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 Chatter Faime Jurno Lyuger E.Kostin Guard Patrolman Raymo Rendi

Stalker is a Russian Language movie 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 (a USSR Republic at the time) the film was released internationally under the English Title "Stalker". The film takes place in "The Zone", an area with no specific time or location. 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 Videogame S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, and many of its elements were incorporated into the game.

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 WW2-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 we see Stalker (Alexander Kaidanovsky) pushing the pistol further into the water, out of the 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 magazine bottom.

Last moments of the gun. Slide 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 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 blank 7.62x25mm 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.

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 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 firearms's silhouette and the place of origin of the movie, it's possibly a PK Machine Gun.

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

What can possibly be a PK Machine Gun on a bipod is manned by the guard.

MG34

An MG34 is briefly seen among wartime ruins and debris in the Zone, inside some sort of turret.

MG34 with front and rear sights folded down - 7.92x57mm Mauser

An abandoned MG34.