FILM · 1984 · UK
The Terminator
- Directed by
- James Cameron
- Runtime
- 108 min
- Studio
- Hemdale, Pacific Western
244 archived facts 8 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
244 Interesting Facts About The Terminator
Interesting Facts (76)
- #001
While shooting this film, James Cameron often resorted to what he called "guerilla filmmaking" as a way of getting around acquiring permits needed to film certain scenes. This involved the production crew and actors quickly arriving at a specified location, shooting the scene and leaving before the police arrived. As a result, some of the people seen in a few shots are actual everyday citizens completely unaware they're in a movie. This was also used for re shoots with Cameron even calling and waking Arnold Schwarzenegger once at 3 am to meet him at a location already in full costume to quickly re-shoot a scene. Cameron also used this tactic to film the very last scene where Sarah drives off into the desert. Waiting for the heat to rise to the point that ripples could be filmed a highway patrolman appeared. Producer Gale Anne Hurd convinced him they were working on a UCLA film project and he allowed them to finish.
- #002
Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to avoid Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn as much as possible since the Terminator was trying to kill them, not form connections.
- #003
James Cameron got the idea for the film during post-production of his previous film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), in Rome. Since he had been fired from the production, he had spent the last of his own money on the plane ticket to get there, hoping to be at least involved in the editing process. Without money for proper food, he became increasingly sick, and went to bed one night with high fever. He had a nightmare of a metal endoskeleton emerging from flames, dragging itself over the floor holding kitchen knives. When he woke up, he immediately made a drawing of this vision. Most of the script was written backwards from there: the endoskeleton would have to be futuristic, but since Cameron couldn't afford to set the film in the future, the solution was to bring the future to the present, hence the 'time travel' aspect of the script was written in. When special effects artist Stan Winston was brought in, he added a few more designs for the endoskeleton, but in the end they basically used the one that Cameron had drawn the first time.
- #004
- #005
James Cameron's original story idea was much more elaborate, and involved Skynet sending two Terminators back in time: the first one was a cyborg that would be defeated by a human also sent back in time (the Resistance actually sent two men, but one was to die during the time travel). A second Terminator, one consisting of liquid metal that would be able to shape-shift, would be sent by Skynet in response (reluctantly, as it is so experimental that it may alter the past beyond Skynet's intentions). Cameron briefly considered clay-animation in dark shots to portray this shape-shifter, but he soon realized that the concept was too ambitious for what he could achieve with contemporary techniques. He also knew that his reputation at the time wasn't big enough to sell a story of such scope to a studio, so he used only the first half of it. When a completely computer-generated special effect proved to be a success in Cameron's The Abyss (1989), he revived the idea of the liquid Terminator for the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- #006
The beginning of production was postponed for nine months, due to Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to Conan the Destroyer (1984). During this time, James Cameron wanted to be working but didn't have the time to do a whole other film. He had a discussion with some producers at 20th Century Fox who liked his screenplay for THE TERMINATOR, and gave him a writing assignment; this turned out to be Aliens (1986). On the same day, he was also asked to write a script for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). While handling these two assignments, he also did additional work on his Terminator screenplay, writing each script at night at a different desk, in order to keep the projects apart. He calculated how many pages he had to write each night, by dividing the total number of pages by the number of waking hours per night. He said that he accomplished that by drinking lots of coffee, a habit that he finally kicked after completing Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- #007
In the film, the name of the nightclub where the Terminator first targets Sarah was named Tech Noir after a film genre which James Cameron coined himself in describing what category this film falls under after dismissing the notions that it was a mere horror or slasher film. Tech Noir films like Blade Runner (1982) and this film combine the old style grittiness of noir films with the futuristic elements of a sci-fi thriller. Cameron himself had the club built specifically for the film and had to turn away local clubgoers who thought Tech Noir was a real nightclub. The building still exists but is now a jewelry store.
- #008
- #009
In James Cameron's original treatment, Sarah Connor has an old figure skating injury that was fixed with a couple of surgical pins, and the Terminator cut the legs open of the first two Sarah Connors to find these identifying marks. In the novelization of the story, the pins were instead inserted into her leg after it was broken during her final fight against the Terminator. Skynet knew Sarah had surgical pins in her leg, but not when or why she got them. The Terminator was therefore looking for a sign of an injury she had not yet sustained.
- #010
- #011
Two deleted scenes gave Skynet and the Future War some more background. The first was a scene where Sarah locates Cyberdyne Systems, the company that will be responsible for building Skynet and the Terminators. She tries to convince Reese that they should destroy their building in order to prevent the dark future from ever happening, but Reese tells her that his mission is conserving the future, not changing it. The second scene shows that Cyberdyne owns the factory where Sarah battled the Terminator and that one of their employees finds the Terminator's microchip, which actually causes Skynet to exist in the first place. The scenes were originally part of a larger subplot where Sarah and Kyle eventually agree to blow up Cyberdyne, which is why they were making bombs in the first place; ending up inside the Cyberdyne factory while on the run for the Terminator wasn't a total coincidence, as they were purposely heading that way hoping to destroy it (this subplot did end up in the novelization). Skynet's origin and the destruction of Cyberdyne became major plot points for the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) instead. Director James Cameron cut the scenes because he wanted to leave some questions yet unanswered, which he never regretted as he could make an entire sequel out of the unused ideas.
- #012
The handgun Kyle Reese carries after the police station massacre and gives to Sarah Connor at the motel belongs to Lieutenant Traxler. In a deleted scene, Reese and Sarah are trying to escape the police station when they encounter the wounded Traxler. He now believes their story and gives Reese his gun, telling him to protect Sarah. Several more scenes showing Traxler's growing belief that Reese is telling the truth were cut from the film.
- #013
The Terminator is the only character to be listed in the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes and Villains as both a villain (for this film) and a hero (for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)). Al Pacino and Arnold Schwarzenegger are the only two actors to be on the list as playing a villain and a hero, but Pacino played two different characters. 13 other actors and actresses appear twice or more but either all as heroes or all as villains.
- #014
- #015
- #016
Before the Terminator attacks Sarah Connor at the police station, Lieutenant Traxler states that there are "thirty police officers" in the station. Counting the police officers the Terminator kills on screen and the explosions as he fires at off-screen targets, the total comes to thirty. However, the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) reveals that in the end 17 officers were confirmed dead.
- #017
- #018
- #019
(at around 37 mins) A hydraulic arm was used when the Terminator punches through the windshield in the alley scene. This was rehearsed several times and since Arnold Schwarzenegger's face was also in the shot, it all had to be choreographed perfectly, since replacing a windshield was too costly and time consuming.
- #020
- #021
(about 59 minutes) Arnold Schwarzenegger's iconic line "I'll be back" was actually written in the script as "I'll come back." After the change, it nearly became "I will be back" because Schwarzenegger thought it would sound more machine-like without the contraction; he also felt that "I'll be back" sounded too feminine. This was one of the major disagreements between Schwarzenegger and James Cameron, and all Cameron had to say about it was: "I don't tell you how to act, so don't tell me how to write."
- #022
Before he was cast as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger had seen Westworld (1973) and was impressed by Yul Brynner's portrayal of a robot. At their first meeting, Schwarzenegger told James Cameron how the Terminator should be played and that, whoever played him, he should not act like a machine but be a machine. This convinced Cameron to cast Schwarzenegger as the Terminator.
- #023
During the making of Conan the Destroyer (1984), Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked about his future projects and called The Terminator "a terrible film that will take a few weeks." He later took back those words: "It was wrong to judge the film before I was fully involved in it. James Cameron created a great character, and even though I hesitated, I now know that The Terminator is a defining work in my career."
- #024
Contrary to popular belief, Lance Henriksen was never going to be the Terminator. However, James Cameron based some of the first sketches of the Terminator on Henriksen's likeness. He also helped Cameron in a rather unusual way when pitching the film to the producers: he showed up to the meeting in a leather jacket and black boots, added cuts to his head and put gold foil on his teeth. Fifteen minutes before the actual meeting, he burst into Hemdale's front office and walked toward the staff, which frightened them. He then sat down in a chair and stared silently at the producers, which made them increasingly uncomfortable. When Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd arrived, Henriksen left the room. He later heard one of the producers say, "Whoever you use for the Terminator, not him."
- #025
- #026
- #027
Although he is a native German speaker, Arnold Schwarzenegger does not do his own dubbing in the German version of the film because his thick Austrian accent would be distracting for German audiences. It would be as if the film were in American English and the Terminator spoke with a Southern accent or a thick Scottish accent. In fact, on the Terminator 3 DVD there is a bonus feature showing how the Terminator got his appearance: Arnold plays Sergeant William Candy, who has a thick Southern accent.
- #028
- #029
- #030
The second wrong Sarah Connor (middle name Ann) is seen only in crime scene photos examined by Detective Vukovich and Lieutenant Detective Traxler. The character was played by Paula Cross, a friend of Gale Anne Hurd who also appears in James Cameron's later film The Abyss (1989) (confirmed by the text commentary on the latter's DVD).
