The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator is the 1984 science fiction film directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a killer cyborg sent by machines from the future with the sole mission of killing the woman who will give birth to the leader of the future human resistance. Arnold Schwarzenegger would reprise the role in the sequels Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2004) and as well as appear via CGI in 2009's Terminator Salvation.

The following weapons were used in the film The Terminator:

AMT Hardballer .45 Longslide

The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) acquires an AMT Hardballer Longslide with a primitive laserlock sight (a one-off made by someone from a company that would later become SureFire) in addition to several other weapons from a gunshop shortly after his arrival from 2029. He first uses it to terminate two women from a phone book who share the name Sarah Connor. When he arrives at the real Connor's (Linda Hamilton) apartment, he is seen with it when confronting her roommate, Ginger Ventura (Bess Motta). Upon tracking Sarah to the Tech Noir nightclub, the Terminator loses this weapon when Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) intervenes in the attempted termination, at which point he switches to his IMI Uzi.

AMT Hardballer Longslide .45 ACP with laserlock sight as used in the film

The Terminator inspects the .45 in the gunshop.

A closeup of the laserlock sight.

Another shot of the Terminator inspecting the gun.

The Terminator aims the .45 at Ginger's (Bess Motta) answering machine.

The Terminator reloads his .45.

The Terminator sets the .45 down as he looks for Sarah's address book.

The Terminator aims his .45 at Sarah's head seconds before being stopped by Kyle Reese.

In 1984, laser sights were rare, and required a high level of power. This helium neon laser needed 10,000 volts to turn on, and a further 1,000 volts to maintain its brightness. The cables were run up Arnold's arm to a battery that was in his M65 field jacket. The laser was activated by his other hand.

IMI Uzi

Another weapon the Terminator acquires from the Gun Shop at the start of the film is an IMI Uzi 9mm Carbine. In the sequence, the gun store has the weapon on display with the short dummy barrel installed, which was done sometimes to entice buyers, however the Uzi Model A or B was always sold with a 16" barrel per legal requirements. James Cameron mentioned in the magazine "Soldier of Fortune" that he assumed that the Terminator had converted the Uzi and the AR-180 into full auto weapons in his hotel room (which included sawing down the 16" barrel of the Uzi). He uses it mainly in the Tech Noir nightclub, when Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) interferes with his attempts to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). After losing his .45, the Terminator unloads several rounds at the nightclub, killing quite a few innocent bystanders, but fails to hit Sarah, or Kyle. He loses the weapon when Kyle uses his Ithaca to blast him out of the club's window.

IMI Uzi 9mm

The gunshop owner (Dick Miller) retrieves the Uzi from a shelf. Note that the short barrel is installed, which if live would not be legal to sell over the counter, even in 1984, thus it is assumed that this is the dummy short barrel that came with the Uzi Carbines for 'display purposes'.

The Terminator whips out his (now full auto) Uzi at the Tech Noir night club.