Even before its release, “Terminator” had already been talked about by winning the Grand Prix of the Fantastic Film Festival of Avoriaz. This distinction had however surprised Michel Blanc, who criticized the film in a very clear way …
It was at the beginning of 1985, and Robert de Niro chaired the Jury of the Avoriaz Festival. By her side, figures like Nicole Garcia, Guy Béart, Claude Pinoteau, Masaki Kobayashi, Christopher Walken and Claude Zidi. Together, they decided to award their prize to Terminator, a work of a director then little known: James Cameron. During the verdict-which can be seen in the video below, from the blood documentary on the snow dedicated to the Avoriaz festival-, applause and hoots.
The film featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, a cyborg from the future to eliminate Sarah Connor, the mother of a future resistance leader against the army of machines led by Skynet. A futuristic concept, of course, but far from having been unanimous, as shown by Michel Blanc's reaction. This one, who had just made his own comedy, walked in the shade, did not chew his words after the projection to which he witnessed.
A clear opinion
Indeed, the actor did not hesitate to qualify the film as “an endorsement”, even comparing it to the popular television series of the time, Starsky and Hutch.
“” “Last night, here, I saw a film called The Terminator which is an collapse, filmed like Starsky and Hutch. So if that's it, it's a bit disappointing. As in addition it is likely to have the price, I want to say that I consider it as m ****.»
For his part, Claude Brasseur, star of many thrillers from the 70s and 80s, had also expressed his reservations, but this time on the image he found by the strong man through Schwarzenegger: “I see that today, the strong man is represented by certain filmmakers by a gentleman who was 4 or 5 times Monsieur Universe with big muscles … Good. Me, it's not exactly how I represent the strong man, so I tend to laugh than to believe it.»

Orion Pictures
The rest you know it: Terminator The Festival Grand Prix was well won, and was launched in French theaters on April 24, 1985. The film accumulated more than three million admissions in France, and won nearly $ 40 million in the United States, with a budget of only 7 million. This explosive success obviously gave birth to a series of suites, of variable quality, and opened the major doors of cinema to James Cameron and at Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Let us not forget that many films, initially poorly received, have become classics over time. These initial reactions, sometimes lively, still feed the passionate debates of moviegoers and recall the richness and unpredictability of cinema.
Terminator (1984) is to be found in VOD.