- #031
- #032
- #033
James Cameron's original story idea was much more detailed and involved Skynet sending two Terminators back in time: the first was a cyborg who would in turn be defeated by a human sent back in time as well (the Resistance had actually sent two men, but one would die during time travel). In response, Skynet would send a second Terminator made of shape-shifting liquid metal (reluctantly, because it was so experimental that it could change the past beyond Skynet's intentions). Cameron briefly considered bringing this shape-shifter to life with clay animation in dark scenes, but he realized the concept was too ambitious to achieve with the techniques of the time. He also knew that his reputation at the time would not be enough to sell a story of this scope to a studio, so he used only the first half. When a fully computer-generated special effect succeeded in Cameron's The Abyss (1989), he revived the idea of the liquid Terminator for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- #034
The first draft of the film was sold to James Cameron's production partner and former colleague at New World Pictures, Gale Anne Hurd, for just 1 dollar. This symbolic gesture came with a 'blood oath': Hurd had to promise to do everything in her power to make the film, but only on the condition that Cameron remain as director. She kept her word and turned down every studio that showed interest but wanted to replace Cameron. Cameron and Hurd began a romantic relationship during the making of this film, made Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989) together, and were married from 1985 to 1989 (they had separated by the time they made The Abyss).
- #035
In James Cameron's original draft, Sarah Connor had an old ice-skating injury that had been repaired with several surgical pins; the Terminator cut open the legs of the first two Sarah Connors to find these identifying marks. In the novelization of the story, however, the pins are inserted after her leg is broken during her final battle against the Terminator. Skynet knew that Sarah had surgical pins in her leg, but did not know when or why she had gotten them. For this reason, the Terminator was looking for the mark of an injury that had not yet occurred.
- #036
According to a 2008 interview with Lance Henriksen, James Cameron did not have an agency, and while writing the script for the film he was either living in his car or sleeping on a friend's couch. Cameron had in fact fired his agency because he did not like the story idea he had designed for this film.
- #037
Two deleted scenes provided more background on Skynet and the Future War. The first is the scene in which Sarah finds Cyberdyne Systems, that is, discovers the company that will build Skynet and the Terminators. She tries to convince Reese that they must destroy its buildings to prevent the dark future from happening, but Reese tells her that his mission is to protect the future, not to change it. The second scene shows that Cyberdyne owned the factory where Sarah fought the Terminator, and that one of its employees found the Terminator's microchip, which in fact caused Skynet to exist. These scenes were actually part of a larger subplot in which Sarah and Kyle ultimately agreed to blow up Cyberdyne; that is why they were making a bomb at the beginning; their entering the Cyberdyne factory while fleeing the Terminator was not entirely a coincidence, they had set out deliberately to destroy it (this subplot appeared in the novelization). Skynet's origin and the destruction of Cyberdyne instead became the main plot in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Director James Cameron cut the scenes because he wanted to leave some questions unanswered, and he never regretted it, since he was able to make an entire sequel out of the unused ideas.
- #038
Writer Harlan Ellison sued James Cameron, claiming that while he greatly enjoyed the film, its story was plagiarized from the episodes Soldier (1964) and Demon with a Glass Hand (1964), which he had written for The Outer Limits (1963). The concept of 'Skynet' may also have been taken from Ellison's short story 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream'. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and new editions of the film included a credit to Ellison. Cameron claimed that the settlement was forced on him by producers who refused to back him. He believed Ellison was making baseless and opportunistic claims, and he wanted the case to go to trial. However, the insurance company told him that if he lost the case, he would be held personally liable for the financial damages. Since money was tight for Cameron at the time, he could not take the risk and had no choice but to accept the settlement; he has always resented this.
- #039
The film was released in Poland in the late 1980s under the title 'Electronic Killer'. The name was changed because in Polish the word 'terminator' roughly means 'apprentice', and so the title was replaced with something more memorable and interesting for the audience. When Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was released, the original film was widely available in pirated copies under its original title, and therefore in the early 1990s in Poland the word 'terminator' became widely known as the character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger rather than its original meaning; that is why the titles of all the sequels were not changed.
- #040
- #041
James Cameron's original draft included the detail that the Terminator must periodically eat to keep its human flesh alive. There was a scene in which the Terminator eats a candy bar with its wrapper on. This detail was included in the script for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003); the Terminator chooses Manner brand Neapolitan wafers, Arnold Schwarzenegger's favorite Austrian wafer. When fans learned that a scene of the Terminator eating candy had been shot, the reaction was overwhelmingly negative and the scene was cut.
- #042
James Cameron saw no money from the sequels to the series he was not involved in: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009) and Terminator Genisys (2015). Before making THE TERMINATOR, he had fired his agency, which never believed in the project, and had chosen to represent himself ever since. He sold the rights to the first film with an attempt to (successfully) retain control of it, but this also meant that those rights wandered from studio to studio over the following thirty years. Due to changes in copyright law, they returned to him 35 years later, in 2019, but in the meantime he received no royalties from any of the films made. He calls this lost income the 'cost of his Hollywood education'.
- #043
In the original script, the Terminator was supposed to steal a car at the beginning of the film. The Terminator observes an old woman getting into the car; the woman panics when she sees the Terminator, puts the car in reverse, hits a trash can, shifts into drive and finally speeds away. The Terminator then gets into the car and imitates her reverse-gear mistake. This was removed from a later draft of the script.
- #044
The screenplay is officially credited to James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, with additional dialogue by William Wisher. In reality, Cameron and Wisher were the main contributors: Wisher wrote the dialogue for the early Sarah Connor scenes and the police station sequences, while Cameron focused on the rest. They informed each other daily by phone about their progress. Hurd's role was mainly to edit the script; she put her name on it to facilitate its sale, but ultimately received full writing credit for this film and several Terminator-related projects despite doing no writing work. Cameron said he was somewhat disappointed that Hurd never corrected the record, but what bothered him even more was that people automatically assumed that making the main character a woman was Hurd's idea, when in fact it was his.
- #045
According to the original draft (available in the DVD version), two protectors were to be sent back to save Sarah Connor. However, Kyle Reese's partner, a man named Sumner, would have received very little screen time because he rematerializes inside a fire escape and dies instantly. It is interesting to note that this contradicts the Temporal Displacement Field logic of the sequel (matter in an egg-shaped field is replaced by its future counterpart).
- #046
The idea of blowing up Cyberdyne Systems and thus preventing the war was actually conceived in the first film. However, due to time constraints this scene was cut and became a significant factor in the sequel. While Kyle explains to Sarah that such an action is not part of his mission and is tactically dangerous, the two are in the countryside; Kyle realizes that he comes from a time when such beauty has been destroyed and no longer exists, which causes him to have an emotional breakdown and he explains that he was not made to see this, saying 'it's all gone'. This thought is repeated by Sarah in the sequel during her mental health evaluation, while watching video of her past behavior with Dr. Silberman: 'He, you, this place, everything you see is gone.'
- #047
The film was conceived not as a science fiction action film but as a dark horror film. However, many moviegoers perceived it as an action film when they first saw it in theaters. James Cameron was so surprised that he decided to make action films from then on. Months before the release date, Cameron had not expected the film to achieve any success at the box office or with critics. Ironically, it is now considered one of the best films of all time.
- #048
- #049
The original script included a scene explaining the pseudoscience behind time travel. Second unit director Jean-Paul Ouellette attended a dinner with his father, a government physicist working at Los Alamos, and a dozen colleagues, and discussed the scene with them. The experts were not enthusiastic about the made-up science, and all parties agreed that the film would be stronger if the science were not specified. Ouellette passed this advice on to James Cameron, and Cameron cut the scene in question.
- #050
- #051
James Cameron first approached Rob Bottin, but Bottin had been offered John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) and could not do both films. Cameron then turned to another effects legend, Dick Smith. Smith decided the project was not right for him but made a suggestion: 'Stan makes good robots.' Stan Winston was in the midst of a robot-design frenzy with the Tin Man in The Wiz (1978) and the robot makeups in Heartbeeps (1981), which led to both an Academy Award nomination and the design of 'Mr. Roboto' for the rock band Styx. When Cameron finally asked Stan to join The Terminator (1984), the project led to a professional partnership and friendship that would last 25 years.
- #052
- #053
- #054
The writers acknowledged that the rule that 'no dead thing can pass' (that is, only things surrounded by living tissue can travel back in time) has no scientific basis and was designed entirely as a Plot Protection Device, since otherwise Reese could have brought a BFG or something similar with him, killed the Terminator and the film would have ended in five minutes. In the fourth sequel, Terminator Genisys (2015), it was retroactively explained that any exposed metal would cause a disastrous reaction because it would overheat during the Time Displacement process, as in a microwave oven.
- #055
James Cameron, together with producer/co-writer Gale Anne Hurd, insists on O.J. Simpson for the lead role when Orion president Mike Medavoy first suggests him. Although Medavoy has since downplayed this pre-production anecdote, even Arnold Schwarzenegger remembers that Medavoy was so serious about Simpson that at an industry screening for Blue Thunder (1983) he offered Schwarzenegger the role of the 'brave soldier from the future, the good guy', which was ultimately played by Michael Biehn: 'Medavoy told me the Terminator had already been played by O.J. Simpson.'
- #056
- #057
The name of the nightclub where the Terminator first targets Sarah Connor is Tech Noir. James Cameron, stating that the film is not merely a horror or slasher film, used the term 'Tech Noir' to define this genre. Tech Noir works such as Blade Runner (1982) and this film combine the old-school toughness of noir films with the futuristic elements of science fiction thriller. Cameron had the club built specifically for the film and had to turn away local regulars who thought Tech Noir was a real nightclub. The building is still standing, but it is now a jewelry shop.
- #058
- #059
The handgun Kyle Reese carries after the police station massacre and gives to Sarah Connor at the motel is Lieutenant Traxler's weapon. In a deleted scene, Reese and Sarah encounter the wounded Traxler as they try to escape the police station. Traxler now believes their story and gives Reese his gun to protect Sarah. Other scenes showing Traxler increasingly believing that Reese is telling the truth were also cut from the film.
