First things first: sadly, this post has absolutely nothing to do with The Terminator. We can only pray that referring to Commando is close enough.

Having said that... I was just thinking about this. Watch a minute or so of Commando here. Just pay close attention from about 2:14 to 3:14.



Especially pay attention to the way William Duke (the huge black guy from Predator and Mandy and Sixteen Candles... no, never mind about Sixteen Candles) says "I like Cadillacs," in a very cold, emotionless voice.

I could totally see that scene inspiring the entire movie The Hidden, which came out a couple of years later. Imagine being someone involved in scriptwriting or directing in Hollywood, in the mid-80s, and seeing Commando in some cinema. You see that scene, and the way William Duke comes across as a bit inhuman when he says "I like Cadillacs."

I can easily imagine some scriptwriter seeing that, and thinking "What if that character really was an alien? What if he just did whatever he wanted, without fear of consequences? What if human policemen were completely unprepared for how merciless and relentless this alien was, and they needed assistance from some other alien? Wouldn't that make a cool movie?"

I have no idea if this is how The Hidden really got started. But it feels like it could be true. Partly because that scene and the scene I'm thinking of in The Hidden both take place in car dealerships, and have comparable set-ups and outcomes. Here's that scene in The Hidden:



Anyway... yah. Had to share.