Cast overview: | |||
Kurt Russell | ... | Charles Whitman | |
Richard Yniguez | ... | Ramiro Martinez (as Richard Yñiguez) | |
Ned Beatty | ... | Allan Crum | |
Pernell Roberts | ... | Lieutenant Lee | |
Clifton James | ... | Captain Fred Ambrose | |
John Forsythe | ... | Lt. Elwood Forbes | |
Gilbert Roland | ... | Narrator (voice) | |
Paul Carr | ... | C.T. Foss | |
Alan Vint | ... | Tim Davis | |
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Maria Elena Cordero | ... | Vinni Martinez (as Maria-Elena Cordero) |
Pepe Serna | ... | Mano |
Charles Whitman is student at the University of Texas in Austin. He often suffers from headaches, during which he tends to violence. One night, he kills wife and mother, buys a number of rifles and loads of ammunition and takes them to the top of the tower of the university, where he barricades himself. With his long-range weapons his starts to shoot at everything that moves. Already until the police arrives, there are numerous people wounded or dead. Written by Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
When Charles Whitman did his psycho-sniper act in 1966 it seemed like an unfathomable act of total madness and a one-of a kind nightmarish freak occurrence. Flash forward to the 21st century and see the depressing regularity with which American men nut-up and start killing people.
At the time this played on TV Kurt Russell was known only from his appearances in light-hearted Disney comedies, so it must have been unnervingly effective to see him going off the deep end, sweating and approaching his sleeping mother with a knife clenched in his hand( he never says a word in the film) and then calmly loading up his arsenal for the trip to the bell tower.It is an amazingly dark role and kudos to the producers for casting him against type.
This is a very low-key approach to a fairly hair-raising true story. Kudos all around.