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The Terminator Movies: The Terminator

Directors: James Cameron
Writters: James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher (additionals) & Harlan Ellison
Producers:
John Daly, Derek Gibson & Gale Anne Hurd
Release Date: 26th of October 1984
Rating: rated R
Run Time: 103 minutes
Budget: $6.5 million


Synopsis:Kyle and Sarah

In 2029 the world is being dominated by machines, determined to annihilate the human race for once and for all. To destroy the future of mankind, the machines have sent back a Terminator back in time to kill the mother of the future leader of the human resistance, Sarah Connor. The resistance sent a protector back in time to protect Sarah, and to preserve the future of the human race.

In their struggle to survive from the relentless Terminator, Kyle tells Sarah things about the future, which actually is his past. He also tells her about John, Sarah's unborn son, who would be the leader of the resistance in the war against the machines. Kyle and Sarah will have to give everything they've got to try and destroy the Terminator, for it will never stop hunting her ...

The Terminator


Famous Moments

  • The T-800 applying surgery to itself, removing it's eye revealing the machine parts.

  • The T-800 being crushed by Sarah in the factory.

  • Future war is shown for the first time, giving a glimpse on what "our" future was looking like.

Famous Quotes

  • "I'll be back." - The Terminator

  • "Come with me if u want to live." - Kyle Reese.

  • "Listen. And understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."- Kyle Reese.

  • "You're terminated, fucker." - Sarah Connor.
  • "Cyborgs don't feel pain, I do." - Kyle Reese


Scripts

Terminator (type: Treatment)
Terminator (type: 4th draft)
Terminator(3/19/84 5th draft script)

Script Links

http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/Terminator_Treatment.txt
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/terminator_1_4th_draft.txt
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/TheTerminator_5th-Draft.txt


Oops!


