# The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American horror film about five friends who visit an old house in the Texas backcountry and are hunted by a chainsaw-wielding killer and his family of cannibals.
    Directed by Tobe Hooper. Written by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel.

## Narrator

* [First lines] The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

## Radio news reader

* [voice-over] Graverobbing in Texas is this hour's top news story. An informant led officers of the Muerto County Sheriff's Department to a cemetery just outside the small rural Texas community of Newt early this morning. Officers there discovered what appeared to be a grisly work of art: the remains of a badly decomposed corpse wired to a large monument. A second body was found in a ditch near the perimeter of the cemetery. Subsequent investigation has revealed at least a dozen empty crypts, and it's feared more will turn up as the probe continues. Deputies report that in some instances only parts of a corpse have been removed, the head or in some cases the extremities removed, the remainder of the corpse left intact. Evidence indicates the robberies have occurred over a period of time. Sheriff Jesús Maldonado refused to give details in the ghoulish case, and said only that he did have evidence linking the crime to elements outside the state. Area residents have reportedly been converging on the cemetery, fearing the remains of relatives have been removed. No suspects are in custody as the investigation at the scene continues.

## Old Man

* [to Sally] Why, my old grandpa was the best killer there was at the slaughterhouse. Why, it never took more than one lick they say. Why, he did 60 cattle in five minutes once. They say he could have done more if the hook and pull gang could have gotten the beeves out of the way faster.
* [to the captive Sally in his truck] Sorry to keep you waiting, young lady. I had to lock up the shop and turn the lights off. The cost of electricity these days is enough to drive a man like me out of business.
* [about Leatherface damaging the door with his chain saw] Look what your brother did to the door! Ain't he got no pride in his home?

## Jerry

* That's the last goddamn hitchhiker I ever pick up.

## Dialogue

    Kirk: So, where you heading, man?
    Hitchhiker: South.
    Franklin: You work at that place? The slaughter house?
    Hitchhiker: Uh... no.
    Sally: How'd you get stuck way out here?
    Hitchhiker: I was at the slaughter house.
    Franklin: I got an uncle who works in a slaughter house.
    Hitchhiker: I used to work there. My brother did too. My grandfather too. My family's always been in meat!
    Franklin: [Quietly to Sally] A whole family of Draculas!
    Franklin: Hey man, you ever go in that slaughter room or whatever they call it? The place where they shoot cattle in the head with that big air gun?
    Hitchhiker: Oh, that gun's no good.
    Franklin: I was in there once with my uncle.
    Hitchhiker: The old way... with a sledge! You see, that way's better. They die better that way.
    Franklin: Well, how come? I thought the gun was better.
    Hitchhiker: Oh, no. With the new way... people were put out of jobs.
    Franklin: Did you do that?
    Hitchhiker: [digs through pouch for a few pictures] Look! [hands them to Franklin] I was the killer!
    Franklin: [looking at the pictures] Damn...
    Pam: Hey, listen to Franklin's horoscope. “Travel in the country, long–range plans, and upsetting persons around you, could make this a disturbing and unpredictable day. The events in the world are not doing much either to cheer one up.”
    Jerry: That's just perfect. And now read Sally's.
    Pam: [reading from the American Astrology book] Oh, no. Capricorn's ruled by Saturn. “There are moments when we cannot believe that what is happening is really true. Pinch yourself and you may find out that it is.”
    Jerry: Hi, Mister. Would you fill'er up, please?
    Old Man: I got no gas.
    Kirk: What? You're all out of gas?
    Old Man: My tank's empty! Transport wouldn't be here until late this afternoon. Maybe not even 'til tomorrow morning.
    Franklin: Hey, do you know where the old Franklin place is?
    Old Man: The old Franklin place?
    Franklin: Yeah, it's an old two-story rock house that sitting up on a hill. I thought it might be back on that road someplace, but I'm not really sure.
    Old Man: Uh... yeah, maybe I've seen something like that up that way. Well now look, you boys don't want to go messin' around some old house. You're liable to get hurt. You don't want to go fooling around other folk's property. Some folks don't like it, they don't mind showing you.
    Franklin: That guy cut the hell outta himself. D'you think you could do that to yourself?
    Kirk: I'm not crazy
    Franklin: Yeah, it takes something though; I mean just to do that to yourself; God.
    Sally: [when they arrive at the old house, upon seeing its condition] Oh, I wish they hadn't let the place fall apart.
    Jerry: Now it looks like the birthplace of Bela Lugosi.
    Old Man: Quiet! You act like a pack of hounds.
    Hitchhiker: We're just having fun.
    Old Man: You think this is a party?
    Sally: [to Old Man] Please, help me. You can make them stop...
    Hitchhiker: He can't.
    Old Man: Shut your mouth! [to Sally] Can't be helped, young lady. [The Hitchhiker starts to giggle] Shut up! Don't pay him no mind.
    Sally: Please...you can't let them kill me.
    Old Man: Can't be helped.
    Hitchhiker: [to Leatherface] You like that face?
    [Leatherface gibbers]
    Sally: They're crazy. You have to help!
    Hitchhiker: He can't do anything. He's just a cook.
    Old Man: Shut up, you bitch hog!
    Hitchhiker: Me and Leatherface do all the work. He don't like it. Isn't that right? You ain't nothing but a cook.
    Old Man: Shut your mouth! You don't understand nothing.
    Hitchhiker: I understand you're nothing. Me and him do all the work.
    Old Man: I just can't take no pleasure in killing. There's just some things you gotta do. Don't mean you have to like it.
    Sally: Oh, please! You can't... [to the Hitchhiker] Why do you want to kill me? I never hurt you. [he giggles] Please...I'll do anything you want. [starts crying, then the others begin mocking her tears]
    Old Man: No need to torture the poor girl.
    Hitchhiker: You just the cook, remember. Me and him take care of this.
    Old Man: You get on with it. I won't have this.
    Hitchhiker: We in no hurry. You ain't going nowhere.

## Taglines

* Who will survive and what will be left of them?
* Can you survive... It happened.
* What happened is true. Now the motion picture that's just as real.
* Once you stop screaming, then you'll start talking about it.
* America's Most Bizarre and Brutal Crimes!

## Cast

* Marilyn Burns — Sally Hardesty
* Gunnar Hansen — Leatherface
* Edwin Neal — Hitchhiker
* Allen Danziger — Jerry
* Paul A. Partain — Franklin Hardesty
* Jim Siedow — Old Man
* Teri McMinn — Pam
* John Larroquette — Narrator

## External links

* The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) at Rotten Tomatoes