Taps is a 1981 drama that focuses on a class of young cadets who decide to take over their military academy when it is threatened with closure. In addition to George C. Scott, the film's cast also included several actors at the beginning of their careers including Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, and Tom Cruise.
The following firearms were used in the film Taps:
The M16 (SP1) is the mainstay weapon of the rebellious cadets during the siege of Bunker Hill Academy, all of which are fitted with A1-style birdcage flash hiders. Of the cadets who use them, the most notable is Cadet Captain David Shawn (Tom Cruise), whose rifle is fitted with a 3x Colt scope. Also seen used by the town police and National Guardsmen and the M16 were converted to full auto selector.
It should be noted that during the final firefight several police officers and National Guardsmen are seen repeatedly pulling on the charging handles of their M16s, indicating that these rifles did not have blank adapters to cycle the actions.
The M16 rifles that many of the ROTC Cadets carry are in reality MGC M16 non-firing replicas built by the Metal Gun Corp. They are noted by their three prong flash hiders and fake forward assist.
Standing in for the M1911A1 pistol, Star Model Bs are seen in the hands of some of the characters in the film or in old style web belts of some of the "officers". A notable mistake is when the school's inventory is being listed and the guns are incorrectly referred to as being ".45mm Caliber" (as this was likely the writer's intention to use the M1911A1; even then, this is still incorrect, as a 45mm round would be enormous, and a .45mm gun would be smaller than the average bb).
The Cadets at Bunker Hill set up several machine gun positions using M60 machine guns, one of which is used by Cadet Captain David Shawn (Tom Cruise) during the final firefight.
Seen hanging on a display in General Harlan Bache's (George C. Scott) office is a Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle, possibly a bring back from his service in WWII.
Seen hanging on a display in General Harlan Bache's (George C. Scott) office is an AK-47 Type III pattern assault rifle, possibly a bring back from his service in the Vietnam war.
When General Harlan Bache (George C. Scott) is getting ready for the dance, he takes a nickel plated Colt Model 1903 and holster and attaches it to his hip. This weapon was issued to general officers until the 1970's when it was replaced by the M15 General Officer's pistol. When Gen. Bache and a local thug are struggling the weapon is removed from the holster and used to accidentally shoot and kill a local boy prompting the events leading to the siege. Afterwards Bache claims "There was a round in the chamber...I forgot!". Ironically this is the same weapon George C. Scott used in Patton to fire at an attacking HE-111 while daring it to shoot him in the nose.
