The badly injured Arthur Fletcher is taken to an oil tanker by Keifetz where Nick Kegan is currently on board. Arthur tells that he assassinated President Timothy Kegan, Nick's half-brother, 19 years ago. Before he dies, he tells Nick and Keifetz where he hid his sniper rifle. Together with his friend Miles Gardner and the police captain Heller, Nick finds the gun, but a little later Miles and Heller are murdered and the gun is stolen. Nick returns to his father, who is not happy to hear that his son has been murdered. Nick receives further clues, but he learns that the murder of his half brother was part of a great conspiracy. The more Nick learns, the more dangerous the situation becomes for him and his love affair Yvette.

Gangsters, crooks and hoodlums, who get involved in politics in a proper way. That's about how Winter Kills is put together. The film was produced by Robert Sterling and Leonard Goldberg, who have made a lot of money by selling marijuana and contacts to the Mafia. After successfully taking over the US distribution of both Emmanuelle and Emanuelle in Africa, Winter Kills was intended as a big budget project for the mainstream market. The film is the directorial debut of William Richert, who was able to work with an illustrious cast of actors including Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Toshirô Mifune and Elizabeth Taylor. Supporting roles include genre greats such as Tomas Milian, Joe Spinell, Candice Rialson and Tisa Farrow.

The production was plagued by some problems. After some time, the production was hindered by the union because the crew was not paid properly and producer Goldberg was murdered by the Mafia. Richert shot the film The American Success Company to finish Winter Kills from the profits. Despite the big names, the film disappeared relatively quickly into oblivion, as the shown confusion of politics, economy and mafia was not considered suitable for the American cinemagoers at that time. The complex, hard to understand plot with many characters contributed the rest. After only one week, the film disappeared from cinemas again.

The most important point for understanding the film is that despite the serious subject matter it is more a satire/black comedy about the political circus than a serious political thriller, as one might expect. Serious scenes alternate with sometimes wonderfully abstruse moments like Pa Kegan having his balls massaged by a prostitute on a golf cart, Anthony Perkins as the evil mastermind in a futuristic contract archive or Nick's mother, who is a lunatic and worried about the health of her little dog.

Both versions on Blu-ray for the first time

The UK Blu-ray by Powerhouse/Indicator contains two versions of the film. On the one hand the theatrical version and on the other hand the 1983 Reissue version which is about five minutes shorter. At least that's the description on the Blu-ray cover. According to Wikipedia, the 1983 Reissue Version is the longer version and even contains new scenes with Elizabeth Taylor. This is not the case with the Blu-ray versions, because regarding these scenes there is no difference between the theatrical version and the 1983 Reissue Version. In the documentary Who Killed Winter Kills? William Richert unfortunately does not comment on the different versions.

Be that as it may, the 1983 Reissue Version has a handful of new scenes, including some references to the sick dog, Nick being shot at by Dawson and his tank corps, more of Doty's explanations of the plot, some new scenes at the meeting with Irving and the meeting at Cerruti is also a bit longer. Most of the scenes don't play a role in the plot, but Doty's explanations are not uninteresting.

The theatrical version has a different ending, which was obviously inserted again by a worse picture source. Here Nick once again meets the mysterious woman with the child.
Only the longer version is on the US Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, while the shorter version is on the German DVD (judging by the runtime). Interested parties can therefore choose the UK Blu-ray without hesitation.

Runtimes:

1983 Reissue version: 91:13 min.
Theatrical version: 96:35 min.

The 1983 reissue version was compared to the theatrical version.

The 1983 Reissue Version has a handful of short gaps by one second, which are not listed in the report.

[00:10:16][00:10:16]

Nick, Miles and Heller are coming out of the elevator. Heller's going the wrong way.

Miles: "It's this way, Captain."
Heller. "Oh."

Reissue: 10 sec.


[00:23:54][00:24:05]

When Nick is in bed, there's a knock on the door. Keith comes in to say good night. Nick asks him that a veterinarian should look after his mother's dog.

Keith: "Just wanted to say good night."
Nick: "Oh, Keith, um... would you please have a veterinarian check out Mother's dog? Something's wrong with its leg."
Keith: "I'll have it attended to."
Nick: "Don't turn out the light, please."
Keith: "All right. Good night."
Nick: "Good night."

Reissue: 26 sec.


[00:27:05][00:27:42]

After Kegan gives his speech, he tells Nick that the vet is no longer needed because his mother accidentally suffocated the dog in her sleep.

Kegan: "Oh, and by the way, you won't need the vet."
Nick: "The vet?"
Kegan: "Yeah, the vet for Cocoa. Your mother passed out last night, and smothered the mutt in her sleep."
Nick: "Oh, no."
Kegan: "Yeah. Sleeps with the goddamn dog. Crazy woman. Now, move!"

Kegan leaves the room.

