only ,100 to be divided among the 20 members of the cast and crew. Eventually the producers sued Bryanston for failing to pay them their full percentage of the box office profits. A court judgement fined Bryanston the sum of 0,000 to be paid to the filmmakers, and by then the company had declared bankruptcy. Bryanston Pictures folded in 1976, when Louis Peraino was convicted on obscenity charges for his role during the production of the film Deep Throat (1972). New Line Cinema took over from Bryanston and gave the producers a bigger percentage of the gross profits than Bryanston initially had paid them.
Casting
Many of the cast members had few or no previous acting credits. The cast consisted of actors around Texas who had previous roles in commercials or television and stage shows, as well as actors who were acquaintances of Hooper. Involvement in the film