Predator (film)

 

Predator (film)

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Not to be confused with Predators (film).

Predator
Theatrical poster
Directed by	John McTiernan
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Joel Silver John Davis
Written by	Jim Thomas John Thomas
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Carl Weathers Elpidia Carrillo Bill Duke Jesse Ventura Kevin Peter Hall
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Donald McAlpine
Editing by	Mark Helfrich John F. Link
Studio	Gordon Company Silver Pictures Davis Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 12, 1987 (1987-06-12)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$15,000,000
Box office	$98,267,558

Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox. The story follows an elite special forces team, led by 'Dutch' (Arnold Schwarzenegger), on a mission to rescue hostages from guerrilla territory in Central America. Unbeknownst to the group, they are being hunted by a technologically advanced form of extraterrestrial life, the Predator. Predator was scripted by Jim and John Thomas in 1985, under the working title of Hunter. Filming began in April 1986 and creature effects were devised by Stan Winston.

The film's budget was around $15 million. Released in the United States on June 12, 1987, it grossed $98,267,558. Initial critical reaction to Predator was mixed, with criticism focusing on the thin plot. However, in subsequent years critics' attitudes toward the film warmed, and it has appeared on a number of "best of" lists. Two sequels, Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010), as well as two crossover films with the Alien franchise, Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), have been produced.

 

Plot

An alien spacecraft enters the Earth's atmosphere and jettisons a pod, which descends onto the planet. Some time later, Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) arrives in Central America with his elite team for an operation to rescue a presidential cabinet minister and his aide who had been abducted by guerrilla forces. The team consists of Mac Eliot (Bill Duke), Blain Cooper (Jesse Ventura), Billy Sole (Sonny Landham), Jorge "Poncho" Ramirez (Richard Chaves), and Rick Hawkins (Shane Black). Dutch's old military friend George Dillon (Carl Weathers), now working for the CIA, accompanies them as a liaison. The team is inserted into the jungle by helicopter and begins its hunt.

They soon find the wreckage of a downed helicopter and later, the remains of Army Special Forces, whose presence in the country puzzles Dutch. The group is horrified to find the bodies have been hung and have had their skin removed. They track the guerrillas to a heavily defended rebel encampment which they destroy, except for a woman named Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) whom they take prisoner. Dutch is enraged when Dillon confesses the rescue mission was just a ploy to get his group to attack the rebel camp, and that the men they had found in the downed helicopter had disappeared in a failed rescue of two CIA agents. As the team make their way to the extraction point, they are observed from afar by an unknown creature using thermal imaging.

Anna briefly escapes, but when Hawkins catches her, he is stabbed and dragged off. The nearly invisible creature spares the unarmed Anna. Moments later, while the team is looking for Hawkins' killer, Blain is killed. Mac physically sees the creature and opens fire on it, but it disappears into the jungle. Anna offers the team insight on the creature which is something of a local legend. The team sets a trap, but it avoids capture, severely wounding Poncho in the process. Mac and Dillon are killed in the ensuing chase, and Billy is slain making a stand. The Predator catches up to Dutch and engages in a short shootout during which Poncho is killed. Realizing the creature only attacks those possessing weapons, a wounded Dutch sends Anna unarmed to the extraction point. Jumping off a waterfall, he narrowly escapes the creature by inadvertently masking his body's heat signature with mud and witnesses the Predator's true form when its active camouflage fails in the water. Dutch applies more mud, improvises various weaponry and traps, then baits the Predator into coming out by starting a large fire.

Hearing Dutch's war-cry, the Predator arrives to investigate and eventually traps him. Discarding its electronic weaponry, the alien challenges Dutch to hand-to-hand combat. Battered and barely able to move, Dutch manages to drop the counterweight from one of his traps, which falls and crushes the creature. As Dutch asks the mortally wounded alien what it is, the creature mimics his question in garbled English and then activates a self-destruct mechanism on its wrist device while laughing, gradually increasing its laugh into a human-like pitch. Dutch barely escapes the massive explosion and is rescued by helicopter along with Anna.

 

Cast

The main cast of Predator. Left to right: Ventura, Black, Schwarzenegger, Duke, Weathers, Landham, and Chaves.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, a former Green Beret.
• Carl Weathers as George Dillon, a former teammate of Dutch and current CIA agent, sent along with Dutch's team.
• Elpidia Carrillo as Anna, a guerrilla, captured by Dutch's troops following a battle with the rebels.
• Bill Duke as Mac Eliot, a close friend of Blain's who served with him in Vietnam.
• Jesse Ventura as Blain Cooper, who fought alongside Mac in the Vietnam War.
• Sonny Landham as Billy Sole, a Native American tracker.
• Richard Chaves as Jorge "Poncho" Ramirez, a Chicano fluent in Spanish who translates initially for Anna.
• Shane Black as Rick Hawkins, the team's radio operator and technical expert.
• R. G. Armstrong as Major General Homer Phillips, the coordinator of the mission, who assigns the team based upon their reputation.
• Kevin Peter Hall as The Predator, a member of a warrior race which hunts aggressive members of other species for sport. It uses active camouflage, a plasma weapon and can see the infrared spectrum. He reprised the role in Predator 2. Hall also plays the end scene helicopter pilot. Peter Cullen did the vocal effects.^[1]
• Sven-Ole Thorsen has an uncredited cameo as a Russian military advisor.