Winter Kills

Sunday, 1 March

Winter Kills

Short url: 

https://squ.at/r/7r04

WINTER KILLS   1979 Directed by William Richert 97 minutes In English

The 1970s were a pretty dark time in America. Despite the promotion of spectacles like Star Wars and Rocky, actually on the ground things were grim. The dreams of the late 1960s had been trampled. The FBI came up with a new label to discredit anyone questioning their covert operations: they were denounced as 'conspiracy theorists'. But the truth was that many in America didn't believe the official narrative. Too many social leaders had been gunned down (Kennedy, King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, etc) and it just happened the FBI hated them all. And even when things were eventually proven, like the historic trial in Dec. 1999 that found the government guilty of conspiring to assassinate Martin Luther King, it was hardly mentioned in the media.

By the late 70s few people even dared to speculate anymore about these things, but there were a couple of movies that did. Cutter's Way by Ivan Passer, and Winter Kills by William Richert, and both of them were suppressed. A few days after Winter Kills came out, it was suddenly yanked out of all the cinemas. The star actor Jeff Bridges said "only something like ten people saw it", and then it was buried.

The story revolves around a young man (Jeff Bridges) whose father was an American president that was assassinated when he was a kid. Years later, new evidence emerges that contradicts the official story about his father's death. This leads him through a wild maze of events as he attempts to unravel his father's murder. The entire story is surreal, but what is more important is tapping into the mood... the chaos of the times as the spirit of the 60s went haywire while it was being stamped out and smothered. The cameraman of this flick was an ace, the script wildly off-beat, and the cast absolutely mind-blowing - John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Sterling Hayden, Toshiro Mifune, Elizabeth Taylor and Eli Wallach - along with Jeff Bridges of course. It is a cinematic roller-coaster ride, and a perfect example of 1970s over-the edge, off-the-map, excess.

This will be a high-definition screening.

Date & Time: 

Sunday, 1 March, 2020 - 20:30

Category: 

  • film
De Nieuwe Anita
Frederik Hendrikstraat 111
1052HN Amsterdam
Netherlands

Informal cinema in the basement of a cosy concert venue called De Nieuwe Anita, a former school building that was once squatted and is now legalised. All films in English or with English subtitles.

categories: 

  • film

opening times: 

Monday nights. Programme starts at 8.30 sharp. Be there early to get a (good) seat.
Summer schedule: no short movie, programme starts at 9 pm sharp.