The film is based on the true story of Charles Joseph Whitman, an engineering student and former Marine who murdered his 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.

The film was produced by Antonino Calderon, who was head of Image, an organization dedicated to providing more positive screen depictions of Mexican Americans.

[2] In 1976, Martinez received an undisclosed out-of-court settlement[3][4] after suing the producers of the Deadly Tower for negative and racist depictions of his wife,[5] portrayed in the movie as a nagging Hispanic woman; in fact, she is a blonde and blue-eyed German.

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.

[6] 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.