Flight of the Intruder (1991)
Flight of the Intruder is a 1991 film about Vietnam war Naval Aviators, most notably the pilots and crewmen of the A-6A intruder, the electronics warfare plane that help jammed enemy radar during air warfare. The A-6A Intruder carried offensive missiles but was not outfitted with defensive guns, like many fighter jets. The film was directed by John Milius, who had previously directed such films as The Wind and the Lion, Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn. Despite being a high action film with lots of aerial combat sequences and excellent special effects, Flight of the Intruder was a box office bomb. The film suffered greatly from being released during the height of the real life ground war in Operation Desert Storm (1991).
The following weapons were used in the film Flight of the Intruder:
Berthier Rifle
Near the start of the film where a peasant in a rice paddy takes a pot shot at the A-6 Intruder piloted by Lieutenant Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton (Brad Johnson) and his Bombadier/Navagator Lieutenant Morgan "Morg" McPhearson (Christopher Rich) with a French-made Berthier bolt-action rifle (possibly either the Model 1907-15 or the Model 1907-16 rifles). "Morg" was fatally wounded by the shot and was bleeding to death by the time the two returned to their carrier. It should be noted that French-made infantry rifles like the Berthier series rifles and the MAS-36 were commonly encountered in Indochina during the time of the Vietnam War due to many of these weapons being left behind by French forces after the French Indochina War (1945-1954).
Berthier Model 1907-15 Rifle
Berthier Model 1907-16 Rifle
The 'well fed' Peasant aims his Berthier rifle at the A6 Intruder aircraft - 8 x 50R mm. Like many shots in the film, the 'fire' of the weapon is animated afterwards (this was before digital effects).
An example of the animation of the 'fire' of the rifle. The 'light cast' on the shooter and his cargo was animated into the shot via rotoscope. This was filmed before Digital effects. This is a somewhat bad animation, however it is only for one frame, so it is not noticed by the audience.
Mosin Nagant M91/30 Sniper Rifle
Near the end of the film, an N.V.A. sniper (Dr. Akio Mitamura) can be seen using a sniper version of the Mosin Nagant, chasing after the protagonists as they're trying to flee from the combat zone after being shot down in order to be rescued by helicopter.
Mosin Nagant M91/30 sniper version with PU scope - 7.62x54R
NVA sniper (
Dr. Akio Mitamura) can be seen emerging from the dark jungle with his M91/30 Sniper rifle - 7.62x54R
NVA sniper (
Dr. Akio Mitamura) watches for the rescue helicopter with his M91/30 Sniper rifle - 7.62x54R
M60 Machine Gun
Near the end of the film, an HH-3 "Jolly Green" rescue helicopter sent to airlift "Cool Hand" and Commander Fanke "Duke" Camparelli (Danny Glover) can be seen armed with an M60 machine gun for the door gunner, though the choppers rely mostly on the A-1 "Sandy" ground-attack planes to clear out most of the enemy ground fire for them.
M60 machine gun 7.62x51mm NATO
Door gunner holds an M60 Machine gun at the ready - 7.62x51mm. This is the standard M60 and not a "D" model.
Door gunner stands at the ready behind Camparelli (
Danny Glover) with his M60 machine gun - 7.62x51mm
M1911
An M1911 appears in the film as the sidearm of Lt. Commander Virgil "Tiger" Cole (Willem Dafoe) during the film. He can be seen cleaning it when discussing the "Sam City" mission with "Cool Hand" (Brad Johnson). It is a Government Issued M1911, not the M1911A1, as it has the straight back strap and no relief cuts around the trigger guard on the frame.
Lt. Commander Virgil "Tiger" Cole (
Willem Dafoe) holds an M1911, not an M1911A1 as one would expect, as he talks with "Cool Hand" Grafton - .45 acp
Closeup of the M1911 - .45 acp. Note the lack of relief cuts on the frame.
Colt Mark IV Series 70
Virgil "Tiger" Cole (Willem Dafoe) has a blued Colt MK IV Series 70 pistol when he is shot down over enemy territory. His series 70 pistol has the same diamond grips he had on the M1911 on the ship.
Colt MK IV Series 70 - .45 ACP
A Face painted Cole (
Willem Dafoe) racks a round with his blued Colt MK IV Series 70 pistol while looking out for the NVA - .45 acp
Cole fires his Colt MK IV Series 70 at Grafton to keep him from attempting a rescue - .45 acp
Cole fires at Grafton with his Colt MK IV Series 70 pistol - .45 acp. The words "Colt" and "MKIV" are clearly visible on the slide as is the prancing Colt logo, which would not appear on a military issued M1911A1.
