Tower (2016)
94%RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: 4 nominations
Tower probes into a painful chapter of American history with sensitivity and grace — and revisits its events from a valuable new perspective.
Tower is a documentary that will leave you feeling like you’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster. It’s a mix of archival footage, interviews, and animation that tells the story of the 1966 University of Texas shooting. But don’t let the serious subject matter scare you away, because this film is beautifully rendered and emotionally heartbreaking. It’s a must-see for anyone who loves documentaries or just wants to learn more about this tragic event in American history. Plus, the rotoscope technique used in the animation gives it a unique and urgent feel. Tower is definitely worth your time.
Production Company(ies)
Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Media Rights Capital,
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Cape Town Film Studios, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including sequences of gun violence and action.
Year of Release
2017
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:IMAX 6-Track Dolby Surround 7.1 Dolby Atmos 12-Track Digital Sound Auro 11.1 Sonics-DDP Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 38m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 12, 2016 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 10, 2017
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
Tower, documentary, English, Keith Maitland, Megan Gilbride, Susan Thomson, Violett Beane, Blair Jackson, Josephine McAdam, Reece Everett Ryan, Chris Doubek, Louie Arnette, directed by Keith Maitland, written by Keith Maitland, produced by Megan Gilbride, Susan Thomson, box office gross $84.3K, Kino Lorber, MPAA rating, critic reviews, reviewed by Scott Marks, Christy Lemire, Alonso Duralde, David Edelstein, Melanie McFarland, Ed Bark, Kip Mooney, Richard Propes, Steven Prokopy, Rhys Tarling, Michael J Casey, genre, American history, University of Texas Tower, sniper, mass shooting, hostages, witnesses, survivors, archival footage, rotoscopic animation, heroes, tragedy, emotional, sound design, score, composer Osei Essed, innocence, community, information hungry, newsfeed culture, revolutionary
Worldwide gross: $113,231,078
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $136,583,411
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 881
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 14,894,592
US/Canada gross: $50,701,325
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $61,157,767
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 981
US/Canada opening weekend: $19,153,698
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $23,103,881
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 584
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $60,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $72,374,164
Production budget ranking: 583
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $38,973,488
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $25,235,759
ROI to date (est.): 23%
ROI ranking: 1,280
Blair Jackson – Houston McCoy
Josephine McAdam – Rita Starpattern
Reece Everett Ryan – Alfred “Alfie” McAlister
Chris Doubek – Allen Crum
Louie Arnette – Ramiro Martinez
Director(s)
Keith Maitland
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Megan Gilbride, Susan Thomson
Film Festivals
South by Southwest
Awards & Nominations
4 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (100) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (99) | Rotten (1)
The overall absurdity of the piece left me numb beyond belief. Why stop here? Why not a claymation recreation of the events of 9-11? Or Jiminy Cricket in Steven Spielberg’s When You Wish Upon Auschwitz?
October 3, 2018
Scott Marks
San Diego Reader
TOP CRITIC
[The rotoscope technique] gives it urgency and a sense of movement.
September 12, 2018 | Rating: 9.6/10
Christy Lemire
What the Flick?!
TOP CRITIC
This movie is very smart about when it unpacks its interviews versus its recreations. It does it in such a way that I was emotionally flooded.
September 12, 2018 | Rating: 9.5/10
Alonso Duralde
What the Flick?!
TOP CRITIC
The sheer beauty of the images gives Tower a surreal quality and drenches it in emotion.
September 12, 2018
David Edelstein
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
A gripping examination of human bravery and frailty in the face of barbarity.
February 14, 2017
Melanie McFarland
Salon.com
TOP CRITIC
Tower is a vivid snapshot of derangement, heroism, endurance and sometimes admitted cowardice on what remains the most traumatic day in University of Texas history.
February 14, 2017 | Rating: A-
Ed Bark
Uncle Barky
TOP CRITIC
A harrowing combination of archival footage, interviews and animation.
August 29, 2021 | Rating: A-
Kip Mooney
College Movie Review
Beautifully rendered and emotionally heartbreaking, Tower is truly one of 2016’s must see documentaries.
September 26, 2020 | Rating: 4.0/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
The impact is astonishing and utterly eerie.
April 28, 2020
Steven Prokopy
Third Coast Review
Although Tower is made with consummate skill and artistry that rivals some of the best fictional films of this year, the event it depicts is nothing but the worst nightmare played out in reality.
September 27, 2019
Rhys Tarling
Isolated Nation
The survivor’s tale.
August 19, 2019
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
Tower is an incredibly important film that doesn’t feel self-important despite its extremely stylized take on the shooting. Its style is integral to its emotional core.
August 7, 2019 | Rating: 4.5/5
Karl Delossantos
Smash Cut Reviews…
Plot
11-year-old Jake Chambers experiences visions involving a Man in Black who seeks to destroy a Tower and bring ruin to the Universe while a Gunslinger opposes him. However, Jake’s mother, stepfather and psychiatrists dismiss these as dreams resulting from the trauma of his father’s death the previous year. At his apartment home in New York City, a group of workers from an alleged psychiatric facility offer to rehabilitate Jake; recognizing them from his visions as monsters wearing human skin, he flees from the workers who give chase. Jake tracks down an abandoned house from one of his visions where he discovers a high-tech portal that leads to a post-apocalyptic world called Mid-World..
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of Tower includes Violett Beane, Blair Jackson, Josephine McAdam, Reece Everett Ryan, Chris Doubek, and Louie Arnette.
Keith-Maitland.jpg
