The Deadly Tower (TV Movie)

It’s the University of Texas campus in Austin, but it seems like a war zone. Gunfire resounds from everywhere. People fall. Others scramble to flee or help the wounded.

Meanwhile, from atop the school’s landmark Tower, Charles Whitman fires off round after lethal round. The Deadly Tower is the powerful story of the 1966 event that was at the time the largest one-person murder spree in U.S. history.

Kurt Russell, far removed from the lighthearted roles that then made up much of his career, portrays the murderous protagonist. The film’s heroes are others: police officers (including Richard Yñiguez as Officer Ramiro Martinez), rescue personnel and various brave civilians. They faced the worst kind of terror – one that was real.