

Studio: Embassy Pictures
Running time: 98 minutes
Winter Kills (1979)
“Screen legend Jeff Bridges (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, 8 Million Ways to Die) stars as Nick Kegan, the son of world-famous tycoon Pa Keegan (John Huston, Chinatown) and half-brother of the late US President Timothy Keegan, who was slain by a lone assassin 19 years earlier. But when a long-rumored ‘second gunman’ makes a secret deathbed confession, Nick begins to unravel a trail of suspects that includes a billionaire war-freak (Sterling Hayden, The Killing), a murderous mob boss (Ralph Meeker, Kiss Me Deadly), a shady nightclub owner (Eli Wallach, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), a Cuban kingpin (Tomas Milian, Face to Face), an eccentric computer expert (Anthony Perkins, Psycho) and a mysterious Washington madam (Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra). Belinda Bauer (Robocop 2), Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo), Dorothy Malone (The Tarnished Angels), Richard Boone (Big Jake), Brad Dexter (99 River Street), Joe Spinell (Maniac), Tisa Farrow (And Hope to Die), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) and Camila Sparv (The High Commissioner) co-star in this one-of-a-kind black comedy-thriller from acclaimed writer/director William Richert (A Night in the Life of Johnny Reardon) and based on the best-selling novel by Richard Condon (Prizzi’s Honor, The Manchurian Candidate).” [From the Blu-ray]
Cast
Nick Kegan: Jeff Bridges
Pa Kegan: John Huston
John Cerruti: Anthony Perkins
Z.K. Dawson: Sterling Hayden
Joe Diamond: Eli Wallach
Emma Kegan: Dorothy Malone
Frank Mayo: Tomas Milian
Yvette Malone: Belinda Bauer
Gameboy Baker: Ralph Meeker
Keith: Toshiro Mifune
Keifitz: Richard Boone
Lola Comante: Elizabeth Taylor
Captain: Donald Moffat
Miles: David Spielberg
Capt. Heller: Brad Dexter
Doctor: Peter Brandon
Ray: Michael Thoma
Capt. Heller Two: Ed Madsen
Irving Mentor: Irving Selbert
Jeffreys: Chris Soldo
Arthur Fletcher: Joe Spinell
Crew
Director-Screenwriter: William Richert
Executive Producers: Leonard J. Goldberg and Robert Sterling
Producer: Fred Caruso
Based on the novel by: Richard Condon
Cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond
Production Designer: Robert Boyle
Art Director: Norman Newberry
Set Decorator: Arthur Seph Parker
Musical Score: Maurice Jarre
Costumes: Robert De Mora
Editor: David Bretherton
Did You Know?
Elizabeth’s contract stipulated that neither her name nor her likeness would be used to market Winter Kills. There are conflicting reports on how she was compensated for her uncredited cameo in the film. One says that she was paid $200,000, another that she was rewarded with a fur coat. Variety claimed in 1978 that she was “the only member of the film’s cast to have been fully paid.”
Elizabeth’s husband, John Warner, made his acting debut in the film as President Tim Keegan. Only his right arm is visible.