The Terminator
Who directed and cowrote The Terminator (1984)?
What is the main plot of The Terminator?
How was The Terminator received at the box office?
What awards did The Terminator win?
Who was initially considered for the role of the Terminator?
The Terminator, an American science-fiction, action-adventure film, released in 1984. It was directed and cowritten by James Cameron and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular Terminator, a nearly indestructible humanoid cyborg assassin sent back in time from the year 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton), a woman whose unborn son will lead the future fight against an artificial intelligence system’s attempt to destroy humanity. The film was a huge box office success, grossing more than $78 million worldwide, and is credited with launching Cameron’s career as well as boosting Schwarzenegger’s star power.
Development
Cameron wrote The Terminator’s script based on a fever dream he had in 1981 about a chrome skeleton emerging from a fiery inferno. Wanting to direct the film but having a hard time getting production companies to allow that, he ended up selling the script to his future wife, producer Gale Anne Hurd, for one dollar, with the stipulation that he direct it. Hurd made suggestions for the script, and screenwriter William Wisher was brought in to write additional dialogue. Lance Henriksen and O.J. Simpson were briefly considered for the title role; the latter was rejected because he was considered too nice to portray a killer. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had initially auditioned for the role of Kyle Reese, Connor’s lover, was eventually cast in the title role. The movie was released by Orion Pictures on October 26, 1984.
Synopsis
Note: This section contains plot spoilers.
The Terminator tells the story of a humanoid cyborg (Schwarzenegger) sent to 1984 Los Angeles from the year 2029 with the purpose of killing Sarah Connor (Hamilton), to prevent her unborn son, John, from leading the humans in a future war against the machines. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a human resistance movement soldier, is also sent back through time to save Sarah Connor.
Reese and the Terminator both attempt to be the first to reach Connor; the latter steals a car and several automatic weapons before going on a killing rampage, murdering two other women named Sarah Connor, as well as the target Sarah Connor’s roommate and the roommate’s boyfriend. Connor hides in a nightclub and tries to dodge Reese, who she believes means her harm. Connor calls the police and her roommate for help, but the voice message she leaves for her roommate helps the Terminator locate her; he arrives at the nightclub before the police do. In the gunfight that follows, Reese helps Connor escape.
Safe for the moment, Reese explains to Connor that he was sent to protect her from the Terminator. He tells her that the Terminator is actually a robot, created by a future government defense computer network system that was programmed to detect threats from America’s enemies but eventually began viewing all of humanity as a threat. The defense system ended up designing robotic devices such as the humanlike Terminators. Reese also tells Connor about her future son, John Connor, who will be the leader of the human resistance movement, and that the Terminator was sent to kill her to ensure that he will never be born.
Another car chase follows, ending with Connor and Reese being detained by the police. The Terminator tracks them down and murders every police officer in the building, but Reese and Conner escape again. They then hide in a motel room, where Reese reveals that he fell in love with Connor after seeing a picture of her that John had given to him in the future; she reciprocates his feelings. The Terminator tracks them down again, leading to a car chase that ends with Reese getting injured and the Terminator being reduced to its mechanical skeleton. Trapped in a factory, Reese uses his last bomb to blow the Terminator up, also killing himself, before Connor crushes the rest of the Terminator’s body in a hydraulic press.
The movie ends with a pregnant Connor driving through a desert in Mexico, where she stops at a gas station, and a boy takes a photograph of her. She buys the photograph from him and realizes that it is the same one that Reese had of her, revealing that Reese is John Connor’s father.
Reception and legacy
The Terminator was a huge box office success, grossing more than $78 million worldwide. It was nominated for seven Saturn Awards in 1985 and won best science fiction film, best writing, and best makeup. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2008.
A successful 1991 sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, also directed by Cameron and starring Schwarzenegger, won four Academy Awards and is considered one of the greatest action movies of all time. Cameron left the franchise after Terminator 2: Judgment Day; four more sequels, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), have since been released to mixed reviews and success. A television series titled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ran for two seasons in 2008 and 2009 and received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Production notes and credits
- Production company: Hemdale Productions
- Director: James Cameron
- Producers: Gale Anne Hurd, John Daly, Derek Gibson
- Writers: James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher, Jr.
- Cinematographer: Adam Greenberg
- Editor: Mark Goldblatt
- Music: Brad Fiedel
- Running time: 107 minutes