National Film Registry adds ‘Terminator,’ 24 other titles

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most famous one-liners will be back for generations to come, now that 1984’s “The Terminator” has been selected for preservation in the nation’s film archive.

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 that it’s one of 25 films being added to the National Film Registry.

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.

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.

Other films selected Tuesday include “Flower Drum Song” (1961), “A Face in the Crowd” (1957), “The Pawnbroker” (1965), “One Week” (1920), “The Perils of Pauline” (1914), “Sergeant York” (1941) and “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958).