Audio/visual unsynchronized
  • During the police station massacre, the fourth cop that the Terminator kills gets blasted by the shotgun, but we hear the sound of the machine gun instead.
  • During the police station shoot-out. The terminator uses a shot-gun to shoot at an office. But it makes the sound of an automatic weapon.
  • AJust before the Terminator kills the power to the police station, he comes to a door at the end of a hallway. He fires his shotgun, but we hear the sound of the machine gun instead.
  • The sound of the car window being smashed by the terminator.
  • When Sarah is walking from her apartment you can hear the heels of her shoes hitting the pavement. Later when she's walking into the disco she's wearing tennis shoes.
  • When Sarah realizes that despite being burned, the terminator is still alive, you can hear her screaming "No, no!". It's obvious that she's not actually screaming the second "No!"
Boom mic visible
  • Reflected in Sarah's sunglasses when she puts them on just before driving off at the end of the film.
  • When Sarah is put into the ambulance, the boom microphone is briefly reflected in the left rear window.
Continuity
  • After the Terminator says, "I'll be back," he walks out the door, never closing it. It does sway a little back but swings open again. But when he drives the car through it, it is neatly closed.
  • As Kyle and Sarah are sneaking toward another car in the parking garage, a police car with the serial number 1874 drives by. The number 1874 is also visible on the Terminator's police car. The first car that drove by couldn't have been the Terminator's because a second cop is visible in the passenger seat.
  • As Sarah is talking into the tape recorder, the microphone is up to her mouth. As the boy takes her picture, the microphone is not visible in the photograph of her and her dog.
  • As the Terminator is approaching Sarah in the Tech Noir nightclub, several other patrons can be seen behind her sitting in booths. These same people are in front of Kyle (he pushes them out of the way to get to Sarah before the Terminator does), yet he's on the other side of the club by the bar.
  • At the beginning of the chase with the Cadillac, bullet holes can be seen appearing in the front windshield several times, but during most of the chase, it only has one hole.
  • Before Sara closes the cage-like door at the press, a silhouette of the Terminator's legs can be seen in close-up, even though they're supposed to have been blown off.
  • In a scene in an alley, Reese clearly saws off the buttstock of the shotgun (so he can hide it in his overcoat easier). After the first car chase, however, when he is explaining the future to Sarah, the wooden stock is clearly visible.
  • In some scenes, Reese has a clean shaven face. In others, he looks like he's growing a beard.
  • In Tech Noir, there is a man wearing a white and black tank top on the dance floor. In the next shot, the same guy is standing behind Reese as he's preparing to fire at the Terminator.
  • In the chase with the gray Ford LTD, dents, and hubcaps appear, disappear, and reappear on the vehicle throughout the chase.
  • In the parking garage Reese's shotgun goes from sawn-off to full length as he breaks the dashboard to hot wire the car. Before this and after this he is shooting at the terminator with a sawn-off shotgun.
  • In the parking garage, when Reese and Sarah get into the car to steal it, Reese's coat gets caught in the door of the car and is pulled tight enough to restrict his movement. A moment later, the coat is free and loose around his neck.
  • In the tanker truck scenes, the truck's wheels go from Daytons (five-spoke hubs), when it is running over the Terminator, to Budds (10 lugs) with aluminum wheels when the Terminator is chasing Sarah, to Budds, with five-hole steel wheels when the truck is burning. The truck also changes from an International Cabover, to a Kenworth Cabover (two round headlights change to four smaller round headlights).
  • Position of Sarah's right hand (on Reese's cheek) before she starts kissing him and when she is kissing him.
  • Reese's burns/scars.
  • The bandage on Reese's right hand disappears when he and Sarah climb into the black pick-up truck.
  • The bandage on Reese's right hand disappears when he and Sarah climb into the black pick-up truck. During the following chase, it is back on his hand.
  • The black pickup truck that Sarah rolls onto its roof appears soon after undamaged.
  • The broken window in the Gray Ford changes sides during the movie.
  • The burning cab that the Terminator jumps out of is not the same type as the one he jumps into.
  • The events from the time Sarah and Reese arrive at the hotel until the love scene are all during the day. In the middle of this Sarah calls her mom's cabin and talks to the terminator. The shot of the cabin is at night, as is the following shot of the terminator riding his motorcycle. Then everything is daytime again until he arrives at the hotel.
  • The message on Sarah's answering machine goes, "Hi there... Ha-ha, fooled ya. You're talking to a machine..." with a pause between "Hi there" and "Ha-ha". When the Terminator has shot Ginger, the answering machine starts and we hear the words immediately following each other. Also, when the police call Sarah's apartment, the message changes/speeds up; it is much quicker.
  • The number 14239 appears above the entrance of the Alamo Gun Shop and above the front door of the first Sarah Connor. The address 14239 also does not match any of the addresses for Sarah Connor shown in the telephone directory.
  • The phone number that Sarah Connor gives the Terminator (impersonating her mother) for the Tiki Motel, where she and Kyle are staying, is 408-555-1439. However, after the Terminator hangs up with Sarah, we see him dial 555-1639 and get an answer from the Tiki Motel.
  • The police clerk looks up from his desk to see headlights coming at him. When we see the front of the car, the headlights are off.
  • The position of "Pugsley" while Sarah listens to the telephone messages.
  • The same woman - blonde with a pink dress - appears simultaneously on the dance floor at Tech Noir and behind Sarah as the laser beam is pointed at her.
  • The second Sarah killed is given the full name of "Sarah Louise Connor". However, she is listed in the phone book as Connor, Sarah Ann.
  • The terminator's supposedly cut-out eye is visible through the sunglasses.
  • We see Ginger walking back to the bedroom with a plate of food and a glass of milk. When Matt crashes through the door, Ginger tosses and drops the food. When Ginger is shot and is trying to crawl away from the Terminator, the food on the floor in the hallway had some how disappeared.
  • When Reece and Sara are in the parking garage. Reece reaches over the rolled down window of a car and unlocks it. When they get in and close the door, the window is clearly rolled up all the way.
  • When Reese is being interrogated by Dr. Silberman, Reese never looks away and he always looks at Silberman whenever he is talking. When we cut to the video of his interrogation, he is suddenly facing the camera.
  • When Reese starts his explanation in the Ford LTD, he appears to have a brand new wound under his lower lip. When he continues his explanation in the other car (which is only a few minutes later) the wound has been healed and replaced by a scar.