- #060
- #061
The film's novelization offers an explanation for why the Terminator's skin decays. In the T-800's chest cavity is an organic heart, the only true organ in its entire body, and this heart exists to pump blood to the skin. The novel explains that when Kyle Reese fires most of his shotgun shells directly into the center of the T-800's chest, the heart bursts, so blood is no longer pumped to the skin. Although later films probably forgot this, it is possible that the T-800 and T-850 in T2 and T3 never decayed because they never got the chance to decay before sacrificing themselves.
- #062
Although the Gargoyles sunglasses seen in the film are mistakenly associated with the first Terminator film (known in the eyewear world as 'Terminator sunglasses' or 'Gargoyles 85'), they had previously been seen on Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact (1983) and were later used in The Dead Pool (1988). Gargoyles continued producing the sunglasses as the Gargoyles Classic until the company ceased operations at the end of 2022.
- #063
- #064
SERIES TRADEMARK: In the first three Terminator films, the evil Terminator's death is somehow met with the word 'terminated.' As Sarah Connor crushes the Terminator in a hydraulic press, she boldly says, 'You're terminated, fucker!'; in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), when John Connor asks 'Is it dead?', the Terminator replies 'terminated'; in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), the Terminator, holding the T-X, says, 'You are terminated!'
- #065
- #066
- #067
- #068
A promotional photo of Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese was used as the box cover of Metal Gear (1987), the first game in the long-running video game series; presumably without James Cameron's permission or knowledge. Although Hideo Kojima was heavily influenced by American action films when creating Metal Gear, he had no role in designing the game's packaging, as he was new at Konami at the time.
- #069
As Kyle Reese later states in the film, Skynet knew very little about Sarah Connor because most records had been lost in the war between humanity and the machines. This fact is already emphasized in the gun shop scene; the Terminator asks for a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range, but gets a puzzled reaction from the shop owner; apparently, its detailed files on firearms did not include the fact that the plasma rifle had not yet been invented in 1984. The script also refers to the assault rifle as an AR-18 and shows it as such in the film, but it is quite clear that a California gun shop in 1984 would not sell a fully automatic rifle over the counter. The Terminator novel excuses this by stating that the Terminator instead takes a civilian AR-180 semi-automatic rifle and converts it to full auto using tools stolen from a hardware store earlier that day.
- #070
- #071
- #072
- #073
The Italian Terminator-exploitation film Hands of Steel (1986), although it bears more resemblance to Universal Soldier (1992) than to The Terminator, copies shot for shot the scene in which the Terminator cuts off his arm and checks whether the mechanism is working properly. Additionally, one of the cyborgs in the film has a red glint in his eyes like the Terminators.
- #074
- #075
At the beginning of the film, in the scene where the Terminator searches the phone book for all addresses under the name Sarah Connor, when the close-up switches to a wide shot, it can be seen for a moment that his left hand's finger is under the names CONNER John B, Conner John H and Conner John L, not CONNOR.
- #076
Production Story (67)
- #077
The screenplay is officially credited to James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, with additional dialogue by William Wisher. In reality, Cameron and Wisher were the main contributors: Wisher did the dialogue for the early Sarah Connor scenes and the police station sequences, while Cameron focused on the rest. They would update each other daily on their progress over the phone. Hurd's role was mainly in editing the script; she had put her name onto it so that it would make an easier sales pitch, but she ended up getting a full writing credit for this film and several other Terminator-related projects as a result, despite not doing any actual writing. Cameron said that he was somewhat disappointed that Hurd never set the record straight, but what annoyed him even more was that people automatically assumed that making a woman the central character was Hurd's idea, while it was in fact his.
- #078
- #079
Prior to being cast as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger watched Westworld (1973), and was amazed by Yul Brynner's performance as a robot in the film. During their first meeting, Schwarzenegger talked to James Cameron about how the Terminator should be played and that whoever plays it shouldn't act like a machine, but be a machine. This convinced Cameron to cast Schwarzenegger as the Terminator.
- #080
James Cameron has never seen any money for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009) and Terminator Genisys (2015), the sequels in the franchise he was not involved in. Before making THE TERMINATOR, he had fired his agent who didn't show any faith in the project, so he chose to represent himself from then on. He sold the rights to the first film in a (successful) attempt to direct it, but this also meant that these rights kept bouncing around from studio to studio for the next three decades. Due to changes in copyright law, they reverted back to him in 2019 after 35 years, but he received no royalties for any of the movies made during that time. He refers to this lost income as "the costs of a Hollywood education".
- #081
The idea of blowing up Cyberdyne Systems, and thereby preventing the war, was originally conceived in the first movie. However, due to time constraints, this scene was cut, and becomes a major factor in the sequel. When Kyle is explaining to Sarah that such a move is not part of his mission, and tactically dangerous, the two happen to be in the countryside, in which Kyle realizes he comes from a time where such beauty has been destroyed and no longer exists, this causes him to have an emotional breakdown as he explains he wasn't meant to see this, and how "it's all gone." This notion is repeated by Sarah, in a video in the sequel, during her sanity evaluation when she and Dr. Silberman are watching a video of past behavior and she tells him "Him, you, this whole place, everything you see is gone."
- #082
The original treatment by James Cameron included the detail that the Terminator needed to eat periodically in order for his human flesh to survive. A scene is included where the Terminator eats a candy bar, wrapper and all. This detail was incorporated into the script for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), with the Terminator selecting Neapolitan wafers by Manner, Arnold Schwarzenegger's favorite Austrian wafer. When fans learned that a scene had been shot where the Terminator ate candy, the reaction was overwhelmingly negative and the scene was omitted.
- #083
Two deleted scenes gave Skynet and the Future War some more background. The first was a scene where Sarah locates Cyberdyne Systems, the company that will be responsible for building Skynet and the Terminators. She tries to convince Reese that they should destroy their building in order to prevent the dark future from ever happening, but Reese tells her that his mission is conserving the future, not changing it. The second scene shows that Cyberdyne owns the factory where Sarah battled the Terminator and that one of their employees finds the Terminator's microchip, which actually causes Skynet to exist in the first place. The scenes were originally part of a larger subplot where Sarah and Kyle eventually agree to blow up Cyberdyne, which is why they were making bombs in the first place; ending up inside the Cyberdyne factory while on the run for the Terminator wasn't a total coincidence, as they were purposely heading that way hoping to destroy it (this subplot did end up in the novelization). Skynet's origin and the destruction of Cyberdyne became major plot points for the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) instead. Director James Cameron cut the scenes because he wanted to leave some questions yet unanswered, which he never regretted as he could make an entire sequel out of the unused ideas.
- #084
The initial draft for the movie was sold to Gale Anne Hurd, James Cameron's production partner and former collaborator at New World Pictures, for the price of only $1.00. The symbolic gesture came with a 'blood oath': Hurd had to promise to do everything in her power to get the film produced, but with Cameron as director. She kept her word, and dismissed every studio that showed interest but wanted to ditch Cameron. He and Hurd would get romantically involved during production of this movie, made Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989) together, and were married from 1985 to 1989 (they had separated by the time they made The Abyss).
- #085
The original screenplay contained a scene which spelled out the supposed science behind time travel. Second-unit director Jean-Paul Ouellette happened to attend a dinner with his father, a government physicist working at Los Alamos, and a dozen of his colleagues, and discussed the scene with them. The experts were unenthusiastic about the made-up science, and all parties agreed that the film would be stronger if the science were left unspecified. Ouelette relayed this advice to James Cameron, who cut the scene in question.
- #086
- #087
James Cameron got the idea for the film during post-production of his previous film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), in Rome. Since he had been fired from the production, he had spent the last of his own money on the plane ticket to get there, hoping to be at least involved in the editing process. Without money for proper food, he became increasingly sick, and went to bed one night with high fever. He had a nightmare of a metal endoskeleton emerging from flames, dragging itself over the floor holding kitchen knives. When he woke up, he immediately made a drawing of this vision. Most of the script was written backwards from there: the endoskeleton would have to be futuristic, but since Cameron couldn't afford to set the film in the future, the solution was to bring the future to the present, hence the 'time travel' aspect of the script was written in. When special effects artist Stan Winston was brought in, he added a few more designs for the endoskeleton, but in the end they basically used the one that Cameron had drawn the first time.
- #088
When O.J. Simpson was still in the running to play the Terminator, a mockup movie poster was done with him instead. The role was later cast with Arnold Schwarzenegger because they felt that Simpson was "too nice", and not a believable killer. Simpson would later be convicted for the wrongful death of his ex-wive in a civil law suit.
- #089
Contrary to popular belief, Lance Henriksen was never going to be the Terminator. However, James Cameron based some of his early sketches of the Terminator on Henriksen's likeness. He also helped Cameron pitching the film to the producers in a rather unique way: He prepared himself for the meeting by dressing up in a leather jacket and black boots, added cuts to his head and put gold foil on his teeth. Fifteen minutes before the actual meeting was about to take place, he stormed into the Hemdale front office and marched towards the staff, which frightened them. He then took a seat and silently stared at the producers, which made them gradually uncomfortable. When Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd arrived, Henriksen left the room. He later overheard that one of the producers even said "I don't care who you use for the Terminator--not him."
