The Terminator

The Terminator (1984)

1:48 (108 min)

Action, Thriller, Science Fiction

United Kingdom, United States

8.1/10
1 402 845

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7.7/10
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8.1/10
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All about film

Video 15

Photo 296

Actors and characters

2:04

Photo 296

Production

Orion Pictures, Hemdale Film, Pacific Western

Release date

26 October 1984

Budget

$6 400 000

Revenue

$78 371 200

Director

James Cameron

Scenario

Gale Anne Hurd

Composer

Brad Fiedel

Producer

Gale Anne Hurd

All team (98)

Actors

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Terminator

Michael Biehn

Kyle Reese

Linda Hamilton

Sarah Connor

Paul Winfield

Traxler

Lance Henriksen

Vukovich

Rick Rossovich

Matt

Bess Motta

Ginger

Earl Boen

Silberman

All actors and roles (10)

• During the Soviet era, the film was released in pirated translations as «Cyborg-Killer».
• The German Shepherd at the "Tiki" motel belonged to James Cameron.
• Tom Selleck, Kevin Kline, and Michael Douglas were considered for the lead role.
• The scene in which Arnold Schwarzenegger says his famous phrase “I'll Be Back” was filmed only on the 9th take.
• Once, during a break in filming, Arnold Schwarzenegger went to lunch and only realized in the restaurant that his Terminator makeup – including a missing eye, broken jaw, and burned skin – hadn't been removed.
• In the film, Reese mentions robots of the six hundred series, however, they do not appear in the films. Robots of this series are shown in the film “Terminator Salvation” (2009) and in the standalone series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (2008-2009).
• Randy Quaid was considered for the lead role.
• The soundtrack to 'The Terminator' was written at the most advanced recording studio of the time, 'Glen Glenn Sound', founded by veteran sound engineer Glen Glenn. Despite some digital special effects and electronic music, traditional analog technology was used for recording, and the film was released with a mono track.
• When the Terminator, after a fight with Kyle, prepares to cut out his eye and brings the knife to it, it is perfectly clear that the knife has no blade.
• Franco Colombo played the role of the Terminator shooting people in the human camp. Franco Colombo is a multiple-time “Mr. Olympia” titleholder and a close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Los Angeles Police Department vehicles have different mottos: «Protect and Serve» and «Care and Protect».
• O.J. Simpson could have played the Terminator, but producers rejected his candidacy because, in their opinion, he had “too friendly an appearance” for audiences to take him seriously as a cold-blooded killer.
• The pupils of the T-800 were made from ordinary photographic lenses.
• To avoid renting an expensive camera dolly, operator Adam Greenberg improvised a “dolly shot” by sitting with his handheld camera in a wheelchair, which was pushed at high speed.
• Harlan Ellison sued James Cameron, accusing the latter of using his ideas from an episode of 'The Outer Limits' (1963) – 'Soldier', which Ellison wrote the screenplay for. The film's producers decided to settle the dispute out of court: Ellison was credited as one of the story writers when the film was released on video.
• To film the scenes where the robot chases Sarah and Kyle at the Cyberdyne Systems base, a life-sized dummy was created; the upper part was placed on a person who controlled the levers for all movements; a miniature model was also used. Another endoskeleton copy was made of polyurethane and used in the scene where Kyle blows up the robot. Polyurethane was used for safety reasons.
• When the T-800 communicates with Sarah Connor on the phone using her mother's voice, the flickering of its eye behind dark glasses, which was damaged, is visible in the light from the window.
• In 1984, a novel of the same name was published, written by screenwriter William Wisher in collaboration with Randall Frakes. There is another novelization, written by British writer Sean Hudson in 1984.
• Vehicles used in the film: Terminator: Chevrolet Caprice Classic Wagon – at the beginning of the film. Police Dodge Monaco – during the chase after the shootout at the club. Chevrolet Nova – ramming the police station. Honda CB 750 – chase in the tunnel. International Harvester Transtar – chase after Sarah. Kyle Reese: Ford LTD. Cadillac Eldorado. Pontiac Le Mans Sedan – Kyle’s dream-memory of the future. AMC Gremlin – escape from the police station. Sarah Connor: Chevrolet C-10 – chase in the tunnel. Honda Elite – scooter Sarah rides to work. Jeep CJ-7 – in the final scene of the film in Mexico.
• The interior of the "TechNoir" nightclub was based on a real restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, which was specially "made up" for the film's shooting.
• The smoke coming from the destroyed Terminator is simply someone from the film crew exhaling cigarette smoke.
• Initially, the role of the Terminator was intended for Lance Henriksen. James Cameron even created several sketches showing the Terminator with Henriksen's features. However, at the insistence of the producers, Arnold Schwarzenegger played the Terminator. Henriksen played Detective Vukovich in the film.
• Sarah calls her mother and dictates the motel's phone number. The Terminator immediately calls it back to find out the address, but dials a different number in the process.