  • When Reese tosses the third pipe bomb, we can see that the pick-up and motorcycle are almost at the end of the tunnel. But when Reese tosses the fourth bomb, the two vehicles still have a long way to go. After the fourth bomb explodes, the truck and motorcycle have cleared the tunnel.
  • When Sarah tries to escape from Reese in the car, he is seen grabbing hair. In the next shot, his arm is in front of her chest. The next shot shows him grabbing her hair again.
  • When the Terminator comes through the window after the police chase, he turns on a light to reveal his damaged right eye. However, when he sits down to fix his arm, which is also damaged, his damaged eye is his left one, and it remains this way during the rest of the movie.
  • When the Terminator gets into the tanker truck, there is a close-up shot of his left hand grabbing onto the type of door handle that protrudes from the door, and pushing the button on the handle with his thumb. But when the Terminator is chasing Sarah and Kyle with the truck, the door handle is the rectangular type that is recessed into the bottom right corner of the door.
  • When the Terminator is stalking Kyle and Sarah in his police car, the sticker on the driver's door reads "To care and protect". When the car is later wrecked in a tunnel, the sticker has changed to "Dedicated to serve".
  • When the Terminator is using the knife to cut away his eye, from the side view, there is no blade in the knife.
  • When the Terminator stumbles out of the burning cab, he collapses and burns in the fire. Its skull is clearly shown burning with no internal machinery. Later, when it rises out of the fire, it does so from underneath wreckage of the cab. These two inconsistencies have led some to erroneously believe that there was someone else in the truck.
Visible Crew or Equipment
  • A stage light is visible in the background when Reese is in his crouch after arriving from the future.
  • In the second future-war sequence. When the H-K is pursuing the car, you can briefly see a semi trailer in the background. Possibly a production vehicle.
  • When the Terminator finishes punching the hole in the door to the computer factory and walks in, a puppeteer's head can be briefly seen behind him.
  • When the Terminator is rising to his feet after getting blasted out the window, a production vehicle and a huge stage light are visible behind him.
  • When the Terminator skeleton rises out of the flames, a silhouette of a crew member can be seen behind the flames, rising from a crouch to pull a big lever. As the lever comes down, the metal skeleton rises up.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers)
  • When the Terminator is heading into the gun store, there is a sign on the glass that says "Clearnce Sale".
Factual Errors
  • A "phased-plasma rifle in the forty watt range" wouldn't be very lethal as it has the power output less than a small standard light bulb resulting in minor burns at best. To be lethal it should have been in kilowatts.
  • At the end of the film, the paramedics load Sarah into the ambulance feet first. Paramedics always load a victim's body head first.
  • The entrance door to the gun shop offers a 'clearnce' sale.
  • Towards the beginning of the movie, a caption gives the year as 1984. When asked, the police officer gives the date as Thursday May 12 but, in 1984, May 12 was a Saturday. All manner of explanations have been given (mainly revolving around the policeman's mistake being induced by fear while a gun is pointed at his face), but the most likely is that it is a genuine goof and that the line was overlooked when the script was revised to be set in 1984 instead of 1983 (when May 12 did, indeed, fall on a Thursday).
  • When Sarah Connor uses the pay phone to dial 911, she puts a quarter into the phone before dialing. 911 is a toll-free call. However, one could say that she would have been too frightened under the circumstances to remember that.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
  • The three "Sarah Connors" are listed in different sections in the phone book when Reese, The Terminator and Sarah Connor look them up (right page, left page, right page). They might have been different editions, though books at pay phones are generally all replaced at the same time.
  • When Reese and Sarah Connor get back from the police massacre, Reese is bleeding from a bullet fired by the Terminator. While the car's windows were not broken during that gunfight, the driver's window is either rolled down or missing, and he could easily have been hit through it - or indeed he may even have been hit by a stray bullet while making his way through the police station, which, throughout the Terminator's attack, is riddled with gunfire.
Mistakes
  • After obtaining information on Sarah's mother's address, the Terminator walks into a hallway. We can see that he is suddenly wearing white sneakers instead of the black boots he had been wearing throughout the film and is seen to still be wearing later, most clearly when being run over by the truck and walking towards the cab.
  • As the tanker truck is pursuing Sarah near the end of the film, the parked car that the truck smashes is already badly damaged from a previous take.
  • At one point during Reese's explanation, Sarah begins to say "Ky..." and then stops herself. Linda Hamilton obviously forgot that Sarah doesn't ask Reese's first name until much later.
  • At the factory, when Reese is attempting to damage the terminator with a metal rod, one of the shots reveals an obvious stunt double.
  • During the police station massacre, the camera is positioned on the floor, and shows the Terminator shooting through a door on the left. As he fires his gun, the supposedly dead cop in the foreground can be seen to jump.
  • During the police station massacre, you see the terminator get shot, then you see the shooter get shot and when the camera goes back to the terminator only then does he have the fresh bullet hole in his chest.
  • Near the end when the truck the Terminator is driving blows up, it's obviously a model. This is made clear mostly by the front grill. Instead of a metal grooved and indented grill like on the real truck, during the explosion we see a front grill that is obviously a piece of silver cardboard with a few black strips of cardboard stuck on top of it.
  • Obvious dummy for the Terminator when he is sliding on the asphalt after getting hit by the pick-up truck.
  • Obvious stunt double for Kyle when he and Sarah are switching sides in the pick-up truck.
  • Obvious stunt double for Reese when the Terminator punches him on the catwalk.
  • Shortly after the Terminator in his police car discovers Reese and Sarah in the Cadillac, Reese hot-wires the car and starts to speed away. For the first few shots of Reese driving the Cadillac, you can see through the windshield and it is a very obvious stunt double driving the car.
  • Tanker truck obviously being towed.
  • The future John Connor is supposed to be a great general and the salvation of mankind. But the glimpse of the future reveals the human forces transmitting uncoded messages on open frequencies, the kind of mistake only an amateur would make.
  • The wire pulling the tanker truck is visible several times.
  • When the black pickup rolls over, it is obvious that it has no engine, transmission, or driveshaft.
  • When the Terminator's flesh is burning off, a wire is clearly visible moving the Terminator puppet around.





