Winter Kill

Anything Andy Griffith plays in as a sheriff is usually good. This movie keeps the viewer in suspense until (almost) the end, when it becomes apparent who the villain is. Interesting, and nice scenery.

I just saw this wednesday and I thought it was great! It's alway's nice to see Andy Griffith in a movie were he's a good person and a sheriff to boot. I agree with the commentor about the scenery, simply breathe taking and the ending is great and suspenceful. Any Andy Griffith fan will love this film...the best and a must see!!!

After Mayberry, producers plugged Andy Griffith back into a sheriff's role & transplanted him to the high country of N. California. The town (Eagle Lake) is a ski resort, where Nick Nolte, a year or so shy of his big break in "Rich Man, Poor Man," is an instructor. A sudden string of homicides has the town fathers eager for a resolution before the tourist season begins (a theme used a year later in the theatrical "Jaws").

TV movies were becoming the forum for the changing morality & formerly taboo topics (the sheriff has a live-in girl friend; the plot revolves around the locals that aided in a young woman's abortion), even moreso than theatrical flicks, & "Winter Kill" is a fine crucible of the kinds of things the networks were peddling in prime time back then. There @Eagle Lake, the adulterers probably outnumber the tourists.

Movie features a slew of familiar TV faces of the time: John Larch, Eugene Roche, Charles Tyner. Occasionally rebroadcast on TNT, altho it might be more @home on Lifetime. Some good suspense; definitely not for children.

Clearly done on a rather low budget, the TV movie Winter Kill is not a great piece of film making by any stretch, but it might be worth a view.

The plot revolves around the search for a serial killer in a small ski resort town. So ok, some of the supporting actors are not very good, and the first part of the movie is meandering and slow enough to test the patience of a few viewers. However, when the movie got into gear in the second part, it managed to be entertaining and well-thought, if not rightdown tense, and the resolution left me pretty satisfied.

Andy Griffith is convincing as the Sheriff. Between the supporting cast, a young Nick Nolte in one of his first screen appearances.

This is a great suspenseful thriller. I found out that this was an unsold pilot for a show that was to be called "Adams of Eagle Lake," I see on that page that they shot 2 episodes with Nick Nolte playing the sheiff, a character change from this TV movie. The film has an excellent supporting cast. Eugene Roche is very good as the towns activity coordinator. His role was reminiscent of Murray Hamiltons role in "Jaws," Young Nick Nolte is equally as good, you can see that he had possibilities of being a really good actor, which he succeeded at until his personal problems got in the way. Andy Griffith was excellent. This film stands as a testament to Andy, illustrating the fact that he was easily able to move away from the role of Sheriff Andy of Mayberry. ***1/2 stars.