Winter Kills 1979

As millionaire Nick Kegan (Jeff Bridges) steps aboard his family’s tanker ship, he takes a moment to leave a message for his lover Yvette Malone (Belinda Bauer), unaware that his life is about to take a drastic turn. A sudden arrival by helicopter brings Keifetz (Richard Boone), a family associate, and a mysterious figure wrapped in bandages, Arthur Fletcher (Joe Spinell). As the injured man’s confession is transcribed by an orderly, it becomes clear that Fletcher was responsible for assassinating Nick’s half-brother, President Kegan, 19 years ago on February 22, 1960. The revelation sends Nick down a path of discovery as he uncovers the truth behind his family’s dark past.

Fletcher’s confession leads Nick to Philadelphia, where he seeks out evidence linking Willie Arnold, the supposed lone gunman, to the crime scene. However, before Nick can get answers, Fletcher passes away, leaving him with more questions than ever. In a desperate bid to uncover the truth, Nick sets out to find the rifle used in the assassination, hidden in Room 903 of the Engleson Building.

As he searches for the weapon, Nick’s world is turned upside down when his associates are brutally killed by an unseen sniper at the Engleson Building. Panicked and disoriented, Nick attempts to contact his father, Pa Kegan (John Huston), but instead finds himself talking to John Cerruti (Anthony Perkins), the mastermind behind the Kegan empire. With no backup on its way, Nick’s vehicle is stolen, leaving him stranded with the rifle as his only clue.

The events of that fateful day continue to haunt Nick when he arrives at Pa Kegan’s desert estate, where he meets the enigmatic Japanese butler Keith (Toshirô Mifune). As the evening wears on, Nick confronts his emotionally unstable mother Emma (Dorothy Malone), and later receives a stern rebuke from his father for abandoning his duties. However, it is not until morning that Pa Kegan reveals his plan to expose the conspiracy behind the assassination, setting Nick on a collision course with the truth about his family’s dark past.

As the dust settles on Pa’s latest revelation, Nick finds himself bound for a clandestine meeting with the enigmatic Z.K. Dawson (Sterling Hayden), a man whose wealth and influence rival only that of his political stature. As Nick navigates the sprawling Tulsa, Oklahoma ranch, he is suddenly beset by an unsettling display of military might - WW II tanks, once wielded against the forces of tyranny, now stand as a testament to the ruthless determination of their owner. Dawson emerges from the shadows, proclaiming his innocence in the assassination and pointing fingers at none other than Captain Heller and his loyal accomplice, Ray Doty.

The tides of fate seem to shift once more as Nick receives a cryptic phone call from Pa, revealing that their last remaining witnesses have met with a tragic end. The ship’s orderly lies broken and lifeless, his neck snapped by the cruel hand of circumstance. As Nick takes to the skies, bound for New York City, he is left to ponder the precarious nature of their investigation.

Days turn into weeks as Nick intersects with Ray Doty (Michael Thomas), whose recollections of a bygone era lead him down a rabbit hole of intrigue and deception. The trail winds its way through the dark underbelly of Philadelphia’s underworld, where connections are forged between nightclub owner Joe Diamond (Eli Wallach) and Captain Heller (Brad Dexter). As the narrative unwinds like a twisted skein, Nick is treated to a flash-forward glimpse into 1960 - a moment when the very fabric of reality seemed poised on the brink of collapse. It was then that Diamond bribed his way into the police station, securing the means to silence Willie Arnold and perpetuate the chaos that followed.

In the aftermath of this revelatory encounter, Nick finds himself torn between the allure of passion and the harsh realities of his investigation. He returns to New York City, only to find solace in the arms of Yvette - a fleeting respite from the crushing weight of responsibility. Yet, even as their love reaches its zenith, Yvette retracts her promise of marriage, citing Nick’s all-too-familiar relationship with his answering machine. The sting of rejection is tempered by the bitter taste of reality.

As Nick returns to his apartment, he finds himself face-to-face with his faithful maid - a woman whose loyalty has been tested and found wanting. With a calculated precision, Nick gains the upper hand, securing her detention and ensuring that the fragile threads of their investigation remain intact.

