Even if you don’t know the Dire Straits song “Walk of Life” by name you’ll recognize it immediately when you hear it. Fun fact: It’s the perfect song to end any movie.




At least that’s the contention of the Walk of Life Project, the brainchild of Peter Salomone, a freelance video editor and writer. And I’m inclined to agree with him. Slap “Walk of Life” to the end of any movie and it immediately becomes 400 percent better. That’s just science.

The Matrix, Dr. Strangelove, Dark Knight Rises—they’re all better if you replace the soundtrack to their final scenes with Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life.”


I think Dr. Strangelove might be my favorite. It’s so perfectly timed:

But there are plenty of other contenders for perfection, like Mad Max: Fury Road:

So how did this project come to be?

“My friend joked that ‘Walk of Life’ would be the perfect funeral song,” Salomone told me over email. “So then I just sort of melded that idea with my love of movie endings.”

“I tried a few (Star Wars, 2001, and The Matrix) and I was surprised at how well they synced up,” he added. “I didn’t re-edit the movie clips visually. I just found a good starting point for the song and the rest just fell into place,” said Salomone.

Fell in place, indeed. Salomone’s edit of 12 Monkeys is another piece of perfection:

And The Blair Witch Project:

And The Matrix:

And The Graduate:

This is honestly the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time. And there are so many more on the Walk of Life Project’s page.


“I’ve been working on it for two months, but I’ve been thinking about it for two years,” Salomone tells me. “I’d like to do more since people seem to enjoy it but my doctor says I need to take a break.”

You can follow The Walk of Life Project on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.


Update, 4:45pm: Here’s my own humble addition to the genre.

Update, March 12th, 12:40pm: Kinja user executor32 made their own Walk of Life version of Blade Runner and it’s amazing:

Contact the author at novak@gizmodo.com .