Bubba Sawyer

Bubba Sawyer is a fictional psychopath and cannibal featured in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series. More popularly known as "Leatherface", he was introduced in the original 1974 horror classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where he was played by actor Gunnar Hansen. The character returned for the film's sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 in 1986. This time around, he was played by actor Bill Johnson.

Overview
Bubba Sawyer is a young simple-minded member of the infamous Sawyer family of South Texas. A mentally deranged cannibal, he follows the lead of his older brothers, Drayton Sawyer and Nubbins Sawyer. In addition to consuming human flesh, Bubba likes to skin the faces of his victims, treat them in some sort of preserving fluid and wear them as masks. The genders of his face masks are variable depending on the occasion. Known for taking lives with both a hammer and a chainsaw, Bubba is responsible for the deaths of three youths named Kirk, Jerry and Franklin Hardesty, the latter of whom is the only one he killed with a chainsaw.

After the Sawyer family were forced to flee their farmhouse, Bubba began hanging out with another with another sibling known as "Chop-Top". Together they terrorized Texas locals, and Leatherface even slaughtered two speeding motorists with his chainsaw with a little assist from the rotting corpse of Nubbins. It was during this time that Bubba developed a crush on a rock and roll DJ named Vanita "Stretch" Brock. Chop-Top and he visited the station, where Bubba made lewd gestures at her using his chainsaw as a phallus.

The Sawyer family soon became the target of cowboy Lefty Enright, who was the uncle of past victims Franklin and Sally Hardesty. Lefty fought with Bubba in a chainsaw duel in the caverns beneath an abandoned amusement park. They eviscerated one another and met their ultimate fate when a grenade detonated in the cavern, killing both of them.

Classifications

 * Psychopath: Raised in that family, it is not wonder that Bubba grew up to become a stone-cold killer, with no regard or even understanding of the sanctity of human life.
 * Cannibal: Implied only. The family were cannibals by tradition. Presumably, Bubba Sawyer was a cannibal as well, though he was never seen eating.
 * Transvestite: A transvestite is someone who dresses up as one from the opposite gender. Bubba does more than just wear women's clothing however. He wears their freakin' skin!
 * Serial killer: Leatherface is possibly a serial killer in addition to simply being a full-blown psychopath. As no comprehensive analysis has ever been conducted on him, it is unclear what pathological need he is satisfying when he kills. All of Bubba's actions are governed by the instructions of his family.

Tools of the trade
Like any homegrown murderous whacko, Leatherface has certain preferences when it comes to the weapons or tools that he uses. Classically, he is known for using two items.
 * Chainsaw: The chainsaw is traditionally associated with Leatherface. He used it to kill Franklin Hardesty as well as cleaving in half the head of a douche bag yuppie in a car.
 * Hammer: Leatherface swings a mean hammer. He clobbered both Kirk and Jerry with such a tool before dragging them into his private abattoir to be turned into stew.

Family
It is believed by many that the Sawyers may be inbred. There is no concrete evidence of any sort of incest in the family lineage, though the exact relationship between each member is subject to interpretation.
 * Drayton Sawyer: Brother; oldest of the Sawyer siblings and head of the household.
 * Nubbins Sawyer: Brother; also known as the Hitchhiker; older sibling.
 * Chop-Top Sawyer: Brother; Twin brother to Nubbins; older sibling.
 * Grandpa Sawyer: Grandfather; barely alive and looks more like a living corpse than a person.
 * Mama Sawyer: Mother; Nothing is known of this woman save that her remains were kept in a rocking chair in the Sawyer farmhouse.
 * Great-Grandma Sawyer: A large woman whose rotting remains were kept by the Sawyer family and moved to their underground sanctuary.

Victims

 * See also: Bubba Sawyer victims

The Other Leatherfaces

 * Bubba Sawyer is not to be confused with Junior Sawyer, who is a re-imagining of Bubba featured in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Bubba died prior to the events of that film.


 * Bubba Sawyer is not to be confused with Leather, who is yet another pastiche of the character (sans chainsaw), and is featured in the sequel film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.


 * Jedidiah Sawyer is also a re-imagining of Bubba Sawyer. In a reworking of the original story, the Drayton family were all killed in a shoot-out with local police at the farmhouse in April, 1973. Jedidiah survived however and lived in secrecy in the home of a surviving relative named Verna. This is the character featured in Texas Chainsaw 3D.


 * Another Leatherface pastiche is Thomas Hewitt. A larger, and even more imposing individual, Thomas was the featured antagonist of the 2003 remake series beginning with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the 2006 prequel film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.