The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn son will one day save mankind from extinction by Skynet, a hostile artificial intelligence in a post-apocalyptic future. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. The screenplay is credited to Cameron and Hurd, while co-writer William Wisher Jr. received an "additional dialogue" credit.
This article is about the film. For the franchise, see Terminator (franchise). For the character, see Terminator (character). For the character concept, see Terminator (character concept). For other uses, see Terminator (disambiguation).The Terminator
- James Cameron
- Gale Anne Hurd
Gale Anne Hurd
- Hemdale
- Pacific Western Productions
- Euro Film Funding
- Cinema '84
- October 26, 1984
107 minutes[1]
English
$6.4 million[5]
$78.3 million
Cameron devised the premise of the film from a fever dream he experienced during the release of his first film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), in Rome, and developed the concept in collaboration with Wisher. He sold the rights to the project to fellow New World Pictures alumna Hurd on the condition that she would produce the film only if he were to direct it; Hurd eventually secured a distribution deal with Orion Pictures, while executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson of Hemdale Film Corporation were instrumental in setting up the film's financing and production. Originally approached by Orion for the role of Reese, Schwarzenegger agreed to play the title character after befriending Cameron. Filming, which took place mostly at night on location in Los Angeles, was delayed because of Schwarzenegger's commitments to Conan the Destroyer (1984), during which Cameron found time to work on the scripts for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Aliens (1986). The film's special effects, which included miniatures and stop-motion animation, were created by a team of artists led by Stan Winston and Gene Warren Jr.
Defying low pre-release expectations, The Terminator topped the United States box office for two weeks, eventually grossing $78.3 million against a modest $6.4 million budget. It is credited with launching Cameron's film career and solidifying Schwarzenegger's status as a leading man. The film's success led to a franchise consisting of several sequels, a television series, comic books, novels and video games. In 2008, The Terminator was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
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Plot[edit]
A cyborg is sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 Los Angeles; an assassin known as a Terminator, disguised as a human male and programmed to hunt and assassinate a woman named Sarah Connor. Separately, a human soldier named Kyle Reese also arrives, intent on stopping it, as they both steal ammunition and clothing. After searching for addresses in a telephone directory, the Terminator systematically kills women that share Sarah's name before tracking the correct Sarah to a nightclub, but she is rescued by Reese. The duo steal a car and escape, with the Terminator pursuing them in a stolen police car.
As they hide in a parking lot, Reese explains to Sarah that an artificially intelligent defense network known as Skynet, created by Cyberdyne Systems, will become self-aware in the near future and trigger a global nuclear war to bring humankind to its extinction. Sarah's future son, John, will rally the survivors and lead a successful resistance movement against Skynet and its mechanical forces. On the verge of the resistance's victory, Skynet sends the Terminator back in time to eliminate Sarah, thereby preventing John's birth. The Terminator is an efficient and relentless killing machine with a perfect voice-mimicking ability and a durable metal endoskeleton covered by living tissue for it to appear human.
The police then apprehend Reese and Sarah after another encounter with the Terminator. It then attacks the police station, killing several officers while hunting for Sarah. Reese and Sarah escape, steal another car and take refuge in a motel, where they assemble several pipe bombs and plan their next move. Reese admits that he has adored Sarah since he saw her in a photograph John gave him and that he traveled through time out of love for her. Reciprocating his feelings, Sarah kisses him, and they have sex, conceiving John. The Terminator locates Sarah by intercepting a call intended for her mother. She and Reese escape the motel in a pickup truck while it pursues them on a motorcycle. In the ensuing chase, Reese is badly wounded by gunfire while throwing pipe bombs at the Terminator. Sarah knocks the Terminator off its motorcycle but loses control of the truck, which flips over.
The Terminator, now bloodied and badly damaged, hijacks a tank truck and attempts to run down Sarah, but Reese slides a pipe bomb into the truck's hose tube, causing it to explode and reduce the Terminator to its endoskeleton. It pursues them into a Cyberdyne-owned factory, where Reese activates machinery there to confuse it, but it eventually discovers them. Reese then lodges his final pipe bomb into its midsection, blowing it apart, but at the cost of his life. Its still-functional torso then pursues Sarah, but she manages to lure it into a hydraulic press that she uses to destroy it once and for all.
