Déjà Vu (original Polish title Deja vu, Russian title Dezha vyu) is a 1988 Polish-Soviet criminal comedy directed by Juliusz Machulski. The plot is set in 1925. Chicago mobster Mick Nitsch (who is actually Russian-born and named Mikita Nechyporuk) (Vladimir Golovin) becomes a police informant in exchange for his freedom. He flees to Soviet Russia to escape vengeful mobsters whom he betrayed. The mob leaders send their best hitman, Johnny Pollack (Jerzy Stuhr), to the city of Odessa to take him out.
The following weapons were used in the film Déjà Vu (1988):
When Pollack (Jerzy Stuhr) runs out of weapons, he disarms an actor in the role of a Tsarist Army officer (Oleg Fedulov) during filming of Battleship Potemkin, taking his Nagant M1895 revolver. Nagant revolvers are also seen during the shootout in Nechyporuk's illegal casino. The revolver is an anachronistic post-1930 version.
Police and mobsters in the Chicago shootout sequence use M1921AC Thompson submachine guns. They are actually modified PPSh-41 submachine guns, equipped with barrels with fake cooling fins and Cutts compensators, and characteristic Thompson-style furniture. Despite the high similarity, they can still be distinguished from a distance between the magazine and trigger group. This scene was filmed in Poland; the "classic" gangster's "Tommy Gun" couldn't be procured and the Soviet PPSh had to be mocked-up for it.
A M1928A1 Thompson SMG is used by Nechyporuk (Vladimir Golovin), Mishka Yaponchik (Nikolai Karachentsov) and later Pollack (Jerzy Stuhr). This same weapon changes hands several times. According to the the moviemakers, the screen gun was able to fire semi-auto only, and actors only mimicked firing while the sound of full auto fire was added and muzzle flashes imitated by pyrotechnics.
Mosin Nagant M1891/30 rifles with bayonets are seen in several scenes, notably on the shooting range, where Pollack (Jerzy Stuhr) shows real marksmanship, and during the filming of Battleship Polemkin.
During the performing of Tosca at the Chicago Opera, soldiers escorting Mario Cavaradossi to the execution carry percussion cap muskets. The guns are most likely modern non-firing replicas, but it's hard to identify the base weapon.
In one scene, the Armenian Polakyans family erroneously take Pollack for their long-lost relative. In the scene in the train, Aram Polakyan (Murad Janibekyan), who is chosen to escort a drunk Pollack, carries a case for a disassembled shotgun and a bandolier with shotgun shells.