Trivia

  • O.J. Simpson was considered for the terminator role but Jim Cameron changed his mind because he didn't think Simpson fit the part of a ruthless killer.
  • Michael Biehn almost didn't get the role of Kyle Reese because during his audition, he had an southern accent. Jim Cameron had him audition a second time, this time without the accent and he got the role.
  • Linda Hamilton was almost replaced as Sarah Connor because prior to the start of filming, she broke her ankle.
  • Arnold only has 16 lines.
  • At the beginning of the film, Sarah listens to an answering machine recording of her boyfriend breaking up a date. The voice heard on the answering machine belongs to James Cameron.
  • The final image of the Terminator in the film - where its red eye winks out after it had been crushed in the press - was actually one of the cheapest and simplest shots to create. It was done after principal photography had wrapped, when Cameron decided they needed the final shot. The press was made of foam core spray-painted silver, the eye was taken from one of the endoskeleton models and fitted with a small LED that was dialed down, the ring of metal that falls off was made of tinfoil, and the smoke wafting across was cigarette smoke blown on-camera by somebody out of the camera's field of view. Simple - but one of the most powerful images in the film.
  • The classic line, "I'll be back." was originally scripted as "I'll come back."
  • The body bag that Reese is zipped up into at the end of the film is actually a suit bag that belonged to director James Cameron. They needed a pickup shot and Cameron happened to have the bag in his car, so he pulled it out and presto, instant body bag.
  • A "steel fist" machine rig was used to punch through the windshield of the car in the alleyway scene. The rig was so heavy that the car couldn't be moved, so instead they moved the brick wall behind the car to give the appearance that the vehicle was in motion.
  • The start of shooting was delayed for two days because The Terminator's custom leather jacket didn't fit him correctly.
  • New comer Bill Paxton makes a cameo appearance at the beginning. He is the one with the blue hair.
  • The Tiki Motel is at 7301 Santa Fe Ave. in Huntington Park, CA. This is where Sarah & Reese make pipe bombs.
  • Before the Terminator drives up to the house of the first Sarah Connor, there is a shot of the house from the street. In this shot, you can see a small toy truck which looks exactly like the one the Terminator uses at the end of the film. In the next scene, you can see how the truck is run over and crushed by the car that pulls up. A small hint of what might happen in the future of the film. That model truck is one of those what the filmmakers made for filming the truck-blows-up scene.
  • The skulls seen in the future segments were actually used as part of a technique to make the model set (and all the HKs on it) look bigger than it actually was. Fantasy II littered the set with little skulls that were about 3/4 of a inch in size and then placed a normal sized skull in the foreground for some shots. This created an illusion known as 'forced depth perception' which makes you continually think the scale of the picture you're seeing is larger than reality. An inexpensive but very effective trick.
  • Michael Biehn gave a very impressive reading for the part of Reese, but Cameron didn't like the fact that he had such a prominent Southern accent. He called Biehn's agent and said that they loved the reading, but didn't want Reese to have a pronounced accent like that. The agent was confused: "What accent? He doesn't have an accent." It then transpired that Biehn had in fact just come from an audition for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that morning, and hadn't shaken off the accent yet. So they had him come in for another reading, verified the lack of accent, and offered him the part.
  • James Cameron originally wanted Lance Henriksen as the Terminator, and Henriksen really got into the idea of playing the character. Cameron scheduled a meeting with executive producer John Daly to show how great Henriksen would be as the Terminator. Unfortunately Henriksen showed up early - in full makeup, with bits of metal exposed and utterly in character - and frightened the hell out of everyone in the building before Cameron arrived and was able to reassure everyone.
  • The original concept for the Terminator films came to Cameron in a fevered dream he had in Rome - a persistent mental image of a mechanical figure standing in flames. Cameron has since admitted that he gets frequent inspiration from nightmares and that "pleasant, happy dreams are sort of a waste of time."
  • The Alamo Gun Shop is located at 14329 Victory Blvd. Van Nuys, CA. It is now a used Car lot. Across the street is also where the Terminator throws the Biker from the phone booth.
  • Because the production was so short on time, the "Future War" segments with the Ground H-Ks were filmed from the ground up. Fantasy II built the treads section, and then they filmed those shots. Then they added the torso section on top of the treads, and filmed those bits. Finally they added the head to the body and shot the full-on views of the H-K.
  • The "Tech Noir" shooting was done in a building in LA that used to be a restaurant. The set was so realistic that the night after shooting wrapped, people were trying to pay to get into the "club". Producer Gale Anne Hurd recalls that "we were so desperate for cash at that point that we almost took their money, but better sense got hold of us and we declined the paying patrons."
  • The factory that the Terminator gets crushed in is called Kern's Of California located at Bolo East Temple Ave. in Industry, CA.
  • The "smoke" effect coming off Terminator's jacket during the scene where he is riding on the hood of Reese and Sarah's car in the alleyway outside Tech Noir was created by pouring a mild acid onto the jacket. Arnold begged for an alternative method, as the idea understandably made him rather nervous, but eventually he agreed to it.
  • The production of the film was dealt a severe blow when Linda Hamilton broke her ankle and tore several ligaments just before shooting began. The production schedule was rearranged to shift most of the running scenes toward the end of shooting, and even so Hamilton had to do all of those scenes on an ankle which wasn't even close to healed and had to be taped up every day.
  • After the Tech Noir shootout, the Terminator takes out a hapless policeman (One-L-nineteen) and steals his car (and later impersonates his voice). This cop is played by Bill Wisher, a friend of Cameron's and co-writer of the script. Wisher also appears in "Terminator 2" as the shocked mall goer with the camera, after the T-1000 throws the Terminator through the wall.


