One of New York's five crime families played a major role behind the scenes that decade, and were responsible for bringing to the screen one of the most beloved horror movies of all time.
A "Deal with the Devil"
Louis Peraino, the son of Colombo crime family member Anthony Peraino, founded the Bryanston Distributing Company in 1972. The company initially gained notoriety for distributing the porn film Deep Throat, which made $50 million off a $22,000 budget, but it was a success that would eventually prove to be their downfall.
Around this time, director Tobe Hooper was having a hard time finding a distributor for his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in no small part due to its unsettling violence, which was mostly kept offscreen.
Rather than this helping him get a PG rating as he initially intended, it just made the US ratings board more squeamish; they gave it an X rating, proving that leaving things to the audience's imagination can often be more terrifying than depicting it.
Salvation came in the form of Peraino, who agreed to distribute the film worldwide after meeting with Production Manager Ron Bozman and Texas Film Commissioner Warren Skaaren.
Their "deal with the devil" (as Bozman later called it) saw them bag $225,000 each, and 35% of the profits on the back end - unfortunately, once the main investors were paid back, there was no money left over for the cast.
How little are we talking here? $8,100 to be split between 20 cast and crew members - roughly $405 each.
The Texas Chainsaw Lawsuit
Peraino was subsequently sued by the film's producers after he didn't pay them their full share of the profits. He was ordered to pay them $500,000, but his company had already declared bankruptcy by then - it wasn't until New Line Cinema acquired the rights in 1983, nearly a decade after the first film was originally released, that they finally got their payday.
Bryanston Distributing Company folded in 1976 following a major legal battle about them distributing obscenity across state lines. For his role in bringing Deep Throat to American cinema screens, Peraino was fined $10,000 and thrown in jail for a year.
Despite being connected to such legal troubles, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre continued to be a hit, with the franchise enduring to this day.
The film has now been restored in 4K by Second Sight - you can pre-order it now here.
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