The Terminator

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This article is about the first film in the series. For the character portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, see Terminator (character). For other uses, see Terminator (disambiguation).
The Terminator

The Terminator theatrical poster.
Directed by James Cameron
Produced by John Daly
Derek Gibson
Gale Anne Hurd
Written by James Cameron
Gale Anne Hurd
William Wisher Jr.
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
Michael Biehn
Linda Hamilton
Music by Brad Fiedel
Cinematography Adam Greenberg
Editing by Mark Goldblatt
Distributed by Orion Pictures
(1984–1997)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(1998–present)
Release date(s) October 26, 1984
Running time 108 min.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Spanish
Budget $6,400,000
Gross revenue Domestic:
$38,371,200
Worldwide:
$78,371,200
Followed by Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction / action film directed and co-written by James Cameron. It features Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.

The film takes place in 1984, introducing the concept of a "terminator", specifically the titular character (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a seemingly unstoppable cyborg assassin who has been sent back from the year 2029 by a race of artificially intelligent computer-controlled machines bent on the extermination of the human race. The Terminator's mission is to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) whose future son leads a resistance against the machines. A human, Kyle Reese, is also sent back from the future to protect her.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In 2029, machines control the world and are bent on the extermination of humans. To this end, the machines send back someone from the future to May 12, 1984. This mysterious musclebound man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) obtains weapons and begins hunting down anyone listed as "Sarah Connor" in the phone book, successfully killing two of the three listed. When he attempts to kill the last Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), he is stopped by another time traveler, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), sent back to protect her. While hiding in a parking garage, Reese explains to Sarah that the man after her is actually a Terminator, a cyborg assassin. These Terminators were invented by Skynet, a form of artificial intelligence created by Cyberdyne Systems. In the near future Skynet gains self-awareness, takes over all military hardware, and initiates a nuclear war against humanity. John Connor, Sarah's son, leads a human resistance against the machines. In a last-ditch effort, Skynet sent a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John is born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded, allowing the machines to win by default. John sends Reese back in time to protect her.

Ground HK Tank from the future war.
Ground HK Tank from the future war.

The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotions and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission. Time travel can only send living tissue back, preventing Reese from bringing any advanced weaponry, and 20th century small arms are not enough to destroy the Terminator's hard metal skeleton. With its disguise of real living tissue over metal, it is indistinguishable from normal humans, so no one will believe Reese's story.

After Kyle finishes his story, he and Sarah are attacked by the Terminator again, resulting in a chase that leads to their arrest. At the West Highland Police Station, Sarah is looked after by Lieutenant Ed Traxler (Paul Winfield) and Detective Hal Vukovich (Lance Henriksen) while Reese is questioned by a criminal psychologist, Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen). He concludes that Reese's story is a delusion, constructed in such a way that it requires no evidence, preventing anyone from refuting it.

The Terminator arrives at the police station and asks to see Sarah, but the desk attendant denies it access. After examining the room and uttering the catch phrase "I'll be back", it leaves, then returns seconds later by plowing a car through the front of the building. The Terminator goes on a rampage through the building, killing anyone it sees, including 17 police officers[1]. Reese manages to escape and rescue Sarah. They hide out in a motel, where Reese teaches Sarah to make pipe bombs from household supplies. Sarah asks Reese if she measures up to the stories about her and if he's ever been in love. After replying no to both questions, he confesses that he is in love--with her. At first, Reese thinks he has made a fool of himself, but Sarah feels the same way, and they make love.

Later that night, the Terminator tracks them down and shoots Reese, wounding him. Sarah manages to knock the Terminator off its motorcycle, running over it. The Terminator commandeers a tanker truck and drives it at them. They use one of their last bombs to blow up the truck, seeing the Terminator collapse in a burnt heap.

They think that it has been destroyed, but the bare metal endoskeleton is still functional and pursues them into a factory. In the ensuing chase, Reese jams a pipe bomb into the Terminator's abdomen, blowing its legs off, but also killing himself. The Terminator, still partially functional, drags itself by its hands to pursue Sarah, until she finally crushes it in a hydraulic press, destroying it.

The end of the film shows Sarah pregnant, and traveling in Mexico on November 10, 1984. She records audio tapes which she intends to play for her son, John, at some point in his life. She reveals that John is Reese's son, conceived during their one night at the motel six months before (see Predestination paradox).[2] While Sarah's gas tank is being filled, a young Mexican boy takes a picture of her, the same picture John will give to Reese in the future. Then Sarah pulls out of the gas station and drives into the distance where storms are approaching over the mountains. The end credits start to roll as her Jeep disappears.

[edit] Cast

Actor Role
Arnold Schwarzenegger The Terminator
Michael Biehn Kyle Reese
Linda Hamilton Sarah J. Connor
Paul Winfield Lieutenant Ed Traxler
Lance Henriksen Detective Hal Vukovich
Bess Motta Ginger Ventura
Earl Boen Dr. Peter Silberman
Rick Rossovich Matt Buchanan
Dick Miller Pawnshop Clerk
Shawn Schepps Nancy
Bruce M. Kerner Desk Sergeant
Franco Columbu Future Terminator
Bill Paxton Punk Leader
Brad Rearden Punk
Brian Thompson Punk

[edit] Production

Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O.J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that "such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer".[3] According to him and co-writer William Wisher, Schwarzenegger was offered the role of the human soldier Reese. However, they realized that he would be better suited as the Terminator, which as a result became large and muscular. Michael Biehn was also on the shortlist for the Terminator, and not the hero Kyle Reese.

