With Arnie calling it quits in Hollywood and sticking to tearing up political foes as the ‘Governator’, it’s easy to forget that lost time when he tore up the box office as easily as dishing out destruction and one-liners to his onscreen enemies.

It was to be his role as the Terminator that would begin his lumbering march to mega-stardom. Clearly, a monosyllabic killing machine was hardly a stretch for the Austrian ex-bodybuilder, but the part would prove so successful that it provided the template for almost all his subsequent roles (not to mention the debut of his oft-used and iconic catchphrase "I’ll be back").

Schwarzenegger wasn’t the only success story produced by the film’s meteoric success. Director James Cameron was hardly the toast of Tinsletown prior to the film, his only previous stab at feature length filmmaking being the shocking (for all the wrong reasons) Piranha 2: Flying Killers.

Yet Cameron’s tight script and proficient direction would prove perfect to demonstrate his prowess, telling the tale of Kyle Reese (Biehn), a soldier sent back from 2029 to protect Sarah Conner (Hamilton) from a relentless cyborg assassin so that she can give birth to mankind’s future saviour.

The action is tense, brutal and uncompromising, and the characters remain believable despite the fantastic premise.

Admittedly, the film is not perfect: the love angle dangerously veers into corniness on a few occasions, while the years certainly haven’t been kind to some of the more dubious looking stop-motion sequences... but this shouldn’t detract from what remains a classic slice of sci-fi action.

Even though Arnie came back for two blockbuster sequels, it’s still the low-budget original that captures the imagination.

David Parrett