19 Ultimate Final Shoot-Outs Of Cinema History

When it comes to the number one spot in this category, there’s really little argument about what takes top honour; Sam Peckinpah’s macho classic features the definitive final shoot-out of cinema history.

A gang of washed up fugitive cowboys have their follow compatriot taken prisoner by a big-deal Mexican General. Instead of retaliating, they bite their tongues and drown themselves in booze and women as consolation.

Then William Holden’s leader wakes up one morning, looks at his men, and says “Let’s go.”. Without another word, everyone knows the die is cast with them heading out and walking tall into certified death.

What soon follows is these four cowboys going out in a blaze of glory; they literally take on an entire Mexican army in a whirlwind of bright red squids, revolutionary editing and an exasperating body count. It was a firefight no audience member had seen the likes of and it still stands as a devastating piece of celluloid both frenetic and harrowing.

Director Peckinpah literally pushed the boundaries of cinema forward with this sequence, as his use of slow-motion and graphic blood-spray changed the rating-boards, as well as action cinema forever.