The Terminator 1984: Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

The Terminator (1984), directed by James Cameron, is about a machine sent from the future to kill the woman who will give birth to humanity's last hope. In 1984 Los Angeles, a cyborg assassin arrives naked from the year 2029. Its mission is to kill a waitress named Sarah Connor, whose unborn son will one day lead the human resistance against the machine network Skynet.

A human soldier named Kyle Reese is sent back from the same future to protect her. The machine begins working through women with her name in the phone book, while Reese races to reach the real Sarah first. If you are new to the saga, this is the right place to start, and the Terminator movies in order guide confirms it is the first film in both release order and chronological order.

In The Terminator (1984), a cyborg assassin from 2029 hunts Sarah Connor in Los Angeles, and Kyle Reese dies protecting her before she drives into Mexico, pregnant with John. The machine was built for killing, and it targets Sarah because her son John will lead humanity against Skynet. The resistance answers by sending one soldier, Reese, back after it. The machine tracks down and kills women who share the name Sarah Connor, and Reese finds the real Sarah and gets her away from it.

Police do not believe their story, and the machine attacks the station where Sarah is held. Reese and Sarah escape and spend a night on the run. During that night they fall in love and conceive John, which turns the soldier sent to protect her into the father of the child she is being hunted for.

The machine keeps coming even after it is badly damaged and stripped down to a metal frame, so the pursuit never really slows. The chase ends at a factory, where Reese dies helping Sarah destroy the machine. Some months later Sarah, now pregnant, is in Mexico, recording audio tapes for her unborn son. A boy takes an instant photo of her, the same photo John will later give to Reese. She then drives toward an approaching storm.

The Terminator (1984) opened in US theaters on October 26, 1984, according to Box Office Mojo. TMDB lists the Australian release as December 20, 1984 and the UK release as November 8, 1985, and both of those dates are reported rather than confirmed.

No separate premiere date, city or venue has been confirmed.

The ending of The Terminator (1984) shows that Kyle Reese, sent back to protect Sarah Connor, fathers her son John, so the future she is fighting to prevent is partly set in motion by the resistance's own plan. Reese is killed in the factory fight, Sarah finishes off the machine and survives, and she is pregnant with John. The resistance sends Reese back, and Reese then fathers the leader the resistance needs.

The photograph closes that loop. A boy takes an instant photo of Sarah in Mexico, and it is the same photo John will later give to Reese. The image Reese carries into the past exists only because he goes there. That makes it the film's tidiest piece of time travel logic, since nothing needs to be changed for the story to make sense.

The film never shows Reese learning that he is John's father, so there is no on-screen sign that he knew.

The final act is built from three physical stages. The machine first attacks the station where Sarah is held, then survives until it is stripped down to a bare metal frame, and finally dies in the factory where Reese gives his life. Those frame scenes are the stop-motion work by Gene Warren Jr.'s company, and Stan Winston led the wider Terminator effects. On a $6.4 million budget, according to The Numbers, the film leans on those handmade effects rather than spectacle, which in my opinion gives the factory fight its weight.

Sarah's tapes for her unborn son show her turning from a waitress into a mother preparing for a war. The closing shot of her driving toward a storm leaves the war with Skynet unresolved and sets up a sequel. That being said, the film does not tell you whether the machine's defeat changes the future at all, which is the question Terminator 2: Judgment Day picks up.

A comparison across the series shows how unusual this ending is. Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the second film and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is the third, and both follow a closing image of one woman alone on a road with a war still ahead of her. In my opinion, the later entries, through Terminator Salvation, Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate, all inherit that open question from this film, because the first film never says whether the future can be changed.

The Terminator (1984) was filmed in Los Angeles, California, with principal photography taking place mostly at night. The city setting matters to the story, since the machine works through the phone book while Reese tries to reach Sarah first.

Filming was delayed because Arnold Schwarzenegger had to finish Conan the Destroyer (1984) first. Los Angeles is the only filming location confirmed for the production. For where the film sits among the rest of the saga, see the Terminator timeline.

The best known fact about The Terminator (1984) is that James Cameron sold the rights to Gale Anne Hurd for $1, on the condition that she would produce only if he directed.

A few more production facts:

• Schwarzenegger wanted to change the line "I will be back", but Cameron refused, so the line stayed.
• Brad Fiedel composed and performed the synthesizer score, largely on a Prophet-10, and the main theme is in 13/16 time.
• Orion Pictures settled a plagiarism claim by Harlan Ellison in 1986.

If you want to see the trailers, the Terminator trailers page collects them. For the full list of films, visit the Terminator movies hub.