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Schwarzenegger tackled the title role in The Terminator, which electrified audiences in 1984. A cybrog (a robot with the form of a man), the Terminator has been sent from the year 2029 to present-day Los Angeles. Representing a world that has become dominated by machines, the cyborg has been programmed to seek out and kill a young waitress named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) before she can conceive the son who will lead the future-era humans to victory over their mechanical enemies. At the same time, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a young but tough guerilla fighter, is also sent back in time to protect the unsuspecting Sarah from the relentless "killing machine" on her trail. Against all odds, Reese is determined to "terminate" the Terminator before it can fulfill its mission.
As the terrified Sarah dodges the Terminator and Kyle pursues him in a deadly game of search and destroy, the cyborg crushes anything-and anyone- that stumbles into its path. Against a murderous force of such magnitude, the police, including inspector Traxler (Paul Winfield) and his assistant, Vukovich (Lance Henriksen), stand little chance of making an impact. "I'll be back," the cyborg tells a police sergeant before crashing into the station and riddling everyone in it with bullets. But humanity triumphs during the film's thrilling climax, when the Terminator ends up in the clutches of a hydraulic press.
The Terminator marks the real turning point in Schwarzenegger's career. "It has radically changed the Hollywood community's opinion of me," the star told USA Today. "This movie has legitimized me as an actor." The picture won almost unanimous raves from critics, mostly for James Cameron's dazzling direction and Stan Winston's eye-popping special effects. Critics respectfully noted the picture's B-movie elements and futuristic film noir style - Variety termed the film "a cross between The Road Warrior and Blade Runner" - yet remarked that the filmmaker managed to transcend genre clichés and create an original work. One legitimate gripe was voiced by author/TV writer Harlan Ellison, who claimed that the film's script was suspiciously similar to the "Demon with a Glass Hand" episode of The Outer Limits that he had written some 20 years before; cable-TV and video prints of The Terminator give Ellison a special credit line.
Audiences cheered mightily for the picture, which could have doubled its respectable $30 million gross if the distributor had marketed it more imaginatively. Arnold explained, "Orion did a publicity campaign totally directed at the youth male audience, and what happened was that just as many women came to see it. They liked the look of the leather jacket, the short hair and the sunglasses - the punk touch."
Much of the appeal of The Terminator lies in the surprise of seeing Arnold for the first time as the villain, a break from the larger-than-life but essentially gentle - giant screeny persona he'd been associated with. Although he was initially offered a chance to play Reese, the story's human hero, Arnold refused to portray just another nice guy and opted instead for the murderous cyborg, which necessitated a rewrite of the part since the killing machine had originally been conceived as faceless and without character.
Although Schwarzenegger spent most of his screen time dressed in a state of the art leather outfit, fans of his memorable physique got a chance to see him in the raw, in the scene in which the cyborg first arrives in present-day L.A. Still, as he told Interview magazine, "Terminator made people think, 'Yes, let's get Arnold to be a regular action hero-with clothes.' It was understood that I had the body, but I didn't have to show it to make a point."
The Terminator himself never says more than a few words at a time, and his emotional range is close to zero, but the movie ends up being humorous precisely because of the cyborg's unrelenting grimness. Very carefully written one-liners and clever responses (for a robot) also endeared him to audiences.
"I like the Terminator," Schwarzenegger said. "I'd like to be as resolved as he was and have that kind of power and do the things he's able to do - an indestructible creature." Arnold knew that he "wanted to play the part of the Terminator as soon as I started reading the script. And getting the chance to play that kind of character has really helped me as an actor." And as he revealed to a reporter from People, "It's more challenging to play a robot than a human." The role also required him to be ultra-patient as he sat for long hours while all the special make-up was applied.
The film was made in and around Los Angeles on a shoestring budget of $6 million, which makes its visual accomplishments all the more striking. Much of the effects work was done with cleverly designed miniature props and sets that were seamlessly integrated into the live-action footage. Key moments of the Terminator's final, skeletal rampage were filmed in stop-motion animation, an effective but low-tech process that utilizes small, jointed puppets that are filmed one frame at a time. In all, The Terminator proved to be a special-effccts feast.
Following the immediate success of the movie, writer-director James Cameron acknowledged the possibility of a sequel - never mind that the Terminator buys the farm at the movie's climax. "He's a machine," Cameron told The New York Times, "and machines are mass-produced, so there might be another one in the warehouse. ..."
"A lot of guys would like to destroy a police station. Even the police guys came to me in the gym and said,'That was my favorite scene!"' A.S.
