The Terminator (1984)

Directed by

James Cameron

Written by

Gale Anne Hurd, James Cameron, William Wisher Jr.

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Earl Boen, Lance Henriksen, Rick Rossovich, Bill Paxton

Genre

drama film, fantasy film, cyberpunk, action film, horror film, adventure film

Country

United Kingdom, United States

Runtime

1h 48m

Rated

R

Rating

7.7 of 10 from 14,771 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In 1984 Los Angeles, a killer robot from the future is sent to murder a woman named Sarah Connor. A human soldier from the same future travels back to protect her.

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What happens

The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose not-yet-conceived son will one day save mankind from extinction by Skynet, a hostile artificial intelligence, in a post-apocalyptic future. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. Cameron devised the premise of the film from a fever dream he experienced during the release of his first film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), and developed the concept in collaboration with his friend Bill Wisher. He sold the rights to the project to fellow New World Pictures alumna Hurd on the condition that she would produce the film only if he were to direct it; Hurd eventually secured a distribution deal with Orion Pictures, while executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson of Hemdale Film Corporation were instrumental in setting up the film's financing and production. Originally approached by Orion for the role of Reese, Schwarzenegger agreed to play the title character after befriending Cameron. Filming, which took place mostly at night on location in Los Angeles, was delayed because of Schwarzenegger's commitments to Conan the Destroyer (1984), during which Cameron found time to work on the scripts for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Aliens (1986). The film's special effects, which included miniatures and stop-motion animation, were created by a team of artists led by Stan Winston and Gene Warren Jr. Defying low pre-release expectations, The Terminator topped the United States box office for two weeks, eventually grossing $78.3 million against a modest $6.4 million budget. It is credited with launching Cameron's film career and solidifying Schwarzenegger's status as a leading man. The film's success led to a franchise consisting of several sequels, a television series, comic books, novels and video games. In 2008, The Terminator was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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