It seems unbelievable “Home Alone” was released in 1990 and now has a number of follow-up shows made in its wake. There’s nothing like the original with Macauley Culkin, though. One reason for the classic status of the movie is the array of creative ways Culkin defended his family’s home while. We’re also incredulous over the amount of money the movie family must have shelled out for travel and food. 15 people to Paris? We’d rather spend that money on firepower.
Check out our list of weapons from “Home Alone,” which does include some guns, because of course it does.
1. Axl the Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula
It doesn’t really matter if you like spiders or not. Having one appear on your face after you’ve been smacked down by a hot iron, among other things, isn’t a recipe for a good time. The tarantula in “Home Alone” had a name, Axl, and although his part was minor, it was memorable. Axl was kept in a tank as a pet by Buzz, the brother of Macauley Culkin’s character, Kevin. We can assume Axl was a boy because Buzz refers to him as such early on in the movie, but then again, Lassie wasn’t a girl, so who knows?
Axl escapes from his tank when Kevin climbs the bookshelf the tank rests on. Kevin’s going after something else entirely, but of course, every shelf splits down the middle and crashes to the ground. Later in the movie, the Wet Bandits are chasing Kevin through the house and one, Marv, almost gets ahold of Kevin. Marv’s accomplice, Harry, had been knocked unconscious, and so missed seeing Kevin drop Axl on Marv’s face. In a panic, Marv throws poor Axl onto Harry, who comes around just in time to ask what’s going on. Marv, crowbar in hand, attempts to kill Axl, but only succeeds in slamming his weapon into his friend’s stomach.
A tarantula like Axl isn’t really likely to do more than make you itch, but they do make formidable foes when they’re crawling on your face. Kudos to Axl for being the coolest weapon in Home Alone.
2. Electric Charcoal Starter
If you’ve watched the scene in “Home Alone” where Kevin uses a random device to super-heat the doorknob, which probably permanently scarred poor Marv, you might have wondered what that thing was. No, it’s not a one-piece stethoscope or some archaic heater, it’s an electric charcoal starter. We have no idea what the exact brand is, but it’s certainly effective.
Electric charcoal starters are used to heat up the coals for a grill at super speed. Apparently, they can get charcoal blazing hot in a matter of minutes, all without dousing the coals in random flammable liquid. How commonly these are used, we don’t know. It’s pretty creative use of what appears to be a normal, if not commonly used, household/BBQ implement. It probably wouldn’t work as well on cheap aluminum doorknobs, but it got the job done on the heavy metal knob in Home Alone. We can never forget Marv’s scream of horror or the terrible burn on his hand.
Now, clever as this use is from a defensive standpoint, we can’t recommend it as an actual secondary weapon…for legal reasons.
3. Colt Model 1921AC Thompson Submachine Gun
It may have only been seen for a fleeting moment, but we can’t pass up the chance to talk about a Tommy gun. When Kevin orders a pizza, he has a movie playing. That movie is “Angels with Filthy Souls,” and no it’s not a real show, it’s just a short scene made specifically for “Home Alone.” It is, however, a parody of a real movie, “Angels with Dirty Faces.”
In the “Home Alone” clip, we see an actor portraying a gangster brandishing a Colt Model 1921AC Thompson Submachine Gun. Kevin uses the scene to carry on a dialogue with the pizza delivery boy, including playing the moment where the TV actor mag-dumps the Tommy gun, finishing with, “Keep the change, ya filthy animal.” We don’t blame the pizza boy for running for it.
This scene is sometimes confused with a similar one in “Home Alone 2,” when the phrase “Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal” is uttered.
The Colt Model 1921AC Thompson Submachine Gun is chambered in 45 ACP and has a firing rate of around 850 rounds a minute. This particular model came out in 1926 and featured a muzzle brake designed to mitigate muzzle rise (full auto does tend to push up the barrel of the gun).
Can you buy one today? Technically you can, although it’s an NFA gun and will require paperwork and tax stamps to purchase. Then there’s the cost, which you can expect to be around $35,000. The creation of the scenes and the use of the Tommy gun were nice touches by the directors.
4. Micro Machines
If you’re unfamiliar with Micro Machines, think Hot Wheels (we apologize to the toy maker behind Micro Machines). They were extremely popular in the 1990s but entered production in the mid-80s, which is why we see them in “Home Alone,” which was a 1990 release. According to the People Who Know Toys, these toy vehicles are a little bigger than N Scale (apparently the “n” stands for nine millimeter).
Early on in the movie, Kevin’s dad admonishes him to put his Micro Machines away, saying “Aunt Leslie almost broke her neck.” Kevin appears to remember that because he ends up using the toys against the Wet Bandits.
Would this work in real life? Anyone who’s stepped on a collection of cars or Legos can tell you it hurts, and there’s a high risk of falling. In “Home Alone,” both Marv and Harry slip and fall on the Micro Machines, which leads to Kevin being able to trick them in other ways.
5. Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun
This is another case of a movie altering the reality of a gun, although in this case, it’s a BB gun. The gun used in “Home Alone” is a Daisy, but for the movie, they made it into a pump action when the original is a lever-action gun.
Like Axl the tarantula, the BB gun belongs to Kevin’s brother Buzz, and he takes it down off the wall to ward off the Wet Bandits. Yes, Kevin uses it to shoot the would-be robbers, which is only minimally effective. And in the scene where Kevin is shown shooting Marv in the forehead, the directors apparently paid someone to paint the BB onto his face.
It’s nice to see a classic in a Christmas movie, even if it’s technically used incorrectly. Of course, Kevin didn’t really need his BB gun, not when he had cool stuff like nails, paint cans, and tar.
What was your favorite booby trap in Home Alone? Share your opinion in the comments section.
