10 Blood-Stirringly Epic Cinematic Charges

5. Waterloo (1970)

The Charge: The Charge of the Scots Greys

Sergei Bondarchuk’s retelling of one of Europe’s most famous battles, is epic on a scale which had never been seen before, and will likely never be seen again. Filmed in the Ukraine and co-produced by the Soviet production company Mosfilm, the movie enlisted the help of 17,000 soldiers of the Soviet Army and a full brigade of Soviet cavalry. The result gives the film a magnitude and scale which is unmatched, including its depiction of the famous charge of the Scots Greys.

After a general is killed leading an infantry advance, the Scots Greys charge towards the French lines in support. Eliciting imagery from Elizabeth Thompson’s famous painting, ‘Scotland Forever!’, which depicts the charge, the sequence is filmed like it's bringing an epic oil painting into living motion on the screen.

With sweeping cameras and huge panoramic shots, the sheer number of real, non-CGI horses charging is nothing short of breath taking. “Those men on grey horses are terrifying”, Napoleon coldly remarks as he watches the avalanche of cavalry approach his lines. No disagreement there.