Production was originally scheduled for Spring 1983 in Toronto, but after Dino De Laurentiis chose to option Schwarzenegger to film Conan the Destroyer, filming was delayed until March 1984 in Los Angeles.

Several scenes cut from the film are available on some DVD releases. One particular scene involving the destruction of Cyberdyne inspired a very similar plot point in the sequel. In this scene, Sarah suggests to Reese that they find Cyberdyne Systems and destroy it before they can invent Skynet, preventing the war. At the end of the film, when Sarah is being taken away by the ambulance, two factory workers find the remains of the Terminator and decide to turn it over to Research and Development, with the camera zooming out to reveal the name of the factory: Cyberdyne Systems. These two scenes set up major plot points in Terminator 2, where the CPU and arm from the Terminator in this film are reverse engineered and used to create Skynet, and where Sarah, John, and the Terminator blow up Cyberdyne to prevent the war.

James Cameron once said that what inspired him to make The Terminator were two episodes from the 1960s television science fiction series The Outer Limits [4] - "Soldier"[5] and "Demon with the Glass Hand"[6], not realising that both episodes were written by science-fiction author, Harlan Ellison. Ellison successfully sued the studio with the end-credits to the original film eventually changed to acknowledge Ellison's input, also to be included in all future versions of the film.

[edit] Reception

The Terminator was a low-budget movie, at roughly $6.5 million, which turned out to be a box-office hit, earning $38,371,200 domestically. The film went on to gross more than $78 million worldwide.[7] The film also had a positive critical reception, and was placed in Time Magazine's Top 10 Films of 1984. It currently has a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.[8]

[edit] Score

The Terminator
The Terminator cover
Film score by Brad Fiedel
Released Original Edition:
1984
Definitive Edition:
1995
Length Original Edition:
36:16
Definitive Edition:
72:13
Label DCC
Edel America
Professional reviews

[edit] Track listing

The Original Edition

  1. "The Terminator: Theme" (4:30)
  2. "Terminator Arrival" (3:00)
  3. "Tunnel Chase" (2:50)
  4. "Love Scene" (1:15)
  5. "Future Remembered" (2:40)
  6. "Factory Chase" (3:50)
  7. "You Can't Do That" (Tahnee Cain, Tryanglz) (3:25)
  8. "Burnin' in the Third Degree" (Tahnee Cain, Tryanglz) (3:38)
  9. "Pictures of You" (Jay Ferguson, Sixteen Millimeter) (3:58)
  10. "Photoplay" (Tahnee Cain, Tryanglz) (3:30)
  11. "Intimacy" (Linn VanHek) (3:40)

The Definitive Edition

  1. "Theme from The Terminator"
  2. "The Terminator Main Title"
  3. "The Terminator's Arrival"
  4. "Reese Chased/Listen Listen"
  5. "Sarah on Her Motorbike"
  6. "Gun Shop/Reese In Alley"
  7. "Sarah in the Bar"
  8. "Tech Noir/Alley Chase"
  9. "Garage Chase"
  10. "Arm & Eye Surgery"
  11. "Police Station/Escape from Police Station"
  12. "Future Flashback/Terminator Infiltration"
  13. "Conversation by the Window/Love Scene"
  14. "Tunnel Chase"
  15. "Death by Fire/Terminator Gets Up"
  16. "Factory Chase"
  17. "Reese's Death/Terminator Sits Up/You're Terminated!"
  18. "Sarah's Destiny/The Coming Storm"
  19. "Theme trom the Terminator (August 29th, 1997: Judgment Day Remix)"

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  2. ^ Yaeger, Larry (June 24, 2006). T2 and Technology. “…the Terminator stories posit … a temporal loop—a causality paradox—as the principle contributors to this eventuality.”
  3. ^ Booklet in the Collector's Edition Release of DVD version of The Terminator.
  4. ^ James Cameron
  5. ^ SCIFI.COM | The Outer Limits
  6. ^ SCIFI.COM | The Outer Limits
  7. ^ The Terminator (1984). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  8. ^ The Terminator Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] Official websites

[edit] Miscellaneous links

Awards
Preceded by
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi		 Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
1984		 Succeeded by
Back to the Future
v • d • e
The Terminator series
Films
Other media
Characters
Terminators
T-1 • T-70 • T-800 • T-888 • T-1000 • T-1000000 • T-X • Cameron Phillips • I-950
Locations
Cast
Crew
Miscellaneous
v • d • e
Films and television series by James Cameron
1970s-1980s
Xenogenesis (1978) • Piranha II: The Spawning (1981) • The Terminator (1984) • Aliens (1986) • The Abyss (1989)
1990s
2000s
Dark Angel (2000-2002) • Expedition: Bismarck (2002) • Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) • Aliens of the Deep (2005) • Avatar (2009) • Battle Angel (TBA) • The Dive (TBA)