Stalker (1979)

Stalker Original Cinema Poster Country USSR Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky Release Date 1979 Language Russian Studio Mosfilm Main Cast Character Actor Stalker Alexander Kaidanovsky Writer Anatoly Solonitsyn Professor Nikolai Grinko Stalker's Wife Alisa Freyndlikh Martha, Stalker's daughter Natalya Abramova Writer's Girlfriend Faime Jurno Lyuger E. Kostin Guard Patrolman Raymo Rendi

Stalker is a 1979 Russian language science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The movie is loosely based on Roadside Picnic, a 1972 novel by Russian science fiction authors Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, who also wrote the screenplay. Despite being filmed entirely in Estonia (republic of the Soviet Union at the time), the film was released internationally under the English title Stalker. The film is very peaceful, and instead uses firearms as symbols rather than for action scenes. This film was a partial inspiration for the 2007 video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, and many of its elements were incorporated into the game.

The film takes place in "the Zone", an abandoned area with no specific time or location, where the laws of physics and natural science do not apply, the result of what may have been a visit by an extraterrestrial race. The unnamed protagonist (Alexander Kaidanovsky), known only as "the Stalker", guides two people into the Zone, "the Writer" (Anatoly Solonitsyn) and "the Professor" (Nikolai Grinko), who are seeking a room that supposedly grants the wishes of any who enter. As the expedition navigates the various anomalies and hazards of the Zone, the group begins to examine their true desires, both conscious and unconscious, for entering the Zone.

The following weapons were used in the film Stalker (1979):

WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Handguns

Femaru 37M

One of the scenes features Writer (Anatoly Solonitsyn) pulling a WWII-era Hungarian Femaru 37M before opening a closed door. He is asked to leave it, as the Zone is not a good place to go around waving weapons. Moments, later the Stalker (Alexander Kaidanovsky) pushes the pistol further into the water, out of sight.

Femaru 37M - 9x17mm Browning Short

Writer (Anatoly Solonitsyn) takes out his pistol.

The Femaru 37M just before being pushed into the water. Note the characteristic spur at the magazine's bottom.

The last moments of the gun. The slide's features can be seen in this shot.

Submachine Guns

Thompson M1928A1

A M1928A1 Thompson is featured, first seen in the hands of guards in the checkpoint, and then up close and in better detail in a dream sequence. The Soviet Union received a number of M1928A1s during WWII as part of the Lend-Lease program, but they were never used because .45 ACP was not standard in Russia at the time. After the war, many of these were converted to prop weapons using 7.62x25mm blank cartridges.

M1928A1 Thompson, converted for using MP40 magazines fitted for 7.62x25 blank cartridges

A guard with a Thompson.

Pistol grip section of the Thompson during the dream sequence.

Middle of the gun. You can see the adapter for the 7.62x25 magazine, as used in many other Russian films like Pirates of the XXth Century.

Thompson's top section. You can see cooling fins introduced in M1928A1 and bolt handle on top of the receiver.

Machine Guns

PK/PKM Machine Gun

When the three movie protagonists illegally enter the Zone through a checkpoint, the guards start shooting at them. One of them uses a machine gun mounted on a bipod, visibly fed by an ammunition belt coming from a boxy container. Given the firearm's silhouette and the place of origin of the movie, it's possibly a PK/PKM Machine Gun.

PKM with classic (most commonly seen) version of the flash hider - 7.62x54mm R

What is possibly a PK/PKM Machine Gun on a bipod is manned by the guard.

MG 34

An MG 34 is briefly seen among wartime ruins and debris in the Zone, inside a wrecked vehicle.

MG 34 - 7.92x57mm Mauser

An abandoned MG 34.