The Terminator 1984
The low-budget film directed by James Cameron set a new standard for science-fiction and made Schwarzenegger, now California's governor, a star. The Library of Congress announced Tuesday morning that it's one of 25 films being added to the National Film Registry. The formal unveiling was scheduled for 8 a.m.
The move will guard Schwarzenegger's deadpan, "I'll be back," against deterioration, along with the sounds and images of the other culturally significant picks. Other titles being added to the registry include the groundbreaking all-black-cast film Hallelujah from 1929; Richard Brooks' 1967 film adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood; and the 1972 film Deliverance, based on James Dickey's novel about four businessmen on a nightmarish canoe trip in the remote Georgia wildnerness.
"The registry helps this nation understand the diversity of America's film heritage and, just as importantly, the need for its preservation," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in announcing his 2008 selections. "The nation has lost about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90 percent of those made before 1920."
As time passes, older nitrate- and acetate-based films begin to deteriorate, Billington said. The Library of Congress is working to digitize and preserve endangered film and audio files at its new Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, an approximately $250 million facility built in a bunker in the hills near Culpeper, Va.
With Tuesday's additions, the total number of films in the registry will reach 500.
The registry, established by Congress in 1989, works with film archives and movie studios that own the rights to the selected films to ensure original copies are kept safe. It also acquires a copy for preservation in its own vaults among millions of other recordings.
Curators select films based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic significance, saying their picks wouldn't necessarily overlap with those of a movie critic. And some aren't feature films at all: This year's list includes a family's home movie, Disneyland Dream, which documented a trip to the newly opened park in Anaheim, Calif., in 1956.
"The selection of a title for the registry is not meant to duplicate the Academy Awards or anything like that," said Patrick Loughney, head of the library's audio-visual center.
The library accepted public nominations for the film registry selections online and issued a specific call for lesser-known films, including amateur and home-movie footage.
Some films were selected for their historical value, such as Hallelujah, the tale of a cotton sharecropper made by MGM as the studio was transitioning from silent to sound films. The 1910 film White Fawn's Devotion, the oldest film selected this year, was made by James Young Deer. He was the first documented American Indian movie director, a member of the Winnebago tribe.
Other movies inspired the nation during times of trouble, such as Sergeant York from 1941, which told the story of a Tennessee pacifist who captured 130 German soldiers in World War I. The film, starring Gary Cooper, was released just months before the United States entered World War II.
The Terminator was released October 26th, 1984 and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, Bess Motta, Earl Boen, Rick Rossovich. The film is directed by James Cameron.
Comments (13)
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CelluloidDreams
Awsome.... Woo Hoo!!! Very cool that the Joan Crawford film "Johnny Guitar" (1954)was Added to National Film Registry...
Mabey "NOW" this will come ot DVD in 2009!!!!??!!
Johnny Guitar (1954) is a Republic Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and Scott Brady in an Old West tale about an Arizona cattle community facing unwanted social and economic changes and a newcomer who challenges the community's dictatorial leaders. The screenplay by Philip Yordan was based upon a novel by Roy Chanslor. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by Herbert J. Yates. Johnny Guitar was the last feature film produced by Republic Pictures in its Trucolor process. The film has been broadcast on American television, released to VHS and OOP on DVD formats in the USA, and was also adapted to musical theater.
3 years agoby @2movieguysFlag
MovieBuff
Die Hard is my all time favorite movie, but I don't think Congress wanted the quote "Yippi-Kay-Yay Motherf*cker" to be preserved in the nation's archive haha. Too bad :( hee hee
3 years agoby @moviebuff123Flag
-comrade-
Very cool.
umm...Killerman? There is no King Kong ride at Disneyland...are you thinking of Universal?
Also, someone other than Killerman, quote Halloween for me, a line that I would recognize.
Although you do have a point about Die Hard.
3 years agoby @taberjohnson18Flag
Brian
Nice.
3 years agoby @brianFlag
Rudy
okay.
3 years agoby @rudyFlag
Brainiac
i never knew any of that bout exorcist, and totally agree that movie if any horror movie should be on the list.
3 years agoby @thebdFlag
Structure (ONSTRA)
EHH what does this list exactly mean. srry just didn't understand that lol.
3 years agoby @gaj1992Flag
ed_wood
Cool.
3 years agoby @ed-woodFlag
Messenger
If ANY horror movie should be in the list is The Exorcist. Now THAT movie had a cultural impact more than ANY movie period. It had people vomiting in the isle of the theater, people running out, others fainting. And some divorces we filed because some spouses believe their other half of being a demon.
3 years agoby @messengerFlag
HESSIAN
Lets face it Killer...there is a sh*t load of films both great and important that should be in there. A bunch of old guys are gonna be limited in thier choosing. I'm suprised they even picked Terminator.
3 years agoby @hessianFlag
Raoul Duke
lmao
3 years agoby @raoulduke33Flag
killerman200
What about Halloween and Die hard? F*cking Congress! Terminator is the only good thing they have on this list. This pisses me the f*ck off!!!! Halloween was cultural and historic. The first ever horror that really scared the sh*t out of billions and billions and billions of people!! Sergeant York can kiss my ass. I've been to disneyland. I hated that place! That f*cking king kong ride was a piece of shiiittttttt! Nooooooo!
3 years agoby @killerman200Flag
The Kwisatz Haderach
wow
3 years agoby @the-kwisatz-haderachFlag