The Deadly Tower (1975)

Perfect cast and a good story

Absolutely the worst movie.

A lot of fun.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Airport '77" director Jerry Jameson's methodical reenactment of Charles Whitman's infamous sniper spree in Austin, Texas, back in 1966, that left sixteen citizens dead and another 32 wounded provided affable Disney star Kurt Russell his first major dramatic role. You've never seen Russell like he is here, and his performance is notably taciturn. Before he climbed atop the tower at the University of Austin campus, Whitman stabbed his mother as well as his wife to death. As usual for a Hollywood made-for-television feature, scenarist William Douglas Lansford and writer Antonio Calderón have played fast and loose with the facts. Hispanic Austin Policeman, Ramiro Martinez (Richard Yniguez of "Cancel My Reservation"), was one of the cops who ultimately stormed the tower and killed Whitman. Actually, none of Martinez's bullets killed Whitman. Nevertheless, in the name of political correctness and diversity, the producers probably appropriated his ethnicity to make things compelling. Interestingly enough, by the time that Whitman started blasting away at random targets, an army of private citizens armed with their own rifles turned out in numbers to retaliate with their own hailstorm of bullets. Meantime, Whitman did not discriminate in his choice of targets, but Jameson couldn't depict this murderer in too harsh a light since "The Deadly Tower" was a made-for-television movie. For example, Whitman pulls a knife on his mother and wife, but Jameson doesn't show this psycho carving either woman up. Indeed, he doesn't lay a finger on his cute little puppy. Jameson cross-cuts between Whitman and Martinez. The day that Whitman launched his one-man massacre, Martinez had learned grudgingly that the department refused to promote him to the rank of sergeant. John Forsythe, Pernell Roberts, and Clifton James play Austin cops in supporting roles as everybody mobilizes for the situation. Jameson maintains tension, suspense, and atmosphere throughout this competently made, 92-minute, crime thriller without resorting to obligatory blood and gore. Furthermore, he doesn't let an abundance of plot hinder the action. Russell is particularly outstanding because he had never played such a homicidal hellion. In real life, Whitman wore sneakers, while the producers showed our protagonist polishing his Marine boots with fetish-like appreciation. Quite possibly, the producers added this fascination with boot leather because the sniper that Andrew Robinson played in the theatrical feature "Dirty Harry" wore paratrooper jump boots and kept them gleaming. Of course, Jameson and his writers take the opportunity to slip in some anti-gun rhetoric. As far as made-for-television movies rate, "The Deadly Tower" qualifies as one of the best despite some of its anti-gun propaganda.

The Deadly TowerPegging off people one-by-one from a secluded vantage point is only heroic if they aren't on your side.However, no one told that to the ex-military marksman in this drama. In 1966, while studying at the University of Texas, Charles Whitman (Kurt Russell), a former Marine sharpshooter, decides to murder his mother and his wife. Afterwards, he and a cache of arms and ammunition take up residency in the university's tower.Fortified in the pylon, Whitman continues his killing spree on campus - taking co-eds into his crosshairs.Meanwhile, the authorities (John Forsythe, Pernell Roberts, Ned Beatty, Clifton James) amass below, aching to take Whitman out.The television movie account of one of American's worst mass murderers, The Deadly Tower features accomplished character actors and a pulse pounding, albeit melodramatic, storyline that still resonates.Incidentally, the US army doesn't support the shooting of unarmed civilians – it sanctions bombing them instead. Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

NBC greenlighted The Deadly Tower, a retelling of the Charles Whitman incident of 1966, but the network was apparently unwilling to let it go as a kid-goes-nuts-and-shoots-up-a-college-campus thriller. Instead, they packed and padded this painful and unnerving story with lots of social commentary about a young Latino patrolman, one of the principals who got to Whitman, battling prejudice.NBC's prudence (or cowardice, depending on your take) just about squelches the lean, dark, and amazingly gory (for TV) story of Whitman (a ne'er do well played creepily by Kurt Russell) losing his mind, offing his family, and carrying his fight with whatever lurking head-demons to a university tower where he unloads on an unsuspecting campus.I've seen a documentary about Whitman which told the story of a profoundly damaged young man who breaks under familial pressures and seeks vengeance against the world. You don't get that from the movie; there isn't much more than a blurb about a suspected brain tumor to explain his actions.Yet, on a suspense level, the movie works quite well. It's when the screenwriters pull their punches by injecting social issues that the movie loses its focus (but probably gains that old expectation of containing significant social value).The Deadly Tower is ugly and sweaty and filled with mayhem, and if you can get by the issue stuff, you'll either be rewarded by or repulsed by a brutal and suspenseful voyeuristic wallow.

This is a very memorable movie - I have not seen it in over fifteen years but I still remember many scenes from it very well. It ranks right up there with the class of its genre, movies such as "Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster", "The Jericho Mile" and "The Day After". It is not only a story of Charles Whitman, but it also tells the story of Officer Ramiro Martinez (the policeman who made his way into the tower and killed Whitman). It also gives a good description of the logistics used by the entire police force that terrible day. No surrealism is used in the filming process - harsh, lusty reality sets the tone.I do not know if this movie is available on video, but if it is, by all means take a look at it.