- #090
Leading make-up designer Dick Smith declined James Cameron's invitation to work on the film, as he didn't think he could do cyborg make-up. He suggested his friend Stan Winston who had just been Oscar-nominated for his robot work on Heartbeeps (1981); Cameron reluctantly accepted. Fortunately, Winston was not frustrated by the fact that Cameron had already done most of the design work on the film himself. In fact, his work on the film's practical special effects paid off so well that they became personal friends. They later founded special effects company Digital Domain together, and would subsequently collaborate on Aliens (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996).
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- #092
Sylvester Stallone was considered for the Terminator but declined. Coincidentally, a year after, James Cameron and Stallone wrote Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) together. Also, there was a competition between Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger's success in action movies about who would win in a battle: Rambo or the Terminator. Stallone later worked with Arnold on the Expendables movies and Escape Plan (2013). In Last Action Hero (1993), a scene features a video store cardboard cut-out of Stallone as the Terminator.
- #093
There was minimal interference from the film's financial backer and distributor, Orion Pictures, partly due to the budget offered (and Hemdale Pictures contributing to part of it). However, they did suggest two things. The first was a cyborg canine that accompanies Reese - an idea turned down by James Cameron. The second was strengthening the relationship between Kyle and Sarah, which Cameron decided to accept. Producer Gale Anne Hurd later said that Orion also insisted that two of their friends be cast in small roles for a scene that was later deleted.
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- #095
In pre-production for THE TERMINATOR, James Cameron's top priority was to make a believable robot. Cameron had initially conceived of a "C-3PO type" suit. But in interviews, he confided "I didn't want the robot to be a man in a suit." He instinctively knew that any suit performer, however thin, would require an audience to imagine a man inside a suit, inside Schwarzenegger. It was pushing the limits of their suspension of disbelief. Cameron knew "But no one had ever created a robot that wasn't a suit." Cameron imagined that stop-motion animation would comprise the majority of the action scenes with the fully revealed endoskeleton. However, Stan Winston convinced Cameron that he and his team could achieve a huge number of shots with full-size puppetry. For the close and medium shots, Stan Winston Studio devised a wearable T-800 puppet. Puppeteer Shane Mahan wore the rig strapped to his back, while individual operators took charge of controlling the head and eyes via remote control. Cameron decided that the T-800 should have a limp after it emerged from the truck crash so the puppeteers weren't required to strictly mimic Arnold Schwarzenegger's gait. A miniature T-800 was also made for the scenes that required stop motion animation. To include all the design intricacies of the full size puppet, model maker, Doug Beswick created a two foot tall puppet, but accommodations for the miniature required modifications to the full-scale Endo as well. Doug had to send Stan alterations, then Stan would send alterations back to him, until everyone was satisfied and the full scale and miniature Terminators had matching designs, and could function properly for their scenes.
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- #097
In the original script, the Terminator was supposed to steal a car at the film's beginning. The Terminator observes an elderly woman getting into a car, and as she sees the Terminator, she panics and put it into reverse, hitting a trash can, puts it into drive and finally speeds off. The Terminator then gets into the car and mimics her reversing mistake. This was cut from a later script.
- #098
In James Cameron's original treatment, Sarah Connor has an old figure skating injury that was fixed with a couple of surgical pins, and the Terminator cut the legs open of the first two Sarah Connors to find these identifying marks. In the novelization of the story, the pins were instead inserted into her leg after it was broken during her final fight against the Terminator. Skynet knew Sarah had surgical pins in her leg, but not when or why she got them. The Terminator was therefore looking for a sign of an injury she had not yet sustained.
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Production company Hemdale was quick to step in and co-finance the movie, because director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd had already found Orion Pictures willing to provide part of the budget and distribute the movie. However, the relationship between Cameron and executive producer/Hemdale head John Daly deteriorated during post-production. According to Cameron, Daly and Orion executive Mike Medavoy (who had recommended Arnold Schwarzenegger to Cameron) wanted the film to end right after the tanker explosion, removing the climax at the robot factory and epilogue. Quoting from Cameron: "Daly said 'The film has to end right after the tanker explosion.' I told him straight 'Fuck you! The film isn't over yet.'" Daly would ultimately back down, a decision that led to the sudden success of the film. However, Orion Pictures wanted to be known for its quality movies (like Amadeus (1984) and Platoon (1986)), and perceived this film as little more than a low budget sci-fi vehicle to make some quick money. Their advertising support for the film was minimal in Cameron's eyes. Three weeks after the film was released, Medavoy still ignored Cameron's request to beef up the film's ad-campaign: "They told me, when you have a dirty-down action thriller, the film can last in the box-office for about three weeks plus or so. They are treating the film like dog-shit!" Hemdale ultimately raised money to fund more advertisements by the time that positive word-of-mouth from critics reached the studio. Reportedly, Schwarzenegger still holds a grudge towards Orion Pictures due to their lack of support.
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James Cameron's original story idea was much more elaborate, and involved Skynet sending two Terminators back in time: the first one was a cyborg that would be defeated by a human also sent back in time (the Resistance actually sent two men, but one was to die during the time travel). A second Terminator, one consisting of liquid metal that would be able to shape-shift, would be sent by Skynet in response (reluctantly, as it is so experimental that it may alter the past beyond Skynet's intentions). Cameron briefly considered clay-animation in dark shots to portray this shape-shifter, but he soon realized that the concept was too ambitious for what he could achieve with contemporary techniques. He also knew that his reputation at the time wasn't big enough to sell a story of such scope to a studio, so he used only the first half of it. When a completely computer-generated special effect proved to be a success in Cameron's The Abyss (1989), he revived the idea of the liquid Terminator for the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- #103
During the production of Conan the Destroyer (1984), Arnold Schwarzenegger was interviewed about upcoming projects, and then referred to The Terminator as "some shit movie I'm doing, take a couple of weeks." However, he has since recanted this statement, saying "It was wrong of me to judge the movie before I even got fully involved. James Cameron created a fantastic character and while I was hesitant, I now know The Terminator is a defining work in my career."
- #104
Michael Biehn almost didn't get the role of Kyle Reese because in his first audition, he spoke in a Southern accent as a result of working on a role for a stage production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (he didn't get the role). During a discussion with Biehn's agent, the producers mentioned that they liked Biehn's performance, but they didn't want Reese's accent making him seem too regionalized; this puzzled the agent, who asked "What accent?" After the mystery was cleared up, the producers called Biehn back for another audition, and he got the role.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger said "The Terminator was a small movie. We really had to cut costs all the time. We shot it very quickly. We felt we had a good story and it would be successful. But we thought it would be for certain audiences only. No one suspected it would be in Time magazine's top ten movies of the year and that successful at the box office, and that people demanded a sequel that would be the highest grossing movie of that year."
- #107
(at around 59 mins) Arnold Schwarzenegger's iconic catchphrase "I'll be back" was originally scripted as "I'll come back". After the change, it almost became "I will be back" because Schwarzenegger thought it sounded more machine-like without a contraction; he also felt "I'll be back" sounded too feminine. It was the one major disagreement between Schwarzenegger and James Cameron, and all Cameron had to say to that was "I don't tell you how to act, so don't tell me how to write."
- #108
What the production lacked in financial resources it made up for in pre-production time - eight months, to be exact, as the team waited for Arnold Schwarzenegger's schedule to clear. "I figured we didn't have the money for a designer, and I could draw, so what the hell," James Cameron recalled. "I drew everything, and storyboarded the film very, very meticulously."
- #109
The film was not intended to be a sci-fi action film, but a dark horror film. However, many movie-viewers felt the film was an action movie when they first saw it in theaters. James Cameron was so surprised that he decided to make action movies after this. Months before the release, Cameron did not expect any sort of success in the box office or reviews by critics to come from this film. Ironically, it is now considered to be one of the greatest films of all time.
- #110
Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally being considered to play Kyle Reese because the producers were thinking of O.J. Simpson to play the Terminator. The bodybuilder-turned-actor had made something of a name for himself in The Long Goodbye (1973), Pumping Iron (1977) and Conan the Barbarian (1982), and when Orion Pictures executive Mike Medavoy met the actor at a party, he sent him the script for consideration. However, James Cameron had envisioned Reese as a non-bulky and more sensitive man, so he was less than enthusiastic about casting a former Mr. Universe in the pivotal role. Largely on Medavoy's insistence, Cameron went out to meet and have lunch with him anyway; he later admitted that he had planned to pick a fight with Schwarzenegger so that he could claim that the actor was impossible to work with. But against his expectations, they got along just fine, and Schwarzenegger showed great enthusiasm for the script, especially its dark antagonist character. Schwarzenegger talked at length about how this Terminator should behave, like always scanning the surroundings and handle weapons without looking at them. It was then that Cameron had a change of heart, and offered Schwarzenegger the title role of the Terminator. Schwarzenegger initially declined, saying that he didn't want to play the bad guy, and because the character had fewer than 20 lines, but Cameron told him that "this movie is not about the hero. It's about The Terminator," and promised him that he wouldn't need lines to have a presence. Schwarzenegger then gladly accepted, even overruling his agent who advised him against playing villains. Cameron and Schwarzenegger have been good friends ever since.
- #111
The beginning of production was postponed for nine months, due to Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to Conan the Destroyer (1984). During this time, James Cameron wanted to be working but didn't have the time to do a whole other film. He had a discussion with some producers at 20th Century Fox who liked his screenplay for THE TERMINATOR, and gave him a writing assignment; this turned out to be Aliens (1986). On the same day, he was also asked to write a script for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). While handling these two assignments, he also did additional work on his Terminator screenplay, writing each script at night at a different desk, in order to keep the projects apart. He calculated how many pages he had to write each night, by dividing the total number of pages by the number of waking hours per night. He said that he accomplished that by drinking lots of coffee, a habit that he finally kicked after completing Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
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Paramount was one of the studios that wanted to produce this film, but they stipulated that James Cameron could not direct it, since he hadn't proven his talent with a successful film yet. As this was Cameron's pet project at the time and he wanted to direct the film himself, he turned down their offer. Paramount would later be the main studio behind the fifth film of the franchise, Terminator Genisys (2015) (which was not directed by James Cameron).
