Did you know Star Wars was not the only sci-fi film series to use World War II guns?

An “M56 Smart Gun” based on World War II armament in Aliens
(Image: 20th Century Fox)

After our recent article on how Star Wars “dressed up” numerous World War II guns to create futuristic weapons (World War II guns in a galaxy far, far away), here’s a short addition about how guns from the same era were also used to create props for another famous sci-fi film series: Alien. Or, more specifically, the first sequel, Aliens, which is noteworthy for its use of real-life weapons in futuristic roles.

The most iconic firearm of Aliens is the “M41A Pulse Rifle” used by the U.S. Colonial Marine Corps. If you look very closely, you might recognize that the Pulse Rifle is, in fact, an M1A1 Thompson submachine gun (The Thompson Submachine Gun) with the shoulder stock removed. It has a cut-down Remington Model 850 shotgun added as an underbarrel grenade launcher, and the heat shield and foregrip of an Italian SPAS-12 combat shotgun. Much of the contraption is covered by a custom-made futuristic aluminum shelled painted brown, though it usually seems to be green in the movie due to the on-set lighting. Like many Star Wars guns, all but one of the Pulse Rifles were broken down after filming, except for one that was reused in the third film.

The Pulse Rifle was based on the Thompson
(Images: 20th Century Fox)

Another iconic firearm from the movie based on a World War II weapon is the “M56 Smart Gun” used by Privates Vasquez and Drake. The Smart Gun is a German MG 42 machine gun (a very successful and popular gun designed to replace the more expensive MG 34) without its grip and stock. The body-mount apparatus used by its wielders to control the gun was made from an actual Steadicam harness and arm, and the gun was further decorated with various motorcycle parts to make it look heavy-duty and high-tech.

A German Waffen-SS soldier with an MG 42 in 1944 and a Smart Gun in Aliens
(Images: Bundesarchiv / 20th Century Fox)

The MG 42 also appears as another weapon, only seen in the extended cut of the film: the “UA571-C Remote Automated Sentry System,” several automatic turrets the Marines use to guard corridors after their first retreat and regroup. These weapons have distinctive ammo drums from German World War I-era Maxim MG08/15 machine guns.

Two sentry guns in the extended version of the film
(Image: 20th Century Fox)

Finally, we’d like to point out one weapon from the original Alien. You can briefly see a futuristic weapon (described as a “laser pistol” in the novelization) that the crew break out from storage after the alien gets loose on the spaceship Nostromo. This was built from a 1950s Swiss Rexim-Favor submachine gun with two scopes (one of them non-functional as it’s under the barrel). We’re mentioning this because the same type of submachine gun was also used for the “BlasTech SE-14C” in Star Wars, the gun one of the thugs threatens Luke with in the Mos Eisley Cantina (and which makes further appearances elsewhere in the franchise).

The Rexim-Favor and the laser pistol based on it
(Images: guns.fandom.com / 20th Century Fox)

If you want to see the original weapons that inspired the guns of the Alien franchise, join us on one of our tours.

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