Months later, Sarah, visibly pregnant with John, travels through Mexico, recording audio tapes to pass on to him. At a gas station, a boy takes a polaroid photograph of her, the exact one that John will one day give to Reese, and she buys it. The gas station owner comments that there is a storm coming and Sarah replies that she is aware, alluding to humanity's impending conflict against Skynet, before driving off towards it.
Additional actors included Shawn Schepps as Nancy, Sarah's co-worker at the diner; Dick Miller as a gun shop clerk; professional bodybuilder Franco Columbu as a Terminator in the future; Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson as punks whom the Terminator confronts and dispatches; Marianne Muellerleile as one of the other women with the name "Sarah Connor" whom the Terminator dispatches; Rick Aiello as the bouncer of the local nightclub where the Terminator finally locates Sarah; and Bill Wisher as the police officer who reports a hit-and-run felony on Reese, only to be knocked unconscious and have his car stolen by the Terminator soon thereafter.
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Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In Rome, Italy, during the release of Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), director Cameron fell ill and had a dream about a metallic torso holding kitchen knives dragging itself from an explosion.[6] Inspired by director John Carpenter, who had made the slasher film Halloween (1978) on a low budget, Cameron used the dream as a "launching pad" to write a slasher-style film.[7] Cameron's agent disliked the early concept of the horror film and requested that he work on something else. After this, Cameron dismissed his agent.[8]
Cameron returned to Pomona, California, and stayed at the home of science fiction writer Randall Frakes, where he wrote the draft for The Terminator.[9] Cameron's influences included 1950s science fiction films, the 1960s fantasy television series The Outer Limits, and contemporary films such as The Driver (1978) and Mad Max 2 (1981).[10][11] To translate the draft into a script, Cameron enlisted his friend Bill Wisher, who had a similar approach to storytelling. Cameron gave Wisher scenes involving Sarah Connor and the police department to write. As Wisher lived far from Cameron, the two communicated ideas by recording tapes of what they wrote by telephone. Frakes and Wisher would later write the US-released novelization of the movie.
The initial outline of the script involved two Terminators being sent to the past. The first was similar to the Terminator in the film, while the second was made of liquid metal and could not be destroyed with conventional weaponry.[12] Cameron felt that the technology of the time was unable to create the liquid Terminator,[12][13] and shelved the idea until the appearance of the T-1000 character in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).[14]
Critical response[edit]
Contemporary[edit]
Contemporary critical responses to The Terminator were mixed.[4] Variety praised the film, calling it a "blazing, cinematic comic book, full of virtuoso moviemaking, terrific momentum, solid performances and a compelling story ... Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast in a machine-like portrayal that requires only a few lines of dialog."[70] Richard Corliss of Time magazine said that the film had "plenty of tech-noir savvy to keep infidels and action fans satisfied."[71] Time placed The Terminator on its "10 Best" list for 1984.[66]
The Los Angeles Times called the film "a crackling thriller full of all sorts of gory treats ... loaded with fuel-injected chase scenes, clever special effects and a sly humor."[66] The Milwaukee Journal gave the film three stars, calling it "the most chilling science fiction thriller since Alien".[72] A review in Orange Coast magazine stated that "the distinguishing virtue of The Terminator is its relentless tension. Right from the start it's all action and violence with no time taken to set up the story ... It's like a streamlined Dirty Harry movie – no exposition at all; just guns, guns and more guns."[73] In the May 1985 issue of Cinefantastique it was referred to as a film that "manages to be both derivative and original at the same time ... not since The Road Warrior has the genre exhibited so much exuberant carnage" and "an example of science fiction/horror at its best ... Cameron's no-nonsense approach will make him a sought-after commodity".[74] In the United Kingdom the Monthly Film Bulletin praised the film's script, special effects, design and Schwarzenegger's performance.[74][75] Colin Greenland reviewed The Terminator for Imagine magazine, and stated that it was "a gripping sf horror movie". He continued, "Linda Hamilton is admirable as the woman in peril who discovers her own strength to survive, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is eerily wonderful as the unstoppable cyborg."[76]
