The Deadly Tower

Last updated
The Deadly Tower
The Deadly Tower.jpg
Official DVD cover
Genre
Written byWilliam Douglas Lansford
Directed by Jerry Jameson
Starring
Narrated by Gilbert Roland
Music by Don Ellis
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerRichard Caffey
ProducerAntonio Calderón
Production locations
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
EditorTom Stevens
Running time95 minutes
Production company MGM Television
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseOctober 18, 1975 (1975-10-18)

The Deadly Tower (also known as Sniper) is a 1975 American made-for-television action drama thriller film directed by Jerry Jameson. It stars Kurt Russell and Richard Yniguez [1] and is based on the University of Texas tower shooting.

Contents

Plot

The film is based on the true story of Charles Joseph Whitman, an engineering student and former Marine who murdered his own wife and mother and then killed 14 more people and wounded 31 others in a shooting rampage at the University of Texas at Austin on the afternoon of August 1, 1966.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Antonino Calderon, who was head of Image, an organization dedicated to providing more positive screen depictions of Mexican Americans. He met with Robert Howard, president of the NBC network and asked if he could make a film about an actual Chicano hero. Howard agreed. Calderon pitched several stories and Howard agreed to finance The Deadly Tower as it was about a Chicano police officer, Martinez. MGM were commissioned to make the movie with Calderon as producer, Richard Caffey as executive producer and David Goldsmith as production executive. [2]

The Deadly Tower was filmed between the 16 June through 4 July 1975, at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana because the University of Texas refused to allow filming there. [2]

Release

Lawsuits

In 1976 Martinez received an undisclosed out-of-court settlement [3] [4] after suing the producers of the Deadly Tower for negative and racist depictions of his wife, [5] portrayed in the movie as a nagging Hispanic woman; in fact she is a blonde, blue-eyed German.

In 1990, Houston McCoy, one of two policemen who took part in killing Whitman, sued Turner Broadcasting System (which held the ownership of most of MGM's pre-1986 works) for $14 million for emotional distress and damage to his reputation, claiming the film caused him to become an alcoholic and lose self-respect by depicting him as a coward. [6]

Reception

Critical response

The Los Angeles Times called the film "highly effective" but wondered "no matter how well done is there any reason to relive that bloody moment of history." [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</span> American film and television company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., is an American media company specializing in film and television production and distribution. Founded on April 17, 1924, and based in Beverly Hills, California, it is owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Whitman</span> American mass murderer (1941–1966)

Charles Joseph Whitman was an American mass murderer who became known as the "Texas Tower Sniper". On August 1, 1966, Whitman used knives to kill his mother and his wife in their respective homes, then went to the University of Texas at Austin with multiple firearms and began indiscriminately shooting at people. He fatally shot three people inside UT Austin's Main Building, then accessed the 28th-floor observation deck on the building's clock tower. There, he fired at random people for 96 minutes, killing an additional eleven people and wounding 31 others before he was shot dead by Austin police officers. Whitman killed a total of sixteen people; the 16th victim died 35 years later from injuries sustained in the attack.

<i>Silkwood</i> 1983 film by Mike Nichols

Silkwood is a 1983 American biographical drama film directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher. The screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen was adapted from the book Who Killed Karen Silkwood? by Rolling Stone writer and activist Howard Kohn, which detailed the life of Karen Silkwood, a nuclear whistle-blower and a labor union activist who investigated alleged wrongdoing at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant where she worked. In real life, her inconclusive death in a car crash gave rise to a 1979 lawsuit, Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee, led by attorney Gerry Spence. The jury rendered its verdict of $10 million in damages to be paid to the Silkwood estate, the largest amount in damages ever awarded for that kind of case at the time. The Silkwood estate eventually settled for $1.3 million.

<i>Targets</i> 1968 film by Peter Bogdanovich

Targets is a 1968 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Bogdanovich in his theatrical directorial debut, and starring Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Nancy Hsueh, Bogdanovich, James Brown, Arthur Peterson and Sandy Baron. The film depicts two parallel narratives which converge during the climax: one follows Bobby Thompson, a seemingly ordinary and wholesome young man who embarks on an unprovoked killing spree; the other depicts Byron Orlok, an iconic horror film actor who is disillusioned by real-life violence and is contemplating retirement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonita Granville</span> American actress and producer (1923–1988)

Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather was an American actress and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvette Mimieux</span> American actress (1942–2022)

Yvette Carmen Mimieux was an American film and television actress who was a major star of the 1960's and 1970's. Her breakout role was in The Time Machine (1960). She was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards during her acting career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall of Great Western Performers</span> Hall of fame for cowboys

The Hall of Great Western Performers is a hall of fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) presentation that explores how the American West has been interpreted in literature and film. Each year, the museum inducts performers to the hall in conjunction with the awarding of the Western Heritage Awards.

Kevin Hal Reynolds is an American film director and screenwriter. He directed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Waterworld, The Count of Monte Cristo, Fandango, and the 2016 film Risen. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the History miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.

This is a complete list of the 166 shorts in the Tom and Jerry series produced and released between 1940 and 2021. Of these, 162 are theatrical shorts, one is a made-for-TV short, one is a two-minute sketch shown as part of a telethon, and two are special shorts released on HBO Max.

