Peter Salomone started out with a brilliant and simple premise about movie endings. His hypothesis: “‘Walk of Life‘ by Dire Straits is the perfect song to end any movie.” Spoiler alert: This post features the endings of several classic films.
Perhaps the truth of his hypothesis is an underlying assertion about the universality of human emotion. Or maybe “Walk of Life” is just so incredibly awesome. Is it really possible to improve The Godfather (1972)? Well, just add some Dire Straits.
Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights(1931) has one of the most perfect endings of any film, where the formerly blind woman recognizes the man who had once helped her. The only way to make it better is to add “Walk of Life.”
Were you confused at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)? Well, it makes more sense if you think of the star child as Johnny coming along “singing oldies, goldies / Be, bop, a, lua, baby, what I say.”
And it works with more recent movies too, like 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
For more examples, check out the Walk of Life Project website, with its dedication and devotion, “Turning all the night time into the day.”
What film would you like to see added to the Walk of Life Project? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
