Winter Kills is a 1979 satirical black comedy thriller film written and directed by William Richert, based on the eponymous novel of 1974 by Richard Condon.

A fiction inspired by the assassination conspiracy theories about President John F. Kennedy, its all-star cast includes Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Richard Boone, Toshirō Mifune, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, Belinda Bauer, Ralph Meeker, Elizabeth Taylor, Berry Berenson and Susan Walden.

Arthur Fletcher, a mysterious man, arrives on Nick's father's oil tanker to reveal that he and another gunman were hired to assassinate President Kegan in 1960.

Irving Mentor, a gangster Nick meets in Cleveland, adds another layer, linking the assassination to a Hollywood studio's financial loss due to an affair between the President and a movie star.

In the ensuing struggle, Keifetz and another officer are killed, and Pa falls to his death from a high-rise balcony while clutching an American flag.

Screenwriter and John Huston collaborator Gladys Hill played Rosemary, the character actor Joe Spinell appeared as Arthur Fletcher and singer/songwriter Lissette Álvarez portrayed Soledad.

Other small appearances include Byron Morrow as the Secretary of State, Tisa Farrow as a nurse, Gianni Russo as an airline pilot, Kim O'Brien as a blonde girl and Erin Gray as "beautiful woman".

John Warner played the ill-fated Timothy Kegan, and his then-wife Elizabeth Taylor makes an uncredited cameo as Lola Comante.

Richert convinced Jeff Bridges to star in the movie by moving on to the road in Malibu where he lived and acting out scenes for him at a local delicatessen.

[2]: 75–6  Some cast and crew reported that they began receiving their pay by being called to a hotel room where they were given envelopes of well-used bills.

Condon and Richert thought that Avco-Embassy killed it to avoid threatening Avco's federal contracts which totalled nearly $864 million in 1979.

[12] David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "In keeping with a morality tale on the excesses of wealth and power, it is extravagantly confusing, grandiosely paranoid, flamboyantly absurd and more than a little fun.

[15] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 1 star out of 4 and wrote, "'Winter Kills' rapes the memory of President John F. Kennedy while giving his late father a few dozen kicks in the head, too ...

[16] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "the kind of conspiratorial caper you like for its continual surprises or hate for its escalating confusions ...

[18] Rotten Tomatoes rates it 92% fresh based on 24 reviews with the consensus: "A singularly strange roman à clef rich with paranoia and black humor, Winter Kills views the political skullduggery of the late 20th century with a sharp, jaundiced eye.".