• When the Terminator is shown in close-up after standing up, gas burners are clearly visible at the edges of the frame, with flames erupting from them.
• Michael Biehn’s character walks around wounded in the arm in all of the director’s films: “The Terminator” (1984), “Aliens” (1986), and “The Abyss” (1989).
• Kyle takes Sarah away from the disco. When she tries to jump out of the car, he grabs the door behind her back, and in the next moment his hand is holding the door in front of Sarah, pinning her against the seat.
• When the T-800 attacks the police station, it is wearing black, high leather boots. However, when it finds Sarah Connor's mother's address in her notebook at the hotel and leaves the room, it is seen wearing sneakers. When the T-800 catches up to Sarah and Kyle at the motel again, it is once more wearing the high leather boots.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks in 18 scenes of the film. Arnold speaks in his own voice in 16 scenes, uttering 17 sentences. Also, in one scene the Terminator speaks with the voice of a police officer, and in another – with the voice of Sarah's mother.
• When the Terminator kills the police officers, it approaches the door at the end of the corridor. It fires a shotgun, but the sound of a machine gun is heard.
• Having stolen a shotgun from the police car, Kyle subsequently loads his weapon with cartridges that appear from nowhere.
• The bar "TechNoir" features music by "Tahnee Cain & Trianglz".
• Mickey Rourke was considered for the role of Kyle Reese.
• James Cameron based the concept of time travel in "The Terminator" on the idea of a closed timelike curve, which was postulated in "Novikov self-consistency principle" as early as 1984.
• Most of the car chases were filmed at normal speed, and then their speed was slightly increased during editing.
• Jürgen Prochnow was considered for the lead role.
• Early script versions included a scene where Sarah learns the address of Cyberdyne Systems, after which she and Kyle go to Sunnyvale, California, to blow up the company building.
• For the scene where the T-800 dies under the press, they built a small model of the robot out of thick foil, and inserted a red light bulb instead of an eye.
• Daryl Hannah auditioned for the role of Sarah Connor, but turned it down in favor of the film «Splash» (1984).
• The Terminator's phrase – “I’ll be back” – became very popular and repeatedly ranked high in quote rankings. According to the American Film Institute, the phrase “I’ll be back” ranked 37th on the list of “100 Greatest Movie Quotes.” The phrase became Arnold Schwarzenegger’s calling card. He uttered it in eleven of his subsequent films and repeatedly used it in public speeches during his election campaign and while serving as Governor of California.
• In 2008, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
• Shortly before filming began, Linda Hamilton broke her ankle, so she had to tightly bandage her leg for shooting the action scenes.
• Lea Thompson said in an interview with the Nerdist Podcast that she auditioned for the role of Sarah Connor.
• Bruce Willis and Sting were considered for the role of Kyle Reese.
• The tanker explosion was filmed in a studio using a reduced, radio-controlled replica of the truck. The effect of realism was created using high-speed shooting. Sarah, running away from the explosion, was added later using rear projection, where pre-shot footage of the truck explosion was projected onto a large screen in a dark studio, while the camera filmed Linda Hamilton running against this screen.
• The iconic metallic clang from the film's main theme was created by Brad Fidel banging a cast iron skillet against a microphone.
• Gaffes in the truck explosion scene at the end of the film: Before the explosion, in a separate episode lasting only a few seconds, it's visible that the truck is being pulled by a rope; after the explosion, the Terminator jumps out of the cab, falling on his stomach. He begins to roll over. When he's already on his side (shown in full view), if you look closely, you can see a small black rope flipping the Arnold Schwarzenegger dummy.
• The Terminator has its official designation – Series 800 Model 101.
• In 2001, the DVD "Terminator: The special edition" was released, featuring scenes that were not included in the theatrical version. Here are some of them: Sarah, arriving at work at the cafe, changes into her waitress uniform and says in front of the mirror: "Hello, I'm Sarah, and I'll be your waitress. And I'm so pleasant it makes me sick." The scene where the Terminator kills the elderly Sarah Connor was slightly longer. In the theatrical version, the scene ends immediately after the Terminator fires a couple of shots at the corpse. In the extended version, he turns and drives away, despite the screams of bystanders. This scene further emphasizes the Terminator's heartlessness. The dialogue between Lieutenant Traxler and Detective Vukovich, who get into their car to follow Sarah, is removed after Sarah Connor's call to the police. After the shootout at the "Tech-Noir" bar, the police arrive at the scene. Shortly after, Traxler and Vukovich get into their car, saying: "Let's go! He grabbed her!" In the police station, during the interrogation of Reese, Traxler interrupts Vukovich who is talking about Dr. Silberman. While Sarah and Reese are fleeing from the police station, which has been attacked by the Terminator, they are stopped by the bleeding Traxler, who gives Reese his service revolver. A rather large scene is completely removed, taking place the morning after the escape from