people connected with the assassination keep dying, including the man who wrote down the confession. Kegan speaks to Ray Doty, a former Philadelphia police officer with knowledge of the plot. He relates how Joe Diamond (Eli Wallach), a small-time hood in debt to the Mafia, was ordered by them to kill Willie Arnold, the patsy assassin, after he was arrested by police.

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* ShaggyDogStory: Almost the entire plot is a [[spoiler:WildGooseChase orchestrated by the BigBad and Nick's father to keep him from learning the truth about his brother's death. Even after learning the truth, he's no closer to getting justice against those responsible.}}

* {{Expy}}: Timothy Kegan for President John F. Kennedy, "Pa" Kegan for Joseph P. Kennedy, Willie Arnold for Lee Harvey Oswald, and Joe Diamond for Jack Ruby.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The rifle used to kill President Kegan and its subsequent theft is set up to be a major [[MacGuffin]], but is almost immediately dropped after it's introduced and is only briefly mentioned a few scenes thereafter.