M1911A1
The only instances where an actual M1911A1 appears are in the holsters of the Marines who escort Cole and Grafton for their court martial, however, these pistols are always holstered (so it is only a guess that they are indeed M1911A1 pistols) and later in the hands of Commander Camparelli (has his survival sidearm). Camparelli uses the M1911A1 to kill a Pathet Lao soldier and the gun is later used by Grafton to take out an NVA sniper.
U.S. Marine guards escort Cole and Grafton for their court martial - M1911A1 pistols holstered (or so it is assumed).
Smith & Wesson Model 12
Grafton (Brad Johnson) carries a K-Frame 6 shot Smith & Wesson Model 12 "Airweight" Snub nose revolver. The Model 12 was built between 1953 to 1986 and had an alloy frame, designed for pilots. It is basically an alloy frame Model 10 snub revolver. It is distinguishable from the Model 36 or USAF M-13 because it is a 6 shot revolver as opposed to a 5 shot. The actor Brad Johnson also has large hands, so a J-frame revolver would look much smaller in his grip.
Grafton (
Brad Johnson) reacts to Camparelli, while holding a Smith & Wesson Model 12 "Airweight" snub revolver - .38 special
Grafton (
Brad Johnson) holds his Smith & Wesson Model 12 "Airweight" snub while Camparelli (
Danny Glover) looks on - .38 special
Though a blurry shot, this verifies conclusively that this is a 6 shot revolver, not a 5 shot, so it cannot be a Model 36/38 but looks to be a Smith & Wesson Model 12 "Airweight" revolver - .38 special
Smith & Wesson Model 36
Lieutenant JG Jack 'Razor' Barlow (Jared Chandler) is seen preparing for Operation Linebacker II, and loading his small J-Framed revolver. It appears to be a 5 shot Smith & Wesson Model 36 - .38 Special.
Smith and Wesson Model 36 - .38 special - 5 shot
Lieutenant JG Jack 'Razor' Barlow (
Jared Chandler) prepares his Smith & Wesson Model 36 "Airweight" snub during the preparations for "Operation Linebacker II" - .38 special
SKS Rifle / Type 56 Carbine
The SKS rifle is seen commonly mixed in with AK47 variants amongst the enemy troops at the end of the film. Being that they all appear to have the Chinese style 'pig sticker' spike bayonet, they should officially be called "Type 56 Carbine" (the name for the Chinese SKS).
Type 56 Carbine (the Chinese version of the Russian SKS rifle) - 7.62x39mm
A Pathet Lao soldier (
Minh Huu Do) prods at the 'dead body' of Commander Camparelli (
Danny Glover) armed with a Type 56 Carbine - 7.62x39mm
A Pathet Lao soldier (
Minh Huu Do) searches the 'dead bodies' of Camparelli's wrecked A6 Intruder, armed with a Type 56 Carbine, only to be shot by Camparelli who was playing 'dead' - 7.62x39mm. The Pathet Lao (Laotian Communist) soldier can be identified by his Mao hat, which was not worn by the NVA nor Viet Cong.
After being shot down, Virgil Cole (Willem Dafoe) accidentally stumbles upon an NVA soldier (Eddie Badiang) armed with an Type 56 Carbine. The soldier attempts to shoot Virgil but his aim is knocked off as Virgil kicks the muzzle of the weapon just as he fires, though still suffers a mortal wound from the shot, Virgil then using his survival knife to kill the soldier.
The NVA Soldier (
Eddie Badiang) is caught off guard by Cole, with his Type 56 Carbine - 7.62x39mm. Note that the bolt is completely locked back, indicating that the rifle is empty, however a gun shot sound effect was inserted during editing to indicate that he shoots Virgil with this 'unloaded' rifle.
AK-47
AK-47s were used by NVA soldiers throughout the film. We never see any truly good closeups of the guns, however, they look to be Poly Tech Legends and not Norinco Type 56 rifles.
Many times we see a mix of AK47 rifles and SKS rifles (or their Chinese counterparts) from a distance. Here a group of NVA soldiers with a mix of the two firearms are lying in wait beneath the injured Cole (
Willem Dafoe) - 7.62x39mm.
NVA soldiers fires at the oncoming planes. These actually look to be Poly Tech Legend AKs, thus have the Russian style front sight and have milled lower receivers - 7.62x39mm
Two more NVA soldiers fire at the planes, one on the left has an AK-47, the other has a Type 56 Carbine - 7.62x39mm
Replica AK-47
In some shots, the rifles appear to be the Hudson AK-47 replica (a Japanese metal replica gun) that is commonly used in films for non-firing scenes.
