10 Most Elaborate Movie Climaxes Ever

Sam Peckinpah was a master when it came to bloodbaths. Starting out with more traditional westerns, his work turned to the dying of the old west due to modernization. Take, for example, a scene in The Wild Bunch - a film about a band of outlaws held together by a code that the world seems to have abandoned and the man hunting them whose heart really isn't in it - where the gang witnesses an automobile for the first time. They are downright gobsmacked, a relic better left to fairy tales and legends.

The climax of The Wild Bunch is a direct attack on that reality, a last-minute, knowingly futile rally to stand their ground. After one of their own is captured and tortured by a marauding, corrupt Mexican general, surrounded by his army, they spend a night whoring and drinking before giving each other knowing looks. They head to the compound.

Without a thought, the general cuts his hostage's throat and, likewise, the Bunch shoots him dead. The army is as dumbfounded as the Bunch was when they saw the car. What follows is chaos, a full-out mini-war between a small gang and an army. Peckinpah's split-time shots blend perfectly with the chaos.