The Terminator (1984)
- To accurately portray their role in The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director James Cameron.
- Despite initial studio skepticism, The Terminator went on to gross over $78,000,000 worldwide.
The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, his breakthrough as a filmmaker that launched one of cinema's most enduring franchises. The film follows a cyborg assassin known as the Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 Los Angeles to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, a young waitress whose unborn son will one day lead the human resistance against the machine uprising. Kyle Reese, a human soldier played by Michael Biehn, is also sent back to protect Sarah.
James Cameron conceived the film from a fever dream of a chrome skeleton emerging from flames, and wrote the screenplay while sleeping in his car between odd jobs. The film was produced for approximately $6.4 million, a modest budget that forced Cameron to be resourceful and inventive, using practical effects, stop-motion animation, and clever editing to create action sequences that rivaled far more expensive productions. Arnold Schwarzenegger's casting as the Terminator โ he had originally been considered for Reese โ proved to be inspired, as the bodybuilder's massive physique, thick Austrian accent, and limited emotional range were perfectly suited to portraying an emotionless killing machine.
His delivery of "I'll be back" became one of cinema's most iconic lines. Stan Winston's practical effects for the Terminator's revealed endoskeleton were groundbreaking and terrifying. The Terminator earned $78 million worldwide and established Cameron as a major directing talent while transforming Schwarzenegger from an action curiosity into a global superstar.
The film's influence on science fiction, particularly its vision of artificial intelligence as an existential threat to humanity, has only grown more relevant with time.
