“Face/Off” is one of those movies you really have to see to believe, not to mention understand. It stars John Travolta opposite Nicolas Cage. The entire premise of the movie is that Travolta’s a good guy, Cage is bad, and they surgically switch faces. Obviously, there’s more to it than that, but you get the idea. Aside from the impressively futuristic surgical techniques in this 1997 action thriller, there’s a decent selection of awesome firepower. Check out our top five guns to see in “Face/Off,” and if you haven’t seen this movie, you really should remedy that situation as soon as possible.
Custom Springfield Armory M1911
It’s impossible to put together a list of guns from “Face/Off” without mentioning the matched set of pistols belonging to Nicolas Cage’s character, Castor Troy. Yes, they’re very clearly custom pistols created for the movie, but they’re flashy enough to warrant a mention.
The guns in question are Springfield Armory M1911s that are gold titanium nitride plated. Custom features include the obvious 24-karat gold finish and custom inlaid grips. Other features include skeletonized hammers, ball stirrup cuts on the slide, beavertail grip safeties, ambidextrous thumb safeties, Heinie target sights, and beveled magazine wells (among other things).
These guns are chambered in 45 ACP and are carried by Cage’s character in a pair of small-of-the-back leather holsters. Once Travolta assumes Cage’s identity by stealing his face, he gets his own matching set. These guns are, of course, dual-wielded during firefights. They’re also replaced partway into the movie, making it clear that bad guy Cage liked his gold guns so much that he had multiple sets available (Yes, we realize they’re all the same guns in real life, but this is a movie we’re talking about.)
Smith & Wesson Model 36
A nickel-plated revolver? Yes! In “Face/Off,” it’s a Smith & Wesson Model 36 used by the character Eve Archer, played by Joan Allen.
Eve is the wife of FBI agent Sean Archer, who’s played by John Travolta (remembering that Travolta takes Cage’s face fairly early in the movie, so it isn’t long before Archer isn’t really Archer). Believing something is wrong, Eve wants to get a blood sample of her “fake husband” checked. Of course, this leads to a confrontation with Archer after he’s no longer really Archer. ?This is a rather convoluted story, but it’s a lot of fun.
The Smith & Wesson Model 36 is the current production model of a revolver that’s been around since 1950. It was first made for members of law enforcement, so it seems both fitting and entertaining that it shows up in this context. (Eve says she took the revolver from her “fake husband.”) The gun’s a .38 Special with a five-round capacity and is, as you can see, a snub-nosed revolver.
CZ vz 61 Skorpion
Bad guy Castor Troy has a younger brother, Pollux Troy (portrayed by Alessandro Nivola). Yes, the bad guys are named Castor and Pollux, which is a nice tip of the hat to Greek mythology. At one point in “Face/Off,” Pollux is firing from the open door of an airplane using a vz 61 Skorpion, which is a Czechoslovakian submachine gun. The CZ version of this gun has been discontinued since 2010, but the original production gun ceased production even further back.
The vz 62 Skorpion was chambered in 32 ACP but variants were made chambered in a variety of calibers including 380 ACP, 22 LR, and 9x19mm Parabellum. The military version which is, of course, the one used in the movie, is full-auto capable. The magazine capacity of these guns varies between 10 and 30 rounds, generally speaking. One pro of the typically smaller calibers is that it makes it a slightly more manageable gun to fire one-handed. In the real world, the vz 61 Skorpion has been used by quite a few terrorists. It’s a logical weapon of choice for the character of Pollux Troy.
Smith & Wesson Model 686 Snub-Nosed
There are two pistols used in the scene pictured below, and one of them is a Smith & Wesson 686 snub-nosed revolver (the other is a SIG Sauer P226). This is a scene from the airplane hangar fight, the same firefight in which Pollux is firing a vz 61 Skorpion. In this part of the movie, John Travolta is still Archer because he hasn’t yet taken bad guy Castor Troy’s face.
The Smith & Wesson Model 686 used is a snub-nosed model, so it could be a two-inch or two-and-a-half-inch barrel. The gun is chambered in 357 Magnum and has a seven-round capacity. As you might imagine, felt recoil and muzzle rise is noticeable in a snubby, even with this gun’s heavier steel frame. This is a double-action/single-action revolver with a chrome teardrop hammer and precision crowned barrel. It’s really a fantastically made snubby and a solid option for FBI agent Archer.
Beretta 92FS
As the movie progresses and Nicolas Cage’s Castor Troy character has the face of John Travolta, AKA FBI Agent Archer, surgically grafted on, there’s some confusion regarding who’s who. For example, Archer’s daughter Jamie, who’s played by Dominique Swain, finds herself struggling to figure out who’s her actual dad. (Spoiler alert, this is while the men’s faces are still swapped. So, the guy who has Travolta’s face is actually Cage, the bad guy.) At this point, Cage as Archer has a pair of Beretta 92FS handguns (he does seem to like guns in matched sets). Jamie manages to get her hands on a Beretta 92FS and proceeds to have no idea which of the men is really her dad. In the end, she chooses wrong, shooting Archer (who has Cage’s face at that moment) in the arm.
Now, since she’s a teenage girl and snatching up a large handgun during a struggle, it’s probably entirely on purpose that her grip is so atrocious. After all, they don’t need her looking like an experienced shot. They want it to look like she’s never handled a firearm before. Mission accomplished. After Jamie shoots her father in the arm, Nicolas Cage (wearing Travolta’s face) gets ahold of her and holds the Beretta to her head. Jamie ultimately prevails, though, by whipping out a butterfly knife and stabbing him in the leg.
As you might have guessed, there’s a lot going on in “Face/Off.” The only way to understand it is to watch it. The good news is there are also a lot of great guns throughout the movie. Are all the antics realistic? Of course not, but it’s a movie. It’s supposed to be fun.
What gun do you think we missed? Tell us what you think in the comments section.
