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| The Terminator (1984) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Background
One tagline described the plot in detail:
Its major follow-up films included two more films - to make a trilogy - and further sequels:
The low-budget R-rated film grossed $38.8 million (domestic), with a production budget of only $6.4 million. The sci-fi action film was the 21st highest-grossing domestic film of the year 1984, far behind the # 1 domestic hit Beverly Hills Cop (1984) at $234.8 million. It made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star, and "I'll be back" became a popular catch-phrase. Writer/director James Cameron's sleeper film (only his second feature film), co-written with producer Gale Anne Hurd, was an exciting, well-paced action thriller with apocalyptic, monster, and sci-fi adventure story elements. It harkened back to a collection of sci-fi films (such as The Time Machine (1960), Cyborg 2087 (1966), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Westworld (1973), and Halloween (1978), plus Mad Max (1979), The Road Warrior (1982) (aka Mad Max 2 (1981, Australia)) and Blade Runner (1982)), and also to TV episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), The Outer Limits (1963-1965), and Star Trek (1966-1969). Stan Winston's special terminator and visual effects, created by Fantasy II Film Effects, vividly and effectively presented a film-noirish environment and realistic stop-motion animation as the Terminator was transformed into a mechanical exo-skeleton when his flesh and blood were stripped away in the course of his unstoppable pursuit. Heavy-accented, Austrian body-builder and wooden actor Arnold Schwarzenegger performed in a career-shaping role as the title character - a robotic killing machine (27 people died at his hands by film's end). It was also a very rudimentary and brutish role - with only 74 words of dialogue. This role soon led to many more such formidable, box-office appealing characterizations in films from the mid to late 80s and into the 90s:
Likewise, Cameron's career was launched by the success of this film - with its brilliant chase sequences and trademark action set-pieces. However, there were no accolades for the special-effects or the characterizations from AMPAS - no Academy Awards nominations.
During the Terminator's mission, he delivered the oft-quoted, straight-faced line "I'll be back" to a desk police clerk. He did return, destroying the building by driving a monstrous vehicle directly into it.
The Story Prologue: The Year 2029 - Skynet War The action film opened in the year 2029 in Los Angeles (revealed in a caption) in a dark, ruined post-apocalyptic area. It was a scene of annihilation and devastation ("nuclear fire"), as massive machines hunted down humans in order to exterminate the entire human race - a large tank-like vehicle with laser guns firing symbolically crushed skulls strewn across the landscape. AI machines ruled the desolate world, led by a computer network called Skynet, explained in a super-imposed caption:
The screen turned black, transitioning slowly to the presentation of the names of the major stars (with PC computer-like DOS letters), seen above the formation of the film's title (outlines of the lettering of the two halves of the title moving toward each other) in glistening, metallic, bluish-silver writing: THE TERMINATOR, backed by an ominous drum-beat. The Present Day: Los Angeles, May 12, 1984 - The Time-Traveling Arrival of Two Individuals From the Future [Note: May 12, 1984, was in actuality a Saturday, not a Friday.] With another caption, the film then returned to the present-day of mid-May 1984 Los Angeles, a nighttime scene at 1:52 am, as the claws of a garbage truck reached for a dumpster during an electrical storm. A strange lightning-like discharge shut off the truck's ignition, and grew in strength as it encircled the vehicle. The black truck driver (Chino 'Fats' Williams) fled from the cab as a crouching figure materialized nude nearby - a show-stopping entrance scene. The muscle-bound, powerfully-strong individual rose up, glanced back and forth to scan his environment, and slowly walked over to the edge of the pavement to view the lights of the city. The figure was an indestructible android assassin, the Terminator (36 year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger), a T-800 Series (Model 101) model from the future.
