(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Chicago’s Music Box Theatre will host a revival of the political-paranoia thriller “Winter Kills,” a 1979 movie with a troubled production that initially bombed but – like the most persistent of conspiracy theories -- refused to die.
The flick is available from Kino Lorber on Blu ray with an array of extras, so it's not as if writer-director William Richert's impressive effort has been consigned to oblivion. But now purists will have the chance to see it unspool from a newly struck 35-millimeter print presented by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, a champion of underappreciated '70s cinema.
Leading the cast is a young Jeff Bridges, some 20 years before his "Big Lebowski" character The Dude would embark on a different wild goose chase. Here he plays the heir to a financial and political dynasty who delves into the long-closed assassination of his president brother, a fictionalized version of JFK, after hearing the real killer's deathbed confession.
His decadent and domineering father (John Huston, going full-bore "Chinatown" as this movie's equivalent of Joseph Kennedy Sr.) lectures and prods his son as the hunt grows wilder with tank chases, mafia meetups and a visit to an omniscient puppet master played by Anthony Perkins. Other actors walking through the proceedings with gravitas are Richard Boone, Sterling Hayden, Ralph Meeker, Eli Wallach, Toshiro Mifune, Dorothy Malone and Elizabeth Taylor – yes, Elizabeth Taylor.
Is "Winter Kills" a comedy? That was director Richert’s stated intention in adapting the novel by "Manchurian Candidate" scribe Richard Condon, but the sometimes violent and dread-filled movie was considered too off-putting in its first go-round ("Rotten Tomatoes" offers a roundup of vintage and modern-day reviews here).
Perhaps the film is best seen as the crazy relative to ‘70s conspiracy classics like “The Conversation,” “The Parallax View” and “Three Days of the Condor.” You'll probably laugh more, though.
"Winter Kills" begins Friday at the Music Box Theatre.
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