Winter Kills (1979)
With the government poised to declassify the final documents about the JFK assassination next week, it’s fitting that TCM is airing this forgotten conspiracy comedy. Mind you, Winter Kills is not technically about the Kennedy assassination.
Sure, the wealthy Kegan family—run by an overbearing patriarch who all-but-rigged an election so his son could be president and later assassinated—might share a few surface similarities with the Kennedy family, but there are some significant differences. Pa Kegan only had two sons. Nick and the late President Tim Kegan were only half-brothers. Also, President Kegan was assassinated by a lone gunman in Philadelphia, not Dallas.
John Huston: White dinner jacket, black tuxedo pants, white tuxedo shirt, red cummerbund and red bowtie.
Winter Kills came out just as 70s conspiracy movies fad was coming to a close, and America was looking for something light-hearted again. The Parallax View, a masterpiece from the era, also featured a story heavily inspired by a Kennedy assassination—JFK’s kid brother, Bobby’s—but it did so with complete seriousness. [For the record: this blog fully believes the Manchurian candidate theory regarding the murder of RFK in 1968. — Ed.] Winter Kills starts with a few theories from both the JFK and RFK assassinations and says, “Why stop there? How about instead of a lady in a polka dot dress, we have a lady with a murderous dwarf playing her child?”
It also takes part at that weird tail end of the decade where 70s fashion was still very much in, but people had started shaving again. There’s no other way to describe it. Three-piece suits, wide ties and bell-bottom suit pants always look just a little weird when they’re being worn by a clean-shaven man—or Toshiro Mifune as Winter Kills proves.
Jeff Bridges: Olive check sport coat, v-neck sweater, white dress shirt and tie. Woman: double-breasted black pinstriped suit, white dress shirt, black tie and black fedora.
Jeff Bridges stars as Nick Kegan. This is back when he was Lloyd Bridges’ dreamy son and not El Duderino. His father (John Huston, having the time of his life) is one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world. Nick’s just had a breakthrough in the now-19-year-old unsolved assassination of his brother, President Timothy Kegan. And he’s gonna get to the bottom of this while wearing his loud ass plaid bell-bottom slacks if it kills him.
Say what you will about 1970s fashion, but it’s one of the few instantly recognizable looks of the 20th century. It’s hard to replicate today simply because no one makes clothes like these anymore. Jacket lapels spread as wide as the shoulders, ties wide enough to match them, and pant bottoms flared to complete this holy trinity. And then for some reason, the legs and crotch are painfully tight so everyone knows just what kind of equipment you’re working with. Three-piece suits aren’t hard to find off the rack today, but you’re gonna need one made-to-measure if you want to make it look 70s, baby.
Spymaster: Extremely 70s three-piece suit, striped shirt and tie.
Luckily, for those of us trying our best to look like young Jeff Bridges here, he spends most of the film in clothing that isn’t hard to replicate. Shawl collar sweaters are still very much in style. That gorgeous camel trench coat is a cold weather staple. Despite being a member of one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the world with homes, hotels, business interests and spies everywhere, Nick Kegan is refreshingly casual in his sartorial taste.
Kegan’s casual look fits in with Winter Kills’ rather silly take on the subject matter. It’s exactly what a movie where John Huston storms around in his banana hammock and Sterling Hayden chases down Jeff Bridges in a tank deserves.
Bridges: Tan trench coat, shawl collar sweater and dress shirt.