Nearby on the perimeter of the parking lot in front of the Griffith Observatory, three young punk tough guys (Brad Rearden, Brian Thompson, and leader Bill Paxton) with spiked hair were vandalizing a viewing telescope, when the formidable Terminator walked over to them. After the leader joked: "Nice night for a walk, eh?...Wash day tomorrow? Nothing clean, right?", the android emotionlessly repeated their lines and then demanded their clothing ("Your clothes. Give them to me, now!"). The leader and the others ineffectually drew switchblades - two of them were heaved away, while a third was killed with a lethal and bloody gut-punch. In a different, litter-strewn downtown LA alley, a second time-traveling individual named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a soldier of the Tech-Com human Resistance movement of the future (led by Resistance leader John Connor) fighting against Skynet, was also teleported back. He dropped to the ground, nude, amidst electrical sparks. Appearing less capable and smaller than the first individual, he stole pants from a derelict, drunken homeless bum (Stan Yale), and fled from officers (Ken Fritz and Tom Oberhaus) in an LAPD squad car who pursued him on foot. He was able to steal a trenchcoat and Nike shoes from the maze of aisles in a discount department store, and after climbing down the second floor fire escape, made off with the officers' pump riot gun from their unattended vehicle. Introduction of Sarah Connor - A Key Individual Both Terminators were on a systematic search to hunt down a female named 'Sarah Connor' - but there was an unforeseen complication. There were three listed in alphabetical order in the phone book (now not a helpful tool, but a deadly tool to target an individual):
Reese was the first to enter a phone booth and scan the three 'Sarah Connor' names in the printed telephone directory - he ripped out the page. The next morning, an expository camera cut revealed the 'real' Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a 19 year-old brunette who was riding her Vespa in LA traffic. She parked in front of a Big Jeff's Restaurant (styled after a Big-Boy restaurant, but actually a Carrow's Restaurant), and chained her scooter to the statuesque icon of 'Big Jeff' himself, holding a double-cheesburger in each hand. She turned as she walked inside and spoke to the iconic figure: "Guard it for me, big buns." She was late for her waitressing duties, along with another employee named Nancy (Shawn Schepps). In the kitchen at the time-clock, she time-stamped her pay-card, revealing her name: "Sarah Connor." The Terminator - now dressed in the garb of one of the punks, punched in the driver's side window of a parked station wagon. He unlocked the door, sat in the driver's seat, disabled the ignition assembly with one swift blow, touched the exposed wires together, and started the car before driving away. In Big Jeff's, Sarah (in her pink waitress outfit) - precariously balancing plates on her arms - was overwhelmed by near collisions, the crowded aisles and tables, inaccurate orders, and pushy rude customers, causing her to spill a glass of water in a man's lap. A little boy in the next booth reached over and dumped a scoop of ice cream into the open pouch of Sarah's apron. Nancy came up to make a snide comment: "Look at it this way, in a hundred years, who's gonna care?" Sarah sighed. Gun Shop Sequence: The Terminator's Acquisition of Fire Power In the ALAMO Sport Shop (in the suburb of Van Nuys, marked with the number 14329) that sold guns and ammo, the Terminator inquired about four specific weapons from the clerk (Dick Miller):
The clerk complimented the Terminator on his selections: "You know your weapons, buddy. Any one of these is ideal for home defense. So, uh, which will it be?" The Terminator bluntly responded: "All," and then ignored the clerk's statement that there was a 15-day waiting period for the hand guns. [Note: The film commented upon the absurdity of the waiting period for hand-guns, although one could buy over-the-counter assault weapons without any delay. Also, there was an implicit attack on the ease with which a customer could steal guns and murder a store salesperson.] Although against the law, the Terminator loaded the 12-gauge shotgun with shells, and when the clerk objected ("You can't do that!"), the Terminator blasted him to death with a simple one word reply: "WRONG!" Meanwhile, Reese was in a downtown alleyway, using a hacksaw to sever the wooden stock from the riot gun, and alter it into a pistol so it could be concealed and slung for easy access beneath his overcoat. He stepped out onto the street and joined other pedestrians. |
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The
Terminator (1984),
the first of five science-fiction action-thriller films (through
2015), has often been considered by most film reviewers to be a
better-crafted film than its popular sequels, with fewer special-effects
and pretention. Perhaps it was immensely popular because the concisely-represented
film had a very simple and uncomplicated premise
or storyline: A killer machine hunting down a woman. However, the
film's most paradoxical, mind-blowing circular element was that
the time-traveling individual, who was sent back by his own father
to protect the female protagonist, was also the father of her
child.