The Delicate Art of the Rifle is a 1996 independent film directed by Dante W. Harper, with a screenplay by Stephen Grant, based on his short story by the same name. It is a surrealistic comedy-drama about a school shooting as seen through the eyes of a socially awkward college student named Jay. Walt Whitman, the shooter, is loosely based on Charles Whitman, but the film is not in any way a factual account of the 1966 shootings at the University of Texas.

Ramiro "Ray" Martinez is a former Austin Police Department officer whose actions contributed to the ending of the University of Texas tower shootings when he, two other officers and a deputized civilian reached and killed sniper Charles Whitman on August 1, 1966.

<i>Track Down</i> 2000 film by Joe Chappelle

Track Down is a 2000 American crime thriller film based on the non-fiction book Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw—By the Man Who Did It by Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff, about the manhunt for computer hacker Kevin Mitnick. It is directed by Joe Chappelle, with a screenplay by Howard A. Rodman, John Danza, and David & Leslie Newman. The film stars Skeet Ulrich as Mitnick and Russell Wong as Shimomura, with Angela Featherstone, Donal Logue, Christopher McDonald, Master P, and Tom Berenger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Harring</span> American actress and Miss USA 1985

Laura Elena Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen, known professionally as Laura Harring, is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1985 and later began acting in television and film. She is best known for her dual roles as Rita and Camilla Rhodes in the 2001 movie Mulholland Drive. She is also known for her roles in other movies, including The Forbidden Dance (1990), John Q (2002), Willard (2003), The Punisher (2004), The King (2005), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), Ghost Son (2007), The Caller (2008), Drool (2009), Sex Ed (2014), and Inside (2016). She also played Carla Greco in General Hospital (1990–1991), Paula Stevens on Sunset Beach (1997), and Rebecca "Becca" Doyle in The Shield (2006).

<i>The Terror Within</i> 1989 American science fiction/horror film

The Terror Within is a 1989 American science fiction horror film directed by Thierry Notz and starring George Kennedy, Andrew Stevens, Starr Andreeff and Terri Treas. It was followed by a sequel in 1991, The Terror Within II, with Stevens reprising his starring role while also handling the film's writing and directing duties.

<i>Cry Havoc</i> (film) 1943 film by Richard Thorpe

Cry 'Havoc' is a 1943 American war drama film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Richard Thorpe. It stars Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell, and features Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt, Ella Raines, Frances Gifford, Diana Lewis, Heather Angel, Dorothy Morris and Connie Gilchrist.

<i>The Liquidator</i> (1965 film) 1965 British film by Jack Cardiff

The Liquidator is a 1965 British thriller film directed by Jack Cardiff and starring Rod Taylor, Trevor Howard, and Jill St. John. It was based on The Liquidator (1964) the first of a series of Boysie Oakes novels by John Gardner.

<i>Loves Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder</i> American TV series or program

Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder is a 1997 American made-for-television drama film based on the real life murder of Adrianne Jones by Diane Zamora in Texas. The film stars Holly Marie Combs, David Lipper, Cassidy Rae, Dee Wallace, Gary Grubbs, Kurt Fuller, and Joanna Garcia. The film was adapted from "The Killer Cadets", an article in Texas Monthly by Skip Hollandsworth, and aired on NBC on February 10, 1997.

<i>Roots of Blood</i> 1978 film by Jesús Salvador Treviño

Raíces de sangre is a Mexican movie written and directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño released in 1978 in Mexico and other countries. According to some sources, it had a wide release on May 30, 1979, but other sources show it was playing in US theaters as early as August 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas tower shooting</span> 1966 mass shooting in Austin, Texas, US

The University of Texas tower shooting was an act of mass murder which occurred on August 1, 1966, at the University of Texas at Austin. The perpetrator, 25-year-old Marine veteran Charles Whitman, indiscriminately fired at members of the public both within the Main Building tower and from the tower's observation deck. He shot and killed 15 people, including an unborn child, and injured 31 others before he was killed by two Austin Police Department officers approximately 96 minutes after first opening fire from the observation deck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicano cinema</span>

Chicano cinema is an aspect of Mexican American cinema that refers to the filmmaking practices that emerged out of the cultural consciousness developed through the Chicano Movement. Luis Valdez is generally regarded as the first Chicano filmmaker and El Teatro Campesino as the first theater company.

References

  1. "Sniper (1975)". AllMovie.
  2. 1 2 3 'Deadly Tower' at Texas U.: CECIL SMITH Death Tower on a Campus Smith, Cecil. Los Angeles Times 17 Oct 1975: h1.
  3. Cox, Mike (16 March 1978). "Lawman to get cash in settlement of Whitman film suit". Austin American-Statesman .
  4. Paul Mavis |The Deadly Tower : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video | http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/42081/deadly-tower-the/
  5. Kendall R. Phillips (2004). Framing public memory. University of Alabama Press. p. 81. ISBN   978-0-8173-1389-0 . Retrieved 2010-06-21. Both policemen who shot Whitman sued MGM after the made-for-TV movie was released. Martinez received a settlement; the other policeman, Houston McCoy, whose name was not used in the film, received nothing, even though the film portrays him standing by passively as the actor playing Martinez fires the fatal shot. Whitman's autopsy showed that it was McCoy's bullet that killed the sniper.
  6. "Former Police Officer Sues Over Tower Sniper Movie". AP News. November 30, 1990.