Selling Out

  As I kid, I loved watching the made-for-TV movie, The Deadly Tower, based on the Charles Whitman shootings at UT back in the 60s.



 When I first watched this movie in the 80s, I missed this particular scene found above. In this scene, the hero, Ramiro Martinez, is struggling with being a Mexican-American police officer while at the same time, being true to his roots and feels inferior to his white colleagues. In the scene, he meets "Mano", a kid from the neighborhood and the scene then plays out rather strangely, something I did not pick up when I was a kid.

 Listen to the dialogue of Officer Martinez. He starts talking about 'changes' and 'working hard' instead of just complaining. Is the movie referring to the Chicano Civil Rights Movement? Is "Mano" supposed to represent the old guard, and Martinez is the new breed of Mexican-American that is committed to changes via-hard work (middle-class?) instead of just complaining (protesting)? Maybe I'm reading too much into this, or is there some sort of social commentary? You decide. Still, I enjoy this movie, and this particular scene.

BTW, "Mano" needs to have his ass kicked!