The Terminator

Los Angeles, 1984. A cyborg sent from 2029 is killing every woman named Sarah Connor in the phone book, one by one. Waitress Sarah Connor realizes she's next. Kyle Reese, a Resistance soldier from the same future, saves her and explains: Skynet, a military AI, will start a nuclear war, and the son Sarah hasn't had yet, John Connor, will lead humanity. They flee the Terminator, survive the police station massacre and fall for each other at a motel, where John is conceived. At a factory, Kyle dies blowing the machine apart, and Sarah crushes what's left of it in a hydraulic press. Pregnant, Sarah heads into Mexico. A boy snaps the photo of her that John will one day give to Kyle.

1. Behind the scenesBorn from a fever dream

   James Cameron came up with it in Rome, sick with a fever, around the release of Piranha II: The Spawning. He dreamed of a metal torso crawling out of an explosion, gripping kitchen knives.

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2. Behind the scenesArnold was meant to be Kyle Reese

   The first plan had Schwarzenegger as Reese. After meeting him, Cameron decided he'd make a far better Terminator. Orion had even suggested O. J. Simpson for the villain.

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3. Behind the scenes“I'll be back” almost changed

   Arnold struggled with “I'll” and asked to say “I will be back” instead. Cameron refused. The Terminator gets only 17 lines in the whole film, under 100 words.

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4. CameoLance Henriksen in cyborg costume

   To help sell the movie, Lance Henriksen showed up to a meeting with producer John Daly dressed as the Terminator, in a leather jacket with fake cuts on his face. On screen, he plays Officer Vukovich.

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5. ReferenceA credit for Harlan Ellison

   Harlan Ellison claimed the script lifted his The Outer Limits episode “Soldier.” Orion settled in 1986, and later prints added an acknowledgment to him.

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