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Actress Lisa Langlois said she was offered the role of Sarah Connor but had to turn it down. "What happened there was, I went in and I read for the role. I had another audition right after and I feel like I was more focused on that because it had much more dialogue. Anyway, I got called back and went to writer Gale Anne Hurd's house to read with Michael Biehn for James Cameron. My agent at the time told me that Linda Hamilton had gotten the part but that Gale Anne Hurd thought I had more charisma. I didn't think anything of it because in the meantime, I got cast in The Slugger's Wife (1985) with Hal Ashby, a director with whom I had always wanted to work...I started working on The Slugger's Wife when my agent got a call saying that Linda Hamilton had sprained her ankle badly and they wanted to offer the part to me. But I was already shooting in Atlanta, Georgia. They said they were shooting in Florida and could I possibly do the two films? It was determined that there was no way I could do both pictures and that was the end of that. My agent said to me, 'It's okay, YOU got the better picture. That's just a small movie with an unknown director and Arnold Schwarzenegger.' And I replied 'No, The Terminator had the better script and a better story.' Years later, I saw James Cameron when he was being honored at the Canadian Consulate. I didn't know whether he would remember me or not, but I went up to him and said, 'I've always wanted to tell you it was a disappointment to me that I couldn't do your film because I had told my agent it was the better script.' He turned to me and said, 'Lisa, you haven't aged at all. It's okay that you didn't do the film because otherwise, I would never have met Linda.' He ended up marrying her and I thought that was so wonderful."
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James Cameron, along with producer/co-writer Gale Anne Hurd, insists it was Orion chairman Mike Medavoy who initially campaigned for O.J. Simpson to portray the title character. Medavoy has since downplayed this pre-production anecdotal, but even Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls Medavoy was serious enough in his thinking about Simpson that he approached Schwarzenegger at an industry screening for Blue Thunder (1983) with the offer of playing, '...the brave soldier from the future, the good guy...' ultimately portrayed by Michael Biehn: "Medavoy told me that they already had the Terminator cast with O.J. Simpson."
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According to the original treatment (accessible on the DVD version), there were supposed to be two protectors sent back to save Sarah Connor. However, this partner of Kyle Reese's, a man called Sumner, would have received very little screen time, as he rematerialized right into a fire escape and was instantly killed. It is interesting to note that this contradicts the sequel's logic in regards to the Temporal Displacement Field (matter in an orb-shaped space is replaced by its counterpart from the future).
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James Cameron first asked Rob Bottin, but Bottin had just been offered John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) and he couldn't do both films. Cameron then approached another effects legend, Dick Smith. Smith decided the project wasn't well-suited for him but he offered a suggestion, "Stan does good robots." Stan Winston was on a robot designing streak with the Tin Man from The Wiz (1978) and the robot makeups for Heartbeeps (1981), which led to both an Academy Award nomination and designing "Mr. Roboto" for the rock band Styx. When Cameron finally asked Stan to join The Terminator (1984), the project would lead to a professional partnership and friendship that spanned 25 years.
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Tom Selleck was approached to be the Terminator but had to decline due to his commitment to Magnum, P.I. (1980). This was confirmed on the Howard Stern show. This was presumably in line with thought early in development the Terminator was initially supposed to be an "Everyman" that would be indistinguishable in a crowd of people.
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According to a 2008 interview with Lance Henriksen, James Cameron had no agent and was either living in his car or sleeping on the couch of a friend when he wrote the script for the film. Cameron had actually fired his agent because he didn't like the story idea Cameron had conceived for this film.
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Michael Biehn initially thought the movie would be a silly low-budget time-travel movie, but decided to audition anyway. Any misgivings he had about taking part in the film were instantly abated when he met James Cameron, who showed him detailed storyboards and gave him an expressive overview of the story, winning him over by his passion and clarity of vision. Biehn would be a frequent collaborator of Cameron over the next decades.
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The soundtrack features a song called "Pictures of You" by Jay Ferguson. It's one of the songs Ginger listens to during the movie. Although the song has nothing to do with the plot of the movie and was not written for the movie specifically, its chorus "Pictures of you, From another time and place. Pictures of you, Like a scene in a photograph I can't erase. Pictures of you, Ooh, on a screen that fades without a trace." sounds like the song is alluding to the photograph of Sarah Connor that Reese had.
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In the film, the name of the nightclub where the Terminator first targets Sarah was named Tech Noir after a film genre which James Cameron coined himself in describing what category this film falls under after dismissing the notions that it was a mere horror or slasher film. Tech Noir films like Blade Runner (1982) and this film combine the old style grittiness of noir films with the futuristic elements of a sci-fi thriller. Cameron himself had the club built specifically for the film and had to turn away local clubgoers who thought Tech Noir was a real nightclub. The building still exists but is now a jewelry store.
- #131
When he set out to write and direct THE TERMINATOR, James Cameron was a nobody on a small budget having to cast up and coming actors. He wanted to cast Lance Henriksen as the cyborg but then along came Schwarzenegger fresh from playing Conan the Barbarian (1982) and who was the obvious choice for the Terminator. James didn't forget Lance and cast him as a police detective.
- #132
Writer Harlan Ellison sued James Cameron, claiming that while he hugely enjoyed the film, he felt the story was plagiarized from the two episodes of The Outer Limits (1963) that he had written, namely Soldier (1964) and Demon with a Glass Hand (1964). The concept of "Skynet" could also have been borrowed from an Ellison short story called "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". The suit was settled out of court and newer prints of the film acknowledge Ellison. Cameron has claimed that this settlement was forced upon him by the producers, who refused to support him. He felt that Ellison made invalid and opportunistic claims, and wanted the case to go on trial. However, the insurance company told him that he would be held personally responsible for financial damages in the event that he lost the trial. Since he was short on money at the time, Cameron couldn't take the risk, so he had no choice but to accept the settlement, a fact that he has always resented.
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The initial draft for the movie was sold to Gale Anne Hurd, James Cameron's production partner and former collaborator at New World Pictures, for the price of only $1.00. The symbolic gesture came with a 'blood oath': Hurd had to promise to do everything in her power to get the film produced, but with Cameron as director. She kept her word, and dismissed every studio that showed interest but wanted to ditch Cameron. He and Hurd would get romantically involved during production of this movie, made Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989) together, and were married from 1985 to 1989 (they had separated by the time they made The Abyss).
- #135
Arnold Schwarzenegger said "The Terminator was a small movie. We really had to cut costs all the time. We shot it very quickly. We felt we had a good story and it would be successful. But we thought it would be for certain audiences only. No one suspected it would be in Time magazine's top ten movies of the year and that successful at the box office, and that people demanded a sequel that would be the highest grossing movie of that year."
- #136
Production company Hemdale was quick to step in and co-finance the movie, because director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd had already found Orion Pictures willing to provide part of the budget and distribute the movie. However, the relationship between Cameron and executive producer/Hemdale head John Daly deteriorated during post-production. According to Cameron, Daly and Orion executive Mike Medavoy (who had recommended Arnold Schwarzenegger to Cameron) wanted the film to end right after the tanker explosion, removing the climax at the robot factory and epilogue. Quoting from Cameron: "Daly said 'The film has to end right after the tanker explosion.' I told him straight 'Fuck you! The film isn't over yet.'" Daly would ultimately back down, a decision that led to the sudden success of the film. However, Orion Pictures wanted to be known for its quality movies (like Amadeus (1984) and Platoon (1986)), and perceived this film as little more than a low budget sci-fi vehicle to make some quick money. Their advertising support for the film was minimal in Cameron's eyes. Three weeks after the film was released, Medavoy still ignored Cameron's request to beef up the film's ad-campaign: "They told me, when you have a dirty-down action thriller, the film can last in the box-office for about three weeks plus or so. They are treating the film like dog-shit!" Hemdale ultimately raised money to fund more advertisements by the time that positive word-of-mouth from critics reached the studio. Reportedly, Schwarzenegger still holds a grudge towards Orion Pictures due to their lack of support.
- #137
Michael Biehn initially thought the film would be a low-budget, silly time-travel movie, but he still decided to attend the audition. His hesitation about joining the film vanished instantly when he met James Cameron; Cameron showed him detailed storyboards and gave an impressive summary of the story, winning him over with his passion and the clarity of his vision. Biehn became one of Cameron's frequent collaborators in the following years.
- #138
When James Cameron began writing and directing THE TERMINATOR, he was an unknown with a small budget and had to cast new actors. He wanted to cast Lance Henriksen as the cyborg, but then came Schwarzenegger, fresh off Conan the Barbarian (1982) and the obvious choice for the Terminator. James did not forget Lance and cast him as a police detective.
- #139
The start of production was delayed by nine months because of Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to Conan the Destroyer (1984). During this time, James Cameron wanted to work but did not have enough time to make an entire film. He had a meeting with some producers at 20th Century Fox, those who liked his THE TERMINATOR script, and they gave him a writing assignment; that became Aliens (1986). The same day, he was also asked to write a script for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). While taking on these two assignments, he also did additional work on the Terminator script, and to keep the projects separate, he wrote each script at a different desk every night. He calculated the number of pages he needed to write each night by dividing the total page count by the number of waking hours per night. He said he managed this by drinking plenty of coffee; he gave up this habit after Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was completed.