the police station. After spending the night in a tunnel under a highway, Sarah and Reese exit near a semi-abandoned cafe. Sarah calls her mother from a payphone and asks her to leave town and not tell anyone anything, after which she finds the coordinates of "Cyberdyne Systems" in the phone book and suggests to Reese that they change the future by blowing it up. She realizes that contacting the authorities is useless, as they will be detained again, and the Terminator will find them more easily, but she cannot hide her whole life and worry about not leaving a trace, so she proposes to make sure this terrible future never comes to pass. Reese says that this is not part of his mission, and an argument ensues, during which Reese, looking at the surrounding nature, says with tears in his eyes that all of this must perish. Only after this do the heroes head to the "Tiki" motel in a passing truck. Given that the final showdown with the Terminator takes place in the production facility of "Cyberdyne Systems", it can be assumed that Reese accepted Sarah's proposal and they went exactly where the company is located. The scene of making explosives at the motel, preceding the declaration of love, is significantly shortened in the official version. Sarah talks about how much there is in this world that Reese has never seen. Sarah understands that Reese is not really here, but in his own world, and he carries war in his heart wherever he goes. Sarah wants the war to end forever for both of them. After the love scene at the motel, Sarah and Reese lie on the bed, Sarah tickles him, they laugh and enjoy life. It is clear that despite knowing that the Terminator is somewhere nearby and will inevitably find them, they are happy. Incidentally, this is one of two scenes where Reese laughs and even smiles. The second is the scene the morning after that night, when Sarah playfully scares Reese. After the Terminator is destroyed, the police, ambulance and company representatives arrive at the factory. One of the company employees finds a microchip on the floor, where the crushed remains of the Terminator are unloaded, and despite the police officer's warning that they should not touch anything until the inspection is over, he hands it to his colleague, saying: "Pass this to the research and development department on Monday morning." After that, Sarah is loaded into an ambulance (shots from the official version), and then the camera rises up and shows the facade of the building where all this happened. The inscription "Cyberdyne Systems" is clearly visible on the facade.
• The Terminator exposes his arm and repairs the cables running to his fingers. However, when only a titanium skeleton remains of him at the end of the film, there are no cables left.
• Edward James Olmos could have played the role of Lieutenant Traxler.
• When the Terminator is denied a meeting with Sarah by the officer at the police station, he says “I'll be back” and leaves, leaving the left door wide open. However, in the next scene, he crashes through both closed doors when he enters.
• The T-800 aims a pistol at Sarah, but Reese seems to fire his shotgun first. However, before recoiling, the T-800 manages to fire a shot directly into Sarah’s face from a distance of half a meter.
• All the visitors at the disco constantly change partners as the Terminator passes through and the shootout begins – they dance with one partner, then with another a minute later. However, the guy in the black and white t-shirt, when the Terminator is shown, dances near Sarah’s table, and when Kyle is shown pulling out his shotgun, he ends up behind him at the bar.
• Louis Gossett Jr. was considered for the role of Lieutenant Traxler.
• It was in this film that Arnold Schwarzenegger first utters his signature phrase, “I’ll be back.” However, originally in English, the phrase sounded slightly different – “I’ll come back,” instead of “I’ll be back.”
• The only scene where we see Michael Biehn and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same frame is the shootout in the nightclub, or rather, the moment Kyle shoots the Terminator for the second time.
• At the beginning of the film, Kyle steals clothes from a store: a raincoat, trousers, and sneakers. But later, when he is shown sawing off the stock of the shotgun, he is wearing a t-shirt.
• It's unclear why the Terminator fled the car after the crash (while being pursued by the police) without completing his mission, even though Sarah was already nearby. After all, Kyle stated that the Terminator would never stop until he killed Sarah.
• Filming took place from March 19 to May 28, 1984.
• Linda Hamilton auditioned for the role of Sarah Connor.
• The effect of smoke rising from Schwarzenegger’s jacket was achieved by spraying acid onto it. Schwarzenegger was concerned about having acid on him and asked for another way to achieve the effect, but eventually agreed.
• Some of the panicked disco-goers are clearly having fun instead of screaming in terror.
• When Reese saves Sarah during the shootout in the nightclub, he tells her, "Come with me if you want to live." Notably, the Terminator says the exact same phrase when he saves Sarah in the film «Terminator 2: Judgment Day» (1991).
• A scene in which one of the employees of 'Cyberdyne Systems' finds the Terminator's microprocessor was filmed but did not make it into the final cut of the film. This scene can be found in the 'Deleted Scenes' section on the special edition DVD.
