leading from
a) Ridley's first knowledge of Texas Chainsaw Massacre
When Ridley was in his thirties saw the Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster in Piccadilly, it was released in 1974, and he thought it would be a tacky ghastly blood bath which he was uneasy about seeing.
As a child, he was brought up not to see horror movies, because his parents classified them along with sex movies.
Later in 1978, when he was preparing to do Alien, he was sitting in one of these tiny screen rooms in Fox looking through various films, and so one of the films he came to see was this movie.
- Interviewer: I think you described your first alien movie as the Texas Chainsaw of science fiction, how would you
Ridley: Well, no, I wanted, I reached for Texas 'cause, I've, I've only met Tobe Hooper once actually and I watched, i never watched it when I was, there was a big poster in Piccadilly Circus, and I used to look at this poster and I'm like thirty , in my thirties at that point and I, I very immediately looked, looks vaguely, really nasty and I never watched it for that reason. (ODE) - As Scott tells it, he and producer / writer Walter Hill were sitting
in Fox's screening room, just as they were beginning pre-production for
what could become Alien. "I’d never actually seen it before," said
Scott.
"Funnily enough, as a child I was brought up not to see horror movies, because my parents classified them along with sex movies. I saw this poster in Piccadilly of the guy in the face mask with the buzz saw, and I just decided not to see the film." (http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/How-Alien-Changed-The-Horror-Genre-Forever/392996.htm supposedly from a Cinefantastique interview) - Ridley Scott: Funnily enough, as a child I was brought up not to see horror movies,
because my parents classified them along with sex movies. I saw this
poster in Piccadilly of the guy in the face mask with the buzz saw, and I
just decided not to see the film. (1st August.2013., 19:28
http://www.forum.hr/showpost.php?s=3fb257607cfb621d19e90210f23a79cd&p=46134468&postcount=1712, source not given)
Dan O’Bannon claimed responsibility for introducing Ridley to Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
He recalled that when he met Ridley, he kept bugging him to go and see Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Dan thought the film was one of the crudest ever made but one of the scariest as well.
He told Ridley Scott, “Look, you haven’t made a horror movie before. You’ve got to see what the state of the art is.”
According to Dan, Ridley reluctantly agreed, and while he was watching it, Dan was sweating bullets, thinking “Oh, he’s European and has sensibilities, he’ll hate it and think that I’m a jerk”.
- Dan O'Bannon: When I met Ridley, I kept bugging him to see a movie called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one-of the crudest films ever made, but one of the scariest as well. I said, 'Look, you haven't made a horror movie before. You've got to see what the state of the art is.' (Omni, p81, June 1979)
-
Dan O'Bannon: He reluctantly agreed, and while he was in there watching it, I was sweating bullets. I thought. Oh. he's European and has sensibilities. He'll hate it and think I'm a jerk, (Omni, p81, June 1979)
c) Seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Hamburger Hill incident
When Ridley finally saw it, he thought it was amazing.
At the time he saw it, one was uneasy from the first second, and as soon as they pick a certain man up in the car, it's scarier than hell.
It was a hot day and he had the doors open in the small concrete screening room at Fox, he remembered Walter Hill was sitting behind him in the theatre asking him why he was looking at these old movies and Scott's reply to him was "I'm boning up on looking at good old horror movies and the best one so far is still The Exorcist" .
Walter replied "Well, okay is this valuable?"
Walter might as well have been saying to him "What the hell are you watching these films for? Why don’t you get on with it?" and Ridley perhaps could as well have been saying back "I'm here to scare people, you know, watch it or fuck off"
Then the opening titles started to run, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Ridley thought that Walter had a hamburger and it was lunchtime, he might even have just walked in with it after the initial part of their conversation.
Walter seemed to have have got about as far as one bite, perhaps by then they've got to the part where the characters are in a little cheap van, and a young man they've picked up, looks at them, gets a pen knife out and cuts his palm.
Ridley and Walter knew from then on that in the story, they're in real trouble
As they got to the end of the movie, Walter still had not eaten his hamburger, perhaps had taken no more than one bite, and his coca cola was still warm in his hand.
As the girl in the movie is running the road covered in blood, Walter said "god", and Ridley said "wow" and that was it.
He wouldn't actually get around to seeing it again but he liked what he saw on the cinema screen.
When Ridley came out, he couldn't stop raving about it, and the thought it was great, Dan witnessed him saying "Alien's got to be like that but better!"
- Ridley: So, now I've got Alien, sitting in some small concrete
screening room at Fox, with some of the doors open, I'm watching two
films, I watched again the Exorcist 1 which I think is spectacularly
well done, and great idea, spectacular idea but then I, I'd saved Texas
Chainsaw, so now I'm watching it and Walter Hill walks in behind me
saying "What the hell are you watching these films for?" so I said "I'm
here to scare people, you know watch it or fuck off", and then he walks
in with a hamburger and it begins, he gets about as far as one bite, and
I think, by then we're in the coach, the little cheap van, the kid,
they've picked the kid up, looks at them, gets a pen knife out, cuts his
palm, goes like that (holding up hand up open) from that moment on
we're in real trouble. Walter never ate his hamburger, and he just sat
there trying, looking back at me at the end, he was like that, (frozen
holding his hamburger in his hand) just one bit of the hamburger (On Demand
Entertainment, 8 May 2017, Youtube: Spoiler Alert!: Ridley Scott's secret plans for the future of the Alien franchise)
- Ridley Scott: So now I’m making movies, and I’m sitting in Fox, and Texas Chainsaw is running. Walter Hill came in behind me and said, ‘What are you looking at all this stuff for? Why don’t you get on with it?’ He had a large Coca-Cola and a hamburger, just as the film began, and when it finished, he hadn’t eaten the hamburger, and the Coca-Cola glass was warm in his hand – he hadn’t touched that either." (http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/How-Alien-Changed-The-Horror-Genre-Forever/392996.htm supposedly from a Cinefantastique interview)
- Ridley Scott: Walter Hill was one of the producers. I was sitting in Fox, in one of their small theatres at lunchtime. It was very hot out. I was running TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, because I’d never actually seen it before. (http://www.forum.hr/showpost.php?s=3fb257607cfb621d19e90210f23a79cd&p=46134468&postcount=1712)
- Ridley Scott: So now I’m making movies, and I’m sitting in Fox, and TEXAS CHAINSAW is running. Walter Hill came in behind me and said, ‘What are you looking at all this stuff for? Why don’t you get on with it?’ He had a large Coca-Cola and a hamburger, just as the film began, and when it finished, he hadn’t eaten the hamburger, and the Coca-Cola glass was warm in his hand – he hadn’t touched that either. " (1st August.2013., 19:28 http://www.forum.hr/showpost.php?s=3fb257607cfb621d19e90210f23a79cd&p=46134468&postcount=1712, source not given)
- Dan O'Bannon: When he came out, Ridley couldn’t stop raving about it and he thought it was great, he said “Aliens got to be like that but better!” (Omni, p81, June 1979)
- Extra material from report of what was said in the Alien Evolution interview
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