The Deadly Tower


The Deadly Tower, also known as Sniper, is a 1975 television film directed by Jerry Jameson. It stars Kurt Russell and Richard Yniguez and is based on the University of Texas tower shooting.

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

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 NBC TV 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.
The Deadly Tower was filmed at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana because the University of Texas refused to allow filming there.

Reception

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."

Lawsuits

In 1990, Houston McCoy, one of two policemen who took part in killing Whitman, sued Turner Broadcasting System 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. Martinez, the other police officer, said he sued the producers of the movie in 1975 ″because there was so much in the movie that was untruthful.″ That lawsuit was settled out of court.