• The house number of the first Sarah Connor (14239) visited by the Terminator does not correspond to any of the three addresses he found in the phone book (all house numbers in the directory are four-digit).
• Arnold Schwarzenegger practiced with weapons for a whole month before filming began, disassembling and reassembling them blindfolded, as the Terminator should not look at the weapon. When inserting a new magazine and racking the slide, he does everything automatically. Schwarzenegger also spent a lot of time at the shooting range, getting used to the sound of gunfire so as not to blink when pulling the trigger.
• The Terminator uses the following weapons during the film: AMT 1911 .45 with a laser sight - the killing of the first two Sarah Connors and Ginger. Classic S&W revolver with a 2.5-inch barrel, .357Mag caliber - the chase in the tunnel. "Uzi" 9mm caliber - the shootout in the "Tech-Noir" bar. SPAS-12 shotgun - the shootout in the police station. AR-18 assault rifle - the shootout in the police station and the chase in the tunnel. Ithaca 37 police shotgun - the first chase after the shootout in the club. US Army prototype knife, 7 cm in size. Browning M2 heavy machine gun with a futuristic barrel shroud - in the future scene.
• Traxler's rifle is an M16A1.
• Thanks to the film, the word “terminator” has become a household name.
• Schwarzenegger had a contract for 'Conan the Destroyer' (1984) that obligated him to appear in sequels every two years if the film was a box office success, for a total of five films. However, he was prohibited from taking on other roles. After discussing 'The Terminator' with James Cameron and the producers, Arnold went to Dino De Laurentiis and told him about the film. He gave his approval for the filming, although he could have kept Arnold bound by the contract for all ten years.
• After the truck explodes, the Terminator emerges and freezes in a 'face-up' position. When he rises after a cut, it's visible that he was lying face down, covered with some metal debris. In this same moment, a man (or rather, his hands and head) can be seen pulling a lever and lifting the Terminator.
• When Sarah checks her voicemail, one message features a man saying he won't be able to meet with her. This voice belongs to James Cameron.
• Joe Farago, who played the reporter covering the murders of women under the name Sarah Connor, played the same role in another James Cameron film – 'The Abyss' (1989).
• The photographs featured in the film were taken by photographer Yoyo Wilden.
• To create the music, Brad Fiedel used a 10-voice 'Prophet 10' synthesizer, which ceased production after 1980.
• The Terminator walks down the corridor of the police station and shoots into the room on the left. The camera shows him from behind, and it can be seen that the supposedly dead police officer lying in the foreground flinches with each shot.
• In the scene where Kyle asks the police officer what day it is, he replies that it is “May 12th, Thursday.” This day of the week corresponds to 1983, not 1984, as indicated in the credits.
• Michael Biehn might not have played in this film. The fact is that during the casting he spoke with a Southern accent, and the producers didn’t want it to be possible to determine his birthplace from Reese’s accent. But after lengthy negotiations, the actor still got the role in the film.
• A Colt Python revolver can be seen in Kyle Reese’s hands.
• The brand of sunglasses worn by the Terminator is Gargoyles.
• William Wisher Jr. played an episodic role as a police officer who the Terminator 'takes out' by slamming him against a car.
• At 1:38, the Terminator is hit by a truck. When the driver gets out, the door remains wide open. When the Terminator approaches the door, it is closed.
• The screenplay treatment stated that the Terminator was supposed to eat from time to time so that his human flesh wouldn’t decay. There was also a scene where the Terminator eats a chocolate bar.
• It is claimed that the idea for the film literally came to James Cameron in a dream. In Rome, finishing work on his first major film, "Piranha II: The Spawning" (1981), Cameron fell ill with a fever. In delirium, he saw a man with a red eye pursuing a girl. He wrote the screenplay in 1982 in collaboration with his friend William Wisher. Finding funding proved difficult for a long time, and major film companies refused to take on the project. Eventually, the script was sold for a symbolic price of one dollar to an aspiring producer, Gale Anne Hurd (Cameron's future second wife). Even then, Cameron had the idea of a robot made of liquid metal, capable of changing its shape depending on the circumstances, and the entire film was set in the future. However, on the one hand, special effects in the mid-1980s had not yet reached the necessary level, and on the other, the project had a very modest budget. Therefore, the director had to move the film's setting from the future to the present and abandon the idea of using a 'liquid' Terminator. This idea was realized in the second film.
• Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone turned down the role of the Terminator.
• The start of filming was delayed by nine months due to the protracted production process of 'Conan the Destroyer' (1984), in which Arnold Schwarzenegger played the main role. To avoid wasting time, James Cameron initially wanted to direct another film, but abandoned this idea because he had too little time to produce a full-length movie. Therefore, he decided to write a script, which eventually became the screenplay for 'Aliens' (1986).

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