- #140
Arnold Schwarzenegger said, 'The Terminator was a small film. We constantly had to cut costs. We shot it very quickly. We thought we had a good story and that it would be successful. But we thought it would only appeal to a certain audience. No one predicted that it would be among Time magazine's ten best films of the year and be so successful at the box office, or that people would demand a sequel that would become the highest-grossing film of that year.'
- #141
The production company Hemdale quickly became involved in co-financing the film because director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd had found Orion Pictures, which was willing to provide part of the budget and distribute the film. However, the relationship between Cameron and executive producer/Hemdale president John Daly deteriorated during post-production. According to Cameron, Daly and Orion executive Mike Medavoy (the person who suggested Arnold Schwarzenegger to Cameron) wanted the film to end right after the tanker explosion, cutting the climax in the robot factory and the epilogue. Cameron is quoted as saying: 'Daly said, "The film should end right after the tanker explosion." And I told him, "Fuck you! The film isn't finished yet."' Daly eventually backed down, and this decision led to the film's sudden success. However, Orion Pictures wanted to be known for its quality films (such as Amadeus (1984) and Platoon (1986)) and saw this film as a low-budget science fiction vehicle to make some quick money. In Cameron's eyes, advertising support for the film was minimal. Three weeks after the film was released, Medavoy was still ignoring Cameron's request to strengthen the advertising campaign: 'They told me that when you have a dirty action thriller, the film can last about three weeks at the box office. They're treating the film like a dog!' Hemdale eventually raised money for more advertising when positive word-of-mouth from critics reached the studio. Schwarzenegger is said to still hold a grudge against Orion Pictures for its lack of support.
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There was minimal interference from Orion Pictures, the film's financial backer and distributor, partly thanks to the budget provided (and Hemdale Pictures contributing part of it). However, they suggested two things. First, a cyborg dog accompanying Reese - an idea rejected by James Cameron. Second, strengthening the relationship between Kyle and Sarah, which Cameron accepted. Producer Gale Anne Hurd later said that Orion also insisted that two of its friends play small roles in a scene that was later deleted.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
When the movie was broadcast on BBC2 in 1990, the movie was edited for censorship. All the 'F' words were removed. The T-800 ripping the punk's heart out is removed. In Ginger's death scene, the T-800 kills Ginger with one shot instead of five shots and this cuts from the T-800 to shooting Ginger once to the T-800 turning and aiming his pistol at the answering machine and the T-800 removing his eye was trimmed down and close-up shots of the T-800 cutting out and removing his human eye is removed.
Behind the Scenes (34)
- #144
Second wrong Sarah Connor (with middle name Ann) only seen in crime scene photographs handled by Det. Vukovich and Lt. Traxler was portrayed by Paula Cross, a friend of Gale Anne Hurd who also appeared in later movie by James Cameron, The Abyss (1989) (as confirmed by the latter's movie DVD text commentary).
- #145
The laser sight on the .45 Longslide was specially built by Laser Products Corporation (now Sure-Fire). This was in the early days of laser-aimed weapons and what was seen was actually not a complete assembly. Only the laser was mounted but the required battery pack was hidden from view. In those days, the battery packs were very large, about the size of a television remote control. A wire was hidden underneath Arnold Schwarzenegger's sleeve.
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(at around 12 mins) The scene where the Terminator breaks into a station wagon was the very last thing shot and it was added a few weeks before the film's release. The scene was filmed in two hours by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger alone. Due to insufficient funds, Cameron had to pay for the scene himself, but could not afford a police permit. As such, another set of Arnold's clothes was placed behind the wagon trunk and Cameron told him to change the moment the scene was deemed finished.
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(at around 37 mins) A hydraulic arm was used when the Terminator punches through the windshield in the alley scene. This was rehearsed several times and since Arnold Schwarzenegger's face was also in the shot, it all had to be choreographed perfectly, since replacing a windshield was too costly and time consuming.
- #152
(at around 51 mins) The only time in the Terminator franchise when the Terminator changes his hairstyle in the movie. When the Terminator breaks into an apartment in the self-repair sequences, his hairstyle is different to the one he had earlier on in the movie. This is because he runs through a fire caused by a car explosion where his hair is burned. He also loses his eyebrows, and spends the rest of the movie without them.
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Director James Cameron poured acid on the jacket that Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator was wearing in order to make it appear as though it had been on fire when the T-800 jumps through the flaming car. Arnold mentioned in several interviews that this was truly a painful experience.
- #155
The tanker truck that explodes at the end (around 89 mins) is a model, not a real truck. Originally, the explosion was planned to be shot on location but it was dropped when the crew learned that the building that serves as the exterior (the LAPD's Piper Technical Center and above it, the Hoover Heliport) houses weapon ammunition that could pose risk of collateral damage. The explosion was filmed twice because on the first take, the wire pulling the truck tugged too hard initially, pulling the front axle off and ruining the shot. It took three days to rebuild the model and shoot the second take.
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[1:25] During the final chase, as Kyle Reese tosses pipe bombs at the Terminator, there is a single white frame spliced in just before some of the explosions, which is a trick employed by editor Mark Goldblatt. Director James Cameron would later use this trick to heighten the visual impact of gunshots in Aliens (1986). The pyrotechnic charges can be seen on the street, each with a pressure-sensitive strip for triggering the explosion when run over by either the Terminator's motorcycle or the heroes' truck.
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While shooting this film, James Cameron often resorted to what he called "guerilla filmmaking" as a way of getting around acquiring permits needed to film certain scenes. This involved the production crew and actors quickly arriving at a specified location, shooting the scene and leaving before the police arrived. As a result, some of the people seen in a few shots are actual everyday citizens completely unaware they're in a movie. This was also used for re shoots with Cameron even calling and waking Arnold Schwarzenegger once at 3 am to meet him at a location already in full costume to quickly re-shoot a scene. Cameron also used this tactic to film the very last scene where Sarah drives off into the desert. Waiting for the heat to rise to the point that ripples could be filmed a highway patrolman appeared. Producer Gale Anne Hurd convinced him they were working on a UCLA film project and he allowed them to finish.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger worked with guns every day for a month to prepare for the role. The first two weeks of filming he practiced weapons stripping and reassembly blindfolded until the motions were automatic, like a machine. He spent hours at the shooting range and practicing with different weapons without blinking or looking at them when reloading or cocking. He also had to be ambidextrous. He practiced different moves up to 50 times. He wound up garnering a compliment in "Soldier of Fortune" magazine for his realistic handling of the guns on camera (whereas the magazine usually lampoons movies for their inaccurate depictions of weapons use).
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The atmosphere on the set of the movie was tense at times, mainly because there were many scenes that had to be shot at night on real locations before sunrise. Sometimes, the crew couldn't secure a permit, forcing James Cameron to shoot without one (e.g. the carjacking scene). Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't enjoy the prosthetics because the wires of the red eye burned a lot of the time; for the arm scene, he had to have his real arm tied behind his back for hours. Cameron would often be irritated by people who came up to him with lame ideas; for instance, he axed an idea of the Terminator drinking a beer and acting silly (like in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)) because that just couldn't happen. Other than that, Cameron was described as a kid in a candy store when he finally got his chance to direct his first feature (he had been fired from the majority of the shoot of his previous film Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), and production on Terminator had been delayed for months while Schwarzenegger was doing Conan the Destroyer (1984)). Several years of working on Roger Corman movies had taught him all the tricks of the low-budget trade, so Cameron was able to solve a lot of logistical and practical issues on the set himself. Even Schwarzenegger was surprised when Cameron didn't hesitate to demonstrate how to perform a potentially dangerous motor stunt himself.
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[1:13] The fog in the scene after Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese leave the bridge where they spent the night is actually bug spray, due to the big fly scare in the filming location at that time. The crew was going to wait until the spray dissipated, but decided to use it as fog for the special effect instead. This is revealed in a DVD Easter egg, which can be found by pressing the right arrow in the languages section until the square on the right is lit up.
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Characters & Cast (13)
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Despite speaking German as a first language, Arnold Schwarzenegger does not act as his own voice actor in the German version of the film due to his thick Austrian accent, which would be distracting for German audiences. It would be like if the film was in American English, and the Terminator spoke in a Southern drawl or a thick Scottish accent. Actually there's a bonus feature on the Terminator 3 DVD that shows how the Terminator got his look, from a master sergeant William Candy played by Arnold whom has a thick Southern accent.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger was initially considered to play Kyle Reese, because the producers were thinking of O. J. Simpson as the Terminator. The bodybuilder-turned-actor had made a name for himself in The Long Goodbye (1973), Pumping Iron (1977) and Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Orion Pictures executive Mike Medavoy sent him the script to consider after meeting him at a party. James Cameron, however, had envisioned Reese as a man who was not bulky and was more sensitive, so he was not keen on a former Mr. Universe taking a major role. Largely at Medavoy's insistence, Cameron still met him and went out to lunch; he later admitted he had planned to pick a fight with Schwarzenegger so he could claim the actor was impossible to work with. Contrary to his expectations, they got along very well, and Schwarzenegger showed great interest in the script, especially the dark villain. Schwarzenegger talked at length about how this Terminator should behave, such as always scanning the environment and moving without looking at weapons. That was when Cameron changed his mind and offered Schwarzenegger the lead role of the Terminator. Schwarzenegger initially did not want to play the villain and turned it down because the character had fewer than 20 lines, but Cameron told him "this film isn't about the hero, it's about the Terminator" and promised him he would not need lines to exist. Schwarzenegger then gladly accepted the offer, even rejecting his manager, who had advised him not to play a villain. Cameron and Schwarzenegger have been good friends ever since.