An NVA soldier gets ready to run with his Hudson AK-47 replica rifle.
Long Barreled AK variant
During one of the interior sound stage 'effects' shots on blue screen, we see a long barreled AK variant with a really weird flash hider. Since most of the interior blue screen shots (they still used blue screen for film whereas nowadays, digital compositors prefer green screen) did not employ actual firing guns, this mockup is probably firing acetylene gas to simulate gun fire.
M14 Rifle
M14 rifle - 7.62x51mm NATO
During a montage of the memorial for "Morg" we see briefly a shot of the Marine Honor guard, holding M14 rifles for the ceremony with bayonets affixed - 7.62x51mm
M2HB Browning Machine Gun
There are several appearances in the film of Browning M2HB heavy machine guns, erroneously shown being used by North Vietnamese forces as anti-aircraft weapons when in reality they'd be using DShK heavy machine guns instead. M2HB's also appear in a quad mount used as the main armament of a faux ZSU-23/4 anti-aircraft vehicle instead of the real vehicle's quad 23mm autocannons.
Early on in the film, we see a quad gun emplacement that is comprised of four Browning M2HB heavy machine guns, with weird muzzle brakes on the ends, to simulate some sort of Soviet/Chinese AA gun - .50 BMG.
As with many of the 'night attack shots' these battle scenes were filmed inside a sound stage and the guns were not really firing. Here we see a relatively unadorned Browning M2HB serving as an NVA AA gun (which they did not use) with the 'muzzle flash' rather obviously rotoscoped into the shot. Hand animation, multiple exposures and rotoscoping all became a thing of the past when films had advanced enough to use computer generated effects.
In the final battle, we see a Browning M2HB mocked up to resemble a DShK machine gun (a similar mockup was used on
Rambo III however this film was done four years later and there were improvements to the fake DShK mockup - .50 BMG.
Another angle of the Browning M2HB mocked up to look like a Soviet DShK machine gun - .50 BMG. All in all this is a pretty good mockup of the Soviet gun.
RPG-7
Seen briefly, an NVA soldier carries an RPG-7 while riding in a troop truck. Though the RPG-2 was much more commonly used by the NVA (known as the B-40 rocket), the RPG-7 is not impossible, considering that the events occur in 1972.
NVA soldier holds an RPG-7 while riding in a truck. This RPG-7 looks very much like the same RPG mockup used in the film
Red Dawn. Both
Flight of the Intruder and
Red Dawn were directed by John Milius.
Gun Platforms
Mocked up Soviet ZSU-23 Mobile AA gun
We see an excellent mocked up ZSU-23 Mobile AA gun. This is probably the same ZSU-23 that was mocked up for the film Red Dawn, however, it makes one wonder what the cost was of shipping it from Newhall, California to the island of Kauai, HI. This ZSU is armed with quad Browning M2HB heavy machine guns for its main armament (note the guns in the Red Dawn ZSU were different as they were mockups that never fired. This ZSU does fire its Browning M2HB machine guns at the oncoming American planes. It should also be noted the ZSU-23 is an anachronism as the system did not enter into Vietnamese service until 1975, well after the period in which the movie takes place.
An excellent mockup of the Soviet ZSU-23 mobile AA gun, this one using Browning M2HB heavy machine guns as its main armament - .50 BMG
The "ZSU-23" lies in wait, as a face-painted Cole (
Willem Dafoe lies seriously injured on the next hill. 
The ZSU's main guns - quad Browning M2HB heavy machine guns all fire at the sky - .50 BMG.
Another shot of the Quad 50s firing from the fake ZSU turret - .50 BMG
Miniature Fake ZSU-23 Gun
In the studio soundstage shots, we see a lot of excellent, but obvious miniature models. One of the models seen firing "acetylene flashes" to simulate AA fire is a miniature model of the ZSU-23.
A turret of the miniature ZSU-23 fires puffs of flame from its working acetylene 'cannons'.
In this composite scene, live actors are matted into the miniature shot via a special effects process called "Introvision". We can also see the model guns 'firing' their acetylene gas flames to simulate gun fire.
In some of the frames, the lighting on the actors playing NVA soldiers doesn't match the miniature set, however, these shots are quick, thankfully enough.
Miniature Fake AA gun
Another AA gun miniature (not a full scale weapon) is seen firing 'acetylene gas' flame flashes to simulate gunfire. There were many excellent miniatures on this film, mostly limited to the special effects technology that existed at the time the movie was filmed.
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