Film + TV

Watch every movie ending set to Dire Straits' "Walk of Life"

by Jeremy Mersereau

Fight Club, Lost In Translation, The Breakfast Club: movies like these are inextricably tied up with the iconic songs that score their final scenes (also: overwhelming amounts of angst). As good as these films’ endings are already, is there a singular song that could not only match their emotional impact, but improve on them? Is there one magical tune that could perfectly conclude every movie ever, from 127 Hours to Zodiac? 

Could that song be British rockers Dire Straits’ 1985 cheese-organ anthem “Walk of Life”?

Freelance video editor and writer Peter Salomone decided to test that hypothesis with his brainchild, the Walk of Life Project, which aims to prove that any movie’s concluding scene is improved with the addition of, you guessed it, “Walk of Life”. That shitty little organ riff takes on a whole new dimension when paired with Michael Corleone’s ascendance to Godfather, or Jack Nicholson’s shellshocked expression at the end of Chinatown. Forget it Jake, it’s Mark Knopfler.

Head on over to the WOLP website and immerse yourself in immeasurably improved cinematic conclusions, like Mad Max: Fury Road:

Or Dr. Strangelove:

Or… this one, whose name escapes me… The… uh… Computer Fakeworld, pretty sure that’s it:

Yep, all of these are about 300% better. Hypothesis: proved.