Cyborg assassin. Time travel. Bill Paxton.

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2017)

A cyborg assassin is sent back in time to kill the mother of the general who will defeat the machines in the future. A human soldier is sent back to defend her. Hilarity ensues.
The original script had 2 humans sent back, one who dies after teleporting into a metal railing. It also had Paxton's punk leader dying from being punched through the stomach, rather than being thrown into a fence. He has the claim that he's the only person to be killed by a terminator, a predator and an alien. Did he actually die after being thrown? Probably. The force that the terminator threw him with probably snapped his neck (I think officially, the impact broke his spine).
Much of the movie was filmed without location permits. They would abandon a site quickly before police showed up. Many people in the background didn't even know they were in a film.
Rated at 100% on rottentomatoes.com (57 critic reviews), currently less than 800 movies reviewed.
Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson both turned down the role of the terminator, before it was offered to Arnie (who was originally going to play Kyle Reese).
The studio suggested OJ Simpson, but Cameron didn't think he was believable as a killer.
Geena Davis auditioned for Sarah Conner, as did Lea Thompson (Back To The Future). Darryl Hannah turned it down for the movie Splash! Don't remember that movie? Neither does anyone else. Other actresses considered were all in their late 20s/early 30s. Originally, Sarah Conner was supposed to be 18.
Starring: David Michels, dolly grip for 20 years, got to ride along in the tanker, his only movie exposure (the actual driver was a professional movie transport driver for 30 years). First recipient of the famous line "Get out." Stan Yale, "That son of a bitch took my pants!" He would go on to play such varied parts, such as Drunk #2, Derelict, Wino, Bum, Homeless Man and Transient in 19 different movies and TV shows.
Hettie Lynnne Hurtes, another victim of typecasting, would play a reporter/newscaster in 27 movies/TV series over 38 years (most recently in Anne Hathaway's Colossal).
William Wisher, from bit part in Terminator, bit part in The Abyss, wrote one TV movie, then suddenly he's co-writing T2?! He's on top of the world! Then he wrote Stallone's Judge Dredd (abysmal) and the reboot for The Exorcist franchise(terminated) and he's a nobody again.
Earl Boen, criminal psychologist, plays the same part in T1-3. Since the late 90s, he's been doing voiceovers for cartoons and video games, from the original Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Metal Gear Solid, to every incarnation of WoW.
Lance Henricksen, most famous for Millennium. After his show was cancelled, his character had a guest spot on the X-Files (a similar show). Without Lance, T1 would have never been made (ergo, and the rest of them).
Rick Rossovich, previously in Lords Of Discipline along with Paxton. At least he got to have sex before he died.
Linda Hamilton, turned down T3, voice-over in T4, best known for this and Beauty & The Beast.
Michael Biehn, dies in 13 of his movies, also previously in Lords Of Discipline along with Paxton, this is the 2nd of 5 movies they would be in together. In all 3 Cameron-directed movies, he is bitten on the hand.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, had his eyebrows insured at Lloyds of London as he feared that they might not grow back properly after he shaved them for the scene where he runs over a car on fire in the alley after the Tech Noir shootout. He's doing another Terminator movie. And another Conan movie. That's all you need to know.