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Prior to being cast as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger watched Westworld (1973), and was amazed by Yul Brynner's performance as a robot in the film. During their first meeting, Schwarzenegger talked to James Cameron about how the Terminator should be played and that whoever plays it shouldn't act like a machine, but be a machine. This convinced Cameron to cast Schwarzenegger as the Terminator.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger was initially considered for the role of Kyle Reese, because the producers were thinking of O.J. Simpson for the role of the Terminator. The bodybuilder-actor had made a name for himself with The Long Goodbye (1973), Pumping Iron (1977) and Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Orion Pictures executive Mike Medavoy sent him the script to consider after meeting the actor at a party. However, James Cameron had envisioned Reese as a more sensitive man who was not burly, so he was not very keen on casting a former Mr. Universe in this important role. At Medavoy's insistence, Cameron nevertheless went to meet him and have lunch; he later admitted that he had planned to get into a fight with Schwarzenegger so that he could claim it was impossible to work with the actor. But contrary to his expectations, they got along very well, and Schwarzenegger showed great enthusiasm for the script, especially the dark antagonist character. Schwarzenegger talked at length about how the Terminator should behave, for example constantly scanning its surroundings and using weapons without looking. That was when Cameron changed his mind and offered Schwarzenegger the lead role, the Terminator. Schwarzenegger initially refused, saying he did not want to play the villain and that the character had fewer than 20 lines, but Cameron told him, "This film is not about the hero. It's about the Terminator," and promised that he would make an impression without needing lines. Schwarzenegger then gladly accepted, even rejecting his manager, who advised him not to play the villain. Cameron and Schwarzenegger have since become good friends.
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Michael Biehn almost did not get the role of Kyle Reese because at his first audition he spoke with the Southern accent he had acquired while working on a role in the stage play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (he had not gotten the part). In a meeting with Biehn's manager, the producers said they liked Biehn's performance but did not want Reese's accent to make him seem too regional; this surprised his manager, who asked, "What accent?" Once the mystery was solved, the producers called Biehn back for another audition, and he got the role.
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Actress Lisa Langlois said the role of Sarah Connor was offered to her, but she had to turn it down. "What happened was: I went and read for the part. Right after that I had another audition and I think I was more focused on that one because it had more dialogue. Anyway, I got a callback and went to writer Gale Anne Hurd's house and read with Michael Biehn for James Cameron. My manager at the time told me that Linda Hamilton had gotten the role but that Gale Anne Hurd thought I had more charisma. I didn't think much of it because in the meantime I had taken a role in The Slugger's Wife (1985) with Hal Ashby, a director I had always wanted to work with... When I started working on The Slugger's Wife, my manager got a call saying that Linda Hamilton had seriously sprained her wrist and that they wanted to offer me the role. But I was already shooting in Atlanta, Georgia. They asked whether I could do both films, since they were shooting in Florida. It was determined that doing both was impossible, and that was that. My manager told me, 'It's no big deal, YOU got the better film. This is just a small movie with an unknown director and Arnold Schwarzenegger.' I replied, 'No, The Terminator had the better script and the better story.' Years later, I saw James Cameron being honored at the Canadian Consulate. I didn't know if he would remember me, but I went up to him and said, 'I always wanted to tell you that not being able to do your film was a disappointment for me, because I told my manager that this was the better script.' He turned to me and said, 'Lisa, you haven't aged a bit. It's fine that you didn't do the film, because if you had, I never would have met Linda.' In the end he married her, and I thought that was really wonderful."
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Arnold Schwarzenegger's deadpan delivery brought out the irony of the script. In an interview with Empire magazine, director James Cameron said the actor's tone created a sardonic character audiences could identify with. "Nothing was tailored to Arnold," he claimed. "We didn't change a single word of the script for Arnold. It was just that the whole tone was affected. He didn't lose his seriousness, it really wasn't played for comedy, but a bit of irony came out of it." This is seen best in the iconic line that defined Schwarzenegger's career. However, Cameron admitted he didn't think much of it when he wrote "I'll be back" into the script. "I guess when I wrote it, I didn't even think it would play that well. I just thought it was a throwaway thing," he recalled. The scene went over well in theaters, but in a way he didn't expect. "When he says 'I'll be back,' an audience member who had never seen the film before laughed," he said. "Now, why are they laughing? Because up to that point the film had promised you that there was an irony in that line. 'Yes, he's going to come back and you're going to regret it, damn it.' So, I think it's a film that really works. No one was more surprised than me that people laugh at that line."
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Although this film is often remembered for breaking new ground by introducing a female action star, James Cameron has repeatedly stated that he had no intention of making a feminist statement. He made the lead a woman simply because he wanted to be original, and he noted that this had not been done before in an action film.
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The phrase 'Fuck you, asshole!' is said twice: once by the punk leader (Bill Paxton) to the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) when he demands his clothes, and once by the Terminator to the janitor in the apartment when asked whether there is a dead cat in his room; this raises the possibility that the Terminator may have learned the phrase from the punk leader. This line became a classic for Schwarzenegger, like 'I'll be back': in Commando (1985) it is said to his character, and he replies, 'Fuck YOU, asshole!'; in Total Recall (1990) it is again said to his character by the woman trying to take his suitcase.
Easter Eggs & References (38)
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[1:15] The revolver Kyle Reese carries after the police station massacre, which he gives to Sarah Connor at the motel is Lieutenant Traxler's. In a deleted scene, Reese and Sarah are trying to escape the police station when they come across the wounded Traxler. He now believes their story and gives Reese his sidearm, telling him to protect Sarah. Several other scenes were also removed from the film that showed Traxler's increasing belief that Reese may be telling the truth.
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When the T-800 (Schwarzenegger) acquires weapons from a gun shop, he asks for a "Phased Plasma Rifle in the 40 Watt Range". He actually asks for the rifle you see the endoskeletons are wielding in the "Future War" sequence in the sequel T2. It seems like an error, since in the 1980s this has not yet been invented, but he actually just browses methodically trough his weapon-related database and check-marks the assets he can acquire (just like a machine would).
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The camera that takes the instant photo near the movie's ending is a Kodak Kodamatic 940. Although often referred to as a "Polaroid" photo, it would have been taken on Kodak instant film. Polaroid later sued Kodak for copyright infringement on their instant photo patents and won leading to Kodak instant cameras and film being pulled from the market after a 15-year legal battle.
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After the Terminator is run over by the tanker truck, he's limping. Then his 'skin' is burned off cleanly in the fuel fire. Later, in the factory, when the Terminator is chasing Sarah and Kyle, he's climbing metal stairs and there are two quick shots of his feet. If you look closely, you can see the cause of his limp: there is an actuator connector to his left 'heel' which is hanging free, as compared to his right foot where the actuator is still connected. So essentially, the actuator acting as the Terminator's Achilles' tendon has been severed, resulting in the limp.
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Although the Gargoyles sunglasses seen in the film are erroneously connoted with the first Terminator film (known in the sunglass world as "Terminator sunglasses" or "Gargoyles 85"), they were previously seen in Sudden Impact (1983) on Clint Eastwood, and they were later used in The Dead Pool (1988). Gargoyles continued manufacturing the sunglasses as the Gargoyles Classic until the company ceased operations at the end of 2022.
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(at around 38 mins) The co-writer of this film plays the police officer who attempts to assist the Terminator after he is thrown from the hood of the car, but gets knocked unconscious for his trouble. Wisher has a cameo in the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) as well, where his character seems to have a look of recognition upon seeing the new Terminator.
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The Italian Terminator-sploitation movie Hands of Steel (1986), that surprisingly has more similarities to Universal Soldier (1992) than The Terminator, copies shot for shot the scene where the Terminator cuts its arm open and examines if the arm's mechanism is working properly. Also, one of the cyborgs in the movie has a red glow in its eyes just like the Terminators do.
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As Kyle Reese mentions later in the movie, Skynet knew very little about Sarah Connor because most records were lost in the war between mankind and the machines. This fact is already underscored by the scene in the gun store, where the Terminator asks for a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range but gets a puzzled reaction from the store clerk; apparently, its detailed files on firearms didn't include that the plasma rifle had not yet been invented in 1984. The script also refers to the assault rifle as an AR-18 and it is shown as such in the movie, though it is rather obvious that a California gun store in 1984 would never sell a fully automatic rifle over the counter. The Terminator novel excuses this by stating the Terminator instead took a civilian AR-180 semi-automatic rifle and converted it to full-auto, using tools stolen from a hardware store earlier in the day.
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Although the Terminator in this movie is widely known to be the T-800, this term is never used in this movie or the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which only ever identify this as Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 (the number meaning this has the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger); Kyle Reese also briefly mentions the 600 series while referring to the Terminator as a new [type]. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) only mentions an ungraded version called T-850. The term 'T-800' officially comes from the T2 DVD bonus material as well as the arcade game Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and indicates a series of Terminators with living tissue over a metal endoskeleton. The term 'T-800' wasn't explicitly used within one of the movies until Terminator Salvation (2009).
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In the scene at the movie's beginning, where the Terminator is searching the phone book for all the addresses known under the name Sarah Connor, you can see for a moment when the close up turns into a wide shot that his left-hand finger is under the names of not CONNOR but CONNER John B, Conner John H and Conner John L.
