From 1976-78, the House Select Committee on Assassinations was the second government inquest into the death of President John F. Kennedy. The committee concluded the JFK was probably killed as the result of a conspiracy. But Robert Blakey, the Chief Counsel for the committee, subsequently began to float the unsubstantiated theory that organized crime was behind the death of President Kennedy. The 1979 film "Winter Kills" basically builds on that premise.
The film is a stylistic mess with some nearly farcical moments and scenes. For example, Sterling Hayden's character is a virtual reprise of his famous general of "Doctor Strangelove," a character loosely based on Curtis LeMay.
But "Winter Kills" is nonetheless presented to the viewer as a political and allegorical thriller with the premise of Jeff Bridges character seeking to discover the truth about the death of his older brother, the president modeled on JFK. The plot is enormously contrived with a series of meetings of Bridges with mafia dons, plus a Mati Hari like femme fatale, who may herself have been involved in the president's death.
The most ludicrous character portrayal is that of the family patriarch played by John Huston. SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWS: The film absurdly suggests that Huston's father was involved in a kind of Oedipal struggle with his son and that he participated in the killing his son.
In the final analysis, "Winter Kills" sheds no light on the JFK assassination, and the film plays more like a made-for-television movie, as opposed to a thoughtful feature film.
The film is a stylistic mess with some nearly farcical moments and scenes. For example, Sterling Hayden's character is a virtual reprise of his famous general of "Doctor Strangelove," a character loosely based on Curtis LeMay.
But "Winter Kills" is nonetheless presented to the viewer as a political and allegorical thriller with the premise of Jeff Bridges character seeking to discover the truth about the death of his older brother, the president modeled on JFK. The plot is enormously contrived with a series of meetings of Bridges with mafia dons, plus a Mati Hari like femme fatale, who may herself have been involved in the president's death.
The most ludicrous character portrayal is that of the family patriarch played by John Huston. SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWS: The film absurdly suggests that Huston's father was involved in a kind of Oedipal struggle with his son and that he participated in the killing his son.
In the final analysis, "Winter Kills" sheds no light on the JFK assassination, and the film plays more like a made-for-television movie, as opposed to a thoughtful feature film.