Other reviews criticized the film's violence and story-telling quality. Janet Maslin of The New York Times opined that the film was a "B-movie with flair. Much of it ... has suspense and personality, and only the obligatory mayhem becomes dull. There is far too much of the latter, in the form of car chases, messy shootouts and Mr. Schwarzenegger's slamming brutally into anything that gets in his way."[77] The Pittsburgh Press wrote a negative review, calling the film "just another of the films drenched in artsy ugliness like Streets of Fire and Blade Runner".[78] The Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars, adding that "at times it's horrifyingly violent and suspenseful at others it giggles at itself. This schizoid style actually helps, providing a little humor just when the sci-fi plot turns too sluggish or the dialogue too hokey."[79] The Newhouse News Service called the film a "lurid, violent, pretentious piece of claptrap".[80] Scottish author Gilbert Adair called the film "repellent to the last degree", charging it with "insidious Nazification" and having an "appeal rooted in an unholy compound of fascism, fashion and fascination".[81]
Retrospective[edit]
In 1991, Richard Schickel of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the film, giving it an "A" rating, writing that "what originally seemed a somewhat inflated, if generous and energetic, big picture, now seems quite a good little film". He called it "one of the most original movies of the 1980s and seems likely to remain one of the best sci-fi films ever made."[82] In 1998, Halliwell's Film Guide described The Terminator as "slick, rather nasty but undeniably compelling comic book adventures".[83] Film4 gave it five stars, calling it the "sci-fi action-thriller that launched the careers of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger into the stratosphere. Still endlessly entertaining."[84] TV Guide gave the film four stars, referring to it as an "amazingly effective picture that becomes doubly impressive when one considers its small budget ... For our money, this film is far superior to its mega-grossing mega-budgeted sequel."[85] Empire gave it five stars, calling it "as chillingly efficient in exacting thrills from its audience as its titular character is in executing its targets."[86] The film database AllMovie gave it five stars, saying that it "established James Cameron as a master of action, special effects, and quasi-mythic narrative intrigue, while turning Arnold Schwarzenegger into the hard-body star of the 1980s."[87] Alan Jones awarded it five stars out of five for Radio Times, writing that "maximum excitement is generated from the first frame and the dynamic thrills are maintained right up to the nerve-jangling climax. Wittily written with a nice eye for sharp detail, it's hard sci-fi action all the way."[88] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded it five stars out of five, stating that "on the strength of this picture [...] Cameron could stand toe to toe with Carpenter and Spielberg. Sadly, it spawned a string of pointless and inferior sequels, but the first Terminator [...] stands up tremendously well with outrageous verve and blistering excitement."[89]
Post-release[edit]
Plagiarism and aftermath[edit]
Writer Harlan Ellison stated that he "loved the movie, was just blown away by it,"[90] but believed that the screenplay was based on a short story and episode of The Outer Limits he had written, titled "Soldier", and threatened to sue for infringement.[91][92] Orion settled in 1986 and gave Ellison an undisclosed amount of money and added an acknowledgment credit to later prints of the film.[91] Some accounts of the settlement state that "Demon with a Glass Hand", another Outer Limits episode written by Ellison, was also claimed to have been plagiarized by the film,[93][94][95][96] but Ellison explicitly stated that The Terminator "was a ripoff" of "Soldier" rather than of "Demon with a Glass Hand."[91]
Cameron was against Orion's decision and was told that if he did not agree with the settlement, he would have to pay any damages if Orion lost a suit by Ellison. Cameron replied that he "had no choice but to agree with the settlement. Of course, there was a gag order as well, so I couldn't tell this story, but now I frankly don't care. It's the truth."[97]
Thematic analysis[edit]
The psychoanalyst Darian Leader sees The Terminator as an example of how the cinema has dealt with the concept of masculinity; he writes:
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Sequels[edit]
Five sequels followed The Terminator: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), though none replicated the successes of The Terminator or Terminator 2.[131][132] Schwarzenegger returned for all but Terminator Salvation, while Cameron and Hamilton returned only for Dark Fate, a direct sequel to the events of Terminator 2.[133] Although better critically received than other post-Terminator 2 sequels, Dark Fate is also considered a failure. Analysts blamed audience disinterest on the diminishing quality of the series since Terminator 2, and repeated attempts to reboot the series.[132][133][134][135] A television series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009), also takes place after the events of Terminator 2, and ignores the events in sequels Terminator 3 and beyond.[136][137]