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[0:58] Before the Terminator attacks Sarah Connor in the police station, Lieutenant Traxler states that there are "thirty police officers" in the station. If you count the cops that the Terminator kills on screen and the bursts of fire that he shoots for off-screen targets, it adds up to thirty. However, the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) reveals that 17 officers were confirmed dead in the end.
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The phrase "Fuck you, asshole!" is said twice: once by the punk leader (Bill Paxton) to the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) as he demands their clothes, and again by the Terminator to the cleaning man in the apartment when asked if he has a dead cat in the room; this opens up the possibility that the Terminator learned the phrase from the punk leader. The line has become something of a Schwarzenegger staple, like "I'll be back": it is said to his character in Commando (1985) to which he replies "Fuck YOU, asshole!", and is again said to his character in Total Recall (1990) by the lady who tries to take his suitcase.
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A promotional still of Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese was traced over and used as the box art for Metal Gear (1987), the first installment in the long-running video game series, presumably without James Cameron's permission or knowledge. Though Hideo Kojima was heavily influenced by American action films in creating Metal Gear, he had no involvement in designing the game's packaging, since he was then a newcomer at Konami.
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(around 38 minutes) The film's co-writer plays the police officer who tries to help the Terminator after he is thrown from the car's hood but gets into trouble and is knocked out. Wisher also has a cameo in the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), where his character appears to wear an expression of recognition upon seeing the new Terminator.
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James Cameron came up with the idea for this film while he was in Rome during the post-production of his previous film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982). Since he had been fired from that production, he bought a plane ticket with his last money in the hope of at least being involved in the editing process. He could not afford to eat properly, grew increasingly ill, and one night went to bed with a high fever. He had a nightmare of a metal endoskeleton emerging from flames, dragging itself along the ground while holding kitchen knives. When he woke up, he immediately drew this vision. Much of the script was written backward from there: the endoskeleton had to come from the future, but since Cameron did not have the budget to set the film in the future, the solution was to bring the future to the present; that is why the element of 'time travel' was added to the script. When special effects artist Stan Winston joined the project, he added several more designs for the endoskeleton, but in the end the design Cameron had first drawn was used.
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Paramount was one of the studios that wanted to make this film, but they stipulated that James Cameron could not direct on the grounds that he had not yet proven his talent with a successful film. Cameron rejected their offer because at the time he saw this project as his baby and wanted to direct the film himself. Paramount later became the main studio of the fifth film in the series, Terminator Genisys (2015) (not directed by James Cameron).
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Contains a major spoiler — show
SERIES TRADEMARK: (at around 1h 35 mins) In the first three Terminator films, the villainous Terminator's death is greeted with the word "terminated" in some way. Sarah Connor bravely says "You're terminated, fucker!" as she crushes the Terminator in the hydraulic press; in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), when John Connor asks "Is it dead?", the Terminator responds with "terminated"; in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), the Terminator holds down the T-X and says "You are terminated!"
Deeper Meaning (13)
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Christian symbolism: John Connor shares the initials of Jesus Christ, and both of them are said to be saviors of humanity, mankind's only hope. Both of them are born to a mother who is impregnated in mysterious circumstances; one is impregnated by God while still a virgin, the other by a man sent from the future. Furthermore, when Kyle materializes, he has scars on his back where an angel's wings would be, suggesting that he is "heaven-sent".
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Although this film is often credited with breaking new ground by introducing a female action star, James Cameron has repeatedly stated that he never set out to make a feminist statement. He simply made the lead role a woman because he wanted to be original, and noted that this had never been done before in an action movie.
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The movie's novelization does give an explanation as to why the Terminator's skin rots. The T-800 has an organic heart in its chest cavity, the only real organ it has in its entire body, for the purpose of pumping blood into the skin. The novel explains that when Kyle Reese fired most of those shotgun rounds dead center into the T-800's chest, they ruptured the heart and thus blood was no longer being pumped into the skin. While later movies are presumably forgetting this was even a thing, it's possible that the T-800 and T-850 from T2 and T3 weren't given the chance to rot because they sacrificed themselves before it could happen.
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The writers have admitted the whole "nothing dead will go" (i.e. only things surrounded by living tissue can go back in time) rule has no scientific basis, and it was conceived purely as a Drama-Preserving Handicap, as otherwise Reese could just bring a BFG or two back with him to kill the Terminator and the movie would be over in five minutes. In the fourth sequel, Terminator Genisys (2015), it is retroactively explained that any exposed metal will cause a catastrophic reaction, as it heats up excessively during the Time Displacement process, in the same way as a microwave.
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The production lacked financial resources as well as pre-production time - eight months, while the team waited for Arnold Schwarzenegger's schedule to clear. James Cameron recalled, 'I thought we didn't have the money for a designer and I can draw, so what's the problem. I drew everything and storyboarded the film very meticulously.'
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James Cameron cited The Road Warrior (1981) as an inspiration for the TERMINATOR film. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), John Connor's dog is named Max. However, the T2 guardian T800 model 101 tricks the T1000 by using the wrong name 'Wolfie'; this is the name of James Cameron's dog that appeared in the first Terminator film.
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The novelization clarifies several facts not explicitly stated in the film: Kyle Reese deliberately shoots the Terminator's arm after its laser sight is aimed at Sarah; had he hit anywhere else, the Terminator could still have killed Sarah. This wounds the Terminator's arm (not the later car crash), and this is in fact what happens in the film: the shotgun shell knocks the Terminator's arm upward just as it fires, but Kyle's incredible shot is so brief that it can only be seen by freezing the frame. Additionally, the series of the Terminator targeting Sarah Connor is never stated in the film — only its manufacturer and model (Cyberdyne Systems Model 101). In the novel, Kyle wonders whether the machine is a 700 or 800 series and hopes it is the former. To his horror, he realizes it is the latter and that it is harder to identify. The novel also states the reason the Terminator flees after the parking garage chase: thanks to Reese shooting it in the eye, the Terminator is dazed and blinded, and it crashes the police car at high speed; the impact was so powerful that it left the T-800 unresponsive for several seconds until its systems reset. By the time it was operational again, the police were approaching, and because of its eye and arm injuries (both caused by a police-type shotgun), the Terminator chose to flee and repair itself first rather than risk a fight it might not win. Deleted scenes show that the pipe bombs Sarah and Kyle use in the final chase scene were not actually taken to kill the Terminator: in a subplot, Sarah realizes that even if they destroy the T-800, Skynet will send another one after her and will keep going until she is dead. This marks a significant change in her character; from frantically running and trusting Kyle, she shifts to forcing him to help her destroy Skynet forever: she plans to use the pipe bombs to blow up the Cyberdyne Systems facility that will create Skynet. This also explains that their fall into the Cyberdyne robot factory at the climax was not an accident, but that they deliberately planned to turn the place into hell. This story would later be addressed as an important subplot of the sequel.
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Christian symbolism: John Connor shares the initials of Jesus Christ, and both are said to be the savior of humanity, humanity's only hope. Both are born to a mother who conceived under mysterious circumstances; one was impregnated by God while still a virgin, the other by a man sent from the future. Also, when Kyle appears, he has scars on his back where angel wings would be, suggesting he was 'sent from heaven.'
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Though it is now considered a Sci-fi classic, this film was originally conceived and written as a horror movie. If you strip away the robots and time travel plot, it is very similar to a Slasher movie, and borrows many of the genre's tropes, most prominently from Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981). The Terminator is the movie's "Unstoppable Killer", who silently stalks an innocent woman, killing all of her loved ones until he is in turn killed off in a creative way. Sarah Connor is the movie's "Final Girl", who is strong enough to outsmart the killer and the only one to make it out alive. The film's ending also employs many of the Slasher genre's techniques and scare tactics: a final showdown in an enclosed and isolated place where no one can help, crawling through tight, cramped and dangerous spaces to escape, and the killer coming back for a "final scare" multiple times (Halloween II even ends with the killer getting blown up). Also note that per tradition, a character who says that he will be back (the Terminator) dies in the end, and the Killer, despite dying at the end, returns in one or more sequels. That being said, contrary to these Slasher movie tropes, the heroes have actual access to weapons which they use against the Killer (to little avail though); the Terminator becomes one of the few "Unstoppable Killers" of the genre to use firearms as his main weapon; Kyle Reese is one of the few "boyfriends" of the genre who dies trying to protect the "Final Girl", but due to his own intervention and not directly by the hands of the Killer; and Sarah Connor is one of the few "Final Girls" of the genre to have sex in the movie and make it out alive.
Career & Awards (2)
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Russian art house filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, while critical of mainstream cinema, praised THE TERMINATOR, stating that its "vision of the future and the relation between man and its destiny is pushing the frontier of cinema as an art". He was however critical of its "brutality and low acting skills".
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Life & Family (1)
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After Bill Paxton's death in 2017, James Cameron reflected on working with him, "We... recognized the creative spark in each other and became fast friends. What followed was 36 years of making films together, helping develop each others projects, going on scuba diving trips together, watching each others kids growing up, even diving the Titanic wreck together in Russian subs. It was a friendship of laughter, adventure, love of cinema, and mutual respect. Bill wrote beautiful heartfelt and thoughtful letters, an anachronism in this age of digital shorthand. He took good care of his relationships with people, always caring and present for others. He was a good man, a great actor, and a creative dynamo."
Related pages
- Spider-Man — The Terminator comes up in the facts on that page
- Emilia Clarke — The Terminator comes up in the facts on that page
- Lance Henriksen — The Terminator comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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