Review - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

An extremely convincing, cautionary tale against picking up hitchhikers . . .

Basic rule of thumb would be - don’t do it. But especially don’t do it if the hitchhiker looks anything like Edwin Neal did in this role. I shudder just imagining him getting into my car!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a really intense feel to it. From the grave robbing scandal, to picking up the hitchhiker, to our first encounter with Leatherface - there is just this impending sense of doom over these kids who have just come to town to check on their Grandfather’s remains.

I have heard so many people tell me that they think TCM moves really slowly, but I didn’t feel that way at all. Of course, it could be because these same people have watched the film literally a hundred times or more. I did feel like the film was a bit slower tempo, but I attribute that to the locale of the film. I liken the pace of the film to a long, slow Texas drawl - definitely worth the wait.

It was interesting to me that Franklin Hardesty (Paul A. Partain) somehow knew all along that pissing the hitchhiker off was not a good thing. It is a basic rule of horror films - don’t piss off the crazy people. After throwing the crazy hitcher out of the van, the kids continue on to the old Franklin place which is owned by their father. Not sure what the fascination was there, other than I guess sentimentally for Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) who found the room she used to sleep in when she was a little girl. The other couple on the trip Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Teri McMinn) goes off to find the old swimming hole that Franklin has told them so much about. This is where everything goes terribly wrong.

After a few hours of waiting for Kirk and Pam, Jerry (Allen Danziger) goes off to search for them before it gets too late . . . little does he know that it already is. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre just spirals from weird to weirder to downright insane as each of the kids meet a horrible fate with Leatherface and the Sawyer family. Even old Grandpa Sawyer gets a crack at the killings when poor old Sally is unfortunate enough to find herself back at the Sawyer farm.

Everything about this film was just pure genius to me. The scene in the beginning with old drunk flailing around on the tire, the look of the Sawyer house - all of the “bone art,” the narration by John Larroquette, the way that Franklin threw his spitting fit and rambled to himself about the “fun” he was having. All signs pointed to the hopelessness of it all.

I have just one question about the end of the film . . . whatever happened to the truck driver?

Directed by
Tobe Hooper

Writing credits
Kim Henkel (story) and
Tobe Hooper (story)


Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Marilyn Burns .... Sally Hardesty
Allen Danziger .... Jerry
Paul A. Partain .... Franklin Hardesty
William Vail .... Kirk
Teri McMinn .... Pam
Edwin Neal .... The Hitchhiker
Jim Siedow .... Drayton Sawyer (Old Man)
Gunnar Hansen .... Leatherface/Bubba Sawyer, Jr.
John Dugan .... Grandfather Sawyer
Robert Courtin .... Window Washer
William Creamer .... Bearded Man
John Henry Faulk .... Storyteller
Jerry Green .... Cowboy
Ed Guinn .... Cattle Truck Driver
Joe Bill Hogan .... Drunk
Perry Lorenz .... Pickup Driver
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Larroquette .... Narrator (voice) (uncredited)