Total Recall is an American science fiction film released on Friday, June 1, 1990 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Verhoeven. It won an Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects.
Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quaid, a construction worker living an ordinary life with his wife Lori (Sharon Stone). Quaid is plagued with an obsession about Mars. He believes he has a virtual vacation on Mars implanted in his mind by the Rekall company. The procedure apparently goes wrong and uncovers some of his suppressed past life. He finds himself pursued by killers led by Richter (Michael Ironside) and is forced to go to Mars for real where he joins the struggle against Mars Administrator Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox). However, the "real" events on Mars are uncannily like the events described as occurring in his implanted vacation, and even at the conclusion the viewer is not entirely sure what the reality of the situation is.
Philip K. Dick is credited as one of the inspirations of the movie, from his short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.
The film explores the question of whether what is happening to the hero is reality or is a delusion being fed to his brain. A similar theme is found in the movies The Matrix, eXistenZ, and Vanilla Sky.
On the special edition DVD commentary by directer Paul Verhoeven, he states that using Arnold as opposed to others who had been considered (Richard Dreyfuss, Patrick Swayze) leans more towards the film being real, as audiences would not want Arnold in an action film that turned out to only be a dream.
The movie was novelized by Piers Anthony, noted for his Xanth fantasy series. The novel and movie correspond very well. ISBN 0380708744
A video game adaptation was also made based off of the film.
2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election
In an example of life imitating art, or at least its title, Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California after the "total recall" of Gray Davis. See 2003 California recall.
In fact, Arnold had his campaign buses labled as, The Running Man, Total Recall, and for the press, Predator's 1 through 3. All of them were based on the titles of films in which Schwarzenegger has starred.