fiction.wikisort.org - Movie

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.

The Deadly Tower
Official VHS cover
Genre	Docudrama Action Thriller
Written by	William Douglas Lansford
Directed by	Jerry Jameson
Starring	Kurt Russell Richard Yniguez Ned Beatty Pernell Roberts Clifton James John Forsythe
Narrated by	Gilbert Roland
Music by	Don Ellis
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Richard Caffey
Producer	Antonio Calderón
Production locations	Austin, Texas Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Editor	Tom Stevens
Running time	95 minutes
Production company	MGM Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Mono
Original release	October 18, 1975 (1975-10-18)

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 at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana because the University of Texas refused to allow filming there.[2]

Release

Lawsuits

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. 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.[3]

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]

References

External links

• The Deadly Tower at IMDb 
• The Deadly Tower at BFI
• The Deadly Tower at Letterbox DVD

На других языках

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- [en] The Deadly Tower

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[ru] Башня смерти (фильм, 1975)

«Башня смерти» (англ. The Deadly Tower) — американский телефильм 1975 года режиссёра Джерри Джеймсона. Главную роль в картине исполнил Курт Расселл. Фильм основан на реальных событиях: Чарльз Джозеф Уитмен 1 августа 1966 года убил 16 и ранил 32 человек, прежде чем полицейские смогли его застрелить.

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