The Deadly Tower
The Deadly Tower is a 1975 American made-for-television action drama thriller 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 Corps|Marine] who murdered his 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.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 Ramiro [Martinez (police officer)|Ramiro Martinez]. MGM was 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 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.
Release
Lawsuits
In 1976, Martinez received an undisclosed out-of-court settlement after suing the producers of The Deadly Tower for negative and racist depictions of his wife,portrayed in the movie as a nagging Hispanic woman Vinni ; in fact, she is a blonde and blue-eyed German.
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.