The beauty of DVD rests not only in the higher quality widescreen experience, but the fact that it has become the best medium for releasing hidden gems – there is a much wider range of films available to the viewing public than at any time in the history of home video; and on-line rental obviously makes it so much easier to actually see them. I’m working my way through a list of films I’ve never seen but always wanted to – ‘Becket’, ‘Executive Action’, ‘Day for Night’, ‘Rebecca’, ‘Advise and Consent’ and ‘American Graffiti’ being notable representative examples -and last night settled down for ‘Winter Kills’, William Richert’s 1979 (started in 1976, lost the financing, shot the ending a couple of years later) conspiracy thriller about Presidential assassination and the meaning of America. Cast:
John Huston
Jeff Bridges
Dorothy Malone
Anthony Perkins
Eli Wallach
Elizabeth Taylor!
Sterling Hayden
Toshiro Mifune!!
Beyond enjoying these actors throwing paint on the walls of this highly unusual – and ultimately incredibly influential – film, there’s a sense of the madness of trying to get a movie made at all – for ‘Winter Kills’ is a the result of heroic effort, and it shows. It’s a crazy mishmash of politics and family, violence and sex, out-of-control characters powerless to change the events they were born into. And John Huston plays a character for whom Noah Cross seems like a mere dress rehearsal. So, Dear Listener – what’s on your list of films you always wanted to see but haven’t been able to/got round to it yet?
