Not all montages come from the heady, power ballad-filled days of the 1980s. Every once and awhile they crop up in big historical epics because you have to cut the running time of them somehow, and battle scenes are pretty damn expensive. No one can accuse Braveheart of skimping on the medieval carnage, but even Mel Gibson had to draw a line somewhere, and he chose to feature a nifty little montage of William Wallace traveling the length and breadth of Scotland after the disaster of Falkirk. He's down, but he isn't out, and he's keeping the fight alive as the Scots rally to his cause once more. It's like a 14th century Eye of the Tiger!

It's popular to hate on Braveheart these days, but this montage distills some of what I'll always love about the film: the gorgeous scenery, the kilts (I believe the mountain close-up is one of Gibson's final momentsof sexiness), the unrepentant bloodshed, and the way he captured the chilly roughness of the period. I'll always forgive the film its historical errors because it works so well as pure legend (and was drawn from poetry -- read Blind Harry's Wallace if you want Braveheart times ten), and nothing says that better than a bunch of villagers sharing Wallace's kill count. I especially love how its punctuated with that grim, bloody march at the end. No wonder Edward is fretting about ways to get rid of him.

Jump below for the scene...