So, I'm sitting around the house today and I flip on Encore.  'Escape From NY' is just starting.  I think "Cool"!  Well, a couple of minutes into it something catches my eye, the security forces are carrying M-16's, but they look kinda strange.  Then I realized what it was; NONE of the M-16's had handguards on them.

I thought it was just me, but I noticed ALL of the guards were walking around without handguards on their mouse guns.  

I think I'll take off my handguards, put a patch over my eye and walk around the range tomorrow telling everyone to call me "Snake".

Hollywood has been known to do a variety of things to make weapons look different.  Taking the handguards off seems like a real chep and quick way to do that.

I've seen a lot of firearms in futuristic movies that were modified modern firearms. One good example is in the movie [i]Spaceballs[/i]. The "Stormtroopers" are using Calico rifles with parts of them painted white. And the best part is that they shoot laser bursts instead of bullets. [:D]

And "Star Wars" people used all kinds of British weapons with some pieces taken off, and other pieces added, for their weapons.  I spotted BRENS, Sterlings, and L1A1s. [:D]

Don't forget MG34 and Hans's Bolo Mauser.

ls

And those bullpup stocks added to Mini-14's get a lot of usage in futurisic movies.

I watched T2 again over the weekend, and in the "skynet" flashback scenes, the "resistance" were using "customized" FAMAS'.

I think the very best was the one from "Aliens"

That cool grenade launching rifle

If you look close its a Thompson M1 style SMG.

The laucher is the forearm and pump from a SPAS-12.

Calvin

In "Aliens," the "smartguns" are MG-34's in Steadicam mounts, and the "pulse rifles" are Thompsons

The props used in scenes with firing are FUNCTIONAL firearms firing wooden blanks.

The Aliens director's cut LD ( and I believe the DVD ) has more info on this.

I'm glad y'all caught those Star Wars guns, but you overlooked the most important one.

In ROTJ the rebels on endor are carrying
AR-15's!

Although they are extremely "modified", not really recognizable right away.

-GH

I'm pretty sure thats a 10/22 muzzle sticking out of that Muzzlelite bullpup stock not a mini.

I thought it was an Oerlikon 20mm cannon...

WOW!! I've got one of those!!! for one of my 10/22's...[:)]

I saw on of those "Making of"'s about "We Were Soldiers" recently.   The propmaster was talking about how much time they spent getting everything right (they did, I have a friend who as in VN in '66 and he says the equipment is almost perfect).   He (the propmaster) made the comment that there had never been a "real" AK-47 used in a movie.   I've never looked that close, anyone know what he was talking about?

I remember some movie I saw that a guy was using an AK, AND HAD THE RECIEVER COVER OFF!
you could see the return spring and everything.

But then, a couple of frames later, it magicly grew a cover.

The pulse rifles and the smart guns were designed by James Cameron, along with a lot of other equipment in the movie.

Excerpt from the Aliens Special Widescreen Collector's Edition (laserdisc)

"Chapter 15
MARINE WEAPONRY
Looking for the biggest, brightest muzzle flash the crew could find, they selected various different contemporary weapons and converted them, with the assistance of the art department, into the Marine weaponry.  It was very important to the filmmakers that the weapons were believable, and not so unusual that they distracted the audience.  For each weapon, a lightweight fiberglas version was made as well, so that it would be easier for the actors to carry around.

M-41A PULSE RIFLE
The pulse rifle is a complicated hybrid between a Thompson submachine gun, and a Franchi SPAS 12 pump-action shotgun mechanism, placed in a futuristic shell created by the art department.  The pulse rifle is, in every practical sense, a working firearm.

SMART GUNS
The smart-gun was also designed by James Cameron, and is a hybrid of a Spandau-type machine gun, the MG-42, and a Steadicam harness, which enables the operator to move the heavy gun with ease and grace.
The smart gun has a place for an ammunition magazine on the side, and is a fully operational weapon.  However, the smart-gun had a baffle in the barrel, so that the wooden blanks being fired would simply disintigrate, and disappear, rather than actually firing."

The flame throwers and sentry guns were also real, although there isn't as much detail about them.  The flame thrower was made with different versions that could fire 5 feet and 45 feet.  The sentry guns fired 600 rds/min, and the tripods were radio controlled.

I too, just recently say "Escape from New York" on TV the other day, and found myself constantly looking at those guard's guns, and I came to the same conclusion!  They just left the handguards off of their AR15's!  Good eye, my friend.  I could take my handguards off of mine, but other than standing around like a guard (and not shooting the thing) it's not very practical. ;)

I've been enjoying this whole thread.  I'm a huge "ALIENS" fan, and read all this stuff before.  The poster who itemized the details of the weapons used in the film is right on.

Now if I could just get one of those "Peace through Superior Firepower" T-shirts from "ALIENS"!  That would be cool!


Anthony

Oh, one other thing..

What do you think the actual practicality of the Steadi-Cam harnessed "Smart guns" is?

Would that be a hinderence?  If it WAS practical, wouldn't our soldiors already use them?  Is it JUST cool-looking for a movie?

The reason I ask, is that I can see the benefits of a Steadi-Cam harness to distribute all the weight of a particularly powerful weapon.  

What do you all think?


Anthony

Well, the M1A1 main gun is stabilized, so I suppose the possibility is there...  However, there are a couple of issues:
1.  Reliability - the needs of Hollywood are less harsh than the military

2.  Sighting - with this sort of mount you'd probably be limited to firing from the hip.  You would want some sort of HUD video link to see what you were shooting at, at least at longer ranges.

I wonder if the prop makers for Aliens ever took the Smart Guns to the range, and if so, what they thought of them...

In the "Alien Universe" the smartguns were IR controlled. They could fire automatically when a target crosses the LOS of the firearm, or they could be switched to manual for suppressing fire.

In the real world, they just look cool!

Av.

In Star Wars...remember when the Jawa zapped R2D2 prior to sucking him up in the big sandcrawler/garbage heap hulking vehicle?

Look really close, and you can see what I think is a No4 Enfield action, attached to what looks like the huge nozzle of a fire extinguisher...talk about bubba'd up Enfield!

Ken B