At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

If one needed to look for the flash point of what we know in the popular media as the horrible phenomenon of mass shootings, one could plausibly use the date of August 1, 1966; the location, the University of Texas in Austin; and the shooter, Charles Joseph Whitman. That story was told with surprising directness not on the big screen but on the small screen, in the form of THE DEADLY TOWER, which aired on NBC on October 18, 1975, just a little over nine years after this infamous moment in modern American history.Kurt Russell, at that time still probably known for his roles in a number of Disney films as a child actor, but later to do solid turns in films like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE THING, TOMBSTONE, BREAKDOWN, and, in 2015, Quentin Tarantino's THE HATEFUL EIGHT, is put in the role of the former U.S. marine who, despite his poor grades as a student at the University of Texas, had become an expert marksman in the Marines. Unfortunately, Whitman was also the victim of an abusive father as a teenager; and following the shooting, it was found that he had a brain tumor that could conceivably have contributed and exacerbated an already unstable mind. On August 1, 1966, he climbed to the top of the 28-story observation tower on the UT campus; and began what was at that time an unprecedented killing spree. Seventeen people were killed (the last victim succumbed to his injuries in 2001), and thirty-one others wounded during Whitman's spree that day..Although THE DEADLY TOWER is a film limited to some extent by the restrictions of what could be shown on television at that time in the mid-1970s, and by a not-exactly-big budget, it nevertheless is able to do a good enough job of getting into Whitman's mind; and this is due in no small part to Russell's superb turn as the man that horror writing legend Stephen King referred to as "America's favorite sniper." Without getting into graphic detail (and, again, being hampered by content and budgetary restrictions), veteran TV director Jerry Jameson (HURRICANE; TERROR ON THE 40TH FLOOR) does a very good job of recreating one of the most horrifyingly violent singular events to happen in America in the 1960s, and he is helped by some good supporting turns from John Forsythe (IN COLD BLOOD), Ned Beatty, Pernell Roberts, and Clifton James.Contrary to what some might believe, THE DEADLY TOWER doesn't necessarily make judgments about the right or even the justification of owning firearms, even to the extreme extent that Whitman did and to which he used them in Austin on that hot Texas day in 1966. But what it does illustrate is that dark side of America that is now, in the 21st century, an almost too frequent fact of life: the moment when firearms in the hands of a mentally unstable mind combine to produce a lethal, tragic, and bloody outcome. If Charles Whitman wasn't the first mass shooter of record, he was unfortunately far from the last.

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

I saw this movie when it first aired in October 1975. NBC ran a viewer advisory that it was very intense and may affect sensitive viewers. Yes, indeed! Whitman was one demented person and the casting of All-American Disney actor Kurt Russell to play him was incredible...it showed Russell could do heavy stuff. The casting of journeyman Latino actor Richard Yniguez to play Officer Martinez was also great. The supporting cast (Ned Beatty, John Forsythe, Pernell Roberts, etc.) was also excellent. It was interesting to see Mr. Forsythe as a detective investigating the gun stores-a far cry from Bentley Gregg or Blake Carrington. This was also Pernell Roberts' first time on TV in a while playing Martinez' sergeant. Part of the intensity of the movie came from the fact that Whitman shot at anyone or anything that moved and any attempt to take him out (shooting from a plane or citizens shooting with their hunting rifles) only agitated him. The bookstore clerk guiding Martinez and his fellow officers into the tower showed true heroism. I was in college in California when this movie first aired and I mentioned to my father that my college's library had an observation/study deck that somebody could use for such an act! In fact the college security department worked out a plan in case of somebody doing this. Thank goodness nobody tried this. Back to the movie...it was presented from Martinez' point of view and some have said there is a Latino bias, but I say it is a very intense depiction of true heroism. 43 years have passed since that tragic day. One would hope it would never happen again anywhere, but it does (Fort Hood, San Ysidro, Orlando, to name a few).

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.