Question: At the beginning, Stretch asks the two punks in the car to hang up so that the call can end and the phone line can be clear. Why? Why can't she just hang up and end the call? This makes no sense.
Question: When Leatherface starts rampaging during Stretch's flirting with him, and he's starting his chainsaw up, is this supposed to represent something? It's right after she repeatedly asks if he's mad at her and how good he is.
Answer: It's basically Leatherface's version of an orgasm. Stretch appeals to his sexuality in order to survive, and he's aroused. He uses his chainsaw as a phallic object, rubbing it against her leg and then pressing it into her groin, and is panting, which obviously symbolizes his idea of sex. And then he becomes aggressive, revs up his chainsaw, and destroys the studio in an explosive emotional display, not unlike the strong physical/emotional sensation that comes with an orgasm. You could also theoretically make an argument that the mess he creates by sawing and throwing things around specifically represents male ejaculation, which involves a pulsating release of semen and can be, let's just say, "messy" sometimes depending on what sexual activity you're doing.
Thank you.
Question: Is Chop Top the same character as the deranged hitchhiker from the first film?
Answer: No, the hitchhiker was killed in the first movie when he's hit by a truck. His corpse is the body that Leatherface uses as a puppet during the opening scene. (He's nicknamed "Nubbins.") Chop-Top is supposed to be one of Leatherface's other brothers. According to director Tobe Hooper, Chop-Top was away in Vietnam during the events of the first movie.
Chosen answer: That's how telephones worked back then. It has to do with the lack of a disconnect signal being sent by the called party, which phone companies have now. Back then when someone called another person, they were paying for the call and thus it was felt that they're entitled not to be hung up on and the line would not be "free" for the person being called, even after they hung up. This also meant if someone was called and they picked up in one room, they could say "hold on I'm going to switch phones", hang up, go to another room and pick up the phone and the caller would still be there. It was also a great way to scam or annoy people by calling them and not hanging up. Some countries still maintain this method of operation, largely because some people have become used to it, although nowadays it's by choice, not by technical limitation, and the length of time the line is held open is significantly reduced.
Bishop73
Yeah that's actually true. in the 80s we used to call up talk radio shows from isolated, seldom-used phone booths and then leave the phone off the hook. No more calls for hours until they straightened it out with the phone company. we called it 'jock blocking'.
That's not true my brother would prank call KDKA in Pittsburgh constantly they had no trouble hanging up. If people called our house there was no trouble hanging up.
That's exactly how it worked if the line didn't have a disconnect signal.
Bishop73