STARRING CAST MEMBERS

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Terminator

In this role Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the Terminator, a cyborg sent from the year 2029 to 1984 after Sarah Connor to kill her, in order to prevent her son from being born. The machine doesn't know pain, remorse, sorrow or exhaustion, and will never stop hunting Sarah, untill she is dead.
Sarah Connor Linda Hamilton - Sarah Connor

Sarah Connor is the mother of the future leader of the human resistance, John Connor. At this point John isn't even born, but Sarah get's hunted by a Terminator sent from the year 2029, and has to survive in order for mankind to be able to survive.
She is aided in her struggle by Kyle Reese, who would be the father of her yet unborn son as well ...




Michael Biehn Michael Biehn - Kyle Reese

Kyle Reese was sent back from the year 2029 by John Connor, the leader of the human resistance, to aid his mother who is hunted by a Terminator. His mission is to make sure that Sarah survives, which ensures the survival of mankind in the future.
Earl Boen Earl Boen - Dr. Silberman

Dr. Silberman is the psychiatrist that makes an analysis of Kyle Reese, concluding that he's absolutely crazy. However, all the things that Dr. Silberman sees as rediculous are true ...




Paul Winfield Paul Winfield - Lieutenant Traxler

Lt. Traxler runs the local police department where Sarah and Kyle are brought in after they are chased by the Terminator. Lt. Traxler shows Sarah a bulletproof vest, and tells her that the man that got shot was probably wearing such a vest, not knowing that Kyle tells the truth ...
Lance Henriksen Lance Henriksen - Detective Vukovich
Detective Vulkovich is the right hand of Lt. Traxler, aiding him in the investigation of the mysterious "Sarah Connor" murders. He is very sceptic towards Kyle Reese, and makes that clear in every way he possible can.


MOVIE PICTURES & VIDEOS

The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles The Terminator Movies: The Terminator - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Warning due to the Graphic nature/language of these VIDEOS viewer discression is advised.



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