As Nick sat down to a lavish lunch at an upscale eatery, he turned to Yvette with a pressing request: use her connections at National Magazine to uncover the truth about Joe Diamond’s murky past. With her expertise guiding him, Nick found himself face-to-face with Irving Mentor (Irving Selbst), a Cleveland-based gangster with ties to the underworld. As they negotiated for information, Mentor revealed a stunning connection - Casper Jr.’s involvement in the assassination stemmed from his association with a Hollywood studio that had suffered a devastating blow when one of its starlets took her own life following an alleged affair with the President.

Just as Nick’s eyes widened at this revelation, a mysterious figure on a bicycle rode into view, depositing a lifeless cat onto Mentor’s diner counter. Nick gave chase, but not before the restaurant exploded in a fiery inferno, claiming Mentor and his entourage. The enigmatic woman vanished once more, leaving Nick to pick up the pieces.

Upon returning to New York City, Nick sought out Pa’s counsel, only to have his boss debunk Mentor’s tale as a fabrication. Undeterred, Nick arranged a meeting with imprisoned gangster Frank Mayo (Tomas Milian), who had been granted special leave for the purpose. As they spoke, Mayo hinted that Nick was being misled, prompting the young journalist to pay a visit to National Magazine headquarters.

What he discovered there would shatter his perceptions: Yvette was not, in fact, an employee of the magazine. Later, as Nick confronted the hostile doorman (Joe Ragno) at Yvette’s apartment building, he was met with a flat denial - no woman by that name resided there.

As he returned to his own apartment, Nick found himself face-to-face with Keifetz, who revealed a shocking truth: he had faked his own death. With this revelation still resonating, Nick sought out Cerruti’s (Cerutti) expertise at Pa’s financial headquarters. The seasoned intelligence operative unfolded a new narrative surrounding the assassination, one that implicated Casper Jr. in Yvette’s disappearance.

According to Cerutti, a Washington, D.C.-based madam named Lola Comante (Elizabeth Taylor), who catered to the President’s amorous inclinations, had offered him a $2 million campaign contribution from Mayo and his mafia associates. When the President discovered that Pa was behind the deal, he ended their relationship, leaving Pa financially and emotionally ravaged by the betrayal.

As Cerruti’s tale of deceit and manipulation unfolds, he confesses that he orchestrated a meeting between Nick and the fraudulent Z.K. Dawson in Tulsa, masking the true identity of the real Dawson and his daughter, Yvette - the president’s mistress with a troubled past as Maggie Dawson. Nick remains skeptical of Cerruti’s claims, insisting on uncovering the truth about Yvette’s whereabouts. In a dramatic turn of events, Nick brutally attacks and fractures Cerruti’s arms with a baton, ultimately breaking him down. As Cerruti pleads for mercy, he reveals that Pa spent millions to support his son’s presidency, benefiting from the financial windfall but growing increasingly disillusioned with the president’s liberal policies. According to Cerruti, it was Pa who orchestrated the assassination and created an elaborate ruse to mislead Nick, including the employment of actress Jenny O’Brien to impersonate Yvette. When Cerruti claims that Jenny is “tied up” at Kegan Medical School, Nick departs, only to discover her lifeless body in the morgue, a devastating revelation that shatters his fragile grasp on reality.

Later, Nick confronts Pa in his office, seeking answers about the truth behind the assassination. However, Pa spins a new narrative, asserting that Cerruti was the mastermind who orchestrated the killing for financial gain and blackmailed him into silence. As Nick attempts to call the authorities, Keifetz and an officer burst into the room, leading Nick to believe they have come to support his claims. But Pa reveals that Keifetz is actually a hired assassin sent to eliminate Nick. In a desperate bid to defend himself, Nick seizes the officer’s gun and returns fire on Keifetz as he falls to his death. Consumed by rage and grief, Nick pursues Pa onto the high-rise balcony, where the latter clings to the enormous American flag, his body crashing through its folds as he utters a haunting final plea: “put my money in South America!” As Nick staggers away from the tragic scene, he informs the secretary that he will return, unable to escape the suffocating bonds of his family ties.

In the film’s poignant final act, Nick leaves a voicemail for Yvette, seeking solace in her hauntingly familiar voice. The screen fades to black as the audience is left to ponder the devastating consequences of Nick’s quest for truth and his inability to reconcile with the darkness that has consumed his family.