Released upon an unsuspecting public back in the fall of 1984, "The Terminator" launched the career of James Cameron and made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name.
Where is your God now?
Wikipedia said:
In Rome, during the release of Piranha II: The Spawning director James Cameron grew ill and had a dream about a metallic torso dragging itself from an explosion holding kitchen knives. When Cameron returned to Pomona, California he stayed at Randall Frakes' home where he wrote a draft for The Terminator. Cameron later stated that his influences while writing the script were 1950s science fiction films, episodes of The Outer Limits as well as contemporary films including The Driver and The Road Warrior. To translate the draft into a script Cameron enlisted his friend Bill Wisher who had a similar approach to storytelling. Cameron gave Wisher the early scenes involving Sarah Connor and the police department scenes to write. As Wisher lived far away from Cameron, the two communicated script ideas by recording tapes of what they wrote by telephone. Cameron's agent hated the idea for The Terminator and told him to work on something else. After this, Cameron fired his agent. The initial outline of the script involved two Terminators sent to the past. The first was similar to the Terminator in the film, while the second was a liquid metal cyborg that could not be destroyed with conventional weaponry. Cameron could not think of a good way to depict this robot, stating that he "was seeing things in his head that couldn't be done with existing technology." The story of the cyborgs in the film was cut down to a single robot idea. The liquid metal Terminator would be revisited with the T-1000 character in the 1991 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Gale Anne Hurd, who had worked at New World Pictures as Roger Corman's assistant showed interest in the film project. Cameron sold the rights for The Terminator to Hurd for one dollar with the promise that she would produce it only if Cameron was to direct it. As a producer, Hurd had suggested edits to the script and took a screen writing credit in the film. Cameron has stated that Hurd "did no actual writing at all". Cameron and Hurd had friends who worked with Roger Corman previously and who were now working at Orion Pictures. Orion agreed to distribute the film if Cameron could get financial backing elsewhere. The script was picked up by John Daly at Hemdale Pictures. Cameron wanted his pitch for Daly to finalize the deal and had his friend Lance Henriksen show up to the meeting early dressed and acting like the Terminator. Henriksen showed up at the office kicking open the door wearing a leather jacket and had gold foil smothered on his teeth and fake cuts on his face and then sat in a chair. Cameron arrived shortly after which relieved the staff from Henriksen's act. Daly was impressed by the screenplay and Cameron's sketches and passion for the film. In late 1982 Daly agreed to back the film with help from HBO and Orion. The Terminator was originally budgeted at $4 million and later raised to $6.5 million.
The film marked the first collaboration between Cameron and many talented people. Obviously it launched the dream team of Cameron and Schwarzenegger, but it also paired Cameron with the following:
Linda Hamilton (future ex wife)
Before she got into bestiality with Ron Perlman
Michael Biehn (Scullibundo's mancrush)
"I am so awesome they based ads of Solid Snake off of my visage in this film."
Bill Paxton
One of Cameron's good luck charms
Stan Winston (the legendary effects man)
"Oh, hi! I only built the Terminator, Alien Queen, The Predator, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, and the Iron Man armor. I was the fucking man."
The film also has one of the most iconic and awesome main themes of the last thirty years:
Terminator Main Theme
The team of Arnold, Cameron, and composer Brad Fidel would continue with the awesomeness of Terminator 2 and True Lies.
I don't think anyone really needs a description of the plot of the film. It is simple and straightforward. The film is low budget, but so ruthlessly efficient that you rarely ever stop to notice.
Let's recap some of our favorite moments, shall we?
Wash day tomorrow
Still an intense build up to this scene.
And to think, Cameron originally wanted Arnold for the Reese character and OJ Simpson as The Terminator
One of the most imitated aspects of the film
And a catchphrase was born.
Moments before the big reveal.
Admit it. This gave you nightmares as a kid.
I still want to see a movie based on THIS version of the future war.
Literally, the stuff of nightmares
Terminator 2 gets the most attention, and it is a damn near flawless movie; but the original is an incredibly tight and focused thriller, that is still a ton of fun to watch today.
What better way to celebrate Arnold's return to acting that to watch the film that took him from being a star to being a megastar?
