RoboCop is the 1987 science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers) that starred Peter Weller as Alex Murphy, a Detroit police officer who after being gunned down by a vicious gang, is resurrected as a cybernetic law enforcement officer of the future. As he begins his new life as "RoboCop", Murphy starts to regain a bit of his humanity with the help of his former partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen). The popularity of the RoboCop character would spawn two more feature films, a 1994 live-action series and two animated television series, as well as a four-part movie miniseries. A remake is also slated to be released in 2014.
The following weapons were used in the film RoboCop (1987):
The main weapon used by RoboCop (Peter Weller) is the "Auto 9". This is a Beretta 93R machine pistol which was heavily modified for the film, featuring a longer barrel with an enormous compensator/flash hider shaped like a casket, plastic grips, and a taller rear sight to match the raised front sight. Typically, RoboCop fires this weapon in 3-round burst mode. The fictional stats of the weapon claim it has an implausibly huge 50-round magazine.
Detroit police officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) carries the SIG-Sauer P226 in 9x19mm as his sidearm before he becomes Robocop. His partner, Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen) also uses one in the abandoned factory, although it appears that her sidearm was a P9S earlier.
(There has been some debate on RoboCop message boards over whether this gun is a P220 or a P226. It is definitely a P226 because the frame of the gun has the prominent bulges along the side, visible between the takedown switch and the decocker, which make the frame wider so that the gun can accommodate a double-stack magazine. The P220, which takes a single-stack magazine, lacks these; the sides of the receiver appear smooth rather than bulged, even from a distance.)
Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) uses two different types of the Desert Eagle in the film. His main weapon is an IMI Desert Eagle Mark I in .357 Magnum with an elongated threaded barrel (sometimes fitted with a suppressor). He also uses one without the extended barrel during the drug lab shootout. A chrome (or possibly nickel) version is used by Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) in the climax of the film. The chrome pistol is the same weapon used in the infamous scene in which the hapless OCP executive Kinney (Kevin Page) is hamburgered whilst "threatening" the ED-209 prototype. The Desert Eagle was originally supposed to be RoboCop's main firearm, but it looked too small in RoboCop's hands once the suit was completed.
During the Nightclub scene, RoboCop arrests Leon Nash (Ray Wise) who pulls out a Detonics Scoremaster, which RoboCop promptly knocks out of his hand. Sal's (Lee de Broux) bodyguard (Allan Graf) in the drug lab also uses a Detonics Scoremaster.
The Heckler & Koch P9S is the standard sidearm of the Detroit Police Department in the movie. Murphy briefly gets one from Lewis and uses it briefly during the highway shootout with Clarence Boddicker's men (although it appears that she carries a SIG later). Later on the station range, we see many police officers firing their P9s, indicating clearly that this weapon is their standard-issue.
A semi-automatic civilian version of the Sterling SMG, the Sterling Mark 6 Semiautomatic Carbine (recognizable by its 16" barrel, necessary to comply with gun laws in the U.S.) is seen used by the convenience store robber (Mike Moroff). It was imported for commercial sale into the U.S. during the 1980s and banned from import after 1989 (under the so-called Congressional Assault Weapons Ban, which, however, expired in the 2000s). The carbine is fired semiautomatic throughout the robbery. Robocop renders this weapon useless by bending the barrel under the receiver of the gun - a notable goof, as the robber would need to be as strong as RoboCop in order for him hold the weapon still as the barrel was twisted around.
When Emil Antonowsky (Paul McCrane) robs the gas station he threatens the clerk with an Ingram MAC-10 fitted with a recoil compensator and a modified folding stock. One of the same MAC-10's was also used in several episodes of Miami Vice.
Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) uses a modified Mossberg 5500, a short-barreled semi-automatic shotgun with a shortened barrel and heat shield, to fire at Murphy and Lewis during the highway chase and then to blow Murphy's limbs off during his death scene. Additional modification includes a Telescoping wire stock taken from a Daewoo K1-A1 rifle.
Mossberg 500 Bullpup shotguns are used by the Detroit SWAT teams, seen during the standoff at City Hall and when the police open fire on RoboCop at the OCP building.
Steve Minh (Calvin Jung) wields a Mossberg 500 Cruiser with a distinctive sling swivel at the front throughout the movie, notably in the drug lab shootout.
The Franchi SPAS-12 is used by one of Sal's men during the drug lab shootout and by at least one SWAT officer during the standoff at the Detroit City Hall.
Boddicker's crew uses several Remington 870 shotguns, all of which have folding stocks. They appear to be standard 'Police Magnum Folder' variants, though at least one has an extended magazine tube.
Leon Nash (Ray Wise) uses an Ithaca 37 with pistol-grip and extended magazine tube during the van chase with Lewis and Murphy. He switches to a Remington 870 in the warehouse (presumably using Joe Cox's 870), while Emil Antonowsky (Paul McCrane) uses the Ithaca.
Another weapon used by the Detroit SWAT officers is the Steyr AUG assault rifle. It's used seen when SWAT is ordered to open fire on RoboCop at the OCP building. When the SWAT officers advance on RoboCop, their AUG's are held sideways to eject the brass cartridges downwards. Apparently, these are loaded with high-penetration rounds, because they can somehow damage Robocop, whereas he is impervious to the AK rounds fired at him in the cocaine factory.
When Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his gang are asked by Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) to kill RoboCop, they are provided with an experimental military weapon being developed by OCP called the "Cobra Assault Cannon". The Cobras are actually older-specification Barrett M82 long-range .50 BMG rifles which have been dressed up extra plastic housing over the receivers and fitted with gigantic scopes (The scopes were originally supposed to show computer-generated targeting information, but this idea was scrapped due to budget constraints). The Cobra fires some type of powerful high explosive incendiary round that explodes upon impact (judging by the lack of substantial recoil, this is likely some form of low-pressure grenade); in the film, Clarence Boddicker memorably tests the weapon by firing it at the 6000 SUX sedan stolen by Joe Cox (Jesse D. Goins), destroying the vehicle (much to Cox's chagrin). Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen) obtains one of these rifles and uses it against Leon Nash (Ray Wise) during the shootout at the abandoned steel mill. After RoboCop and Lewis take out Boddicker and his gang, RoboCop takes one of the Cobra Assault Cannons (presumably, the same one used by Lewis) to the OCP office building and uses it to destroy the ED-209 Robot out in front.
One of the SWAT officers who fires upon Robocop at the OCP building uses an FN Minimi. The Minimi used in this scene is a full-size variant (as evidenced by the stock) which has had its barrel cut down.
The Enforcement Droid series 209, or simply, ED-209, is armed with numerous heavy weapons. Referred as having a 'modular weapons system', the left 'gun-arm' contains two 20mm cannons while the right contains a single 20mm gun and three missile launchers (firing heat-seeking missiles). The ED-209 unit also contained twin launchers in a pocket behind the head that could fire either explosive mortar rounds or gas grenades - These weapons were in the design but were never used in the film. The cannons are used on the hapless executive Kinney during its initial demonstration in the boardroom scene. Both the cannons and missiles are also seen fired at RoboCop when he confronts Dick Jones inside the OCP building later in the film.
Phil Tippett, who animated the stop-motion Imperial Walkers in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, directed the stop-motion animation of the ED-209 unit, which included the guns' firing. The muzzle flashes were created with pieces of cotton (stretched numerous ways), painted a special orange color, and lit with flash-bulb tubes modified to be placed inside the guns of the actual ED-209 miniature. The effect was enhanced with a large amount of optical diffusion to give the 'flashes' the more 'burned-in' look of gunfire.
