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
Studio	Hemdale Film Corporation Pacific Western Productions
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	October 26, 1984 (1984-10-26) (United States) January 11, 1985 (United Kingdom)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	US$6.4 million
Gross revenue	$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 and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn. Produced by the British independent film company Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, the film is set and was shot in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger plays the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from the year 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, played by Hamilton. Biehn plays Kyle Reese, a soldier from the future sent back in time to protect Sarah.

The Terminator spawned a media franchise including three sequel films, a number of comic books and video games, and a television program. In 2008 the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[1]

Plot

In a post-apocalyptic 2029, artificially intelligent machines seek to exterminate what is left of the human race. Two beings from this era travel back in time to 1984 Los Angeles: one is a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a cyborg assassin programmed to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). The other is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a human resistance fighter sent to protect her. After killing two other Sarah Connors listed in the telephone directory, the Terminator tracks its target to a nightclub. Kyle saves Sarah from the Terminator's attack and the two make an escape.

Kyle explains that in the near future an artificial intelligence network called Skynet will become self-aware and initiate a nuclear holocaust of mankind. Sarah's yet-unborn son John will rally the survivors and lead a resistance movement against Skynet and its army of machines. With the Resistance on the verge of victory, Skynet has sent a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John can be born, as a last-ditch effort to avert the formation of the Resistance. The Terminator is an emotionless and efficient killing machine with a powerful metal endoskeleton, but with an external layer of living tissue so that it resembles a human being.

Kyle and Sarah are again attacked by the Terminator, leading to a car chase and their arrest. Lieutenant Ed Traxler (Paul Winfield) and Detective Hal Vukovich (Lance Henriksen) tell Sarah that Kyle is insane. Kyle is questioned by psychologist Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen), who concludes that he is paranoid and delusional. The Terminator attacks the police station and kills many police officers in its attempt to locate Sarah, but she and Kyle escape and seek refuge in a motel. Kyle confesses that he has long been in love with Sarah, having been given a photograph of her by her son John. Sarah reciprocates Kyle's feelings and they have sex.

The Terminator tracks them to the motel and wounds Kyle. In the ensuing chase the Terminator is caught in the blast of an exploding gasoline tank truck. With its external flesh burned away, it pursues Sarah and Kyle into a factory. Kyle jams a pipe bomb into its abdomen, blowing off its legs and one of its arms, but Kyle himself is killed. Still partially functional, the Terminator drags itself toward Sarah by its remaining arm. She leads it into a hydraulic press, which she uses to crush it, causing it to deactivate.

Some time later, a pregnant Sarah is traveling through Mexico. Along the way she records audio tapes which she intends to pass on to her unborn son John. She debates whether to tell him that Kyle is his father. A young Mexican boy takes a photograph of her which she purchases — it is the photograph that John will later give to Kyle. She drives on towards approaching storm clouds.

Cast

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator, a cyborg sent back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor. Schwarzenegger reprised his role in the sequels Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). A mold of his face made for The Terminator was also used to create a computer-generated likeness for Terminator Salvation (2009).
• Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, a human Resistance fighter sent back in time to protect Sarah. Biehn reprised his role briefly in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) in a dream sequence which was ultimately removed from the theatrical release, but restored in the special editions and director's cut of the film.
• Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the Terminator's target. Hamilton reprised her role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and lent her voice to Terminator Salvation (2009).
• Earl Boen as Dr. Silberman, a police psychologist. Boen reprised the role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), making him and Schwarzenegger the only two actors to appear in the first three films. Neither were cast in Terminator Salvation (2009), though Schwarzenegger's likeness was used.
• Paul Winfield as Ed Traxler, a police Lieutenant who questions Sarah.
• Lance Henriksen as Hal Vukovich, a police Detective who questions Sarah.

Additional actors included Bess Motta as Ginger Ventura, Rick Rossovich as Matt Buchanan, Dick Miller as the gun shop clerk, Shawn Schepps as Nancy, Bruce M. Kerner as the desk sergeant, Franco Columbu as a Terminator in 2029, and Bill Paxton, Brad Rearden, and Brian Thompson as punks who are confronted by the Terminator.

Production

While best known as an action film, the Terminator also utilizes and subverts the conventions of mulitple genres, including the slasher sub-genre of horror films.^[2] In addition, the film is also inspired by visual aesthetics of Film noir. This blend of sci-fi and noir was coined Tech noir, after the club Sarah visits in the film.

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. 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. The idea of a more average-looking terminator and Schwarzenegger as the hero would be revisited for the sequel.

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. The secondary police characters Vukovich and Traxler had several of their scenes cut, in one of which we see Traxler realize that Reese is right, and hand over his weapon as he dies. 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.

Director James Cameron has said that The Terminator was inspired by two episodes of the 1960s television science fiction series The Outer Limits – "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand" – both written by science fiction author Harlan Ellison.^[4] When Ellison threatened a lawsuit, Terminator production company Hemdale Film Corporation and distributor Orion Pictures gave him an "acknowledgment to the works of" credit on video and cable releases of The Terminator, as well as a cash settlement of an undisclosed amount.^[5]

In addition to Harlan Ellison, other writers have been pointed to as possible sources of inspiration for The Terminator, such as Philip K. Dick. Critic Zack Handlen, reviewing Dick's 1953 short story "Second Variety", wrote: "Cameron’s lucky [that] Dick died two years before [The Terminator] was released, or he might have had another lawsuit on his hands."^[6] "Second Variety" was adapted to film in 1995 under the title Screamers, which also attracted comparisons to The Terminator.^[7][8][9]

One of the guns seen in the film and on the film's poster was an AMT Hardballer Longslide modified by Ed Reynolds from SureFire to include a laser sight. Both non-functioning and functioning versions of the prop were created. Due to cost considerations, the laser sights used an external power supply that Arnold Schwarzenegger had to activate manually. Reynolds states that his only compensation for the project was promotional material for the film.^[10]

Reception

The Terminator was a low-budget movie, at roughly $7 million^[11], 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.^[12] The film received universal acclaim from critics^[13] and is commonly regarded as one of the best films of 1984.^[14][15][16] On At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Ebert gave the film "thumbs up" and described it as a very violent, sometimes sadistic, yet solid action picture.^[17] Siskel gave the film "thumbs down". Currently, The Terminator has ratings of 100% "Certified Fresh" and 84/100 on popular review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes^[18] and Metacritic^[19] respectively. The film was placed on Time Magazine's Top 10 Films of 1984.

The film was also very successful at the Saturn Awards. It won Best Science Fiction Film, Best Make-Up, and Best Writing. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton each received nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. James Cameron received a nod for his direction, and Brad Fiedel was nominated for his score. Cameron was also awarded the Grand Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival.^[20]

The Terminator has also received recognition from the American Film Institute. The film ranked 42nd on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding films.^[21] The Terminator was selected as the 22nd greatest movie villain on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains.^[22] Arnold's catch phrase "I'll be back" was voted the 37th greatest movie quote by the AFI.^[23] In 2005, Total Film named The Terminator the 72nd best film ever made.^[24] In 2008, Empire magazine selected The Terminator as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.^[25] Similarly, the publication also placed the T-800 14th on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters.^[26] In 2008, The Terminator was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.^[27]

Soundtrack

References

External links

• The Terminator at the Internet Movie Database