A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
Sent back from a dystopian 2029--where the cold machines have conquered the entire world--to 1984 Los Angeles, the indestructible cyborg-assassin known as the "Terminator" commences his deadly mission to kill humankind's most important woman: the unsuspecting, Sarah Connor. However, from the same war-torn post-apocalyptic future comes a battle-scarred defender--Kyle Reese, a brave soldier of the human Resistance Army--bent on stopping the cybernetic killer from eliminating the world's last hope. But, the Terminator has no feelings, he doesn't sleep, and above all, he won't stop until he carries out his grim task. Does our future lie in our past?Written by
Nick Riganas
(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 in the shot too, it all had to be choreographed perfectly, since replacing a windshield was too costly and time consuming. See more »
Goofs
(at around 8 mins) May 12th in 1984 was a Saturday not a Friday. (This error was due to the script of the film being written in 1983, and the film itself was to begin production that same year, but ultimately was postponed because of Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to finishing another project at the time. When it was decided to have the film set in 1984, the writers chose not to change the day of the week.) See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
[the garbage truck's engine stops]
Truck Driver:
What the hell? Goddamn son of a bitch...
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening credits run while large outlines of the two halves of THE TERMINATOR cross each other. After the last directorial credit is shown, the title THE TERMINATOR zooms backward, is filled by metallic blue, and reveals itself. See more »
Alternate Versions
The new MGM R1 DVD releases has two altered scenes, at the request of Lightstorm Entertainment, supposedly to fix goofs in the original picture: a scene set in the future, when a Terminator enters the rebel compound, has been flipped on its vertical axis; the scene where the Terminator leaves the motel in L.A. has been cropped/reframed so that his feet are no longer visible (this was done to fix a continuity problem: the original scene showed Schwarzenegger wearing shoes instead of boots as previously seen). See more »
The Terminator is one of those films that no matter if you've seen it or not, you've heard of it, heck you know at least one or two lines without seeing it! This is the movie that blasted then new comer's Arnold Schwartzeneggerr's career, made James Cameron a name in Hollywood, and gave new meaning to a possible dark future that gave us nightmares. I remember the first time I saw this movie, I was just 8 years old and my dad of course walks in saying to cover my eyes at every "bad" scene with violence or nudity, needless to say about 70% of the movie he covered my eyes. Finally I got to see it with my mom and I was in love, this wasn't just an action movie, though it is one of the best, it had a story. To think this was all based upon just a quick nightmare that James Cameron had, he didn't have much money, but he had a good script, a great crew on his side to make one of cinema's greatest movies of all time.
Two men appear in Los Angeles in separate locations, manifesting in sudden, blinding flash-storms of electricity. One is heavily muscular; the other man, slim and wiry. The mysterious muscular man obtains weapons and begins hunting down all women named "Sarah Connor", using a phone book to track his targets. He successfully kills the first two of the three listed women. When he attempts to kill the last Sarah Connor, he is stopped by the other man, Kyle Reese who has been sent back in time to protect her. While hiding in a parking garage, Reese explains that the man hunting Sarah is actually a cyborg assassin called a "Terminator", built by Skynet, an artificial intelligence network created by Cyberdyne Systems. In the near future, Reese explains, Skynet gained self-awareness, initiated a global takeover of military hardware, and launched a nuclear war against humanity. Skynet ordered that a scant number of humans were to be kept alive in order to be used as slave labor. John Connor, Sarah's son, rallied the few remaining humans and led a resistance movement against the machines. After a grinding campaign, the human resistance was on the verge of victory; in a last-ditch effort, Skynet sent the Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John was born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded and allowing the machines to win by default. Reese volunteered to follow the Terminator back in time to protect Sarah; after his use of the time transportation equipment, it was to be destroyed by the resistance in order to prevent further Terminators from going back in time. The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotions, and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission.
The Terminator is personally one of my favorite movies of all time, I think because this movie really is something special. Yeah, the effects are very 80's, but for the time and even to this day, I think the special effects are much better than the CGI crud we get in today's cinema. This has everything: action, romance, horror, sci-fi, and even some dark humor. The reason why Arnold's "I'll be back" is so famous is not just because of his accent, but because you knew that something bad was coming. Kyle Reese's "Come with me if you want to live" is classic as well. If you haven't seen The Terminator, I highly recommend this movie, it's an incredible one that is sure to deliver entertainment to the fullest. This is one of the greatest movies of all time and I'm sure that you will not be disappointed, if you are, get a CAT scan.
10/10
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The Terminator is one of those films that no matter if you've seen it or not, you've heard of it, heck you know at least one or two lines without seeing it! This is the movie that blasted then new comer's Arnold Schwartzeneggerr's career, made James Cameron a name in Hollywood, and gave new meaning to a possible dark future that gave us nightmares. I remember the first time I saw this movie, I was just 8 years old and my dad of course walks in saying to cover my eyes at every "bad" scene with violence or nudity, needless to say about 70% of the movie he covered my eyes. Finally I got to see it with my mom and I was in love, this wasn't just an action movie, though it is one of the best, it had a story. To think this was all based upon just a quick nightmare that James Cameron had, he didn't have much money, but he had a good script, a great crew on his side to make one of cinema's greatest movies of all time.
Two men appear in Los Angeles in separate locations, manifesting in sudden, blinding flash-storms of electricity. One is heavily muscular; the other man, slim and wiry. The mysterious muscular man obtains weapons and begins hunting down all women named "Sarah Connor", using a phone book to track his targets. He successfully kills the first two of the three listed women. When he attempts to kill the last Sarah Connor, he is stopped by the other man, Kyle Reese who has been sent back in time to protect her. While hiding in a parking garage, Reese explains that the man hunting Sarah is actually a cyborg assassin called a "Terminator", built by Skynet, an artificial intelligence network created by Cyberdyne Systems. In the near future, Reese explains, Skynet gained self-awareness, initiated a global takeover of military hardware, and launched a nuclear war against humanity. Skynet ordered that a scant number of humans were to be kept alive in order to be used as slave labor. John Connor, Sarah's son, rallied the few remaining humans and led a resistance movement against the machines. After a grinding campaign, the human resistance was on the verge of victory; in a last-ditch effort, Skynet sent the Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John was born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded and allowing the machines to win by default. Reese volunteered to follow the Terminator back in time to protect Sarah; after his use of the time transportation equipment, it was to be destroyed by the resistance in order to prevent further Terminators from going back in time. The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotions, and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission.
The Terminator is personally one of my favorite movies of all time, I think because this movie really is something special. Yeah, the effects are very 80's, but for the time and even to this day, I think the special effects are much better than the CGI crud we get in today's cinema. This has everything: action, romance, horror, sci-fi, and even some dark humor. The reason why Arnold's "I'll be back" is so famous is not just because of his accent, but because you knew that something bad was coming. Kyle Reese's "Come with me if you want to live" is classic as well. If you haven't seen The Terminator, I highly recommend this movie, it's an incredible one that is sure to deliver entertainment to the fullest. This is one of the greatest movies of all time and I'm sure that you will not be disappointed, if you are, get a CAT scan.
10/10