Nick: "I'm sorry, Mom."

Reissue: 45 sec.


[00:36:26][00:37:48]

After Dawson tells Nick that stands on private property, he starts counting.

Dawson: "Ten... nine... eight... seven..."

Nick gets in the car and drives away. During his escape, the tanks shoot at him several times, but his car is not hit.

Reissue: 51 sec.


[00:42:06][00:44:20]

Doty tells Nick some more details about the murder plot.

As Doty goes on, we see Heller leaving his house.

Doty: "So Diamond went back to Philly, to get ahold of Captain Heller. Heller was my superior officer at the time. He was a great family man. Seven daughters, and a big house. Daughters are expensive."

Afterwards, we see a woman singing in a nightclub. There's a money exchange at the bar.

Doty: "After the assignation, Diamond's job was to shoot the phony assassin, Willie Arnold, in the police station. Heller was paid to get an in."

Doty goes on to say that a meeting took place at his farm.

Doty: "Heller was terrific at organisation. Our last meeting took place right here at this farm."

Heller: "Here's two sets of keys to the Engleson Building. Get'em to the Texan, when he arrives tomorrow."
Diamond: "Right, Captain."
Heller: "Willie Arnold should be planted in the TV centre warehouse by half past nine. The motorcade will pass towards City Hall at twelve-thirty. Ray will give you your rifle, and some shells, to have Arnold throw on the floor as evidence. Tell Willie Arnold to go home after the real hit, and if we need him, we'll send a patrol car for him. Ray will give you the rest of the details. And when we arrest Arnold after the hit, you know what you have to do. Right Joe?"
Diamond: "Yeah, I know."
Heller: "There are a lot of things we gotta consider here."

Diamond wants to hug Heller.

Heller: "All right, cut it out, will you? Come on."

Then, Nick and Doty can be seen again.

Nick: "How did they find Diamond?"
Doty: "Who?"
Nick: "Casper Junior and his people."
Doty: "Figures to me the Mob found him. Diamond was with the boys in Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit."

Reissue: 1:43 Min.


[00:58:21][01:02:19]

Nick looks around the room where some gangsters are staying. The camera then moves towards Irving.

Reissue: 15 sec.


[00:59:19][01:03:32]

After Irving has passed the tip on Gameboy Baker to Nick, he wants to get up and go. Nick holds him back because he feels that the information is not yet sufficient for what he has paid for.

Irving: "You got it."
Nick: "Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute."
Irving: "Sorry, this ain't a social visit."
Nick: "Yeah, it's not worth fifteen grand, either. Now sit down. Sit down or five me my money back."
Irving: "Watch your languate. These are my boys, you know. Get outta here."

Irving scares a cat away from the table.

Nick: "Tell me about this, er... Gameboy Baker."

Reissue: 29 sec.


[01:00:10][01:04:52]

After Irving tells about Joe, Nick insists on putting out his cigar.

Nick: "Open that door. The smoke's getting to me."
Irving: "That could be a signal, or something."
Nick: "Open the door, or I'll shove the cigar down your throat."
Irving: "Eighty-five cents, wholesale."

Reissue: 16 sec.


[01:00:47][01:05:46]

As Irving is about to leave, he sees the dead cat on the floor.

Irving: "What the hell?"

Reissue: 4 sec.


[01:00:52][01:05:54]

Irving asks what the cat got to eat. The woman leaving the store turns around again.

Irving: "What are you feeding us? This cat's dead. What is this?"

Reissue: 7 sec.


[01:07:28][01:12:37]

After the conversation with the door opener, Nick comes home. He orders an Ovaltine from Raymond before he goes to bed, as it reminds him of his youth. But then he decides to have a glass of milk after all.

Raymond: "Then I'll say good night, sir."
Nick: "Oh, er... Raymond."
Raymond: "Sir?"
Nick: "Do we have any Ovaltine?"
Raymond: "Ovaltine?"
Nick: "I think I'd like some, before I go to sleep tonight. I seem to remember, when I was a kid, I had this cup with a Borden's cow on it."
Raymond: "Cow, sir?"
Nick: "Oh, just give me a glass of milk."
Raymond: "Very good, sir."

Reissue: 28 sec.


[01:19:34][01:25:11]

Cerruti goes on to say that Yvette is in the morgue. Nick escapes.

Cerruti: "She's the guest of a freshman anatomy class over at Kegan University Medical School, and she's kinda tied up right now, if you get the pictures. You get the picutre, Nick? You get the picture? You get the picture, Nick?

Reissue: 19 sec.


[01:28:05][01:34:02]

The UK version shows Nick walking through the park at the end. He meets the mysterious woman who rides past him on a bicycle. In the back sits a child waving to him.

In the US version, the phone is shown longer instead.

Theatrical: 41 sec.
Reissue: 6 sec.