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Movies

Austin Filmmaker Takes a Fresh Look at the Original School Shooting in Tower

Keith Maitland's documentary combines archival footage, rotoscope animation, and interviews with survivors of the 1966 University of Texas Tower tragedy.
By Todd Jorgenson |
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Keith Maitland’s fascination began as a seventh grader in Plano, with a memorable lesson from a Texas history teacher that wasn’t found in any textbook.

His teacher was a student at the University of Texas on Aug. 1, 1966, when a sniper began firing at passersby with a rifle from the top of the school’s 300-foot clock tower. She was a witness when 17 people were killed and 32 others wounded in a random — and at that time, unprecedented — act of violence.

“She told us the story from her own perspective of what happened that day, and it just kind of stuck with me,” Maitland said. “She described standing there and watching it all unfold. It was kind of a gut-punch to hear that story.”

Several years later, when Maitland became a student at the UT campus in Austin, he wanted to learn more but was given virtually no answers. The story of the shooter, Charles Whitman, became well known afterward, but what about those who died? What about the everyday heroes who risked their lives to rescue survivors? Or how about the brave officers who climbed the tower to confront the murderer?

All of those questions culminated in Tower, a documentary directed by Maitland that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the tragedy by saluting those on the ground.

“I was wondering what it was like to be a student, like my teacher,” said Maitland, who still lives in Austin. “What was it like to see this place that’s meant to be an institute of maturation and enlightenment and growth, suddenly turn into a war zone?”

The film combines archival footage and interviews with some survivors in various capacities — such as a pregnant woman who was severely wounded to a newsman who broadcast from the scene to a young police officer who took matters into his own hands.

In an innovative visual twist, Maitland uses painstaking rotoscope animation to re-create their stories and give viewers more of a firsthand glimpse into the harrowing events of that sweltering summer day.

“The pragmatic producer in me knew that the University of Texas would never allow us to shoot re-creations on campus. This is a way to authentically re-create the geography of that space,” Maitland said. “Through the animation, there’s an opportunity to transcend time and space, not as the story of a 68-year-old looking back, but as the story of an 18-year-old experiencing it in the moment.”

Maitland, 40, was inspired to do the film after reading Pamela Colloff’s 2006 oral-history article in Texas Monthly, which helped provide access to some of his interview subjects.

One of them is Claire Wilson, who was a pregnant 18-year-old at the time. Her boyfriend was killed from a gunshot to the head while walking right next to her. Her unborn baby also died as Wilson suffered on the hot concrete for more than an hour during the rampage.

“Nobody ever talked about it through the years with her. It was very rarely brought up. Her friends and family didn’t know how to broach the subject or would want to get into a sensitive area,” Maitland said. “For many years after the shooting, there were days when she woke up and wasn’t even sure if it happened herself. She would go to the library and read the newspaper articles to confirm her memories. The opportunity to get involved with the film was something she jumped at.”

While much of the subsequent media coverage of the incident focused on Whitman’s motives, Maitland was more focused on how survivors made in through that day, and have coped with their memories since then. In fact, Wilson spearheaded a group of survivors who successfully lobbied school administrators to create an on-campus memorial for the victims that was dedicated earlier this year.

“We want this film to offer an opportunity for exploration and an opportunity for healing through open discussion of the history and these personal stories,” Maitland said. “Everyone who was there has a right to be heard.”

There’s a layer of contemporary relevance to the film, of course, which is being shown in an age when school shootings — in contrast to a half-century ago — have unfortunately become much more prevalent. In that context, Maitland wanted Tower to be sensitive yet impactful.

“I really want the film to speak to young audiences who live under the threat of this kind of violence every day when they head to school,” Maitland said. “It’s easy for them to become desensitized to this phenomenon, and I really wanted to put a human face on what it’s like to be caught in these crosshairs.”

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