# "Everything is falling apart" montages in movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 27, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382 "2008-06-27T01:07:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/1 "2008-06-27T01:07:35Z")
I’m watching _Boogie Nights_ and there’s that montage near the end when everything just starts to fall apart for all of the characters. There’s this evil-sounding ominous music just droning in the background and it goes through scenes of all the different characters “hitting bottom” - no point in spoiling it but I assume most people have seen this movie and know the part I’m talking about.
The other, stylistically similar montage I can think of is in _Requiem For A Dream._
What are some others?
---
### Author:  [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/2 "2008-06-27T03:13:40Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
I’m watching _Boogie Nights_ and there’s that montage near the end when everything just starts to fall apart for all of the characters. There’s this evil-sounding ominous music just droning in the background and it goes through scenes of all the different characters “hitting bottom” - no point in spoiling it but I assume most people have seen this movie and know the part I’m talking about.
The other, stylistically similar montage I can think of is in _Requiem For A Dream._
What are some others?
[/QUOTE]
Revenge of the Sith has a montage of various Jedi falling victim to the enactment of Order 66.
---
### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/3 "2008-06-27T03:19:28Z")
\*\*Almost Famous \*\* had a pretty good “everything is falling apart” theme towards the end.
---
### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/4 "2008-06-27T03:20:41Z")
Oh, and **Fight Club**. Everything/Anything was going out of control towards the end of that.
---
### Author:  [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/5 "2008-06-27T03:42:13Z")
The _Dawn of the Dead_ re-make had a great montage/prologue, set to some really dark Johny Cash.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/6 "2008-06-27T03:58:19Z")
_Casino_ fits the bill, with all the Las Vegas mafia guys getting whacked.
---
### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/7 "2008-06-27T04:32:48Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga]
_Casino_ fits the bill, with all the Las Vegas mafia guys getting whacked.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but Scorsese rips it off from his earlier (and superior) [_Goodfellas_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/). The entire “May 11, 1980” scene is a virtuoso bit of editing (kudos to Thelma Schoonmaker) is an awesome portrayal of the protagonist completely coming apart as he tries to balance his drug deal, wife and mistress, and cooking for a family gathering all in one day. [_Cidade de Deus_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317248/) also has a montage (where Knockout Ned joints with Carrot to fight L’il Ze) of things progressively getting worse. [_The Candidate_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/) has a scene near the end where Redford’s character, Bill McKay, is getting so wound up in the campaigning process that he completely forgets who he is or what he is trying to accomplish; he ends up gibbering in the back seat of a limo, and trying to film a political announcement at a t.v. studio where he keeps cracking up in laughter.
Stranger
---
### Author:  [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/8 "2008-06-27T04:33:51Z")
I also wanted to throw in **American Beaty** , everything went to hell in a handbasket at the end of that one. (Still rates #1 on my all-time favorite movie list though.) 🙂
Damned, this guest membership of mine, runs out June 30th, guess I’ll have to pony up the $$. ☹
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/9 "2008-06-27T09:53:12Z")
Welcome aboard!
I’m trying to think of a _specific_ example in anime, for the heck of it, and discovering that I can’t mention one. Every one that should be there tends not to be shown, but discovered in partial flashback later.
---
### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/10 "2008-06-27T11:19:42Z")
Not sure if it counts, but I’ve always loved the sequence in 28 Days Later showing the empty London with Godspeed You! Black Emporer playing in the background.
---
### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/11 "2008-06-27T11:50:43Z")
Another one that might not count, the scene in The Long Good Friday, where Hoskins character has just been abducted and in the back seat of his car, thinks over all the moments in the film where he made the wrong choice.
Hoskins didn’t think it would work when he was doing it, but was pleased with the result. It’s on [youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbcwYje4cc8&feature=related) from 1:48 onwards.
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/12 "2008-06-27T16:37:30Z")
The bit in _The Usual Suspects_ when the cop puts the pieces together.
---
### Author:  [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/13 "2008-06-27T23:21:24Z")
In last years big gangster movie American Gangster when they bust Denzel. I thought it was quite well done with all the action taking place while he is in church with his wife and mother.
(using spoiler brackets since it came out last year, and at least I hadn’t seen it untill this week)
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/14 "2008-06-28T05:41:36Z")
Willard looking haunted while the bombs fall and The Doors’ “This is the End,” IIRC, plays at the end of _Apocalypse Now_.
The characters meeting their various sad fates at the end of _On the Beach_.
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/15 "2008-06-30T13:04:28Z")
Would the montage of all of Michael Corleone’s enemies getting whacked during the baptism at the end of _The Godfather_ count?
---
### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/16 "2008-06-30T13:52:18Z")
_Good Morning Vietnam_ - set to _What a Wonderful World_
_Rocky IV_ (Well from Ivan Drago’s point of view it’s falling apart ;).)
---
### Author:  [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/17 "2008-06-30T13:59:42Z")
The whole end of _Dr. Strangelove_, showing all the nukes going off.
---
### Author:  [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/18 "2008-06-30T14:00:02Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
Would the montage of all of Michael Corleone’s enemies getting whacked during the baptism at the end of _The Godfather_ count?
[/QUOTE]
No, that’s the exact opposite: a plan coming together.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-is-falling-apart-montages-in-movies/454382/19 "2008-06-30T16:36:16Z")
[QUOTE=VarlosZ]
No, that’s the exact opposite: a plan coming together.
[/QUOTE]
But destroying Michael Corleone’s soul in the process, hence the ironic declarations that he rejects the devil even as he’s finally embracing him.