The Terminator

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/ Hemdale Film Corporation (1984–1997) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1998–present)
Release date(s)	October 26, 1984
Running time	108 min.
Country	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

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 android 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 (Michael Biehn), is also sent back from the future to protect her.

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 muscular 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. Skynet does order that a scant number of humans be kept alive in order to be used as slave labor to do jobs that Skynet and the machines cannot do. John Connor, Sarah's son, rallies the few remaining humans not to die as slaves, and 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. Realizing this, John sends Reese back in time to protect her.

The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotions and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission. Time travel can only send living tissue or an object covered with 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 endoskeleton. This problem also prevents Skynet from sending back any T-800 endoskeletons, as only a flesh-coated T-800 can be sent through time. 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 the police stopping and capturing Reese. At the West Highland Police Station, Sarah is told by Lieutenant Ed Traxler (Paul Winfield) and Detective Hal Vukovich (Lance Henriksen) that Reese, who is being questioned by psychologist Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen), is crazy. Upon Reese explaining his mission, Silberman concludes that the story is merely a delusion, constructed in such a way that it requires no evidence, preventing anyone from refuting it. However, 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 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 calls herself "some legend", and asks Reese if he is disappointed with her, and then 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. A tanker truck then runs over the Terminator. The android, damaged, commandeers the tanker truck and drives it at them. Reese uses 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 and one hand off, but also killing himself. The Terminator, still partially functional, drags itself by its remaining hand 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. 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.

Cast

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" and "Demon with the Glass Hand", both written by science-fiction author Harlan Ellison. According to E! Online, Terminator production company Hemdale and distributor Orion Pictures "gave veteran fantasy writer Harlan Ellison an 'acknowledgement to the works of' credit on The Terminator and a cash settlement lest he sue for plagiarism of two episodes he wrote for The Outer Limits in the 1960s and a Hugo Award winning sci-fi story (1977)".^[5]

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.^[6] The film has received positive reviews, with ratings of 100% and 84% positive reviews on popular review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes^[7] and Metacritic,^[8] respectively. The film was placed in Time Magazine's Top 10 Films of 1984.

Score

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 from the Terminator (August 29th, 1997: Judgment Day Remix)"

See also

• Terminator Franchise
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TV series)
• Terminator Salvation
• Terminator argument — an argument in bioethics that sophisticated technology carries an amount of existential risk which should be avoided by slowing or stopping the advance of technology.

References

External links

Official websites

• Terminator1.com

Miscellaneous links

• The Terminator at the Internet Movie Database
• The Terminator at Allmovie
• Wired.com More Robot Grunts Ready for Duty
• The Terminator Narrative Chronology
• The SciFlicks Guide
• The Terminator at Rotten Tomatoes
• Terminator Gallery
• The Terminator at MetaCritic
• Terminator Wiki